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Monday, July 20, 2009

Potpourri LXXVII

All sorts of Apollo 11 and other space stuff today (and rightly so!):


  • An Australian newspaper on the prospects for space.

  • Neil Armstrong reflected on those who gave their lives in the quest for space.

  • Ares V imagery.

  • Alan Stern on the greatest impact Apollo 11 had.

  • Apollo seen by another writer as a dead end rather than a great beginning.
  • Jeff Foust reviews several Apollo 11-related books.
  • Best moon landings in movies.
  • It looks like the Augustine Panel's public meeting in Huntsville has moved to July 29.
  • NASA released a Neil Armstrong statement on the death of Walter Cronkite:
    "For a news analyst and reporter of the happenings of the day to be successful, he or she needs three things: accuracy, timeliness, and the trust of the audience. Many are fortunate to have the first two. The trust of the audience must be earned.
    "Walter Cronkite seemed to enjoy the highest of ratings. He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed."
  • Popular Mechanics has a series of "untold stories" about Apollo 11.
  • Space.com has several good stories, including this one...
  • Apollo astronauts advocating trip to Mars.
  • From Martin, an AOL list of fun space facts.
  • And Darlene the Science Cheerleader has a nice roundup of some other Apollo 11 links.

Some stuff from Lin:

  • The White House is delaying its budget report.
  • This mind-bending financial bail-out could top $23 trillion in cost.
  • "Earmark" is now part of the dictionary. Oh, goody. Another unwelcome addition to the vocabulary.
  • An editorial recommends making businesses use electronic background checks of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, if only to verify that they're not on the DHS terrorism watch list. Maybe, says I. However, the watch list remains unreliable.
  • Amazon.com can wipe out books from your Kindle if they find something amiss with them. Hmmmm.

From Cousin Katherine, a travel planning site recommendation. This might've been useful for the Europe trip when I was earlier in my process. Still might be good for future trips.

The wickedly funny gnomes at NeedCoffee.com are trying to wean themselves off of advertising by going to a subscription-only site as a means of paying their bills...at least the bills having to do with running the site itself. It's a reasonably sound business model: Jerry Pournelle runs Chaos Manor in this fashion--sort of like PBS. My fellow SF geek Doc, a part-time contributor to Need Coffee, referred me to the site, and I have been pleasantly amused with their content. NC is a media review site, if by "media" one can include items as diverse as TV shows, movies, video games, YouTube videos, and caffeineated energy drinks. Their rates are reasonable (starting at $1/month) and their range of attitudes and opinions suitably entertaining that even a cranky GenX conservative like me can laugh at their stuff on a regular basis.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

A quick clarification: Needcoffee.com will not be placing its content behind a subscription wall...it will all still be free to read. The memberships will entitle folks to some nice perks (giveaways, etc), though. :)

Bart said...

Thanks, Doc. That's kind of why I mentioned the PBS model. It's paid for by its members, but everyone can watch. I'll try to send money after payday this week...um, assuming this IS a payday week.

/b