Author: patd

Doggedly deep into the depressive dog days of summer that Wiki says

Various computations of the dog days have placed their start anywhere from 3 July to 15 August and lasting for anywhere from 30 to 61 days.

and the Iliad describes as:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky
On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.

 

Pretty soon you’re talking real money.

New York Times: Federal Budget Would Raise Spending by $320 Billion

 

Beware of more squirrels than usual this week.

 

Jeffrey Kluger, editor-at-large at Time magazine, recounts the human landmark of landing men on the lunar surface. Kluger talks with Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins and astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and, in archive footage, hears from mission commander Neil Armstrong about the achievement of the first Moon landing, and of the “magnificent desolation” they found there.

However, this rather than the above really captures the adventure on a personal level for an astronaut in his own eloquent words.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which first landed American astronauts on the moon’s surface. Of the intrepid crew, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have tended to dominate public attention, but it was pilot Michael Collins who flew the command module to the moon — and faced his own distinct concerns about the return trip. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.