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50 Years Ago Today, Apollo 8 Changed Humanity's Vision of Earth Forever (theguardian.com)
No one told them to look for the Earth. It was Christmas Eve 1968 and the first manned mission to the moon had reached its destination. As Apollo 8 slipped into lunar orbit the crew prepared to read passages of Genesis for a TV broadcast to the world. But as the command module came around on its fourth lap, there it was visible through the window -- a bright blue and white bauble suspended in the black above the relentless grey of the moon. The Guardian: Before that moment 50 years ago, no one had seen an earthrise. The sight sent Bill Anders, the mission photographer, scrambling for his camera. He slapped a 70mm colour roll into the Hasselblad, set the focus to infinity, and started shooting though the telephoto lens. What he captured became one of the most influential images in history. A driving force of the environmental movement, the picture, which became known as Earthrise, showed the world as a singular, fragile, oasis.
On previous laps Anders had snapped the far side of the moon for the geologists and the near side of it for Apollo's landing site planners. "It didn't take long for the moon to become boring. It was like dirty beach sand," Anders told the Guardian. "Then we suddenly saw this object called Earth. It was the only colour in the universe." Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 21 December 1968. The enormous Saturn V rocket, more than 110 metres tall, had flown only twice before and never with a crew. But on that day the rocket performed. Tucked inside the command module, Anders, Frank Borman and James Lovell looped the planet twice before the third stage blasted them onwards to the moon. They arrived nearly three days later, completed 10 lunar orbits, and headed home for a splashdown in the north Pacific.
Earthrise did not have an immediate impact. Its philosophical significance sunk in over years, after Nasa put it on a stamp, and Time and Life magazine highlighted it as an era-defining image. "It gained this iconic status," Anders said. "People realised that we lived on this fragile planet and that we needed to take care of it." The shot did more than boost the environmental movement. Even Anders, who calls himself "an arch cold war warrior," felt it held a message for humanity. "This is the only home we have and yet we're busy shooting at each other, threatening nuclear war, and wearing suicide vests," he said. "It amazes me." Further reading: Wired.
On previous laps Anders had snapped the far side of the moon for the geologists and the near side of it for Apollo's landing site planners. "It didn't take long for the moon to become boring. It was like dirty beach sand," Anders told the Guardian. "Then we suddenly saw this object called Earth. It was the only colour in the universe." Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 21 December 1968. The enormous Saturn V rocket, more than 110 metres tall, had flown only twice before and never with a crew. But on that day the rocket performed. Tucked inside the command module, Anders, Frank Borman and James Lovell looped the planet twice before the third stage blasted them onwards to the moon. They arrived nearly three days later, completed 10 lunar orbits, and headed home for a splashdown in the north Pacific.
Earthrise did not have an immediate impact. Its philosophical significance sunk in over years, after Nasa put it on a stamp, and Time and Life magazine highlighted it as an era-defining image. "It gained this iconic status," Anders said. "People realised that we lived on this fragile planet and that we needed to take care of it." The shot did more than boost the environmental movement. Even Anders, who calls himself "an arch cold war warrior," felt it held a message for humanity. "This is the only home we have and yet we're busy shooting at each other, threatening nuclear war, and wearing suicide vests," he said. "It amazes me." Further reading: Wired.
"President of the Free World', my ASS. He's the Village Idiot, who somehow managed to get elected. He's just a seat-warmer for the next actual POTUS. In the meantime we seem to be powerless to prevent him from completely ruining everything he touches. One can hope he comes down with glioblastoma and has to be removed, or in one of his frequent hissy-fit temper-tantrums, has a stroke and drops dead.
Here's the trick to dealing with that Flat Earth crowd: learning to distinguish between the ones who go along with it because it's funny, and the ones who actually believe it. The former you just chuckle along with; the latter, you earmark as having failed the basic intelligence test, and treat them accordingly thereafter.
'Faith' should be a PRIVATE thing, not what makes decisions for an entire country. Practice whatever 'religion' you want in the privacy of your own home, or go to a church, but keep your 'faith' out my government, out of politics, out of my workplace, out of our public schools, out of my doctor's office, and out of my bedroom. Your 'religious leaders' should have nothing whatsoever to say about politics to anyone but themselves, let alone collecting money to give to political candidates. We do not need 'faith' to run a country, and we sure as fuck don't need some 2000 year old work of fiction that is not even relevant anymore, and that furthermore is spin-doctored to mean whatever the bastard who is 'interpreting' it wants it to mean. Truth be told I'd rather erase the entire idea of 'religion' and 'god(s)' from our entire species' minds, it's holding back both our physiological and social evolution.
I like this one. Every human alive or that has ever lived is framed in this photo, except for one.
Have gnu, will travel.
...growing economy
..no new wars
Yeah sure he's FUCKING UP the economy with his bull-in-a-china-shop tarriffs and other stupid decisions, and trying to screw with the fed rather than let them do their job ergo worst DJI for xmas eve in the history of the DJI.
Ill-advised (by every miltary adviser and diplomatic adviser there is) decision to pull out of Syria, making all our allies wonder what the fuck we're doing, making them question ever trusting the U.S. for anything, and very likely giving new life to ISIS/Daesh.
Trump is ruining everything he touches. He needs to GO. ASAP.
No wonder you're on my enemies list around here, you're clearly either a Trump supporter, utterly clueless, or both. Get lost, and please don't vote anymore.