The grass is green and needs to be mowed, the weeds are getting tall and need pulling, the garage is cluttered and needs to be cleaned out. The weather, however, has other plans. It rained yesterday, and on into the night. The forecast for today is cloudy and chilly with showers, perhaps mixed with snow late.
Today will be a day to stay inside for many of us. The warmth of the fireplace, the smell of a good book, the companionship of our loved ones all draw us inside on blustery days like today. While the chickens peck around on the wet ground, the cat sleeps on the heater vent.
As much as I bemoan our lack of sun and heat here in the Pacific Northwest, I have (in general) learned to appreciate the rain. Not today, mind you, but some day when it isn't raining, I will appreciate it.
The space shuttle Enterprise had its maiden "flight" on on this day in 1977. Anchored atop an extensively modified Boeing 747 airliner, it was the first of eight captive flights where Enterprise would remain secured to the plane during the trip.
It was 1976, and NASA had picked the name Constitution for this first orbiter as a celebration of the US bicentennial. Bjo Trimble, unquestionably the most famous and influential fan in Star Trek history, launched a letter writing campaign, asking fans to send letters and petitions asking that the name be changed to Enterprise.
The White House was soon flooded with thousands of letters asking that the orbiter be named Enterprise. Yes, I readily admit it. My letter was among those sent to Washington D.C. Although President Gerald Ford never mentioned the campaign, the president said that he was "partial to the name" because he had served aboard the carrier USS Monterey that served with USS Enterprise and overrode NASA officials.
Letter writing campaigns allow you to speak your mind, to encourage and inspire others, to display your passion and ideas. Take Sarah Hale as an example. Prior to the US Civil War, she promoted a letter writing campaign to Presidents Pierce and Buchanan (as well as other local, state and national politicians) declaring that a Day of Thanksgiving might be the way to avoid a war. She didn't stop writing until President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day an annual federal holiday, 17 years after her first letter.
There would be five more flights where Enterprise was carried to a launch height and then jettisoned through the use of explosive bolts, allowed to glide to a landing on the runways at Edwards AFB under its own control. These flights were intended to test the flight characteristics of the orbiter on a typical approach and landing profile from orbit. For those of us who were part of the letter writing campaign to name the shuttle Enterprise, the flights were not merely tests, but rather a testament to a vision of a future based on cooperation and harmony.
Whatever your passion, whatever your desire, whatever you feel strongly about, write about it. Let it become your testament to the future.
According to Live Casino Direct.com, black jack is the most widely played of all casino games. Based upon the straightforward (yet not entirely easy) principle of getting your cards to amount as close to 21 as possible (without going over), blackjack can produce high payouts and has relatively decent chances of winning.
Still, even armed with that knowledge, I was surprised to find this recent posting on Bellingham Craigslist:
"We are looking for a blackjack dealer with appropriate attire to deal at our wedding! It would be a fun game for prizes. No real cash. We need you August 11 from 8-midnight. Please email if you are interested!"
Location of wedding
- check. Caterer - check. Music - check. Someone to watch Aunt Esmeralda who drinks too much and tends to wander away - check. Blackjack, poker, slot machines, craps and roulette tables with play money so no one loses their life savings and gets into drunken fights - check.
Another business opportunity lost to my inability to understand what people really want.
Is getting married a gamble? The current statistics for all marriages say about 50% end in divorce. Of those, 6 to 8 years is the typical range before the couple divorces. Those are the odds.
In gambling, the odds are heavily in the favor of the casinos, yet individuals spend billions of dollars on gambling every year. Compared to a little ball randomly slamming around a roulette wheel with about a 6% shot at winning, a 50-50 chance starts to look pretty good.
Unlike gambling, however, in a marriage you can stack the odds in your favor. There are factors that are out of your control but the majority of the factors in a marriage that have the biggest impact are in your hands. Much like anything else, if you are willing to work at it your life experience will help stack the odds in your favor. Once you do that, it is no longer a gamble.
Perhaps it is fitting, after all, to play blackjack at your wedding, as it is a good example of what your marriage will not be: against the odds. Deal me in.
Ask not for whom the wayback machine calls; it call for thee. Mixing John Donne and Mr. Peabody is a fitting segue into Space Pirate Radio.
A good friend recently came upon The Melting Watchtowre, the official page of Guy Guden and Space Pirate Radio. I was only a casual listener and not among the diehard fan
s who spent Sunday night from midnight until 6:00 am on Monday morning listening to electronic music with some of Guy's original comedy pieces (sometimes brief but always sharp) thrown in for color.
Still, this chance encounter with the past stirred many a memory for me. The giant ants on the side of the Granada Theater is easily the most vivid visual remembrance. I would typically listen to the first and last 30 or so minutes, as sleep would call and win, despite my best efforts and willingness to blow off the 7:00 am calculus class at SBCC. To paraphrase Guy, it was night music for night people. "Sponsored" by the Nippon Gin Company of Tokyo, the ads included Godzilla Stout Malt Liquor and the infamous Rodan Light White ("One sip, and you too will say...BANZAI!").
Despite the years, there are a number of threads across this vast electronic playground that focus on SPR and/or Guy, and at least two Facebook pages. I last thought about both when I was selling off my vinyl collection a few years back and found someone who wanted my copy of his 1978 release. The fan base still exists and it is good to know he is alive and well out there, somewhere.
Alvin Toeffler said “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” I relish in Guy's ability to re-invent himself again and again.
