That lesser known Moby song “We Are All Made of Stars” somehow takes on a different meaning today than it did when it first came out.
The sensationalism that has gone along with this disaster is sorta sickening. All the major networks already have slick computer generated Columbia logos just 24 hours after the disaster. Everyone is converging on Nacogdoches, Texas, trying to point a camera at a burnt piece of space debris, roped off like a crime scene. As humans we need tangible substance to try to put meaning to a disaster. We need to see the debris for some mobid reason.
Then there are those sickos that are trying to make money on Ebay by putting up their NASA souvenirs on Ebay for the highest bidder. We saw the same thing with the WTC.
So it will be interesting to see if NASA can figure out what went wrong based on amature video and a bunch of burnt space debris. It is always amazing to me how they are able to piece together scenerios based and such little information.
I feel terrible for the families of the astronauts. It is a terrible tragedy for them. I hope and pray that they will be able to find peace and comfort.
“Back off man, I’m a scientist”
“Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of His great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.”
Isaiah 40:26
President Bush quoted that verse in his speech today. He’s cool like that. Rarely did I hear Clinton quote the Bible. Yet, Bush seems to do it frequently, or give a “Goodnight and God Bless America,” at the end of his speeches.
NASA has given much more news conferences than in 1986. They seem to want to keep the public informed with information everyone already knows. Those news conferences put me to sleep.
“Back off man, I’m a scientist”
–Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters, 1984
A friend of mine in Houston didn’t find out about this disaster until 3PM today. Watching pre-recorded Tivo stuff all day. Not bothering to turn on the news. Not logging on. You can live in a vacuum at times.
Anyways it’s sinking in. I’m not sure if this will be a landmark moment in my life. I mean it seems so small compared to September 11th. Yet on January 28, 1986, we all watched in awe as the same thing happened. That was a landmark moment in my young life. Things go wrong.
“Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.”
–John Bender, The Breakfast Club, 1985
So I’m not sure if I will remember this year after year. Like the way some Brits remember Diana’s death. Yes, it is a tragedy. Yes, we should try to find out what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I just don’t know how much it has affected me as a person. It will take years looking back to see if this was a landmark moment or just a roadbump in the road of life.
Yes, I do try to connect 80s movie quotes to national tragedies.
Columbia!
This is different. In 1986 we were all innocent, thinking we were invincible. Now we know things like this could happen. You always take a risk when you try to do things humans aren’t supposed to do.
Inevitable comparisons will be made to Challenger. There will be conspiracy theorists who will want to believe it was terrorist related. Terrorists aren’t that sophisticated. They couldn’t plant a bomb or something on board which would automatically blow up on re-entry. More likely they would have tried something on lift-off rather than re-entry.
What will this mean to the space program? We’ll have to continue to provide re-supply missions to the space station….or find a way to get them down.
It will definitely mean a setback for the American people. The economy is terrible, terrorism is a real threat….and now this.
Keep praying for America.
Friday Five 1/31/03
1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero? Why?
There weren’t that many superheroes when I was growing up. I remember watching the Superfriends cartoon growing up. Green Lantern was pretty cool. He had alot of cool powers, but seemed vulnerable whenever someone had something yellow around. This vulernability seemed to make him more real. Plus green is my favorite color.
Superman was just way too powerful. I remember when he reversed the earth’s orbit so he could go back in time to save Lois Lane life. And it seemed like every super powerful villian had a case of krytonite laying around to combat Superman.
Batman and Robin were lame. No real superhero powers there. Just a bunch of silly gadgets. “Robin, get the bat shark repellant!”
2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
A remote controlled car. I always asked for it for Christmas, but never got it.
3. What’s the furthest from home you’ve been?
Shanghai, China (7448 miles from Nashville)
4. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t yet?
To play guitar. The person with the guitar is always the life of the party. I would learn to play, but I don’t have the patience to learn.
5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Getting over this stomach virus.
When Your Happy Meal Isn’t So Happy
McDonald’s Happy Meal isn’t so Happy Anymore. An interesting fact from the story: McDonald’s has signed a 10 year deal with Disney that prohibits it from using toys from its competitors.
