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I'm a little freaked out by the shuttle thing. Not that I mean I'm breaking down and sobbing every so often or anything like that, it's just a little...bizarre. I mean, the anniversary of the last shuttle explosion was 4 days before this one. And another anniversary for space program disaster was 1 day before *that*. Now, I don't really remember the Apollo 1 thing all that well, frankly, seein' as it was way back in 1967 and all. But I *do* remember Challenger, and quite well. And I'm thinking it would behoove NASA to re-examine the philosophy of launching *anything* during the month of January. In fact, I think they should give some thought to a moratorium on activity not only in the month of January altogether, but for 10 days on either side, just to make sure. You can blow off two occurrences as coincidence, but 3? I was living in Dallas in '86. I got up, took a shower, turned on the television, and found out what had just happened. And my reaction was pretty much the same as yesterday: no fucking way. Seriously, I thought it was a joke. A bad, sick joke, but I mean, come ON; shuttles do not blow up. And then yesterday it was just surreal, because it was 4 days after the anniversary of Challenger. And at reasonably close to the same time of day, CST. And there were pieces of it all over Dallas and the rest of south central Texas, including places where I grew up. I'll bet the next time my dad goes down to the family ranch, he finds a piece or two of the shuttle. That's just *weird*, people. Plus, when disastrous things happen to other human beings while I am walking around living my life in utter normality and clueless to the trauma, it kind of tweaks me a little, like I should have known the bad thing was happening and been sorry. I mean, it's kinda unsettling that I was brushing my teeth while the shuttle flew over my house, already starting to lose control, and I was turning down the bed while it was breaking up and incinerating. It makes me somehow more sad for those people, stuck there, unable to escape, while I was settling down to sleep. It was the same when Phil Hartman was killed, mere blocks from where I lived, again brushing my teeth. Not that I think I'm responsible, but maybe I should stop brushing my teeth for bed around 5 in the morning... And I'm also sad, because I watched a few things on television with this crew, and Kalpana Chawla was totally adorable and smiling and so tiny, and she made all those little "home videos" of the astronauts at work, explaining what they were doing and all that, and it sucks she's dead now. That's all. I remember thinking what a neat person she seemed, and just cute as all get out, with her tiny little cheery self. My advice to NASA - aside from avoiding January activity - and not to trivialize the event, because it sucks, is also to not launch on a date which can be distilled down to the number 4: Hedge some bets, that's all I'm sayin'... Idiotboy Alert(s) of the Day: SUV's If you support the environment and would like something done, you should urge your Senator to exclude Sports Utility Vehicles from any proposal to increase the capital equipment deduction for small businesses. You can do that at Congress.org by entering your zip in box under "Write Elected Officials," front and center at the top of the page. Or at Working Assets' Act for Change, a good activist website. You enter your zip there where it says "Elected Officials" search by zip. The site also provides sample letters on every issue, so that you don't have to figure out how to word your letter; just copy and paste, baby. It's never been easier to let your elected officials know how you feel. Birth Control for Welfare Recipients and Low Income families How is your Representative Voting? That's all for today, folks. Peace out, copyright 2002
- 2005 Katie Doyle; all rights reserved
Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
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