Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

(spoken)
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

"Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."

"Terrible news and great sadness..."

"The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors."

"In the service of all humanity"

"We will miss them all the more"

"The sudden shock and greif."

"The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on."

"In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

"The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth, yet we can pray that all are safely home."

To touch the face of god...

I admit it, I am in tears. Tragedy.
What more can I say? I wish still in my future to be one of these brave people who reach to go beyond the blue shroud of earth.


January 27, 1967 - Apollo One
Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Edward Higgins White, II, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Roger Bruce Chaffee, Lieutenant Commander, USN

HIGH FLIGHT" By: John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (Killed In The Battle of Britain, At the Age of 19 On December 11, 1942) No. 412 Squadron RCAF
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...

Wheeled and soared and swung
high in the sunlit silence.
Hov'ring there

I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through
footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;

and, while with silent, lifting mind
I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand,
and touched the face of God."


January 28, 1986 - 51-L(25), Challenger
Francis R. Scobee (2), Commander
Michael J. Smith (1), Pilot
Judith A. Resnik (2), Mission Specialist 1
Ellison S. Onizuka (2), Mission Specialist 2
Ronald E. McNair (2), Mission Specialist 3
Gregory B. Jarvis (1), Payload Specialist 1
Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1), Payload Specialist 2

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"


Febuary 1, 2003 - STS-107 (113)
Rick D. Husband (2), Commander
William C. McCool (1), Pilot
Michael P. Anderson (2), Payload Commander
Kalpana Chawla (2), Mission Specialist
David M. Brown (1), Mission Specialist
Laurel B. Clark (1), Mission Specialist
Ilan Ramon (1), (ISA) Payload Specialist

"May their sacrifice not be in vain..."

We have lost another bird....
Seven more lives given into the night
To reach up so powerfully
The price is never too high
Across the sky
Legacy written

"Roger..."

"PAPA LEGBA: The Archangel Gabriel might possibly cut some ice, but I personally would not want to have either Saint Isadore of Seville or Saint Clare of Assisi standing in for the Lord of the Crossroads. "

I seem to be quoting William Gibson allot recently. Having fun, life is good.

DEAD MAN WALKING!

This is Democracy in Action, thanks to the lovely people of the state of Washington.

Well, politics doesn't get any more unusual than I-831, a state-wide initiative to officially proclaim that Tim Eyman is a Horse's Ass!

No, I-831 doesn't stop Tim from profiteering off his irresponsible initiatives. No, it doesn't force the Legislature to actually legislate. And no, it doesn't even attempt to reform the initiative process.
But neither does it cripple the state's ability to maintain its roads and schools, nor does it threaten the health, safety and education of its people... so as far as initiatives go, it's harmless. (And in a bid to win Tim's supporters: it doesn't raise taxes!)

So, if you agree that the initiative process has become a joke, join us in getting the last laugh. With your help, we'll show Tim that he's not the only horse's ass who can get a spectacularly stupid initiative on the ballot.

Cats in SPACE.. well not quite

In a project known as “Acoustic Kitty” the Directorate of Science and Technology sought to train a surgically altered cat, wired with transmitting and control devices, to become a mobile, eavesdropping platform. In its first test, the cat was run over by a taxi. According to Victor Marchetti:
they slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that. Finally, they’re ready. They took it out to a park bench and said “Listen to those two guys. Don’t listen to anything else – not the birds, no cat or dog – just those two guys!” ... They put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead!3
This heavily redacted memo appears to express the view that cats can be altered and trained to perform certain tasks. At the same time, it notes that “the environment and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that, for our [intelligence] purposes, it would not be practical.”

I promise, I am NOT making this up.

"techno anarchist" and "uber-capatlism"

Something about these two phrases has kept me giggling for the last 20 minutes. Someone explain to me why I find these so damned funny?

ISLAMORADA, Florida (AP) -- A rescued pygmy sperm whale was recovering Friday in a resort hotel's heated saltwater pool, being treated for dehydration and wounds possibly inflicted by a harpoon.

This is offically one of the strangest pictures I've ever seen. I love it.

This reminds me of the pygmy sperm whale corpse I found once along an isolated strech of beach. Had been dragged in a fishing net, and thrown out to rot at sea, then washed ashore. Was a very sad sight.