Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Photo (c) Ted Gaskins
Bataan Memorial Death March
If you are in great shape, you can do this 26.2 miles walk (run?) in the southern New Mexico desert this March 21. If not, maybe you can be in shape by next year. You might even be able to meet some of the survivors of the original death march. If you have never heard of the Bataan Death March in WWII, read this.
The freedoms we enjoy were purchased by some at a terrible price.
Monday, February 23, 2004
EARTH WOBBLE
ARe you getting dizzy?
The earth wobbles as it revolves around the sun, much like a toy top begins to wobble as it slows down. The point directly above the north pole is about 1 degree away from the "North Star" but this variues by a tiny bit over time. Technically put, this is the "Earth Orientation." This must be important to someone since the Earth Orientation is carefully mapped over time. The image above maps our wobble from 1996-2000. Technical information about all of this is here. I just thought some of you would like to know. Try not to feel a little tipsy as we wobble through space.
ARe you getting dizzy?
The earth wobbles as it revolves around the sun, much like a toy top begins to wobble as it slows down. The point directly above the north pole is about 1 degree away from the "North Star" but this variues by a tiny bit over time. Technically put, this is the "Earth Orientation." This must be important to someone since the Earth Orientation is carefully mapped over time. The image above maps our wobble from 1996-2000. Technical information about all of this is here. I just thought some of you would like to know. Try not to feel a little tipsy as we wobble through space.
Monday, February 16, 2004
VALENTINE'S DAY
Another Valentine's Day has come and gone. Merchants happily sold huge quantities of cards, flowers, and sweets - especially chocolate. I took my favorite girl to the movies. We thought we would catch a 1 PM show and beat the crowds. The rest of the world must have had the same idea.
We went to SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE. It really is a great movie. There are a lot of very funny scenes plus some poignant ones. It is a good date movie, especially for those of us that are "of a certain age." Folks in their 20s and 30s will find the movie funny and enjoyable but those of us with a couple more decades of life experience will truly be able to savor its richer undertones.
The closeups of Diane Keaton are so refreshing because they reveal a woman that has not fallen to the usual Hollywood temptation to "Joan Riverize" her face. Her portrayal of a woman that thinks romance has long since fled her life is excellent. She can't see why her daughter (Amanda Peet) would be interested in someone of Jack Nicholson's age, only to turn around and find herself dating a young admirer. Jack Nicholson's comedic charms are as well developed as his very dramatic presence. The rest of the cast deliver fine performances.
In short, two adults "of a certain age" struggle with their own identity, date persons two or three decades younger, and learn to discover or re-discover, with quite a few pitfalls along the way, who they really are.
Find a good friend and go. If you have a sweetheart to take, that would be even better.
After the movie we went to one of our favorite restaurants, only to find that even at 3:30 in the afternoon there was a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait. Ahhh! Valentine's Day. Our romantic dinner will wait until another day.
Another Valentine's Day has come and gone. Merchants happily sold huge quantities of cards, flowers, and sweets - especially chocolate. I took my favorite girl to the movies. We thought we would catch a 1 PM show and beat the crowds. The rest of the world must have had the same idea.
We went to SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE. It really is a great movie. There are a lot of very funny scenes plus some poignant ones. It is a good date movie, especially for those of us that are "of a certain age." Folks in their 20s and 30s will find the movie funny and enjoyable but those of us with a couple more decades of life experience will truly be able to savor its richer undertones.
The closeups of Diane Keaton are so refreshing because they reveal a woman that has not fallen to the usual Hollywood temptation to "Joan Riverize" her face. Her portrayal of a woman that thinks romance has long since fled her life is excellent. She can't see why her daughter (Amanda Peet) would be interested in someone of Jack Nicholson's age, only to turn around and find herself dating a young admirer. Jack Nicholson's comedic charms are as well developed as his very dramatic presence. The rest of the cast deliver fine performances.
In short, two adults "of a certain age" struggle with their own identity, date persons two or three decades younger, and learn to discover or re-discover, with quite a few pitfalls along the way, who they really are.
Find a good friend and go. If you have a sweetheart to take, that would be even better.
