On the
anniversary of the flight of "Laika, the first dog in space"
Expert
talks to his Italian barber.
The
barber is impressed with 'Laika's' trip into space. Says
'alika this', 'laika that'. Not happy with dog being sent
to her death.
Expert
says, 'laika's not her name, it's her breed. She's NOT 'laika',
she's A laika.'
Barber
says no way. "She's-a no laika', he replies. 'she's-a have-a
no choice.'
- anonymous
NASA Administrator Goldin criticised Dennis Tito for
going ahead with his trip but praised Hollywood filmmaker
James Cameron as a true "American patriot" for delaying
his aspirations to go into space until NASA was ready
for him. Cameron is a Canadian.
- "Space
tourist sheds tears remembering his trip", By Karl Emerick
Hanuska 09:29EDT 05-08-01
Man
is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft... and
the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
- Wernher
von Braun
In a rare example of NASA humor, the spacecraft which captured
the first high-resolution images of the surface of Venus by synthetic aparture radar was originally designated the Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar, or
VOIR, pronounced, roughly speaking,"voyuer". It was, after all, intended to steal a glimpse of Venus, the goddess of love, beneath her veil of
clouds. Two years later the name had to be changed to Magellan when Headquarters finally got the joke.
- Anonymous
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely,
mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's
a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's
just peanuts to space.
-
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Navajo Wisdom
About
1966 or so, a NASA team doing work for the Apollo moon
mission took the astronauts near Tuba City where the
terrain of the Navajo Reservation looks very much like
the Lunar surface. Along with all the trucks and
large vehicles, there were two large figures dressed
in full Lunar spacesuits.
Nearby
a Navajo sheep herder and his son were watching the
strange creatures walk about, occasionally being tended
by personnel. The two Navajo people were noticed
and approached by the NASA personnel. Since the
man did not know English, his son asked for him what
the strange creatures were and the NASA people told
them that they are just men that are getting ready to
go to the moon.
The
man became very excited and asked if he could send a
message to the moon with the astronauts. The NASA personnel
thought this was a great idea so they rustled up a tape
recorder. After the man gave them his message,
they asked his son to translate. His son would
not.
Later,
they tried a few more people on the reservation to translate
and every person they asked would chuckle and then refuse
to translate.
Finally,
with cash in hand, someone translated the message, "Watch
out for these guys, they come to take your land."
Joseph Kleinman
The biggest difference between time and space is that you
can't reuse time.
- Merrick
Furst
Your
Co-worker Could Be a Space Alien, Say Experts
...Here's How You Can Tell
Many Americans work side by side with space aliens who
look human -- but you can spot these visitors by looking
for certain tip-offs, say experts. They listed 10 signs
to watch for:
-
#3. Bizarre sense of humor. Space aliens who don't
understand earthly humor may laugh during a company
training film or tell jokes that no one understands,
said Steiger.
-
#6. Misuses everyday items. "A space alien may use
correction fluid to paint its nails," said Steiger.
-
#8. Secretive about personal life-style and home.
"An alien won't discuss details or talk about what
it does at night or on weekends."
-
#10. Displays a change of mood or physical reaction
when near certain high-tech hardware. "An alien may
experience a mood change when a microwave oven is
turned on," said Steiger.
The
experts pointed out that a co-worker would have to display
most if not all of these traits before you can positively
identify him as a space alien.
- National
Enquirer, Michael Cassels, August, 1984.
- [I
thought everybody laughed at company training films. -Ed.]
Oh, give me a locus where the gravitons focus
Where the three-body problem is solved,
Where the microwaves play down at three degrees K,
And the cold virus never evolved. (chorus)
We eat algea pie, our vacuum is high,
Our ball bearings are perfectly round.
Our horizon is curved, our warheads are MIRVed,
And a kilogram weighs half a pound. (chorus)
If we run out of space for our burgeoning race
No more Lebensraum left for the Mensch
When we're ready to start, we can take Mars apart,
If we just find a big enough wrench. (chorus)
I'm sick of this place, it's just McDonald's in space,
And living up here is a bore.
Tell the shiggies, "Don't cry," they can kiss me goodbye
'Cause I'm moving next week to L4! (chorus)
CHORUS: Home, home on LaGrange,
Where the space debris always collects,
We possess, so it seems, two of Man's greatest dreams:
Solar power and zero-gee sex.
--Home on Lagrange (The L5 Song) © 1978 by William S. Higgins and Barry D. Gehm
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