THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

     

Tucson Weather Today

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On this day, July 20, 1969 at 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, spoke these words to more than a billion people listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

Neil Armstrong Steps Onto The Surface Of The Moon

 

"Buzz" Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston.

Buzz Aldrin Walking On The Moon

 

By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon -- July 1969 A.D. -- We came in peace for all mankind."

Also on this day, July 20 in 1961 my daughter was born.
Happy Birthday, Sandi Jo!

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Now For Something Completely Different:

In her blog Greta Christina wrote:

"If you have anything at all to say about this that even remotely hints at implying that what George Zimmerman did was remotely defensible, or that this verdict was anything short of grotesque… do not comment in my blog. Now, or ever. Do not read my blog. Do not follow me on Facebook or Twitter. Do not attend my talks. Do not buy my books. Get the fuck out of my life, now. Thank you."

My response:

Well, okay, Greta. I have been reading your blog for a long time, but I will honor your request. I will not read your blog. I will not follow you on Facebook or Twitter. I will not attend your talks. I will not buy your books. I will not take part in your life. You're welcome.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Cormac McCarthy
(born July 20, 1933)

Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and Post-apocalyptic genres. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road (2006). His 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For All the Pretty Horses (1992) he won both the U.S. National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. All the Pretty Horses and The Road were also adapted as motion pictures.

Blood Meridian (1985) was among Time magazine's list of 100 best English-language books published between 1923 and 2005 and placed joint runner-up in a poll taken in 2006 by The New York Times of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years. Literary critic Harold Bloom named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, alongside Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon and Philip Roth, and called Blood Meridian "the greatest single book since Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying". In 2010 The Times ranked The Road first on its list of the 100 best fiction and non-fiction books of the past 10 years. McCarthy has been increasingly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Note: I do not usually list authors since they are covered so well at The Writer's Almanac, but Cormac McCarthy is one of my top two favorite authors of all time.

Natalie Wood
(July 20, 1938 – Nov. 29, 1981)

Natalie Wood was an American film and television actress best known for her screen roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story.

At age 43, Wood drowned near Santa Catalina Island, California at the time her last film, Brainstorm (1983), was in production with co-star Christopher Walken. Her death was declared an accident for 31 years; in 2012 after a new investigation the cause was reclassified as "undetermined".

Omar Hashim Epps
(born July 20, 1973)

Omar Epps is an American actor, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. His film roles include Major League II, Juice, Higher Learning, Scream 2, The Wood, In Too Deep, and Love and Basketball. Epps' television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the US medical drama series ER, and, between 2004 and 2012, Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox medical drama series House.

Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg
(born 20 July 1938)

Diana Rigg is an English actress. She played the roles of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She is considered a sex symbol and an icon of 1960s feminism.

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Neil Armstrong may have been the fist man to walk on the moon, but Buzz Aldrin was the first man to urinate there.
--The Telegraph

NASA TV
    

My Favorite Author's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CORMAC McCARTHY

 

Cormac McCarthy  (born Charles McCarthy; July 20, 1933) is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and Post-apocalyptic genres. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road (2006). His 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For All the Pretty Horses (1992) he won both the U.S. National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. All the Pretty Horses and The Road were also adapted as motion pictures.

 

What Makes Art Art?

I discovered long ago that I know nothing of Art. Nor do I even wish to learn. Sometimes I can recognize (what I believe to be) a work of art. But not often.

I am a pragmatic soul.

pragmatic
(adj.)
Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.

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Pasted below is a photo of a supposed work of art

Is it truly Art?
I couldn't say.

Is this Art?

(I seriously doubt it)

Cormac McCarthy

produces works of art
and I like those works

“Deep in each man is the knowledge that something knows of his existence. Something knows, and cannot be fled nor hid from.”
--Cormac McCarthy

Thomas Harris

is not accused of producing Art,
but I like his work . . . art or no.

“When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-runnin', but not to help.”
--Thomas Harris

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It might be artistic if I were to insert a piece of Art here.

But I won't.

No time.

I am busy working on another project.

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“There is no God and we are his prophets.”
--Cormac McCarthy

“How seldom we recognize the sound when the bolt of our fate slides home.”
--Thomas Harris

Don't Have A Good Title

When I recently read the term ahead of the curve it made me think about educational institutions grading on the curve and it made me question why that process should be used. Does 'fairness' have something to do with it?

Hm... What exactly is fairness? I'll have to do some research on that.


SF Novelists has a free sampler consisting of first chapters of the novels of 25 member writers. I downloaded it in pdf format and you can download it at http://www.sfnovelists.com/samplers/volume1/OPENINGACTS.pdf


I have recently encountered an archaic word, its use now probably discontinued; it is growlery and is defined as a place to growl, as in, a private room, or den. Now that strikes me as a perfectly good word and one that should be revived and used often. It reminds me of the kind of word Cormac McCarthy might use.


Although I am not sufficiently educated in cosmology, astrophysics, or advanced mathematics to offer suggestions to NASA (or any other agency as a matter of fact) I nevertheless occasionally come up with ideas for the advancement of knowledge in space exploration. Here is one of those ideas:Why does NASA not prepare a plan and encourage both governments and private businesses to manufacture spacecrafts with the capability to travel outside the solar system carrying instruments to record conditions in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri.

That's Science Fiction and too far-fetched, you say? Hm. I wonder.

The effort might, if nothing else, provide sources for new industrial jobs... right?


A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a cartoon claiming that science and religion are fundamentally incompatible. It's basic premise seemed to arise from the following two sentences:

Science encourages rational thought. observation of the natural works, and using evidence to draw conclusions.

And . . .

Religion encourages accepting ideas on faith, and actively discourages attempting to prove claims with evidence.

While I do not usually pay attention to cartoons, I sometimes think that perhaps I should do so.

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"The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it."
--Terry Pratchett