R.I.P. Walt Cunningham, Apollo 7 Astronaut

The Associated Press:

Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program, died Tuesday in Houston. He was 90.

Walt Cunningham was the LMP (Lunar Module Pilot) on Apollo 7, the mission that saved the space program after the tragedy of Apollo 1. Along with Commander Wally Schirra and CMP Donn Eisele, Apollo 7 was a near perfect mission, and was so successful, in fact, that just two and one-half months later, NASA sent Apollo 8 — with no Lunar Module — to orbit the Moon.

by Paul on January 4, 2023 at 8:31am | Permalink
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Bad Santa 2

Willie: [to Thurman] Now listen, here’s how it works. She’s gonna pull her rig off and she’s gonna get on all-fours. Then you stand behind her and drop your rig. Now you’re gonna see somethin’ that looks like some kind of Japanese food – it ain’t, so don’t eat it – that’s the bullseye. Then you just start tuggin’ on your little soldier, wait ’till he gets to attention, then poke him in there. Keep pokin’ it in there ’till he spits up. Now you’re gonna need a raincoat – she’ll have one so don’t worry about that. Soon as you’re done, run to the bathroom, wash your crotch. That way you don’t wake up wondering why you got oatmeal in your carpet. Breathe through your mouth so’s you don’t puke. Shouldn’t be a problem for you. You got it?

— Billy Bob Thornton as Willie and Brett Kelly as The Kid, Bad Santa 2 (2016]

by Paul on December 26, 2022 at 6:07pm | Permalink
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Bad Santa

Willie: What is it with you, anyway? Somebody drop you on your fucking head?
Kid: On my head?
Willie: Well, yeah. What, are they gonna drop you on somebody else’s head?
Kid: How can they drop me onto my own head?
Willie: No, not onto your… Would… God damn it! Are you fucking with me?

— Billy Bob Thornton as Willie and Brett Kelly as The Kid, Bad Santa (2003)

by Paul on December 26, 2022 at 6:02pm | Permalink
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Happy Festivus!

Happy Festivus everyone!

Happy Festivus!

by Paul on December 23, 2022 at 9:25am | Permalink
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People: Those We Lost in 2022

Tough year. Particularly tough for me was Taylor Hawkins. I’ve been a Foo Fighter fan for years and years. In fact, I couldn’t listen to Foo Fighters music from the time I learned of Taylor Hawkins’ death, until the London tribute concert — 5 and a half months. Gone, but not forgotten.

by Paul on December 17, 2022 at 2:26pm | Permalink
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People who skipped their COVID vaccine are at higher risk of traffic accidents

Erin Prater reporting for Fortune:

If you passed on getting the COVID vaccine, you might be a lot more likely to get into a car crash.

Seems logical. Irrational thinkers are bound to be worse drivers.

They found that the unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash—in which at least one person was transported to the hospital—than those who were vaccinated. […]

Of course, skipping a COVID vaccine does not mean that someone will get into a car crash. Instead, the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.”

As I said…

by Paul on December 15, 2022 at 9:22am | Permalink
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Elon Musk is Thirsty

Charlie Warzel writing at The Atlantic:

Beyond its stark cruelty, this tweet is incredibly thirsty. As right-wing troll memes go, it is Dad-level, 4chan–Clark Griswold stuff, which is to say it’s desperate engagement bait in the hopes of attracting kudos from the only influencers who give Musk the time of day anymore: right-wing shock jocks. But that is the proper company for the billionaire, because whether or not he wants to admit it, Musk is actively aiding the far right’s political project. He is a right-wing activist.

Thirsty. We used to refer to these people as “media whores,” but thirsty is much more fitting for Musk.

by Paul on December 11, 2022 at 2:12pm | Permalink
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I don’t know.

E: I have a feeling we’re in the same boat Marshall. You owe a lot?

Marshall: This woman– she… follows me everywhere, won’t leave me alone. [waitress brings his drink] Thanks.

Waitress: You’re welcome.