After the movie we went to one of our favorite restaurants, only to find that even at 3:30 in the afternoon there was a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait. Ahhh! Valentine's Day. Our romantic dinner will wait until another day.
Friday, February 13, 2004
Sumo Wrestling, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.
CURFEW
The following column is from the humorist who wrote "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Daughter." When you are done reading this column, I suggest you check out his website. I should add that it is difficult to identify with the story below since I NEVER did anything to embarass my children when they were teenagers.
THE CURSE OF CURFEW
By W. Bruce Cameron
My eyelids snap open at exactly twenty-two hundred hours, responding to an inner alarm that sounds whenever a daughter is out on a school night. Curfew has darkened the land, and any children caught outside the perimeter are now subject to arrest and the torture of telephone deprivation.
I pad down the stairs to my daughter's bedroom. Every light is on and her stereo is blaring, sure signs that
she's not home. It is now two minutes after ten o'clock, and normally I'd call 911 but those people got surly with me last time because I phoned it in as a "possible child abduction" due to the fact that my daughter's date wore an earring.
I glance out the window and freeze: The boy's car is in the driveway.
Well okay. I flick on the outside lights, helpfully flipping them on and off a few dozen times so the occupants of the car will know what time it is.
There's no reaction. I peer at the vehicle, but the windows are dark and pitiless, coated with the light mist that is falling. What are they doing out there?
Well, that was a bad question to ask myself! I try another burst of light-flicking just to give myself something to do, but I know the only way I'm going to be able to settle this matter is to go out there, knock politely on the window, and spray the two of them with the garden hose.
I'm not garbed for such a diplomatic undertaking--I have on a pair of pajama bottoms and nothing else. What I need is some protection against the elements, something waterproof. With chains and hooks hanging from it. And grenades.
Okay. I open the coat closet and discover where my son put all the junk last time he cleaned the living room. I could try my own bedroom closet, but I don't want to take the time. For my bare feet I find a pair of duck slippers--big, puffy clunkers with plastic duck heads on them. There are no umbrellas, but I do find a hat--one of those hunter caps with ear flaps that tie under the chin. This one is an incandescent orange so that fellow hunters won't think that maybe they ought to open fire on the thing wearing the ear flaps in case it is a deer. The hat is so bright it seems to be giving off its own light--I look like a cross between Elmer Fudd and a road flare.
Naturally, even though I am searching through a coat closet in my house, none of my own coats are available. I finally decide to struggle into one of my kids' old jackets, a nylon job with a picture of Daffy Duck on the back. I have something of an outdoors motif going.
I survey myself in the mirror before heading out. Regrettably, the tight hem of the jacket falls a couple inches short of bridging the gap to my pajama waist, creating the odd illusion that my stomach sticks out in a roll of belly flesh. I toy with the idea of tying the ear flaps under my chin, but decide not to go that formal. I grab a flashlight and step
out into the rain.
I'd forgotten that my duck slippers quack when I walk in them, which threatens to ruin the element of surprise. Actually, it is less a "quack" then a "wheeze," as if the ducks are lifetime smokers.
I bang on the implacable car windows, wait a moment, and then yank the door open, the car alarm splitting the night air.
No one is inside.
When I get back into the house, my daughter and her date are standing in the kitchen, looking concerned as
I quack in out of the rain.
"Hi!" I call cheerfully.
"I just needed to use the telephone..." the boy stammers uncertainly. With a quick glance back at my daughter, he scampers out of the house.
"Oh, Dad, how could you do that?" my daughter demands, whirling and bolting from the room.
I stand there in the middle of the kitchen, scratching my head.
How could I do WHAT?
The Cameron Column, A Free Internet Newsletter
Copyright W. Bruce Cameron 2003
www.wbrucecameron.com
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Dunk Tank, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.
TOO CHEERFUL LATELY?
OK, you've noticed the signs already. Laughing too much, finding the good in everything, seeing the glass as half full (rather than half empty). You've even started to find a silver lining around a few clouds. You knew you were close to the edge when you started quoting cliches such as "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."
Optimism! Enthusiam! Commitment! The motivational posters at work are starting to get to you.
