(I replaced the photo with this video as the latter is wa-a-a-aay cooler. Watch!)
As you likely already know, that big ass noise (that completely freaked the dog out) was made by the Space Shuttle Discovery when it entered the atmosphere at Edwards Air Force base after completing a trip to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.
According to NASA, the mission lasted 14 days and covered 5.7 million miles.
Discovery was originally scheduled to land in Florida but was rerouted to us because FLA had non-felicitous weather.
(By the way, I notice that I got the correct news on Twitter way quicker than the same material showed up on the wires.)
And speaking of wires, here is an important fact on the mission from the AP story on the landing:
The shuttle dropped off tons of supplies and equipment, including a $5 million treadmill named after Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. That was his consolation prize after pushing for naming rights to a new space station room. NASA chose Tranquility for the yet-to-be-launched room, even though Colbert won the online vote.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled and slightly more sensible reporting.
Yup, felt it: funny to see my neighbors’ normally reclusive heads all popping out of their windows at the same time to see what crashed onto the city below. Relieved.
Speaking of twitter, I’m not normally enamored with the “new” Weekly’s politically-skewed coverage (the current article on the CD2 race another case in point), but one of their features asks if 9/11 would have turned out differently today in this age of twitter, texting and new media.
Alexia Tsotsis is smart. (I just now went over to look at the 9/11-social media article you mentioned.) I think the tone was a bit less thoughtful than the subject asked for, but it’s an interesting topic, and an intriguing question to ask.
Any criticism of Twitter (and related social media), for my money, got blown away during the Mumbai siege when the real-time narrative coming from the streets was so completely extraordinary. We saw a precursor a year before that in Pakistan when Musharraf declared martial law, shut down the media and began arresting all the judges and lawyers.
Blogs and social media were totally amazing at giving something approaching realtime news, although Twitter had yet to hit the bigtime, so wasn’t yet a factor.
Anyway, thanks for flagging that. It obviously got me thinking.
And yes, I’m made very, very weary by the Weekly’s over-the-top political biases. It’d be fine if there were just columnists with biases, but that they are now skewing the take of the nearly the whole news department (with occasional exceptions) is…..really, really depressing.
Breaks my heart, actually.
I haven’t seen the shuttle land, but, with my kids, I saw it launched — in fact, the first launch after the Discovery diaster. I took my kids to another launch that was halted by a computer two seconds before taking off. Also, when I was in the air on a flight to Florida, I saw it riding piggyback on the 747 when we passed it, which was pretty exciting. Our space successes should make us proud of our nation.
On another matter regarding our nation, don’t forget that today is 9-11. Remember those who died in the terrorist attacks and insist that we don’t give up the fight against Islamic terrorism.
Woody, how cool!
I too love our space program. Like every other aspect of modern life, NASA ain’t perfect. But, when they get it right, they make miracles. We totally should be proud of those accomplishments.
(That and the blues, jazz, and rock and roll.)
I kept meaning to do something that pertained to 9/11. But nothing came to mind that felt really satisfying.
I like the idea of making it a day of service and remembrance—specifically the service aspect.
http://www.911dayofservice.org/
That to me, in particular, honors the police officers and firefighters, many of whom, in selflessly helping their fellow citizens, lost their own lives. And also the remarkable people on flight 93.
I’m holding my breath waiting for Woody’s response…hopefully it will rise above these:
Woody Says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I see that none of you hold any outrage for 9-11. That’s good, because Obama isn’t worried about fighting terrorists, either. In fact, he’s probably for free health care for them.
Woody Says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
The more that I watch the footage of 9-11 and the stories of the survivors, the madder that I get. But, you guys make sure that the terrorists at Gitmo are comfortable and that we don’t do anything to cause them discomfort instead of saving American lives. I hope you’re proud of defending terrorists.
Or this from his oft-quoted “mentor” Neal Boortz: “National Day of Service” My rump! This should be a “National Day of Don’t Screw With the USA!” Your friend or enemy .. .your choice.
In any event, I can’t wait. (And when Neal Boortz references his “rump” he’s talking about the part of his body that’s the source of most of his talking points.)
reg, I’m capable of putting my own comments where I want and where I think that they’re appropriate without your help.
