Category Archives: Social Commentary

Merry Christmas, Everyone

December 25, 2018 Rand Simberg 18 Comments

From our household, which just doubled in size with the new additions to the family.

We’d been catless since Rerun died of abdominal cancer sixteen months ago. We hadn’t replaced her because (in addition to the fact that she was irreplaceable) things have been too crazy, with me traveling so much and the Florida house. But on Saturday, we decided to get ourselves a Christmas present, and provide one for cats that needed a home. They’re sisters, six weeks old, part of a litter of four (the other two were boys, who were adopted as well, by another couple). They’d been found in a homeless encampment in LA; their feral mother was ill with pneumonia and too sick to feed them, so they were raised on a bottle. But they’re very friendly and love to be held, and to fight with each other. I think they’ll grow up to be good cats, and good companions, to us and to each other.

Yesterday, her second day in the house, the dark one on the right fell off the living-room ledge halfway down the stairs (about a ~~six~~four-foot drop to a carpeted step), which literally scared the poop out of her. But we cleaned it up, and she seems to be using the litter box now.

And here (via Instapundit) is a little Christmas gift from Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma.

[Mid-afternoon update]

Something I hadn't done in a long time: Made Christmas cookies with my late mother's 50s-era cookie gun. Martha Stewart recipe. pic.twitter.com/rekf1WzYld

— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) December 25, 2018

[Evening update]

For those curious, here is the recipe. I’ve long ago lost the box that the gun came in, but still have all the pieces, and keep them in a gallon ziplock, including the original instructions. I’m not sure which of the recipes she used (or I have, in the past) but they all require refrigeration before loading the gun, which is a PITA, especially if making multiple batches for different colors. What I liked about the Stewart recipe is that it can be done at room temperature, and it worked pretty much perfectly. But (as one commenter notes), do not use unsifted flour. It will make it far too dense if you measure it unsifted. Fortunately, I also have an ancient sifter from the same era (which I rarely use, now that I don’t bake much on a keto-ish diet).

History, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Social Commentary, Space, Space History, Technology and Society

Apollo 8

December 21, 2018 Rand Simberg 14 Comments

Half a century ago today, a spaceship left earth to take astronauts not just beyond LEO, but all the way to and around the moon. That was when we won the race.

Bob Zimmerman reflects.

[Update Sunday morning]

More thoughts from John Wenz. This statement isn’t inaccurate, but it is a little misleading:

It was the first time humanity had orbited another body that wasn’t our home planet.

Yes, it was, but some have concluded from that fact that they weren’t orbiting earth. None of the Apollo missions left earth orbit, because they never reached escape velocity, and when you orbit a moon that is in orbit around a planet, you remain in orbit around that planet along with it. No human has ever left earth orbit, but Elon seems to have the most serious plans to do so.

One other point, unrelated to Wentz’s piece. I was looking at the Wikipedia page for the mission, and found this bit of (misleading, at best) history:

On August 9, 1968, Low discussed the idea with Gilruth, Flight Director Chris Kraft, and the Director of Flight Crew Operations, Donald Slayton. They then flew to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, where they met with KSC Director Kurt Debus, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips, Rocco Petrone, and Wernher von Braun. Kraft considered the proposal feasible from a flight control standpoint; Debus and Petrone agreed that the next Saturn V, AS-503, could be made ready by December 1; and von Braun was confident that the pogo oscillation problems that had afflicted Apollo 6 had been fixed. Almost every senior manager at NASA agreed with this new mission, citing confidence in both the hardware and the personnel, along with the potential for a circumlunar flight providing a significant morale boost. The only person who needed some convincing was James E. Webb, the NASA administrator. Backed by the full support of his agency, Webb authorized the mission. Apollo 8 was officially changed from a “D” mission to a “C-Prime” lunar-orbit mission.

Webb may have authorized it in August, in the sense of changing the mission category, but this was probably to keep the option open, not because he supported doing it. I’m pretty sure he continued to oppose it, and it may be that one of the reasons for his retirement in October was to not have it happen on his watch (though he probably would have left anyway in the New Year, with the incoming administration of Nixon). Tom Paine (who did favor it), as Acting Administrator, actually made final approval in November, a few weeks before the flight.

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