View Full Version : Neil Armstrong is gone.
Yet another great loss for our world. Yet it seems like events like this pass almost without notice. This article from last year goes over some of the events from his life.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-dead/story?id=12325140
Armstrong was one of the first men to orbit the earth. The first man to set foot on the moon. But people get more wound up over Miley Cyrus gyrating around on stage than they do the life (or passing) of people like him.
We are as guilty as anyone else.
When he passed away, there was a thread here about it. I looked it up. 19 people posted talking about it. Yet we have 5 pages of back and forth complaining about some guy a company has hired.
I don't know. Maybe I am just talking out my ass. But I feel like everyone in this world has their head on backwards. We care more about the BS and less about the big things.
Why do you think this is? Purely emotional? Just people being screwed up?
Sorry for the early posting. Hit enter and it posted tried to go back fast and edit to add what I was trying to say.
ETA: And you know the part that really pisses me off. When I went to find an example for this I did a search of "great people who have died in 2013"
The top result was a bunch of actors. Who gives a flying f*** about them.
Neil has been gone for a year now.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong
I know. Was trying to post exerts and some thoughts on it given some recent threads here. Hit the button too soon and am still editing my OP since it is a bit long winded.
montanadave
08-27-13, 07:57
And the winner for today's M4C Rip Van Winkle Award goes to . . .
:D
Yet another great loss for our world.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-dead/story?id=12325140
And the winner for today's M4C Rip Van Winkle Award goes to . . .
:D
POTD!!
:D:D:D:D
Sent via Tapatalk
for a moment I looked out the window and swore I saw bill murray :)
MountainRaven
08-27-13, 08:57
Zombie Neil Armstrong?
No one is safe.
montanadave
08-27-13, 09:25
Kwelz: I get where you're comin' from and my apologies for jumping in so quickly with a smart-ass remark.
But ya gotta admit, you kinda left that curve ball hangin'. :)
GeorgiaBoy
08-27-13, 09:33
I had to do a few double takes on the post date. :D
Yet another great loss for our world. Yet it seems like events like this pass almost without notice. This article from last year goes over some of the events from his life.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-dead/story?id=12325140
Armstrong was one of the first men to orbit the earth. The first man to set foot on the moon. But people get more wound up over Miley Cyrus gyrating around on stage than they do the life (or passing) of people like him.
We are as guilty as anyone else.
When he passed away, there was a thread here about it. I looked it up. 19 people posted talking about it. Yet we have 5 pages of back and forth complaining about some guy a company has hired.
I don't know. Maybe I am just talking out my ass. But I feel like everyone in this world has their head on backwards. We care more about the BS and less about the big things.
Why do you think this is? Purely emotional? Just people being screwed up?
Sorry for the early posting. Hit enter and it posted tried to go back fast and edit to add what I was trying to say.
ETA: And you know the part that really pisses me off. When I went to find an example for this I did a search of "great people who have died in 2013"
The top result was a bunch of actors. Who gives a flying f*** about them.
The circles I run have no mention of Cyrus, Bieber or American Idol. Seems gun forums are the only place I learn about their current events other than switching channels on dish. I try to avoid such nonsense and concentrate on projects, family and many hobbies...:D
RIP N. Armstrong
thopkins22
08-27-13, 11:35
My great uncle lives directly across the street from what was Armstrong's Cincinnati home. Apparently they knew him quite well.
Who are today's explorers? I actually believe that they exist despite the media shoving trash down our throats. The desire to go further is a basic human desire, and no amount of pop music or reality TV can make it disappear.
I submit that we are doing great things that would make our fathers and grandfathers proud...we just don't know what they are because the media is such trash.
Kwelz: I get where you're comin' from and my apologies for jumping in so quickly with a smart-ass remark.
