Monthly Archives: May 2015

Moon shot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punk Rock

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The Apollo 11 mission was the first to land human beings on a planetary body other than Earth. You know, unless you’re into that whole Xenu/Thetan/Teegeeack thing.  If that’s the case, then you may have the following as a tattoo.

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The picture of Neil Armstrong above may be my favorite NASA photo. Joy, accomplishment, excitement.  No perception of space exploration abandonment to come.

I wrote a paper in my Hesston High School English Class (taught by Current Phoenix AZ City Manager Ed Zuercher) about Woodstock.  Ed told us to choose an American historical event.  I ended up writing an account of how my Uncle Dave flew a Piper Cub over the hovel of Hippie Stink of Woodstock weekend.  Besides the facts that my Uncle is a pilot and I’m certain Woodstock was the apex of Free Love Aroma, it was an entirely fictional account.  If I remember the assignment correctly, it was supposed to be non-fiction.  Sorry about that Ed.  I’m also sorry that I asked your then girlfriend (now wife I think) to dance at some horrible HHS dance in the Commons.  She was a good sport about it and you were too.

I don’t really know what Punk Rock is.  I didn’t know it existed until I was in college probably.  There’s such a range.  MC5, The Stooges, Sex Pistols, Blondie, Talking Heads, Rancid, The Runaways, Mekons, Ramones…  Maybe it’s just music.

Birth control, Ho Chi-Minh, Richard Nixon back again

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Since I just got done reading about various Popes and Catholic edicts, I’m not sure that a diatribe on birth control is worth it.

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Summary: So far, we haven’t figured out how to live in numbers off this planet.  We’re heading towards 8 BILLION people.  I am not skilled at the maths, but I do remember a fruit fly experiment in biology from 7th grade.  You know, the one where the fruit files live in a controlled amount of space and are given enough food to eat?  Yeah, they all die.

More importantly, choice.

Ho HO Ho.

Nguyen That Thanh born 1890, Marxist, Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City after his death.

Richard Nixon survives 5 o’clock shadow and the suffocating charm of JFK to become 37th POTUS.  Serving from 1969 until leaving office in 1974 for completely unknown, undocumented, and wholly mysterious reasons.

The only redeeming thing about Nixon may be his middle name.  Very similar to George Wanker Bush.

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician Sex

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Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, Paulus PP. VI, Il Papa, Kick-ass caller of Vatican II

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Gio served on St. Peter’s Rock from 1963 until his death in 1978.  He succeeded Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli (John XXIII) and was followed by the brief Papal term of Albino Luciani (john Paul I).  JP I was gone in 33 days and followed by Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II).

This rapid progression of Papal Throne Owners resulted in 1978 becoming the most recent “Year of Three Popes”.  There was actually a “Year of Four Popes” in 1276, less of a result of multiple Popes dying within a calendar year and more of a result of schisms; multiple Papal claimants.

Amazing that The Church still sells the direct and continuous lineage thing.

Malcolm X was born in Omaha and assassinated in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965.

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British Politician is most likely a reference to The Profumo Affair.  John was 46, his inamorata Christine was a 19 year old dancer from London who spoke mostly of makeup and records.

This one was a SLOG.

Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

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In the course of this song, the “Ole Miss” reference is mostly likely tied (due to chronology) to James Howard Meredith

 

I certainly don’t have even a minuscule fraction of the courage Mr. Meredith has.  I hate Old Miss because they’re a horrible SEC school.  Mr. Meredith fundamentally changed how our educational institutions believe.

I can barely get off the couch.

John Glenn was born with a set of adamantium testicles.  I pretty sure NASA had about a 40% rate of confidence that they could get Glenn into space and back again safely.  After his first orbit aboard Friendship 7 the automatic systems designed to control the flight of the craft failed and he manually flew the remainder of the mission.  During subsequent orbits , his sensors reported that the heatshield, designed to keep him from turning into man-bacon upon re-entry, was “loose”. He came back to earth anyway.  This page has some EXCELLENT photos.

The 1962 Heavyweight Title boxing match between Charles “Sonny” Liston and Floyd Patterson was billed as “The Most Lucrative Fight In History”.  Ring-side seats cost $100 (or $782 in 2015 money).  Ring-side seats for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight of May 2015 cost $87,000 (or the annual GNP of the Belgian Congo in 1962).  AND, Liston and Patterson actually HIT each other.