What should you do?
There is hope.
Take counter measures NOW before things go too far. There are wonderful sources of discouragement and despair out there. Tap into them! Remind yourself that there is only so much that you can do.
You can only go so far.
Thinking outside the box can be dangerous.
Learn to be comfortable in your own little world.
Keep things in perspective at work.
Once you tap into the right sources, your normal pessimistic view of the world will return. Trust me! It can be done. But you must take action now!
Just go to Despair.com. The good folks there will help you out.
Ok, I admit that I do like the usual motivational posters with the glorious photography and uplifting messages. But this stuff (they call it de-motivational) was just too funny to pass by. Check out their website for posters cards, calendars and more. You may find just the perfect gift for someone you know that spends too much time on "the sunny side of life."
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
ELEPHANTS
After all of the big fuss on TV news over Janet Jackson's big moment at the Super Bowl, I decided I had had enough and changed channels. I found a program about a woman who had somehow acquired a baby elephant and trained it to do tricks. She and her elephant went around and performed at a variety of venues.
As her elephant aged, she had this dream of creating an elephant preserve in Tennessee where elephants could go and live when they were too old to perform any more. Somehow she managed to do this. That is the place where I tuned in the program.
Down at a zoo in Louisiana, Solomon was the keeper for Shirley, an elephant too old for the zoo to keep any longer. Solomon's tenderness toward Shirley was evident as she was leg chained and he coaxed her little by little onto the truck that would take Shirley to the elephant preserve in Tennesee. Solomon had cared for Shirley for 25 years and they had both grown old together at the zoo.
They made the long overnight trip to Tennessee. There was such caring as Solomon washed Shirley down with a hose and gave her a bath for the last time. It was clear how much he loved her. He was sad to leave he but he was also very happy for Shirley and glad she was in her new home. For the first time in 25 years, Shirley would see and be around other elephants.
That night there was a lot of noise in the elephant barn. The next morning they found that Shirley and Ginny had bent the 6 inch thick steel pipes that separated their enclosures in an attempt to get closer to each other. They found out that when Shirley was a baby elephant 25 years earlier, she had been in a circus with Ginny before she was sold to the zoo in Lousianna. According to folks on the TV progrm, these two elephants remembered each other after 25 years.
They let Ginny and Shirley out of the elephant barn so they could wander the fields together. They walked together and nuzzled each other and intertwined their trunks. They were clearly happy to be with each other.
The whole show was both moving and refreshing to watch.
Oh yes, we did turn back to catch the last exciting quarter of the Super Bowl.
After all of the big fuss on TV news over Janet Jackson's big moment at the Super Bowl, I decided I had had enough and changed channels. I found a program about a woman who had somehow acquired a baby elephant and trained it to do tricks. She and her elephant went around and performed at a variety of venues.
As her elephant aged, she had this dream of creating an elephant preserve in Tennessee where elephants could go and live when they were too old to perform any more. Somehow she managed to do this. That is the place where I tuned in the program.
Down at a zoo in Louisiana, Solomon was the keeper for Shirley, an elephant too old for the zoo to keep any longer. Solomon's tenderness toward Shirley was evident as she was leg chained and he coaxed her little by little onto the truck that would take Shirley to the elephant preserve in Tennesee. Solomon had cared for Shirley for 25 years and they had both grown old together at the zoo.
They made the long overnight trip to Tennessee. There was such caring as Solomon washed Shirley down with a hose and gave her a bath for the last time. It was clear how much he loved her. He was sad to leave he but he was also very happy for Shirley and glad she was in her new home. For the first time in 25 years, Shirley would see and be around other elephants.
That night there was a lot of noise in the elephant barn. The next morning they found that Shirley and Ginny had bent the 6 inch thick steel pipes that separated their enclosures in an attempt to get closer to each other. They found out that when Shirley was a baby elephant 25 years earlier, she had been in a circus with Ginny before she was sold to the zoo in Lousianna. According to folks on the TV progrm, these two elephants remembered each other after 25 years.
