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Wolfgang Petersen, the director of such epics as Air Force One, In the Line of Fire, and the Perfect Storm, has joined the rush to produce epics from classical history. The subject of his offering will be the Seige of Troy.
posted by Mark at 1:21 PM

 
Here's more info on space elevators.
posted by Mark at 10:53 AM

 
The outstanding Encyclopedia Astronautica, which I used heavily to research Children of Apollo, has some new, cool stuff. Included is a discussion of a Soviet film from 1957 which seems to be hauntingly like Kubrick's 2001.
posted by Mark at 4:26 AM

 
First it was fuel lining in the shuttle orbiters, now it is bearings in the transport crawlers. Here's some questions which arise. Why were these problems not caught before they became problems? Is it possible that standard maintenance was allowed to slide because of Clinton era budget cutbacks?
posted by Mark at 4:05 AM

 
Efforts by Democrats to stick the blame for corporate corruption and sluggish economy to the Republicans is not working. The Democrats' hold on the Senate appears to be slipping.
posted by Mark at 3:33 AM

 
Newsmax has Bill Clinton on tape admitting that he blew the chance to get his hands on Bin Laden. David Horowitz is right, it seems, in his suggestion that Bill Clinton is more responisble than any other American for 9/11.
posted by Mark at 9:09 PM

 
Political Predictions dot org will help you track predictions by your favorite pundits.
posted by Mark at 5:28 AM

 
NASA is actually showing an interest in space elevators.
posted by Mark at 4:59 AM

 
The Lt.Governor of California, second to Governor Gray Davis, had praise for Bill Simon, the man who wants to take away Governor Davis's job.
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posted by Mark at 6:15 PM

 
Carl-Eduard Von Bismark, the descendent of the father of modern Germany, the Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismark, is running for a seat in the German Parliement. What makes this story so ironic is that Otto was also the father of the modern welfare state, which was designed to exert control over the common people. Carl-Eduard is running on the Christian-Democrat ticket and is an advocate of tax cuts and free market reforms.
posted by Mark at 6:07 PM

 
The intrepid Rachel Graves of the Housron Chronicle has a weblog in which she describes what it's like to cover the President at his ranch in Crawford.
posted by Mark at 9:13 PM

 
A British lunatic named Adrian Hamilton believes that the United States is a "rogue superpower" and demands that the US be invaded forthwith in order to affect a regime change.

We have of course dealt with this kind of nonsense before and can again if necessary. Thanks to reader Harley W. Daugherty for pointing this one out.
posted by Mark at 12:14 PM

 
Charlton Heston has alzheimers. Damn.
posted by Mark at 11:58 AM

 
Bill Croke of Wyoming doesn't like all those foreigners from California moving into his neighborhood. He blames the influx on Gray Davis and really wishes those people on the West Coast would get rid of him.
posted by Mark at 9:23 PM

 
Former Senator, Vice President, Presidential Candidate, and current millionaire and cheapskate Al Gore demanded free Bruce Springstein tickets for himself and his staff. This kind of imperialist behavior coming from the man who proposes to fight for the "people" against the "powerful" is simply amazing to me.
posted by Mark at 12:02 PM

 
Ron Kirk, the Democrat candidate to follow Phil Gramm into the Senate, has pretended to be a "moderate" who is pro business. But he is now revealed to be just another extremist, liberal, tax and spender.
posted by Mark at 3:57 AM

 
Dick Morris gives Al Gore the back of his hand for somehow not realizing that "the powerful" are not the enemy and that Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, et al are. Dick, though, seems unaware that his old boss, Bill Clinton, also practiced the politics of division.
posted by Mark at 3:34 AM

 
Vasimr a nuclear powered, plasma rocket engine being developed at the Johnson Space Center has survived an attempt to cancel its funding. Now its supporters are developing ideas to space test a prototype, perhaps by nudging an asteroid-a very important test of what might have to happen if one of those rocks heads toward Earth. Vasimr could also make human expeditions to Mars practicable, cutting trip times from months to weeks.
posted by Mark at 10:54 PM

