Home
The Daily Dose/April 30, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
3…2…1 BLASTOFF: There was a very good editorial in the Los Angeles Times recently by a gentleman named Simon Ramo. In it Ramo says it is time the United States stop farting around with the idea of sending men to Mars and abandon the idea entirely.
The editorial was so good that if we were sitting on the fence on this issue we might well have been persuaded to ditch whatever support we may have had for a manned Martian landing. We're not of course. We fully support, and in fact demand, a manned mission to Mars, however any objective analysis, the type were famous for here at the Writer's Shack, finds Ramo's editorial compelling and intriguing reading.
Significant Street Cred: By the age of 23 Ramo had doctorates from the California Institute of Technology in both Physics and Electrical Engineering and was a leader in early microwave research. Ramo then headed General Electric's development of the electron microscope and more or less invented the air-to-air and intercontinental ballistic missile.
Leading Off: Ramo points about there are serious concerns about mans ability to both survive the trip and survive after returning to Earth after two years in reduced gravity. Could they walk? Could they breath? Could they digest food?
Hell, We Don't Know: Valid questions. So valid there is no way to find out here on Earth. The only way to find out is to send humans to Mars and back. If they die, they die. No aspect of human exploration - from crossing an unknown mountain range to sailors crossing oceans in the first ships to man's first tentative forays into space - were without casualties. So it will be when we go to Mars. Like explorers before them, these risks will be borne by men and women whose understanding of them is as great as their acceptance of them. They're explorers. It's what they do. They explore and sometimes they don't come back. We'll mourn and keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers and all that crap before finding other explorers to take their place.
Next Up: Ramo also points out the logistics would be overwhelming.
They Better Be, Dammit: They should be. In fact, we turn this point over and regard it as a reason to go.
Challenges like this should not come easy. Like individuals, nations are bettered when they accept and try to meet great challenges. We met them during Apollo, where we started literally from scratch, without a prior space program, and we'll meet them here.
Plus, it is almost beyond comprehension that a manned mission to Mars would not yield significant advancement and benefits in a variety of facets of human life, from electronics to communications to energy.
Now This: Ramo also points out that there isn't much man can do on Mars that isn't already being done by robots.
Uh, Gee, Thanks, Mr. Ramo: There is no point to even arguing this one. Ramo is correct and we gladly yield this point.
Now Wait A Minute: Well, man can do one thing that a robot cannot do and that is tell us what it's like to be on Mars.
There is no substitute for this, which is as good a reason as any to go. Hey, look what we did! Not bad! We're humans, and that's what we do, explore and go where we haven't been before.
Strong Finishing Kick: Also, we have an obligation to future generations to do our part to ensure they are in a position to what they were meant to do.
Yeah, Your Half-Baked Column Compares With Dr. Ramo: Past generations of humans did their part, inventing paper, the steam engine and the telephone when the time came. We have an obligation to future generations to do our part by laying the foundation for future space exploration by going to Mars.
THE SKY WAS SHINING BECAUSE OF ITS LIGHT: What is generally considered to be the brightest supernova in recorded history was discovered in the southern sky on this date in 1006. Witnesses from China to Arabia to Switzerland reported seeing it, describing as being about three times the size of Venus. Some sources said the supernova was visible during daylight hours and there was enough light at night to cast shadows.
I Do Solemnly Swear: George Washington became the first President of the United States on this date in 1789, taking the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, then the national capital.
My Fellow Americans: Washington's first inaugural was warm and gracious, probably like the man himself:
I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love…the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me…could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.
Dry, Technical Babbling: We suspect, however, the new president may have had a belt or two with Vice-President John Admas prior to his big moment. The following might be the longest sentence in inaugural history, and, since they talked differently back then, you have to read it closely for it to make sense and even then you might be left wondering, especially since it's Congress he's talking about:
Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.
Editor's Note: The On This Date feature continues its season-long tour of the major league baseball record book:
Play Ball: Mel Ott of New York Giants becomes the only person in major league history to establish and then tie the same record in the same game on this date in 1944.
Playing in the first game of a doubleheader at home against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Ott scores six runs and, with Joe Medwick, who scores five, establishes the major league record for most runs scored in a game by two players.
Later, teammate Phil Weintraub scores his fifth run of the game, tying the record.
Oh Yeah: The Giants won the game 26-8. Brooklyn came back and won game two 5-4.
A Time Long Gone: April 30 was on a Sunday in 1944 and everybody played doubleheaders on Sunday back then. There were no single games on the schedule that day.
Dry, Technical Matter: We mentioned yesterday that it is rare for a major league player to be in the record book twice for the same feat. Ott's done it twice. Not only did he establish and tie the record for most runs scored in a game by two players mark, but the six runs tied the National League and modern major league record for most runs in a game, a feat Ott had previously accomplished in August of 1934.
FunFact: Ott doesn't have an exclusive on that, and in fact is one of 15 major leaguers to score at least six runs in a game. The major league record is seven, done by Guy Hecker in 1886.
Thought For The Day: Parents definitely should never kill their children...It's not bad, though, to let them know you're capable of it. - Dr. Jim Sadler, The Phil Hendrie Show
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The only major league player besides Roger Clemens to strike out 19 or more players in a game on more than one occasion is Randy Johnson, who's done it three times. He struck out 19 batters in a game twice in 1997 and in 2001 struck out 20 batters in a game.
Today's Stumper: Who administered the oath of office to George Washington at his first inauguration? - Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
Home |
|