They let Ginny and Shirley out of the elephant barn so they could wander the fields together. They walked together and nuzzled each other and intertwined their trunks. They were clearly happy to be with each other.
The whole show was both moving and refreshing to watch.
Oh yes, we did turn back to catch the last exciting quarter of the Super Bowl.
Friday, February 06, 2004
STATES I HAVE LIVED IN
create your own map
UPDATE: My apologies. The site that provided the U.S. maps on this post and the next has apparently gone down.
My father was going to school at Kansas University when I was born. When he graduated, we moved to Walsenburg, Colorado for his first teaching job. In an interesting coincidence, I was in Walsenburg a few years ago on my way to western Colorado. I stopped at a gas station and was visiting with the owner. It turns out my dad was one of his high school teachers in the early 1950's.
Dad changed occupations between my junior and senior year of high school and we found ourselves living in Nebraska. That is where I went to college, met my wife, started a family, and taught school (as a band director) for 11 years.
We moved to Missouri so I could go to seminary. After seminary, we moved to Oklahoma where I was assigned to Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas as a travelling, executive minister. Later assignments sent me to Michigan and Ohio where my travel territory includes much of the northeastern U.S., parts of Ontario, and the southern fringes of eastern Canada. It means I get to see a lot of our wonderful country, as you can see from the map below.
create your own map
UPDATE: My apologies. The site that provided the U.S. maps on this post and the next has apparently gone down.
My father was going to school at Kansas University when I was born. When he graduated, we moved to Walsenburg, Colorado for his first teaching job. In an interesting coincidence, I was in Walsenburg a few years ago on my way to western Colorado. I stopped at a gas station and was visiting with the owner. It turns out my dad was one of his high school teachers in the early 1950's.
Dad changed occupations between my junior and senior year of high school and we found ourselves living in Nebraska. That is where I went to college, met my wife, started a family, and taught school (as a band director) for 11 years.
We moved to Missouri so I could go to seminary. After seminary, we moved to Oklahoma where I was assigned to Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas as a travelling, executive minister. Later assignments sent me to Michigan and Ohio where my travel territory includes much of the northeastern U.S., parts of Ontario, and the southern fringes of eastern Canada. It means I get to see a lot of our wonderful country, as you can see from the map below.
STATES I HAVE VISITED
create your own visited states map
There has always been a bit of wanderlust in my soul. I probably got that from my parents who took my brother and I all over the country on vacations and other trips.
Vacations often meant heading for the Colorado high country which was good for my asthma. There was always the annual summer trip to Arkansas to see grandma (who lived in the hot, humid rice country with giant mosquitos), and the annual Christmas trip to northern Colorado to see grandpa and the rest of my mother's family.
My brother and I in the mid-1950's
We went on some long trips too.
In 1960 my father was chosen as a delegate to a national teacher's convention in Los Angeles. We drove to Arkansas, picked up my grandmother and headed west across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. This was before Interstate-40. You drove through every little dinky town so it was a long trip. This was also before cars had built in air-conditioners so it was really hot in the summer as we crossed the California desert.
We had one of those little evaporative coolers that hung in the car window. We had one of those canvas water bags that folks would hang on the front of their cars. Even with the cooler going it was pretty warm in the car. Grandma was unimpressed with the heat. "I've chopped cotton in hotter weather than this!" We stopped in Needles at 9 AM for gas. We stepped out of the car and grandma said "whoooopeeee!" It was about 117 degrees in the shade. When we got back in the car, grandma retracted her statement. The car never really cooled down after that stop. After that, "I've chopped cotton . . ." has begun a number of family story telling sessions.
While dad went to the teacher's convention, we went to the less famous tourist sites. When the convention was over, we stayed several more days and went to Disneyland (only five years old), Knott's Berry Farm, some kind of big acquarium, Forest Lawn Cemetery, and other Los Angeles places. It was a great trip.
As a boy, I loved Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park, but I wanted to see Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. As a high school graduation present, we headed west on another long jaunt. Dad picked up grandma in Fisher, Arkansas, we picked up grandpa in Haxtun, Colorado and headed west. We crossed Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho on the way to Oregon where my uncle lives in The Dalles.