 
Someone has found a better use for Botox that smoothing the wrinkled skin of the old and vain.
posted by Mark at 10:45 PM

 
John Dingall won the nomination to run for the seat he has held in the Congress since the Eisenhower Administration. Happier, David Bonier has lost his bid to be Governor of Michigan. Thus ended a political career which was marked with appeasement of Communist dictatorships abroad and an almost psychotic hatred of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at home. May Mr. Bonier now descend into the obscurity which he so richly deserves.
posted by Mark at 3:03 PM

 
Michael Ledeen asks the question: Why is the media ignoring the revolution now ongoing in Iran?
posted by Mark at 12:05 PM

 
When the Washington Times suggested Colin Powell as President Bush's running mate for 2004, many of its readers disagreed, advancing another candidate:

"It seems to me, Colin Powell made it clear before he does not wish to be president or vice president," writes Jim Mowrey of South Windsor, Conn. "If the GOP thinks they need a black on the ticket in 2004, who better than National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice? Miss Rice is eminently qualified, and her candidacy would also help win the female vote."
Dr. David P. Schwarz of Picayune, Miss., adds: "I think Condoleezza Rice is the better choice for vice president in 2004. Not only is she brilliant and knowledgeable, but, being a lady, kills two birds with one stone. I would not hesitate to vote for her as president in 2008, unless she has some truly awful secret that has not been dredged up by the opposition."
Her fans say this is highly doubtful, doctor, given Miss Rice's background: senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; provost of Stanford University; nuclear strategic planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff; director of Soviet and East European affairs at the White House National Security Council; White House policy director for democratic reform in Poland and the former Soviet Union; co-founder of the Center for a New Generation; corporate board member for Chevron, the Hewlett Foundation and Charles Schwab; member of J.P. Morgan's international advisory council; Council on Foreign Relations member; National Endowment for the Humanities trustee; and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Miss Rice enrolled at the University of Denver at the tender age of 15, graduating cum laude at 19 with a degree in political science. She got her master's at the University of Notre Dame and doctorate from the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. No doubt George W., the only man whose opinion will count, knows all this.

In my view, Dr. Rice would be a nightmare for the Democrats, a woman of color of great accomplishment and who refuses to toe the liberal line. And Vice President Rice could run for the top job in 2008 in an epic battle against-say-Senator Hillary Clinton.

posted by Mark at 3:19 AM

 
Randolph also recommends a four year old article by Ralph Peters which suggests why free societies tend to triumph over tyrannical oones.
posted by Mark at 9:14 PM

 
Reader Randolph Addison is bothered by a big logic hole in Signs which I've hinted at previously:

I saw "Signs* last night and I have one huge problem with
the movie (I haven't thought too much about other parts but this one thing
troubled me to no end): firearms. I've lived in fairly rural areas (towns
of less than 10,000 people with lots of farmland around the city) since I
was eight (22 now). I've been to milk farms, cattle farms (meat), turkey
farms, chicken farms, and crop farms (corn, cabbage, etc.) in North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland. What I have seen about farmers is
that they have guns--guns are like pieces of furniture in farm houses. They
almost obligatorily have a shotgun. That Mel Gibson had two small children
on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania with not even a 20-gauge
shotgun to protect them leaves me with an extremely bad taste in my
mouth--it's wholly unbelievable. That level of anti-gun interjection is
just uncalled for and makes all too obvious the slant of the
producer(s)/writer(s)/director(s).
Anecdotally, there is a Coca Cola commercial that precedes most
movies here that depicts four men holed up in an air conditioner-less
building with cops taunting them with ice-cold Coca Cola. In the
commercial, they depict SWAT team members and numerous police officers--not
one firearm.
I can tolerate leaving firearms out cartoons and most any television
show, but to leave firearms out of situations where firearms are sine qua
non is not only asinine, it is amazingly condescending in that it expects
me, the viewer, not to notice that a veritable phalanx of police officers
have no guns or a farmer who has not even a shotgun. It is stupid,
arrogant, and a festering indication of an effete society.

