PolitiNo

Lockheed’s Skunk Works produced many of the “gee whiz” aircraft of the post war US military and intelligence communities. In addition to the U2 and SR71 they produced The first US jet to score a combat kill (the P-80) and the first stealth aircraft.

From their official start in 1943 until 1975 the Skunk Works was led by legendary aeronautical pioneer Kelly Johnson. He was the driving force behind aircraft like the P38 Lightening prior to heading the team at the Skunk Works, and they reflected his style. They were famous not only for producing amazing aircraft but also for achieving these feats in incredibly short times.

Kelly Johnson is one of the 20th century’s most significant engineering contributors (read that as “geeks”).

There were 12 men who walked on the Moon, but how many traveled there, and how many are still alive?

The 12 who walked on the Moon:

The 12 who went to the Moon but didn’t walk on it:

And which of them are still alive?

Last time I checked there were 18 Apollo astronauts who went to the Moon who are still alive, and 9 of the 12 who walked on it are still with us.

Now, there were 9 Moon missions, each with a 3 man crew, which would suggest 27 astronauts who have traveled to the Moon, but there are only 24. Why?

Simple. There were 3 men who went twice. Gene Cernan and John Young both went on two Apollo missions, one where they circled the Moon and one where they got to walk on it. Which leaves Jim Lovell as the only human being to travel to the Moon twice and not walk on it. I have a feeling that (as the old expression has it) “as the man said as he was being ridden out of town on a rail, ‘ except for the honor of the thing, I’d just as soon walk.’”

Further administrivia: I have met, shook hands with, talked to and gotten autographed books from two Moon walkers, Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan. At commemorative events I have been in the presence of 8 Apollo astronauts, 6 of whom traveled to the Moon, 4 who walked on it. In addition to Aldrin (who I met at the 20th anniversary of Apollo 11 in Huntsville in 1989) and Cernan (who I met at the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11 in Florida in 1999) I have seen Armstrong and Collins (Huntsville, 1989) along with Walt Cunningham and Wally Schirra (Earth orbit Apollo 7), as well as John Young (Apollo 10 and 16) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16).

This year marks the 40th anniversary of this epochal event. I plan to be at one of the events that must be being held this July, but so far nothing has been made public. I’ve done Huntsville and KSC. Maybe Houston this time?

The speed of light is likely NOT a constant. That would make Einstein, and most of modern physics, wrong on some significant issues.

Perhaps not so useless and probably not so trivial, if true. It certainly looks like a better solution to me to several significant “problems” in astrophysics and cosmology than “dark matter.”

Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty (British Navy) was significantly involved in the development of the military tank, as we know it. In his position he sponsored the development of the early World War I tanks. In fact the name “tank” came from a suggestion for a cover story for the secret project, that they were developing mobile water tanks to supply soldiers in the trenches on the front.

paraskavedekatriaphobia

Following up on yesterday's triskaidekaphobia post this is a discussion of the related tradition of dread associated with Friday the 13th. (cue Churchy)

My preference for explaining the superstition is the story about the Templars, no matter what "experts" say.

The Knights Templar (or Order of Poor Knights of the Temple) were founded in 1118 by 9 Crusaders and were dedicated to the defense of Christians in the Holy Land. By 1300 They were one of the most wealthy and powerful institutions in the western world. For one thing they invented banking, as we know it today. From that they got rich.

That wealth proved to be their undoing.

King Philip of France (Philip Le Bel) was envious of their wealth and power. He had conspired with his henchmen, Guillaume de Nogaret, to overthrow (and cause the death of) Pope Boniface VIII, sometime later he managed to move the office of the Papacy to France and installed what turned out to be a series of French Popes loyal to France before all else (a time known as the Avignon Captivity).

Denouncing and trying the Templars as heretics in order to confiscate their treasure was a minor sin compared to that. Unfortunately for Philip and de Nogaret when the French pounced on the Templar Commanderies, on Friday the 13th, they found that the legendary Templar treasures were nowhere to be found.

I also choose to believe that Jacques de Molay's curse as he was burned at the stake led to the deaths of King Phillip Le Bel and (anti) Pope Clement within a year of his own martyrdom.