But ya gotta admit, you kinda left that curve ball hangin'. :)
Haha No apology Necessary. I can take a bit of well deserved jabs directed my way. I wasn't paying attention while I was making the post and it is funny as hell. I tried to go back and type everything I had in mind but honestly I was laughing enough that I lost focus.
kwelz, I get what you are trying to say.
Rest assured his passing didn't go unnoticed at my house nor did it go unnoticed here.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=111614
But unlike Trayvon Martin, his passing was a sad, reflective moment that deserved dignity. There was no controversy, there were no questions about his character and it was just a final respect given and that only seemed to be less noticeable because he had been respected all of his adult life.
Failure2Stop
08-27-13, 14:40
Last weekend I visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex.
The shiny jewel is the Atlantis exhibit; breath-taking in its proof of human achievement. Best quote there, on the wall:
"It was like strapping a butterfly to a bullet."
However, what struck me the most was the early space program building. Not nearly as pretty or consumable as the Atlantis exhibit, but to understand the scale of the objects involved, to see the actual capsules, the actual rockets, the sacrifices of those involved, and the absolutely terrifying consequences of failure, failure that was barely more than a hair's breadth away; all I could think the entire day after experiencing the exhibit was that is must have been impossible to hold a conversation while walking with those men due to the constant clanking of their giant steel balls.
Never before have I felt the gravitas of their deeds to that degree.
My hat is off for every single one of those brave men.
Last weekend I visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex.
The shiny jewel is the Atlantis exhibit; breath-taking in its proof of human achievement. Best quote there, on the wall:
"It was like strapping a butterfly to a bullet."
However, what struck me the most was the early space program building. Not nearly as pretty or consumable as the Atlantis exhibit, but to understand the scale of the objects involved, to see the actual capsules, the actual rockets, the sacrifices of those involved, and the absolutely terrifying consequences of failure, failure that was barely more than a hair's breadth away; all I could think the entire day after experiencing the exhibit was that is must have been impossible to hold a conversation while walking with those men due to the constant clanking of their giant steel balls.
Never before have I felt the gravitas of their deeds to that degree.
My hat is off for every single one of those brave men.
Along those lines, while this country is in poor shape in many ways compared to other times, I'm grateful to have been a kid in the 70s. To have been a child allowed to stay up late to watch the Apollo 17 liftoff on the news after midnight and then walk outside to the front yard and look into the sky and see the Saturn V rocket climbing into the night sky. To know that they were going to the moon.
The only thing more profound would have been if I were a few years older and had memories of the 1969 landings but I was too young.
Of course the 70s were hardly perfect and I remember the economy, gas lines and the taking of hostages in Iran. But the wonder and awe associated with going to the moon and other programs like Viking and Voyager made it a fascinating time.
Even things like the F4 Phantoms flying out of Homestead that streaked the sky daily over my house were somewhat "new" compared to the WWII corsairs, spitfires and messerschmitt's I built models of.
It was just wonderous to me and I probably wouldn't trade it for anything even if disco was part of the package deal.
Thankfully Reagan came along and gave us a new "morning in America" at a time we desperately needed it and I was fortunate enough to live in that time with all the good and bad aspects of it.
To this day it amazes me that in the space of 65 years or so we went from first flight at Kitty Hawk to landing on the moon. Such an amazing accomplishment people assumed we'd be visiting other planets by the end of the century and colonizing the moon.
That it was all done with technology no more sophisticated than a modern calculator watch just amazes me further.
I was born in 1984 but I loved reading and watching events surrounding NASA and the final frontier that is space. I am ashamed that my generation is the final part of the possible down fall of America. The greatest generation and the baby boomers have a part to play in it since they laid the foundation that allowed the failures of mine to succeed in their failure.
The Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo missions were amazing in their advancements and for what they were... the wild west of space. Truly amazing pioneers and trail blazers. Hopefully we get back to what needs to be done and go back into space.
Ridgerunner665
08-27-13, 20:54
His passing didn't go unnoticed by me...I've always followed the space program closely.