Were I in their situation (house overrun by aliens), there would be
an absolute onslaught of handgun fire--but that's me.

Well, to be sure, that's why the aliens in Signs must have had a lot of trouble in-say-Texas, not to mention certain neighborhoods in any large, American city.

posted by Mark at 9:11 PM

 
A technology exists that will reduce greenhouse gases. However environmentalists are very unlikely to embrace that technology or to insist it be developed.

The technology is nuclear power.
posted by Mark at 11:33 AM

 
Palestinian terrorists are hell bent on destroying Israel. However, they may just succeed in destroying instead their own people.
posted by Mark at 4:21 AM

 
Despite the croaking of handwringers in Congress and the media, preparations for the liberation of Iraq are proceeding apace.
posted by Mark at 4:13 AM

 
Some people in the Pentegon seem to have concluded that the Saudis are enemies of the United States and should be dealt with as such. They suggest seizing Saudi financial assets and occupying the oil fields, two things I think should have been done during the 1973 oil embargo.
posted by Mark at 3:56 AM

 
The US military may be making long overdue moves to establish a different kind of space defense.
posted by Mark at 3:49 AM

 
The collapse of one party rule, which began in countries like the Soviet Union and South Africa, may be about to spread to a most unexpected place.
posted by Mark at 2:58 PM

 
Speaking of West Wing, the Washington Times reports the following:

Is it the fiction of Tinseltown or bare-faced reality? Depends on how one connects the dots.
"NBC's 'West Wing' features President [Josiah] Bartlett as a liberal Democrat. But it turns out the three Republicans who served as consultants on the NBC drama have been told their services are no longer needed," noted CNN analyst Jonathan Karl.
"Peggy Noonan, Marlin Fitzwater and Frank Luntz are off the payroll. But Democratic consultants Dee Dee Myers and Gene Sperling have been asked to return," he continued.
Mr. Karl did not speculate on the meaning of it all, however.

However, I will. West Wing's drug addled creator, Andrew Sorkin, wants to make the series an even more left wing screed than it already is. To do that, a bunch of conservative consultants trying to inject reality into the situation would just get in the way.

posted by Mark at 3:27 AM

 
Robert Novak says that Tom Daschle is no Lyndon Johnson. And-despite what some Democratic Party political consultants suggest-that could be a bad thing for the Democrats this November.
posted by Mark at 3:23 AM

 
Apparently the producers of West Wing plan to insult the entire state of Indiana by depicting the people there as a bunch of fanatic, right wing Taliban who chase the Saintly President Bartlett (AKA Martin Sheen) clean out of the state with yells of "baby killer!" That certainly is an interesting programing strategy for a mass market network TV show. I can't wait for the Bartlett Campaign to show up in Texas.
posted by Mark at 9:02 AM

 
Rice University has a super computer with which they think they might be able to indulge in a little "psychohistory", as first suggested in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

Rice University will announce Monday it plans to build a computer that can perform roughly 1 trillion calculations a second.

That's enough brawn that some researchers at Rice believe they can predict the future, or at least forecast potential geopolitical conflicts by observing past patterns and analyzing information from all available media including newspapers and the Internet.

Such a simulation would need to analyze 3 million to 5 million events a year, the researchers say.

posted by Mark at 12:37 PM

 
Odyssey Five is an interesting SF series now running on Showtime Friday nights, with reruns on Sunday nights. The premise is that five astronauts are conducting a typical space shuttle mission when, mysteriously, the Earth blows up. An egnimatic alien rescues the crew and vamps their souls back five years with the mandate to find out who or what destroyed the Earth and them stop them. Think of the series as a cross between X-Files and Quantum Leap.

The acting and the writing are well done, for this sort of thing. Standouts include Peter Weller as grizzled old NASA pilot Chuck Taggert, Leslie Silva as a reporter (NASA seems to have revived the journalist in space program in this universe) Sarah Forbes who is also very interested in preventing the cancer and then death of her young son, and Sebastian Roche as British scientist Kurt Mandel who sees an opportunity to make a quick buck or two on betting on sports games.

