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

From: Matthias Bärmann <majbaermann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:05:24 +0100
Message-ID: <000b01c736fa$57daf600$0200a8c0_at_ibmtp23>

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 B?rmann" <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.
>
>
> -----Urspr?ngliche 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 J?nger 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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Received on Sat 13 Jan 2007 05:05:24 AM PST