As far as getting back into space...yes...we need to do that...but first we need to figure out a new propulsion system, something faster...the distances are just too great to go poking along at 25,000 mph.
We've gotta get out of the granny lane to send people to Mars and beyond...calculator watch technology won't get us there.
Neither will nuclear power (not for propulsion)...there are some ideas, but no real possibilities just yet...I suspect this is one of the reasons NASA was defunded.
thopkins22
08-27-13, 20:58
His passing didn't go unnoticed by me...I've always followed the space program closely.
As far as getting back into space...yes...we need to do that...but first we need to figure out a new propulsion system, something faster...the distances are just too great to go poking along at 25,000 mph.
We've gotta get out of the granny lane to send people to Mars and beyond...calculator watch technology won't get us there.
Neither will nuclear power (not for propulsion)...there are some ideas, but no real possibilities just yet...I suspect this is one of the reasons NASA was defunded.
Mars is actually quite doable. Today.
All it takes is balls.
I'm sure there are some holes in this, but it's thought provoking and interesting.
The Case For Mars by Robert Zubrin
http://youtu.be/Mm34Muv6Lsg
Ridgerunner665
08-27-13, 21:25
Doable...yes, maybe...but not practical...not with what we have.
Getting there is one thing...getting back is another.
SeriousStudent
08-27-13, 21:26
The world literally stopped that day in 1969, when we all stood around the TV and watched the grainy black and white images, and listened to his words.
I was a lot younger then, but I still recall it very clearly. We all held our breath, and then the entire place erupted when he stepped down into the lunar dust, and uttered those famous words.
I'm with F2S (as per the usual) - they truly were amazing men.
kwelz, you are a good dude. Thanks for the reminder.
.
I was fortunate to have been in elementary/junior high in the 60's. And our teachers (in a public school) would lead us in a prayer for the astronaut(s) before the launching.
One teacher would bring her 60 pound huge black & white 12" TV to the class room and the whole class had to swing around backwards because that back corner in the room was the only place the TV could get a good picture.
I remember crying January 27, 1967 at our Boy Scout meeting when we heard Apollo 1 caught fire practicing a launch. Seemed like we "knew" those guys.
That was a very good time to be a kid. Exceptional men being real heroes.
FWIW, those early astronauts were not normal men.
But maybe it's just me...
.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_DPrSEOEo
.
I was fortunate to have been in elementary/junior high in the 60's. And our teachers (in a public school) would lead us in a prayer for the astronaut(s) before the launching.
One teacher would bring her 60 pound huge black & white 12" TV to the class room and the whole class had to swing around backwards because that back corner in the room was the only place the TV could get a good picture.
I remember crying January 27, 1967 at our Boy Scout meeting when we heard Apollo 1 caught fire practicing a launch. Seemed like we "knew" those guys.
That was a very good time to be a kid. Exceptional men being real heroes.
FWIW, those early astronauts were not normal men.
But maybe it's just me...
.
That was back when it was fashionable to challenge everyone to be exceptional rather than simply accept your shortcomings and just try and "get over."
Self respect (being the kind of person you would respect) was replaced with self esteem (accepting your faults without attempts at improvement) and we lost a great deal of what we once were.
But at least everyone got a "participation" ribbon.
People remember, dude. People remember...
http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ez50392457.PNG
Mars is actually quite doable. Today.
All it takes is balls.
Balls, and a shit ton of money that could probably be spent on more relevant earthly things at the moment, or god forbid, not spent at all, so our grand kids don't end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.
thopkins22
08-28-13, 13:48
Balls, and a shit ton of money that could probably be spent on more relevant earthly things at the moment, or god forbid, not spent at all, so our grand kids don't end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.
No doubt.
Balls, and a shit ton of money that could probably be spent on more relevant earthly things at the moment, or god forbid, not spent at all, so our grand kids don't end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.
=================================
Nothing in history did more to improve all forms of "technology" than the American Space Program.
Nothing....
.
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