Usually shows with secret conspiracies are over done. But last night's episode rang true and confirmed something I've long suspected. Part of the secret alien conspiracy to destroy the world involves stopping manned space flight. There you have it. Bill Proxmire, Walter Mondale, Robert Park, and all the rest are traitors to the human race.
posted by Mark at 12:31 PM

 
We just got back from seeing Signs, M. Night Shyamalan's "thinking man's" alien invasion movie staring Mel Gibson. While the movie was a compelling story and was a cinematic feast, it contained quite a few logic holes and science inaccuracies which were off putting.

I won't saying anything more, in the interest of not spoiling the movie, except to suggest that the aliens must have had a real hard time in Texas and-for entirely different reasons-Seattle.
posted by Mark at 6:26 PM

 
Bill Clinton's vow to fight and die for Israel is causing a lot of tittering, as for example by Rand Simberg. Clinton, as we all know, when offered the chance to serve his own country in uniform (and not necessarily to die or even fight), managed to decline.

Of course it is very unlikely that an old rue in his fifties is going to find himself in the infantry in any country's army. Why he would be moved to make such an offer-and why any audience would react to it with anything but gales of laughter-is something beyond my understanding.
posted by Mark at 4:04 AM

 
The National Research Council has recomended that NASA send a robotic sample return mission to the Aitkin Basin region of the lunar south pole. One of the concerns is that an automatic sample return would involve the development of a lot of unproven, high technology.

Here's my solution. We already know how to send a mission to the Moon and return with samples. That involves, though, sending a human instead of a robot. My suggestion is that we do exactly that,
posted by Mark at 4:46 AM

 
The following is courtesy of reader Steve Johnson:

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers
lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints by
QUANTAS pilots and the corrective action recorded by
mechanics. (By the way Quantas is the only major
airline that has never had an fatal accident.) P stands for
the problem the pilots entered in the log. S stands
for the corrective action taken by the mechanics.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.
S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back order!!

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200-fpm
descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for!

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windscreen.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.(note: this was for a
piston-engineered airplane;the pilot meant the engine
was not running smoothly).
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be
serious.

P: Radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed radar with words.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

posted by Mark at 6:19 PM

 
More evidence that campaign finance reform is a farce and a fraud.
posted by Mark at 11:21 AM

 
The first, tentative steps beyond Earth orbit may be taking place in some unexpected places.
posted by Mark at 4:18 AM

 
The Bush Administration has corrected an injustice which resulted from the Tailhook witchhunt which ruined the careers of many heroic naval aviators.
posted by Mark at 3:54 AM

 
Lawrence Henry makes the case for fudging history in the movies.
posted by Mark at 9:27 PM

 
The Senate Ethics Commitee decided to give Senator Torricelli a slap on the wrist, albeit one that may be hard enough to bounce him out of office in November.
posted by Mark at 8:08 PM

 
Boeing is working on anti gravity. Seriously.

Of course, if the technology works, the history of the world changes forever.
posted by Mark at 11:41 AM

 
The next mission to the Moon will launch in April of next year.
posted by Mark at 4:42 AM

 
With the vigor of George Armstrong Custer attacking the Indians, several Democrats who want to be President, accused George W. Bush of tanking the economy. With exquisite timing, they did so on a day when the DOW went up 447 points.
posted by Mark at 10:13 PM

 
The BBC has detected a renewed interest in exploring the Moon.
posted by Mark at 10:14 AM

 
NASA is looking to the private sector to help resupply the space station. The remarkable thing about this deal is that, unlike on previous occasions, NASA is not trying to micromanage the design of the resupply vehicle.
posted by Mark at 4:08 AM

 
Even more progress in helping the blind to see.
posted by Mark at 4:03 AM

 
Bill Clinton is still trying to do what Bill Clinton has always done best. Escape blame for a disaster of his own making.
posted by Mark at 9:38 PM

 
Michael Crichton is publishing a new novel in November, entitled Prey. Naturally it has already been picked up to be a major motion picture. It is about, I am told, nanotechnology.
posted by Mark at 12:00 PM

