December 17, 1903
“Boldly going
where no man has gone before.”
The Wright Brothers make the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
On-line Opinion Magazine featuring annoyed rumblings from the leading edge of the Baby Boom firmly tied to a reality-based world.
Established: 21 November 2004
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4 comments
Thanks as always, Bryan, for the reminder. What a day that was!
Thereis a famous astronomer and tv personality in the UK called Sir Patrick Moore. He has hosted the BBC programme the Sky at Night since the 50s. While he is a bit of an arse it is amazing that he knew personally both Orville Wright and Neil Armstrong.
And look how it developed of ver such a short space of time. It is sad to think it took just eight years from its invention to its first use as a war machine – By the Italians in Libya in 1911
My grandparents saw a staggering list of ‘firsts’ in their life times, being born into a world of steam locomotives and horse-drawn wagons, and then seeing cars, planes, telephones, radio, television, computers.
When my great grandfather was stationed in New Mexico, my maternal grandmother accompanied her mother and sister to join him, with the last leg of the trip being by stage coach.
They lived through an amazing period of history – from oil lamps to lasers.
It almost brings tears to my eyes when I acknowledge the reality that I am living at the bitter end of that era. All the inventions that made the money the wealthy hoard so aggressively today are ceasing to emerge with any frequency, largely because the primary actual goal today of former democracies all over the world, including America’s sorry government, is to make sure the wealthy get the tiny amount of the total wealth they don’t already have. No creativity is needed to do that, and with a sufficient number of bribes and enough fake science, the old destructive industrial practices can be kept in place almost unchanged. Yes, it is utter folly. Yes, it is how we plunge headlong into the darkness to meet our dire conclusion.
If anyone has any doubts, they should view this video of methane bubbling up as the Arctic permafrost melts. (H/T ellroon.) We are not on our way to perdition… we have arrived.