“You have to prove to me that you’re happy or you’re not getting anything. A Happy Meal is veal shank, German potato salad and a side of lime Jello.”
–David Letterman, while working the drive thru window at McDonald’s.
Happy meals have been around just about as long as I’ve been around (1976). I remember getting that cardboard box with the smaller than normal hamburger and fries. Quick and easy. Just say “Happy Meal” and you knew exactly what you were getting. Then things got complicated. “Chicken McNuggets Happy Meals.” Take away the cardboard boxes for the environmentalists’ sake. Now kids get a boring white lunch bag for their Happy Meal.
Still, over the years the Happy Meal toys got more and more sophisticated. Used to it was a boring eraser dinosaur. Now the toys are seemingly more expensive than the meal itself.
McDonald’s itself has gradually gotten worse. I only eat there when I’m in China. Otherwise I avoid the restaurant like a plaid suit. There’s this distinctive smell when you enter a McDonald’s. It pretty much stays with you the whole day.
What can McDonald’s do to become profitable? Serve better food. Plain and simple. I’d much rather get a Wendy’s Single than a Hamburger at Mickey D’s. Their Big ‘N Tasty is a slight improvement, however they’ve got a long way to go.
Chuck Ross has a website – www.chuckross.org Chuck is Lipscomb’s #1 fan. Showed up at all the basketball games. I never really understood it myself. To each his own.
The website says “Nashville’s #1 Fan.” I’d tend to argue with that. If he really was Nashville’s #1 fan, he’d be at all the games…Belmont, Trevecca, TSU, Vandy, Titans, Predators, etc… He’s Lipscomb’s #1 fan, but not Nashville’s #1 fan. I’m surprised that they are writing a book about him. Seems like there would be little interest for it outside of the Lipscomb athletic community.
Scott has posted a journal entry about his 2nd trip to try out for the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps.
There’s always room for Jello
Woke up sick this morning. More stomach probs. I hadn’t felt like doing anything until now.
Remember kids, there’s always room for Jello. I suspect I’ll be eating Jello and soup tomorrow. Bill Cosby would be proud.
Getting Through
So we finished up Acts 7 tonight in Bible class. The kids seemed lethargic. I fumbled and stumbled through the chapter trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about. My only salvation is that my co-teacher helped me out tremendously during class by giving relavent comments. I’m not sure if I am doing any good. All teachers wonder this at some point. Are they actually learning anything? Am I getting through? Do I have the talent to do this?
The Nebraska Bias on Jeopardy.
Sierra Mist and the Challenger
Suddenly there’s Sierra Mist cola. Manufactured by Pepsico. All this time I was thinking Pepsi owned, or at least had a stake in 7up. That’s why you always found 7up side by side with Pepsi at the cola fountain. Since they changed their formula 7up just hasn’t been the same.
I later found out that Cadbury actually owns 7up. Their popularity in the fountain drink market was only because many bottlers by default preferred 7up.
I prefer Sprite. It’s because of the Lemon Lime taste. I’ve had Sierra Mist before. Can’t really tell too much of a difference. At camp I’ve been known to drink “Upper 10,” RC’s Sprite equivalent. Syrupy. Blah.
Rarely do I drink Coke or Pepsi. Only if it is the only cola around. Actually when I visited China, I did drink Coke, because Sprite just didn’t taste the same.
You know, looking back at that “A More Positive Entry,” it was kinda lame. “I like pizza?” I’m not sure what prompted that. Perhaps it was everyone saying “Your weblog is way too negative!” I usually don’t let people influence what I put in my weblog, but in that case I did.
It’s life. Sometimes life throws you lemons. I can’t seem to get out of this job search rut. To be honest I have not made one phone call, no applied for any postition since the new year. With war looming, I figure why should I?
You know, Spies Like Us is a pretty funny movie. The best part is them being dropped in the middle of nowheresville Pakistan. The movie’s location seems so much more significant in terms of current events, than when it first primired.
