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So. Today is the last day of this measured year. Who'd have thought I would last this long. Seventy-four and three-quarter years. Not me. I can remember bragging to all my teen-aged friends that I'd never see thirty... and watching me perform all those crazy, foolish, dangerous, juvenile antics -- they all agreed with me.
I was a wild-ass kid.
I was.
And really stupid.
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News From NASA
NASA astronauts will help ring in 2014 by sending greetings from space and from Earth to the crowd gathered in New York's Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s countdown will be shown from 6 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. EST on the Toshiba Vision screen atop One Times Square, right below the New Year countdown ball.
Also . . .
Date: Jan. 23, 2014
Mission: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-L (TDRS-L)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 41
Launch Window: 9:05 to 9:45 p.m. EST
The TDRS-L spacecraft is the second of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA by expanding the lifespan of the fleet, which presently consists of eight satellites in geostationary orbit. These spacecraft will provide tracking, telemetry, command and high bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. TDRS-L has a high-performance solar panel designed for more spacecraft power to meet the growing S-band communications requirements.
Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo, California, built TDRS-L.
Latest Updates HERE
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Did You Know . . .?
Cats have over 100 vocal chords.
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HISTORICAL EVENT
Beginning with his hit debut single, "I'm Walkin" in 1957, Nelson reeled off a string of 30 rockabilly-tinged top 40 hits in the next five years -- more than any other artist in the same period save for Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. Nelson saw his commercial appeal take a major hit with the arrival of the Beatles in 1964. But after a brief revival in the early 1970s fueled by the #6 pop hit "Garden Party" (1972), Nelson's career as a recording artist essentially ended. He continued to tour frequently, however, and it was on one such tour that he boarded a chartered DC-3 in Guntersville, Alabama, bound for a New Year's Eve appearance in Dallas. Shortly before reaching Dallas, the cabin of Nelson's plane filled with smoke due to a fire of undetermined origin. While the two pilots of the plane would survive their attempted emergency landing in a field outside De Kalb, Texas, all seven passengers on board were killed, including Rick Nelson.
Note: Ricky Nelson married the niece of a good friend of my Grandma Morris.
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WORD FOR TODAY
antelucan
adjective
- occurring before the arrival of daylight, relating to the hours before dawn.
- the gloom before the dawn
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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
(born December 31 1937)
Anthony Hopkins is a Welsh actor. In 1968, he got his break in film in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I. Hopkins is well known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel Hannibal, and the prequel Red Dragon. Other notable films include The Mask of Zorro, The Bounty, Meet Joe Black, The Elephant Man, Magic, 84 Charing Cross Road, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, The World's Fastest Indian, Instinct, and Fracture.
(born December 31, 1958)
Bebe Neuwirth is an American actress, musician and dancer. She has worked in television and is known for her portrayal of Dr. Lilith Sternin, Dr. Frasier Crane's wife (later ex-wife), on both the TV sitcom Cheers and its spin-off Frasier. On stage, she is also known for the role of Nickie in the revival of Sweet Charity, the role of Velma Kelly in the revival of Chicago and for the role of Morticia Addams in The Addams Family musical.
(born December 31, 1959)
Val Kilmer is an American actor. Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as the blockbuster action films Top Gun and Willow. His film roles include Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors, Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Chris Shiherilis in Michael Mann's Heat and Bruce Wayne/Batman in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever.
(Dec 31, 1943 - Oct 12, 1997)
John Denver was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success was as a solo singer, starting in the 1970s. Throughout his life, Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed. His signature songs were "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Annie's Song", "Rocky Mountain High", and "Sunshine on My Shoulders".
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A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
--Stewart Alsop
NASA TV
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