 
David Franzoni, who penned the script for Gladiator, has been hired to do the same for Hannibal, about the conquerer from Carthage to be directed by Ridley Scott (who also directed Gladiator) and will star Vin Diesel. That means that while Hannibal will be an entertaining, spectacular flick. It will likely, if Gladiator is any clue, have very little resemblence to what happened historically. That's too bad. While a little fudging on history for dramatic purposes is acceptable, Hollywood seems to be a bit lazy in telling stories from history which are compelling and riviting enough. A little research and a little creativity are needed to get things right and to tell a good story, in my humble opinion.
posted by Mark at 11:58 AM

 
More progress in the quest to help the blind to see.
posted by Mark at 12:39 PM

 
Senate Democrats will not call Robert Rubin, Clinton's former Treasury Secretary and top official at Citigroup, over that company's role in helping Enron cover up accounting deceptions. Well, of course not. The Democrats would not like what Rubin would have to say.
posted by Mark at 5:53 AM

 
When they gave Trafficant, who often finished his speaches with "beem me up,Mr. Speaker", the royal order of the boot, did Hasteret murmur, "Energize?"
posted by Mark at 5:49 AM

 
If the Senate Appropriators have their way, Pluto-Kuniper is on again.
posted by Mark at 10:44 AM

 
Tom Daschle is a loyal friend to the environmental extremist lobby. That is , except where the interests of his home state are concerned.
posted by Mark at 3:58 AM

 
The kidnapping of Erica Pratt has had a far happier ending than most recent ones. The spunky little girl managed to escape from her captors.
posted by Mark at 9:47 PM

 
The Democrat controlled Senate inadvertently did a good thing when it rejected both prescription drug bills. Both bills would have led to price controls and to a dwindling of private drug research and development.
posted by Mark at 3:59 PM

 
Ridley Scott, who single handedly revived the classical history epic with Gladiator, wants to do it again with a movie about Hannibal. That's the conquerer from Carthage, not the shrink with perculiar gourmet tastes.
posted by Mark at 12:31 PM

 
Could the real poster children of creative accounting crimes in the boardroom be Clinton's Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Senator Joe Leiberman? If so, what delicious irony.
posted by Mark at 12:21 PM

 
Speaking of moon rocks, four enterprising young people thought they had hit upon a way to get rich by taking advantage of the fact that (a) we have not explored the moon as much as we should and so (b) moon rocks on Earth are rare and thus valuable.
posted by Mark at 12:09 PM

 
Scientists have struck upon a reason to go back to the Moon. Not so much to look for moon rocks, but for ancient earth rocks.
posted by Mark at 3:40 AM

 
Gray Davis, not content with annoying and enraging the people of California, has found away to do the same to everybody in the other fourty nine states.
posted by Mark at 10:41 AM

 
Amazon.Com Canada is now up and running. Of course Children of Apollo is available there for discerning Canadian readers.
posted by Mark at 9:54 AM

 
All of the sudden, Liberal Democrats, who hated special prosecuters and endless investigations back in the 1990s, love them again.
posted by Mark at 9:10 AM

 
I just finished Slander: Liberal Lies about the American Right by Ann Coulter and I have to say that its rather impressive for the breadth of its venom, ire, and well documented descriptions of crimes and sins commited by the Left. I can attest that many of her complaints are based in reality. Liberals really do employ the technique of a six year old having a tantrum when arguing.

I suggest that when the time comes to force liberals to undego sensitivity training, they should be forced to read this book and then to pass essay tests on the text. Their constant demands for appeasement during the Cold War alone demand no less punishment.

posted by Mark at 8:22 PM

 
We saw K-19: The Widow Maker last night. It's an attempt to be a Soviet Cold War version of Das Boot and succeeds on certain levels. The movie is best when it shows how the Soviet Union valued Communist orthedoxy over the lives of the service men which defended Mother Russia and indeed common sense. Harrison Ford's sub skipper, at the beginning of the movie, mouths this sentiment when he sneers about another Captain, "He valued his boat and his crew over the needs of the Party."