Marshall: Just… can’t believe this is actually happening. Two days ago, I had a good life, and now I’m being fucked by some shit that I didn’t even do. I’m losing my wife, my house, my daughter.

E: I don’t know.

Marshall: Didn’t fucking do anything.

E: [moves closer to Marshall, speaks quietly] As I was sayin’, I don’t know.

Marshall: What?

E: I don’t know. My grandfather used to tell me how his father built everything we had from the ground up; pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, you know? Turns out, he didn’t. Turns out he had a lot of help. And a lot of kids. [laughs softly] Maybe it’s only right.

Marshall: E, we don’t deserve this.

E: Well, what do they deserve? We were treating slavery as if it were a mystery, buried in the past, something to investigate if we chose to. And now that history has a monetary value. Confession is not absolution. And in the case of this person… What’s her name?

Marshall: Sheniqua.

E: To Sheniqua, to them… slavery is not past. I mean, it’s not a mystery. It is not an historical curiosity. It is a cruel, unavoidable ghost that haunts in a way we can’t see. None of us are perfect. So now you’re what? You’re separated from your wife? She’s taking your kid? Now she has to be raised without a father? She has to build wealth and success from the ground up, right? It’s similar to the position we put them in. But we’re gonna be okay. You daughter’s gonna be okay. The curse has been lifted from her. All of us– we were running from it, but now we’re free. [taps Marshall’s leg] Excuse me. [stands and leaves]

— Atlanta, S3E4 “The Big Payback”, (FX 2022).

by Paul on November 13, 2022 at 8:49am | Permalink
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Election Deniers Were Among the Biggest Losers of the 2022 Midterms

Halle–fucking–lujah.

Charlotte Alter, reporting for Time:

The stakes could not have been higher. Across the country, Republican candidates who falsely say Donald Trump won the 2020 race ran for offices this year that would have put them in position to oversee elections in 2024. If an election-denier won an election-oversight job in a battleground state, they would have the ability to sow chaos, promote conspiracy theories about results, and potentially allow a candidate to seize the presidency in 2024 even if they weren’t chosen by the voters.

But in a series of key states, pro-democracy candidates came out on top. In Minnesota, incumbent Secretary of State Steve Simon defeated Kim Crockett, who questioned the results of the 2020 election. In the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro defeated election denier and Stop the Steal organizer Doug Mastriano. (If elected Governor, Mastriano would have appointed a Secretary of State, the role that oversees the election in the commonwealth.) And in Michigan, incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson handily beat back Trump-endorsed Kristina Karamo, who pushed baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 contest.

For everyone’s sake*, let’s hope that reason, rational thought and critical thinking always — ***always*** — prevail.

yeah, in a minute…
* Including those sheeple who just blindly believe whatever the “liberal” or “conservative” news media tell them to believe…

By the way, speaking of news, let’s be clear about one thing: if you do not have at least one news source that you refer to regularly, with which you routinely disagree, then you are not practicing news-gathering but rather confirmation bias. And that, in case you are unaware, is bad.

by Paul on November 11, 2022 at 9:55am | Permalink
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Life’s this game of inches

I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes till biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today. And either we heal as a team, or we’re gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play, till we’re finished. We’re in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or, we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell, one inch at a time. Now I can’t do it for ya, I’m too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who’s ever loved me. And lately, I can’t even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that’s, that’s — that’s part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin’ stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game — life or football — the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it; one half second too slow, too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that’s gonna make the fuckin’ difference between winnin’ and losin’! Between livin’ and dyin’! I’ll tell you this, in any fight it’s the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I’m gonna have any life anymore, it’s because I’m still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that’s what livin’ is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can’t make you do it. You’ve gotta look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you’re gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it, your gonna do the same for him. That’s a team, gentlemen. And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football guys, that’s all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?

— Al Pacino as Tony D’Amato, Any Given Sunday (Warner Bros. 1999) at 1:28:43.

#MovieQuotes

by Paul on November 9, 2022 at 11:04am | Permalink
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