Day 4217

I watched Richard Branson's spaceflight this morning on the Virgin Galactic feed. Unity is a pretty cool little spacecraft. I wonder how many people remember that this flight started over 17 years ago when Bert Rutan won the X-Prize with his futuristic looking Spaceship-1, supported by the financial backing of Microsoft's Paul Allen. Branson bought the technology from these guys and was determined to create a space airline that would take regular folks to space and back. The regular folks would have to pony up $250,000 for a ticket, but that didn't seem to bother Branson. Over 600 people have already bought tickets for future flights, despite the fact that 3 people died during a rocket engine test in 2007 and one of the pilots of an earlier version of today's spacecraft died when his ship disintegrated during a test flight. 

Branson's flight today was certainly not without risks. It was not without its rewards either. Commercial sponsors are already jumping on the band wagon. Under Armor made the space suits for the Unity astronauts. Land Rover was designated as the official ground support vehicles. I imagine it won't be long before there is a Land Rover commercial featuring their new Defender towing the spaceship back to the hanger. None of this crass commercialism bothers me. 

Maybe this is why I admire people like Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk. They represent individual exceptionalism at its best and have been willing to take huge risks with no guarantee of success. All of these guys could have easily failed and lost everything. These space pioneers follow in the footsteps of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. You don't have to be a nice guy to change the world, but Branson actually does seem like a nice guy.  I hope his eccentric adventures inspire young people to value individualism again. The collectivism their teachers seem to prefer isn't going to get us anywhere. 

I didn't change the world today, but I did wash the car. What has happened to me? When I kneel down to scrub the grime off the wheels, I have trouble getting up again. Maybe I need a cane. Janet washed her car too, but she seemed much more nimble than I was.

It rained during the night but the thunder and lightning was over by morning. When I got up this morning there was some water on the floor next to Dawn's food bowls. I couldn't tell whether there'd been a roof leak or if Dawn had spilled water while drinking from her bowl. It could have been Dawn because she is a messy eater.

Since the skies were clearing by the time we ate breakfast, Dawn got both her sunrise walk and her special outing to her Sunday park. She loves this Sunday outing now and gets really excited as we get ready to leave the house. She got her ice cream cone too, so it was a successful day from a dog's point of view.

I took my long walk through the park as soon as we returned home in hopes of avoiding the hot afternoon sun. This added up to a lot of walking and I now have two 20,000 step days in a row. Really all I did today was walk, wash my car, and watch a rich guy rocket into space. I guess that's enough for one day.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1781 - Halloween

I was right. The plastic forks didn't even last a week. When I went to breakfast this morning, the regular metal silverware was back. It's good to see that common sense prevailed. The parking places are still too small, but I can live with that. I didn't seem to have as much trouble parking today.

Ordinarily, I'd share a picture of a pumpkin with you on Halloween, but I didn't see any pumpkins today. Maybe I didn't look very hard. There certainly weren't any pumpkins left in the stores. All the stores have moved on to Christmas by now. Halloween is pretty much a non-event at our house anyway. Halloween is a holiday for children and cosplayers and we don't have either in our neighborhood. We haven't had trick or treaters in years. With all the Ebola worries in this town, probably a lot of people aren't opening their doors to strangers anyway.

Commercial spaceflight certainly hasn't had a good week. First the Orbital Sciences Antares Rocket explodes and then today Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo explodes during a test flight. If I was Elon Musk, I'd be a little nervous right now. I was watching TV when the news broke and was astounded at the damage to the spacecraft. Nothing was left. It was amazing that one of the pilots was able to eject, since it all happened so fast. Even if I had the ridiculous amount of money it takes to secure a ticket on one of these Virgin Galactic flights, I don't think you could talk me into going. I'm a huge fan of spaceflight as long as I still have both feet on the ground. I throw up on roller coasters. I wanted to get a pilot's license once, but flunked out of the flight training class for the same reason. I still remember one of my flight instructors telling another instructor, "You take him up this time, I cleaned out the plane last time." Somehow, I don't think the five minutes of weightlessness everyone is looking forward to would sit very well with my stomach.

I wrote a letter to Lunatik asking if they'd replace my broken iPhone case. I bet they won't, but it's worth a shot. The ads for this thing showed the case being run over by a motorcycle and surviving all sorts of punishment. It certainly shouldn't break just sitting in your pocket.

The concrete trucks were back in the park today, pouring another segment of the new bicycle superhighway. Most of the neighbors seem to like this new development, but I still think it is a colossal waste of money. If I knew that this is how the money would be spent, I probably wouldn't have voted for the bond issue that funded this and other efforts to gentrify the park and turn it into a recreation destination. All I want is a quiet place to walk the dogs.

Roxy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day