By the end of the movie, Ford's charecter learns the implications of the system he operated under. A nuclear accident, exacerbated by incomptence of epic scale (the dock yard, for instance, had run out of radiation suits, so they substituted chemical suits instead; "They might as well be wearing rain coats!), threatens the boat and causes members of the crew to have to catch radiation poisoning and then die horribly in order to fix the problem.

The movie ends in 1989, the Wall having fallen, when the survivors of the K-19 gather to drink a toast to their fallen comrades, something they were never permitted to do while communism held sway.
posted by Mark at 5:30 AM

 
Former JSC Director George Abbey and astronaut John Young thinks we should go back to the Moon and then to Mars. I've heard John Young speak these sentiments before and, even at his advanced age, I tend to get the impression that he would be willing to command such missions.

Abbey, though, rings kind of hollow. When he was at NASA, he spent little time actually trying to advance the high frontier of space, but lots of time behaving like Captain Queeg. There was universal jubilation at NASA when he was shown the door last year.
posted by Mark at 4:48 AM

 
It was the dream of ages made reality. Now it is history, the experience of which is unimaginable to anyone who came of age after 20 July, 1969. But in a way the event of the Moon landing has receded into legend, even for the people who witnessed it on television with their own eyes. And there were a billion of us that night.

“It’s just like a science fiction movie,” someone said to me as we watched the event. The thing that made the Moon landing unique was that it had been imagined countless times in literature, on film, and even on television. The reality was all the more fantastic than the fiction because it was reality. The fact that two men had landed on the lunar surface and were preparing to walk on it made me feel giddy and awestruck all at the same time.

What happened during the two hours the first men spent on the Moon is well known. They collected rock and soil samples, they deployed scientific instruments, they took a call from the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, they uncovered a plaque which bore their names and their deed, and they raised the flag. It sounds mundane, just having written it. But because of where it happened, and all that had to be done to make it happen, it was an epic worthy of song and story.

But the first moon landing was worthy of such, especially, because of when it happened. Most people today, in the early years of the 21st Century, have no idea what a sordid, horrid time the late 1960s were. A grinding, endless, senseless war abroad, grinding, endless, senseless rebellion at home combined to make one wonder if the country could even survive. The moon landing was the one shining event which illuminated the gloom, and reassured that even in the worst of times, human beings were capable of magnificence that will be remembered long after the rest recedes into dim memory.

posted by Mark at 12:45 AM

 
I just finished the latest book in Harry Turtledove's superb alternate history series in which the Confederacy wins the Civil War and subsequently squares off against the United States on opposite sides of the First World War.

The book is entitled American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold. The story takes us through the other time line's equivilent of the roaring twenties, the great depression, and the rise of fascism in the Confederacy.

Turtledove has a wry sense of humor. Without giving away anything from the book, the reader should note who is President when the stock market crashes and who is elected to fix the subsequent economic collapse.

posted by Mark at 11:49 AM

 
Hillary Clinton seems to now regret having voted for Campaign Finance Reform.
posted by Mark at 10:52 AM

 
Looks like we shall not have to endure a national ID card or an army of voluntier snoops as the price for homeland security. Indeed there shall be a government official whose sole task will be to guard our civil liberties.

Whom do we have to thank for this? Is it Tom Daschele, Dick Gephardt, or some other liberal guardian of our rights. No, indeed. It is that right winger Dick Armey. Which just goes to show how stereotypes are often wrong.
posted by Mark at 3:31 AM

 
For those of you who missed my LA Times Op-Ed on the US space program, the Houston Chronicle has been kind enough to reprint it.
posted by Mark at 9:48 PM

 
Reader Harley W. Daugehtry tells the story behind the tune Taps:

We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, "Taps." It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes.

But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about it's humble beginnings.

Reportedly, it all began in 1862, during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.

During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention.

Crawling on this stomach, through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of a soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral.

The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician

The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" used at military funerals was born.

Day is done
Gone the sun
From the lakes
From the hills
From the sky.
All is well
Safety rest
God is nigh.

