[meteorite-list] "Mark Twain," a Eurochallenger, and Perihelia

[Matthias Bärmann]

Ground control to Major Doug:

Genet, oui, c'est ca!

Matthias



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "MexicoDoug" <MexicoDoug at aim.com>
To: "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>; 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: "Matthias Bärmann" <majbaermann at web.de>
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Mark Twain," a Eurochallenger, and Perihelia



> Hello Martin (and Matthias), the "Eurochallenger" quote wasn't from Brin's

> fictional novel about plundering Halley's Comet...rather it was a real

> quote, from a real American STS Challenger astronaut in January 1986,

> setting to do what no man had done before with Halley's Comet, the same 

> year

> that book you mentioned was published and the Sir Halley's Comet

> Rendezvoused with NASA.

>

> He is STS Challenger Hero, Mission Specialist Lieutenant Colonel Ellison

> Shoji Onizuka.  Lt. Col. Onuzuki, an American of Japanese extraction, 

> hailed

> from Hawai'i.  And before that sad fated space launch, he spoke the

> surrealistisch Quote, "I will have two minutes on four different orbits to

> photograph Halley's comet in both the visible and UV spectrum... in the 

> true

> "where no man has gone before" spirit, where science fiction met the 

> reality

> of the space program...Given the upcoming black anniversary of the

> Challenger catastrophe, I though it an appropriate quote to contribute to

> the Crew's memory of what they set out to accomplish and how they dearly

> paid for their privilege to lead us.

>

> Matthias, I don't see no Francophiles have answered your challenge. 

> Perhaps

> you refer to the somewhat perverted French author and criminal Genet? 

> Watch

> your girl's diamonds:-) Bonne chance!

>

> And Martin, just to prove, I do heed your call to listen, Hear thy 

> following

> ode to thee, for a fool's preferment, and sigh for the meteorite collector

> in all of us, to the Tune of the..Who?:

> http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=50:ip7uakjkgm3l~Y

>

> "I'll chase the moon 'till it be noon,

> But I'll make her leave her horning...

>

> ...The stars pluck from their orbs, too,

> And crowd them in my budget!

> And whether I'm a roaring boy,

> Let all the nations judge it."

>

> Best Health and Good Wishes,

> Doug

> PS, the quote you dedicated to me is well known in Mexico in reverse

> pretenses in many forms.  Since these versions would be deemed offensive 

> by

> many (though the historical English one is politically very incorrect 

> too),

> I can give you an idea by rewriting it for the season:  Though Sol be so

> bright, he shall ne'er bestow on Venus all his light, if his fright be her

> delight for taking flight, upon some heated hirsute star some night, to

> leave him her empty orbit tight, whisked years beyond his sight, consoling

> collections of frozen streams of tears; micrometeorites.

>

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>

> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>

> Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 5:28 PM

> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Mark Twain," a Eurochallenger, and 

> Perihelia

>

>

> No idea, I've never read Brin&Benford.

>

> Huh! My Doug, listen!

>

> She that would gain a faithful lover

> Must at a distance keep the slave;

> Not by a look her heart discover,

> Men should but guess the thoughts we have.

> Whilst they're in doubt their flame increases,

> And all attendance they will pay;

> When once confess'd their ardour ceases,

> And vows like smoke soon fly away.

>

> Then, fond Aurelia, cease complaining,

> All thy reproaches useless prove;

> Beauties may conquer whilst disdaining,

> But lose their value when they love.

> So when a comet does appear,

> Men do with trembling view the blaze;

> The sun too common none does fear,

> Nor on his beams with wonder gaze.

>

>

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

> Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com

> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von

> MexicoDoug

> Gesendet: Freitag, 12. Januar 2007 10:00

> An: Meteorite Mailing List

> Betreff: [meteorite-list] "Mark Twain," a Eurochallenger, and Perihelia

>

> Martin teased the R.O.W. about some obscure Jünger fellow and hove out a

> "who said" (with clairvoyance) to cater to a more American style of

> literature:

>

> "...came in with Halley's comet (1835) .... go out with it (1910) ..."

>

> Jerry quipped: "Mark Twain!"

>

> As my Favorite Martin wonders how "Mark Twain" (Was he from Florida or

> Cairo?) honed his halleycious hillbilly humor...here's a quote from that

> lovable Clemens' creation ........ Huck:

>

> (From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Huck relates his musings at 

> night

> with Jim, an, an escaped slave in the antebellum U.S. South, while they 

> lay

> on their backs pondering the origin of the myrid of stars visible (ROFL)

> from their raft floating down the Mississippi):

>

> "Jim said the moon could'a laid them, well, that looked kind of 

> reasonable,

> so I didn't say nothing against it, because I've seen a frog lay most as

> many, so of course, it could be done. We used to watch the stars that 

> fell,

> too, and see them streak down. Jim allowed they'd got spoiled and was hove

> out of the nest."

>

> OK, enough on Mark Twain, Here's an encore "Who Said?" for the European

> contingent, as we comfortably sit back and watch the SOHO and STEREO 

> images

> rolling in for Comet McNaught, after we've suffered meeting the precision

> timing viewing requirements in the northern hemisphere over recent days:

>

> "I will have two minutes on four different orbits to photograph Halley's

> comet in both the visible and UV spectrum. The objective is get this data 

> as

> the comet approaches perihelion, which is just as it goes around behind 

> the

> sun and starts to head back out. It's a regime where we do not have any 

> data

> at the present time so I've also been told we will probably be the only

> human beings to see it at that time."

>

> Note: Halley's Comet last was at perihelion on February 9, 1986.  Pioneer

> 12, orbiting Venus at the time on the opposite side of the Sun, made some 

> of

> the UV observations which were interpreted to mean that the rate of water

> loss of the 6-km diameter comet ramped up from about 10 tons to 40 tons 

> per

> second at perihelion and shortly thereafter as it was primed, reached as

> high as 70 tons loss per second.  At that rate, Halley's comet will be

> around for up to 50,000 years before it vanishes (hypothetically, of 

> course

> assuming a bit too much for comfort regarding composition and 

> evaporation),

> assuming no unforeseen changes in orbit.  This would mean an average at 

> each

> pass of 8 meters in diameter was hove out ...

>

> Pioneer 12 ended its mission 6 1/2 years later in 1992 as a fireball 

> perhaps

> dropping "Earth meteorites" on Venus' surface - where meteorites don't 

> last

> very long at all:-(.... And just a few hours later, the Peekskill 

> meteorite

> from the asteroid belt was hove into the trunk of a red 1980 Chevy Malibu

> belonging to a pretty 17 year old girl named Michelle.

>

> Comet McNaught reaches perihelion ... later today, January 12.  Let the 

> show

> begin! (I believe we will all get another chace to view the comet during

> daylight, though it practically out of sight for everyone now...

>

> Best wishes,

> Good health,

> Doug

>

>

>

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