Micah 6:8
Psalm 55:6-8
Yes, your life matters.
Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?
On 16 March 1926 Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket. What a cool thing that was - and is. After all, that's what still sends astronauts (and cosmonauts, for that matter) to the ISS or on suborbital jaunts so rich folks can say they were in space. Who knew kerosene would help us slip the surly bonds of Earth and dance through space on laughter-silvered wings? Robert Goddard, that's who.
And Elon and Jeff and Richard are all still using that same basic engine that Goddard got from reading an book by a Russian scientist. (Hmm. Some of those guys are still depending on Russians for their engines. That's about as smart as NATO countries paying Russia for their oil and natural gas. But I digress.)
At any rate, this took me back to my youth when I used to build and fly model rockets. I never did make a liquid fuel rocket - they were all from kits by Estes - but that's just the next level in the process.
It's kind of like my photography hobby at basically the same time. I developed and printed my own film - but only black & white. What I understood at the time was that doing color film was very much more difficult and needed much better control of temperatures and so forth. I hear these days that the difficulty was somewhat oversold to me at the time, but still, I never did. I still find both of those a bit interesting, but probably not enough to actually go try it again.
In addition to today's commemoration of Goddard's first liquid launch, today is also Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action. I was out walking Billie a couple days ago and, as I commented to Heidi when we got home, I smelled tobacco smoke out on the street for the first time in I don't know how long. Shortly after smelling that smoke, Billie made a lunge and grabbed some little thing off the ground. Well, it turned out to be a filter from a cigarette. First off, that's probably the worst thing she's grabbed that I had to take away from her, but further, it made me realize how seldom I see anyone smoking these days.
Clearly, that's a good thing, but to those of you still smoking, please don't throw your butts on the ground for my dog to eat.
grr.
Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.
No comments:
Post a Comment