17 years ago today. It was a snow day around here. I was watching the weather on WTVF’s newsmagazine show “Talk of the Town.” Ron Howells was doing weather. He then cut to the space shuttle coverage of it actually blasting off. Then back to the weather. Ron told us “There’s something wrong with the shuttle.” Cut to CBS News. NASA never released much information, so Dan Rather was force to play around with a toy space shuttle; showing us its booster rockets and junk like that. (I kid you not; we had to sit and watch Dan for 3 hours playing with some toy shuttle while the CBS news drones begged NASA to release any information). That along with them showing the plume clouds and explosion over and over again.
That was my generation’s Kennedy assasination. Where were you when the shuttle exploded? I knew exactly where I was. I’ll never forget it. It’s when everyday events are forever linked to national tragedies.
Bringing Your Bible
“We’re not allowed to bring the Bible to school.” That was a quote from tonight’s King of the Hill episode (in syndication on WUXP). It was something about a Kid’s mock court. During the swearing in ceremony they used a Harry Potter’s book instead.
Anyways during my day, kids did bring their Bible to school. Some were quite showy in making sure everyone saw their Bible. Find the biggest Bible you can find and bring it to all your classes. Of course, I never actually saw them reading it. Just carrying it around. Maybe they did. I don’t know. My memory is foggy on that. Not necessarily a slam. Just an observation that some people may have brought their Bible for the wrong reasons.
Me? I never really had time to read the Bible during school. (Maybe that’s the wrong attitude to have). I guess I was too busy studying for my next test. It’s just that if I were to bring a bible, it would be one of those Gideon Bibles which would easily fit inside my backpack. Doesn’t the Bible say don’t be showy about your religion? Pray at home, not in the streets in front of everybody.
Then again there was that weird time in 5th grade when the Gideons did come and gave us all Bibles. They didn’t really just force it into our hands, they just said “Here’s some Bibles. We hope you’ll take one and read it.” That was it. Still makes those ACLU folks cringe.
Then I moved on to Lipscomb, where bringing a Bible to class was not only expected, it was required in Bible class. Some of the Bible classes started with a prayer and song. Tom Seals was good about that. Those Bible classes helped me learn how to actually study it. Never actually studied it before, except to do those 2 minute quizes during Sunday School classes.
Anyways students should be allowed to express themselves religiously by being allowed to read the Bible to oneself in school. I just hope they’re doing it for the right reasons.
Fear Factor. I suspect this show might be on its last legs. I can’t imagine this show lasting longer than 2 seasons. No one really wants see people eating disgusting foods on a weekly basis.
Appeasing the Home Town Crowd
Didn’t watch much of the Superbowl. And I’m not one of those people who watches the commercials either. I figure sooner or later I’ll see the commercials again. (What company spends all that money on a Superbowl commercial and doesn’t bother recycling it during regular tv?). Talking about the Super Bowl commercials is the type of inane discussion that goes on morning talk radio. Which ad did you like the best? Well, none of them. They’ll all be forgotten in 3 months.
The Raiders, for the most part, played terribly. The Raiders fans treated the Titans fans pretty bad during the AFC Championship game. So we were all hoping the Bucs would set them in their place. And Oakland’s fans rioted anyways. Would anybody mind telling Oakland that they’re actually a suburb of the glitzier San Francisco? No one goes to Oakland for vacation, unless they’re going to an A’s game.
And I kept hearing about how there’s a city of Tampa, yet the Bucs are forever linked to Tampa Bay. From what I understand Tampa Bay also includes St. Petersburg in this broader community. Kinda like how the Carolina Panthers are not the “North Carolina Panthers” as if to half heartedly include South Carolina as the “home crowd.” Sure they might play an exhibition game away from their home North Carolina stadium (Where do they play anyways?). South Carolinans are fooling themselves into thinking they “own” the Panthers.
Besides, both California and Florida have too many sports teams anyways. Florida by itself has 3 NFL teams. Remember when it was just the Dolphins? And I’m not going to bother counting California teams. When was the last time you heard of Alabama having a pro sports team? Sure, they signed up for the WLAF and XFL, but only because they had to. I’m just saying that the pro-teams of all the sports need to be geographically redestributed. Don’t have 2 teams in the same city. Move them elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Tennessean has too much time on its hands. An actual graphic showing a dog shooting? Did the public demand this? Analysis of the audio from it? I guarantee you there’s a child going hungry in Cookeville right now. Bigger problems in this world.