At some point the US just quit trying. Business decided to milk everything for the maximum profit, and not build anything new. Money surpassed everything else – it was all about making money, not making history. We went from “can do” to “why bother”. It is the age of whining.

No longer, of course. No longer. But once upon a time….

— Badtux the “Best is behind us” Penguin

My maternal grandfather started life reading by oil lamp and traveling by horse and wagon, and lived to see a man walk on the Moon. He saw the general introduction of indoor plumbing, electricity, telephones, radio, television, cars, airplanes, nuclear weapons, computers, antibiotics… all that in one life time.

People just think the world is changing quickly.

I saw it on a jury-rigged system directly from the Moon thanks to the skills of Air Force technicians and a lot of expensive government equipment, and, yes, the signal definitely came from the Moon.

As an aside, it’s anniversaries like this that make me start to feel a bit old because none of the nine people I supervise or more than one or two of the other dozen or so people in my work group are even capable of having any sort of personal recollection of what I consider one of the most amazing things (volcanic eruptions aside) that I have ever witnessed in my entire life…