@freemo Hit it with a hammer. If it shatters into a million pieces, it was priceless.
So some time back I was gifted with a Rolex from an investor friend who I managed to make a lot of money for. I never wear it, only time I do is if I'm wearing a tuxedo which is rather rare. Its kind of a wasted gift on me especially because I hear they can be rather valuable. I wonder what mine might be worth.
Progress in human space flight fell off a cliff after the Apollo missions.
The accomplishments of the Apollo program are even more amazing when you consider that we went to the moon while simultaneously fighting a major overseas proxy war against the Chinese and fighting among ourselves here in the US over civil rights, women's liberation, and many other things.
Then Nixon resigned, while the country fell into massive crime and corruption and advancement in human spaceflight stalled.
It may be 66 years before we even return to moon again.
If you want to understand how much of a failure that is, watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the 60s, that's where people genuinely thought we'd be by the year 2001 -- 20 years ago. Instead we've been stuck in low-Earth orbit for 50+ years.
#space #humanspaceflight #nasa #moonlanding #artemis #Oriion
We don’t believe surveillance will help us out of the pandemic. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/vaccine-passports-2021-review
The key to being happy in life:
Eat like a hobbit
Invest like a dragon
Crack skulls like a Dwarf
Dance like an elf
Sing like Tom Bombadil
And fart like an ogre
Merry merry christmas to @tombies@social.tchncs.de @kranfahrer @stux @freemo
It is truly mind boggling that in a single persons lifetime we went from inventing the first plane and flying for the first time, to being on the moon. Could you imagine being the person who lived for those years and seeing that.
Now we are arguing with people who think covid and viruses in general dont exist and the earth is flat. Might be another few thousand years before we start progressing again.
Some of my absolute favorite Tolkein quotes:
“A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.” -- The Children of Hurin
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” -- The Fellowship of the Ring
“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”
"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” -- The Fellowship of the Ring
“What do you fear, lady?" [Aragorn] asked.
"A cage," [Éowyn] said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.” -- Return of the King
“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
“But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.” -- The Return of the King
@freemo
If more people cared about intellectual freedom as much as librarians do, the world would be better for it.
Jeffrey Phillips Freeman
Innovator & Entrepreneur in Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computing & Big Data. Avid SCUBA diver, Open-source developer, HAM radio operator, astrophotographer, and anything nerdy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, USA, currently living in Utrecht, Netherlands, USA, and Thailand. Was also living in Israel, but left.
Pronouns: Sir / Mister
(Above pronouns are not intended to mock, i will respect any persons pronouns and only wish pronouns to show respect be used with me as well. These are called neopronouns, see an example of the word "frog" used as a neopronoun here: http://tinyurl.com/44hhej89 )
A proud member of the Penobscot Native American tribe, as well as a Mayflower passenger descendant. I sometimes post about my genealogical history.
My stance on various issues:
Education: Free to PhD, tax paid
Abortion: Protected, tax paid, limited time-frame
Welfare: Yes, no one should starve
UBI: No, use welfare
Racism: is real
Guns: Shall not be infringed
LGBT+/minorities: Support
Pronouns: Will respect
Trump: Moron, evil
Biden: Senile, racist
Police: ACAB
Drugs: Fully legal, no prescriptions needed
GPG/PGP Fingerprint: 8B23 64CD 2403 6DCB 7531 01D0 052D DA8E 0506 CBCE