Fading light
Dims the sight
And a star
Gems the sky
Gleaming bright.
From afar
Drawing nigh
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise
For our days
'Neath the sun
'Neath the stars
'Neath the sky.
As we go
This we know
God is nigh.

I too, have felt the chills while listening to "Taps" but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either, so I thought I'd pass it along. I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before.

REMEMBER THOSE LOST AND HARMED WHILE SERVING THEIR COUNTRY.

Amen

posted by Mark at 4:35 AM

 
ABCNews.Com has an interesting article about the woes afflicting the current civil space program:

That leaves some wondering what to do with an expensive program that isn't meeting its intended goals. Some propose it's time private companies step in while others argue lawmakers should bite the bullet and provide the program with the funds it needs.

"The program has been unpredictable because NASA hasn't been able to manage itself," argues Mark Whittington, a space policy analyst. "I think if they turn over lower orbit missions to the private sector, it would free up a lot of money."

Currently NASA spends $400 million to $500 million per shuttle launch. Under a privatized plan, companies would compete for contracts to manage the shuttle and space station programs. The competition, says Whittington, would drive down costs and free up money for NASA to seek bigger missions like a manned journey to Mars.

It's a process that's already somewhat underway.

Since 1996, the United Space Alliance has taken over as a prime contractor in charge of 29 missions inside the shuttle program. Hundreds of government shuttle jobs were eliminated and the company estimates it has saved the government $1.2 billion since the contract began.

Still, Whittington argues NASA can go much farther to the point where private companies are managing the entire shuttle and space station programs. NASA administrator O'Keefe has suggested the agency is willing to eventually reach this kind of arrangement.

O'Keefe told a congressional committee last month that NASA hopes to avoid "potential continued cost growth for Shuttle operations by moving to a private organization that has greater flexibility to make business decisions that increase efficiency."

That Whittington fellow sounds like a pretty sharp space policy analyst, in my humble opinion.


posted by Mark at 1:06 PM

 
Thirty three years ago on this date, the greatest voyage of exploration ever undertaken by humans began. It began with a roar like a billion people shouting in triumph, and the great Apollo-Saturn rocket ascended, slowly at first, and then with gathering speed, on a tail of fire. As Prometheus took fire from heaven and brought it to Earth as a gift to Man, man was now taking fire back to heaven.
posted by Mark at 2:25 AM

 
Gray Davis doesn't seem to care howmany people in California hate him, so long as his fiend of a campaign manager can get them to hate Bill Simon more.
posted by Mark at 10:26 PM

 
Yahoo has chosen to collaborate with the Chinese communist regime in censoriing internet content that Beijing deems to be subversive or other wise "inappropriate" for the viewing of the Chinese people. This is pernicious and the management of Yahoo should be ashamed.
posted by Mark at 6:03 PM

 
Speilberg is ready to tackle the subject of King Arthur for HBO. That, with the Alexander series, makes two historical epics HBO is now producing.
posted by Mark at 10:48 AM

 
Michael Ledeen congratulates President Bush for joining the fighting for freedom in Iran.
posted by Mark at 10:27 AM

 
Marion C. Brodigan wants to hear from you.

All,

You are receiving this message as a part of the ECHO: Exploring and Collecting History Online Moonwalk community. At some point over the past year you stumbled upon our site, and submitted your personal memory of the Moonwalk, which has been published online. Next Saturday marks the 33rd anniversary of the moonwalk and we are still gathering memories to commemorate this important historical moment.

As a part of our research efforts, we were hoping that you could share with us, how you discovered our website and offer any feedback that you may have about collecting history online.

Please take a few minutes to reply.

posted by Mark at 3:37 AM

 
We watched the Robin Williams comedy special on HBO last night. For the most part, he was as funny as hell, even though he was obviously not on cocaine. Two exceptions. He had a tendency to tell rather lame "dumb Dubya" jokes, violating the cardinal rule of comedy that humor should have some resemblence to reality. He also stole the "72 Virginians" story which has been on the net for months and was related here by yours truly.

Robin, the weblog community will be expecting the royalty check at any time.
posted by Mark at 3:22 AM