Here are quotes from reg that he didn’t place here, but surely he doesn’t mind them being repeated, as he takes comments from other places and moves them across blogs to people who weren’t the intended recipients.
reg: My ass itches. and Who peed in my beer?
Celeste, the “day of service” detracts from honoring the victims and keeping vigilance on terrorism. At least we didn’t turn Pearl Harbor Day into some left-wing issue, but liberals have managed to get the nation to ignore December 7th because we might offend the Japs.
Bogus quotes Woody, but then you’ve always been a liar…
But thanks for this: “liberals have managed to get the nation to ignore December 7th because we might offend the Japs.”
I appreciate it when you show us your ugly itchy ass and pee in the beer. It’s like having the KKK guy show up in his sheet – just so you know exactly who he is.
Celeste, I agree Tsotis’ piece is very light, throwing in just some provocative soundbites like how the new media and net enable a “real-time mob mentality” that could have called for immediate revenge (Woody?), but on the other hand, more transparency as a good thing. Would it have prevented any of the responders, like firemen going inside to their doom, from doing so if they’d had U-tube videos sent from cell phones?
What’s interesting is the 49 (as of now) comments this has generated, way more than their politic rantings and ramblings. It’s got people thinking and wondering.
Pearl Harbor Day has been shoved behind a curtain because liberals favor politically correctness and don’t want people in Japan to feel awkward, even though their scummy parents and grandparents made a sneak attack on America, brutally killing 2,390 unsuspecting souls on a Sunday morning. But, let’s play nice and act like it never happened, just like you fail to show respect for 9-11 victims. If you want people to forget, then you’re for letting down our guard so that it can happen again.
It’s like you’re keeping your head under a sheet.
I’m surprised that you’re not denouncing NASA and America for sonic booms.
Pearl Harbor Day has been shoved behind a curtain because liberals favor politically correctness and don’t want people in Japan to feel awkward, even though their scum
Hmmm. How’d that happen?
Feeling doubly cranky today, Woody? I think your “reasoning” is wrong here, but if you go to Pearl Harbor in HI, visit the site, which is treated as the burial ground it is, the solemn feeling and history are very real and not at all hidden by some PC agenda. However, I don’t think it would do much for international relations to post your comment on some plaque there about Japan, “their scummy parents and grandparents made a sneak attack on America…”
I WAS disappointed to find when I visited the moving museum and memorial at Hiroshima, however, that the introductory plaque of “explanation” (i.e., distortion) said that America dropped its bombs “as the war was already nearing by…” as though Japan had not declared war on US at Pearl Harbor. No wonder the Japanese visitors there looked at me as though I were the monster, as though it were MY “scummy parents and grandparents” who had committed an unprovoked attack on them. (NOT to get distracted by whether dropping such horrendous bombs was right or not, just history here.)
Woody, I wrote out a response to your posts here, but then deleted it. Instead I’m going to agree with WBC, and attribute this ridiculousness to a bad day.
On the issue of Pearl Harbor, you sound like my favorite (and sadly late) uncle, Col. George Armstrong. He, however, had an excuse since he was a prisoner of war captured at Corregidor. He suffered a pile of physical ailments as a consequence of his captivity for the rest of his life, all of which grew worse as he got older.
As far as I was concerned, his bravery and service bought him the right to say anything he damned pleased about the war and those who prosecuted it. Yet, he never went as far as you have on this thread. (And, believe me he had no liberal or PC leanings. Politically, I’d characterize my much adored and very witty Uncle George as being slightly to the right of Ivan the Terrible.)
FYI, the Japanese government officially apologized for Bataan and Corregidor this past spring.
War, in case you haven’t noticed, is hell. People on both sides do unconscionable things.
9/11, however, was not war, but terrorism, pure and simple. The idea was not to win any battle but to terrorize the populace through a surprise attack on innocent civilians.
But now, eight years later, I personally chose to see 9/11 as a day of remembrance and of service—to “make progress in the good,” as the I Ching says. That choice is, for me, the best way to honor those firefighters, police and the passengers on flight 93 who died serving on that terrible day.