In Wyoming we crossed a ridge, and came upon about a dozen antelope. Grandma's eyesight was pretty bad, so dad said "Look out your window mom, there are some antelope." She looked but she couldn't see them. They were too similar in color to the yellowed grass. A few hundred yards down the road we came upon a large herd of cattle. Grandma said, "I see them now, there are a lot of them." We didn't tell her.
My uncle worked for the railroad, so we boarded a freight train one night just across the river in Washington. We were going south to Bend, Oregon. The trip took all night. Riding in the caboose, my uncle would spotlight remote rivers in the mountains where we could see deer and other wild animals. My uncle would control which cars we would pick up and drop off along the route. We reached Bend the next morning, picked up a whole new bunch of freight cars and began the long ride back north.
We went sight seeing in Oregon and Washington, and visited my cousin up in Seattle where I had the best and cheapest fried clams ever.
When we left Oregon, we drove across Idaho and up into Montana to spend time at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
We stopped to see the wonderful Prince of Whales Hotel, and then drove to our campsight by a large lake that straddled the border. The campground was at the Canadaina end. It was the first time in my life that a bear wandered through our camp at night. One evening I got within 10 feet of a cow moose to take her picture with an instamatic camera (not a good thing to do). My brother and I rented a canoe and paddled around and did some fishing.
We left Canada/Montana and headed south for Yellowstone National Park. People did really foolish things around the bears by the road. We camped, we watched Old Faithful, went to a bunch of hot springs, and saw many of the other great Yellowstone attractions.
When we left Yellowstone, we saw the Grand Tetons, but only from a distance. I want to get closer some day.
It was another great and memorable trip.
We have tried to warp our own children in a similar way, taking them from one end of the country to the other. There is so much to see and do!
Most of the states I have been to east of the Mississippi have been the result of job related trips. I have never gone to a state just to say I have been there. That seems to violate the purpose of going to a state in the first place. That is too much like the couple that pulls up to the first Grand Canyon overlook, takes one snapshot and says "We can cross the Grand Canyon off our list," and drives down the road to the next site. You don't really see Rocky Mountain National Park in a short afternoon drive. You spend several days and get out and hike around. In fact, you can go back year after year.
I will see a new state this month. I am a guest minister at a church retreat on Alabama's Gulf coast. Someday, I hope to get up into New England. Melissa and I both want to go to Hawaii. I suppose there is some reason to go to North Dakota. I may have to make an exception and go there just to cross it off my list (I suppose I just offended someone).
It's a great country. Get out and go somewhere you've never been before!
create your own visited states map
There has always been a bit of wanderlust in my soul. I probably got that from my parents who took my brother and I all over the country on vacations and other trips.
Vacations often meant heading for the Colorado high country which was good for my asthma. There was always the annual summer trip to Arkansas to see grandma (who lived in the hot, humid rice country with giant mosquitos), and the annual Christmas trip to northern Colorado to see grandpa and the rest of my mother's family.
My brother and I in the mid-1950's
We went on some long trips too.
In 1960 my father was chosen as a delegate to a national teacher's convention in Los Angeles. We drove to Arkansas, picked up my grandmother and headed west across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. This was before Interstate-40. You drove through every little dinky town so it was a long trip. This was also before cars had built in air-conditioners so it was really hot in the summer as we crossed the California desert.
We had one of those little evaporative coolers that hung in the car window. We had one of those canvas water bags that folks would hang on the front of their cars. Even with the cooler going it was pretty warm in the car. Grandma was unimpressed with the heat. "I've chopped cotton in hotter weather than this!" We stopped in Needles at 9 AM for gas. We stepped out of the car and grandma said "whoooopeeee!" It was about 117 degrees in the shade. When we got back in the car, grandma retracted her statement. The car never really cooled down after that stop. After that, "I've chopped cotton . . ." has begun a number of family story telling sessions.
While dad went to the teacher's convention, we went to the less famous tourist sites. When the convention was over, we stayed several more days and went to Disneyland (only five years old), Knott's Berry Farm, some kind of big acquarium, Forest Lawn Cemetery, and other Los Angeles places. It was a great trip.
