Showing posts with label Moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moon. Show all posts

January 11, 2023

Once In a Blue Moon

A blue moon. 

It actually happened! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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August 21, 2019

The Apollo 11 Mission: 50 Year Anniversary

Remembering the Apollo mission that landed a man on the moon on July 20, 1969 (50 years and 1 month ago yesterday...sorry, I'm late on this post). 

Thought this model (scale 1:48) of the command ship and lunar lander in the NASA store was perfect. 

It truly is miraculous that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldin made this journey.

In just 8 days, they made the round trip between the earth and the moon, traveling about 240,000 miles each way. 

And they walked on the moon for about 3 hours--I want to try that!

Even until today, the U.S. remains the only country to have actually put men on the moon (total of 12). 

"One small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind."

Now it's high time that we get ourselves to Mars already and colonize it!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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May 25, 2019

Sizing Fashion And More

So it was interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today...

There is an obesity problem in the U.S. 

But the statistics in terms of the typical sizes of fashion (for women) has been "largely" overlooked.

The biggest size most fashion brands even bother to sell is: 12

"Only 7% of womenswear stocked at multi-brand retailers is a size 14 or above."

But the average American dress size is between between 16 and 18!

The typical runway model is size 2.  

BTW, I think men have the same problem with sizing.

There was another thing about measurement in the WSJ today having to do with measuring time. 

Day is measured by the earth rotation (on its axis). 

Year by the rotation around the sun.

Month by rotation of the moon. 

Earth, Sun, and Moon...give us time. 

Now we need to take all the wonderful time we have measured and not spend it all eating.  ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal @Ripley's Believe It or Not)
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April 11, 2019

Israel 4th Nation To Reach the Moon Surface - Mazel Tov!


What an unbelievable achievement for Israel. 

Even without a soft landing, Israel is the 4th country in the world to reach the moon surface.

The Moon Club of Just Four:
USA - The Most Powerful
Russia - The Largest by Landmass
China - The Largest by Number of People
Israel - The Holy Land!

Mazel Tov on this truly great accomplishment.

We are all so proud of you!  ;-)
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November 18, 2018

@Garden Of Light -- Brookside Gardens


















(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

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July 12, 2018

Israel To Space

Please see my new article in Times of Israel, "Israel's Ladder To Space."

So proud of Israel's planning to join the Big 3 countries (U.S., Russia, and China) to land on the moon.

Amazing what even a relatively small in size and new nation like Israel can set their sights on and please G-d accomplish with G-d's help.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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August 20, 2017

Solar Eclipse 2017

In honor of the solar eclipse tomorrow, the local grocery store was selling these cool celebratory pies!

Everyone is excited about this eclipse that is cutting a path across the U.S. 

The last one that did this was almost 100 years ago in 1918.

It's a magnificent thing to see two amazing and large celestial spheres like this literally cross paths. 
"Hi sun."
"Hello moon."
"Nice to meet you!" 

We are so small in the realm of these universal things...it's almost funny how big we think we are. 

Yet, we have so much ambition and desire to be bigger--to solve problems, innovate, and delve into the depths of the sea and to the far reaches of heavens.

You can blot out the sun, but we'll still figure out all the details on precisely when, where, and which goo goo goggles to wear so we don't hurt our eyes. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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October 25, 2013

Rock Into Space

Very excited by news in the Wall Street Journal on advances for Space Tourism. 

Paragon Space Development Corp is developing a space helium-filled balloon to take us into the wild-blue (and black) yonder. 

The balloon will be as wide as a football field.

It will transport 8 people to an altitude of 18 miles, high enough to move around for about 6 hours and get a "panoramic view of the globe without having to wear space suits of don oxygen masks."

The cost will be about $75,000 per person--which seems almost doable for middle class folks who want the ultimate travel experience. 

In contrast, Virgin Galactic will rocket passengers 60 miles high where customers can experience weightlessness for about $250,000. 

Other ventures are developing offerings of trips to the International Space Station, an orbiting hotel, and even the moon. 

I think it would be so awesome to experience space travel and see G-d's creations in a whole new perspective-filled way. 

It's amazing, we are so small in the realm of things, yet we fallaciously think we are so big. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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September 8, 2013

For Somebody Who Has Everything

What do you get somebody who has everything? 