If you want to see the call to community service as a liberal agenda, by all means, have at it. But I suspect the many conservatives who selflessly serve our communities, many of whom likely did so yesterday, would beg to differ.
Ooops, it looks like I wrote a reply anyway.
Happy Saturday.
It is evident that some of your commenter’s here are constipated. Newton discovered gravity while a huge pile of shit accumulated in the basement of his house and it was believed at the time that the fumes of shit were protection against the plague. Similar to hydrogen sulfide from garlic I guess. Luckily healthy shit is now being turned into electricity via bacteria that ionize the protons and electrons. However we also have a surfeit of lousy shit coming from old Wooden balls and Misfire.
Happy Sabbath.
WBC – just curious about something. What does “as the war was already nearing by…†mean or imply ? As the war was nearing it’s end ? I don’t doubt that the Hiroshima memorial evades Imperial Japan’s total responsibility for the war (and, no I don’t buy “revisionist” history of the Pat Buchanan or any other school on the causes of WWII) but I’m not quite getting that quote.
reg, I’m just quoting from memory and I have a photo of it somewhere: it clearly meant that “as the war was almost over anyway,” from the overall context. Just one of the often imaginative or misused English phrases one sees outside Tokyo. I also remember a small town on Kyusho Island (the farthest from Tokyo and tourist groups, where you have to rent a car) whose tourist office had one proud offering in English, a “swinging around map.” Then there was the hotel room whose extensive list of admonitions was “no swords or firearms, or objects of great quantity,” (presumably, sale items?) and that we were “not to use the fixtures or furnitures for other than the original object, or work upto after the existing condition.” (I have a copy of THAT one framed on my guest room wall.) I could write a short book about them with photos. Generally charming. BUT the Hiroshima one was not.
Okay – that’s what I thought. Just didn’t get the odd English.
Well, my teams won, and Celeste’s USC beat Ohio State in a great final drive, so I’m in a better mood today.
Celeste, don’t forget that I was raised by a Dad who was in WWII and my mom who married him when the war started. They had friends killed in the war, for which that always hurt them and which they shared.
The horrors committed by Germany and Japan went far beyond what war should entail and could only have been carried out by people who had no respect for human life or suffering. Time doesn’t erase the realities of what they did and the culture that existed or may still exist, as evidenced that it took sixty-four years for the Japanese to issue some kind of admission that they were wrong.
I don’t harbor a grudge, but I still remember what those nations did and wonder if the deeply held sentiments of their citizens have changed, although politically they have had to put a new face on their crimes.
More importantly, and to the point, we should never forget the horrors of Pearl Harbor and 9-11 and should remember to always remain vigilant — a message which starts to dim by changing the focus of the days from what they were to a day of left-wing volunterism.
Kids today aren’t taught what was done in WWII and their textbooks don’t refer to the terrorists as Islamic, all in the name of dumbing down our nation and for political correctness.
Also, my parent expressed dismay when I owned a German car and a Japanese car, especially at the same time.
That’s the background of why I remember the history of Germany and Japan and why I remain suspicious of them and other terrorist nations.
My guess is that fifty years from now, there will be a grandchild of mine remembering the nuclear horrors that Iran and North Korea committed, although yet to happen, due to Obama showing weakness and un-teaching our nation the importance of maintaining a strong defense and showing force.
My grandchild can argue on your site with reg’s grandkids…and, carry on our tradition of showing that liberals are usually wrong.
Woody – there are always spineless cowards who are unwilling to put up the necessary fight and question their own military’s operations. One particularly yellow-bellied Brit, in assessing the firebombing of Dresden, wrote:
“It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed. Otherwise we shall come into control of an utterly ruined land… The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing. I am of the opinion that military objectives must henceforward be more strictly studied in our own interests than that of the enemy… I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.” – Winston Churchill
reg, that’s brilliant and has nothing to do with anything we’ve discussed, unless you’re comparing Obam a to Churchill, which surely can’t be the case as that would be so stupid.
While you’re at it Reg post all those quotes that show the past and current enemies of our country who feel remorse for the thousands of death our citizens have endured at their hands.
Or doesn’t that fit into your agenda?