As a boy, I loved Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park, but I wanted to see Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. As a high school graduation present, we headed west on another long jaunt. Dad picked up grandma in Fisher, Arkansas, we picked up grandpa in Haxtun, Colorado and headed west. We crossed Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho on the way to Oregon where my uncle lives in The Dalles.
In Wyoming we crossed a ridge, and came upon about a dozen antelope. Grandma's eyesight was pretty bad, so dad said "Look out your window mom, there are some antelope." She looked but she couldn't see them. They were too similar in color to the yellowed grass. A few hundred yards down the road we came upon a large herd of cattle. Grandma said, "I see them now, there are a lot of them." We didn't tell her.
My uncle worked for the railroad, so we boarded a freight train one night just across the river in Washington. We were going south to Bend, Oregon. The trip took all night. Riding in the caboose, my uncle would spotlight remote rivers in the mountains where we could see deer and other wild animals. My uncle would control which cars we would pick up and drop off along the route. We reached Bend the next morning, picked up a whole new bunch of freight cars and began the long ride back north.
We went sight seeing in Oregon and Washington, and visited my cousin up in Seattle where I had the best and cheapest fried clams ever.
When we left Oregon, we drove across Idaho and up into Montana to spend time at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
We stopped to see the wonderful Prince of Whales Hotel, and then drove to our campsight by a large lake that straddled the border. The campground was at the Canadaina end. It was the first time in my life that a bear wandered through our camp at night. One evening I got within 10 feet of a cow moose to take her picture with an instamatic camera (not a good thing to do). My brother and I rented a canoe and paddled around and did some fishing.
We left Canada/Montana and headed south for Yellowstone National Park. People did really foolish things around the bears by the road. We camped, we watched Old Faithful, went to a bunch of hot springs, and saw many of the other great Yellowstone attractions.
When we left Yellowstone, we saw the Grand Tetons, but only from a distance. I want to get closer some day.
It was another great and memorable trip.
We have tried to warp our own children in a similar way, taking them from one end of the country to the other. There is so much to see and do!
Most of the states I have been to east of the Mississippi have been the result of job related trips. I have never gone to a state just to say I have been there. That seems to violate the purpose of going to a state in the first place. That is too much like the couple that pulls up to the first Grand Canyon overlook, takes one snapshot and says "We can cross the Grand Canyon off our list," and drives down the road to the next site. You don't really see Rocky Mountain National Park in a short afternoon drive. You spend several days and get out and hike around. In fact, you can go back year after year.
I will see a new state this month. I am a guest minister at a church retreat on Alabama's Gulf coast. Someday, I hope to get up into New England. Melissa and I both want to go to Hawaii. I suppose there is some reason to go to North Dakota. I may have to make an exception and go there just to cross it off my list (I suppose I just offended someone).
It's a great country. Get out and go somewhere you've never been before!
Sunday, February 01, 2004
In Memoriam: The Crew of the Shuttle Columbia
The Crew of Columbia, STS-107: Seated in front are Commander Rick D. Husband, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla and Pilot William C. McCool. Standing are Mission Specialists David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark and Michael P. Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon
Saturday morning, February 1, 2003, over north central Texas, the Space Shuttle Columbia and all seven astronauts were lost during reentry from orbit. Columbia was returning to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., after a 16-day scientific research mission.
"High Flight"
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God."
- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
It has been one year. Family and friends will be remembering that day. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Pilot John Magee, who wrote "High Flight", died at the age of 19 when his Spitfire crashed over England, December11, 1941.
The Crew of Columbia, STS-107: Seated in front are Commander Rick D. Husband, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla and Pilot William C. McCool. Standing are Mission Specialists David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark and Michael P. Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon
Saturday morning, February 1, 2003, over north central Texas, the Space Shuttle Columbia and all seven astronauts were lost during reentry from orbit. Columbia was returning to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., after a 16-day scientific research mission.
"High Flight"
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God."
- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
It has been one year. Family and friends will be remembering that day. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Pilot John Magee, who wrote "High Flight", died at the age of 19 when his Spitfire crashed over England, December11, 1941.