Well check this out...


You can actually buy acreage on the moon through The Lunar Registry, "Earth's leading lunar real estate agency."


Based on The Outer Space Treaty, no country can own a celestial resource such as the moon, planet, or asteroid, but this doesn't preclude private entities and individuals from purchasing a "lunar land claim."


The Space Settlement Institute, which "promotes the human colonization and settlement of outer space" is lobbying for the U.S. to recognize these space land claims (PopSci).


According to their website, when you purchase real estate through the lunar registry, "your property ownership is permanently registered by the International Lunar Lands Registry in its annual publication, which is copyrighted and deposited in the United States Library of Congress and with international patent and trademark offices."


You can view available properties here, from the Sea of Vapors ("moon on a budget" for $18.95 per acre--near Crater Manilius) to Lake of Dreams ("most popular" for $34.25 per acre and a special "Sweathearts package with 2 acres side-by-side).


Properties can be viewed at The Full Moon Atlas through The Luna Society.


I found Lake of Dreams by its reference in sector B-4, although I couldn't really tell from the atlas whether this was a place that I'd like to settle down or not. 


In real estate, they alway say "location, location, location"--when you're buying on the moon, who the heck knows? ;-)


(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

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January 28, 2012

Hello From Moon Colony

What can be more thrilling than the promise of space exploration and the virtually limitless possibilities that it holds. 

Since the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, the first manned mission to land on the moon, we have dreamed of the next step in terms of an actual colony of humans living there. 

In 1975, the science fiction TV show Space: 1999, that many of you may still remember, envisioned what this space colony could look like (until a nuclear mishap sends the colony hurling through space). 

From 1984, you can see attached, a NASA's artist rendering of a colonized moon along with astronauts and lunar rover.

Now in 2012, with the presidential campaigning in full swing, we are hearing the promise of such a manned lunar colony once again and it is still just as exciting as ever.

One candidate, called for the lunar colony to be bustling with commercial activity by 2020--wouldn't that be amazing!

While it was funny when this candidate said that once the colony reached 13,000 American inhabitants, they can petition to become a state, it also somehow brought it into a new perspective and made it so real--like could this really happen one day? 

The idea of expanding beyond our limits here on Earth, making new discoveries, tapping into potential new resources, and harnessing ever greater innovation from such exploration can bring hope of a better, brighter tomorrow to all. 

Note to self: must haves for a lunar colony--aside from a place of worship, a great fitness center and some nice restaurants, we'll need the Internet, iPhone, Netflix, and Xbox (and Facebook would be a plus) ;-)

(Source Photo: here)


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October 13, 2007

NASA and Enterprise Architecture

First all of all let me say that NASA and its people are totally awesome.

On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.” (NASA)

The trip to from the earth to the moon is approximately 240,000 miles!! (adapted from Wikipedia)

“Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours on the Moon, two-and-a-half of them outside the landing module. A further 10 astronauts traveled to the Moon in another six missions with the final manned lunar landing, Apollo 17, completed in December 1972.” (adapted from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

On 20 September, 2005, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced a New Spaceship Designed for Travel to Moon and Mars. Griffin defended the $104 billion dollar lunar program, saying it is intended to make President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration a reality. The price of the new lunar program will be spread out over 13 years and adjusted for inflation represents about 55 percent of what the Apollo space program cost in the 1970s. (adapted from globalsecurity.org)

Question:
Why haven’t we been able to send man back to the moon (or to other planets in the last 35 years)? And why do we need to invest another $104 billion to do something that we should already know how to do? Finally, if we were able to go to the moon before the unbelievable technological advances of the last 35 years, why can’t we do it today?

Honest answer:
I don’t really know.

Hypothetical answers:
  • The alien technology that we acquired to make the trips to the moon has either been depleted or destroyed by the Russians. (Ha ha ha)
  • User-centric EA wasn’t around 35 years ago, and therefore, the business and technical processes, information, and means of governance weren’t well documented and have been lost to mankind, and now we need to recreate the whole darn thing (hopefully not).


Barring another Roswell alien landing, we will have to thank the Clinger-Cohen Act for helping us ensure that this critical (and expensive) information is better documented going forward.


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