Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


No 6207 A Study in Steel

An evening pause: A fascinating and well-filmed documentary from 1935 describing how a British company then built locomotives. Note the lack of construction helmets, gloves, or safety glasses. Note also the number of workers involved. Today most of this work is automated, making it more precise and efficient. Then, however, they did not yet have such technology, and instead found ways to build very sophisticated machines using the skills of ordinary humans.

Hat tip Edward Thelen.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • Robert Pratt

    Oh come on, they had “strangely looking hats to keep the sweat from their eyes!” Very good film.

  • Jwing

    Amazing, collard button-down white shirts, vests, and hats….mostly made of wool and cotton tweed. regular shoes not boots!

  • Localfluff

    “Who is now to say that the day of the craftsman is no more?”
    Great movie clip! Please dig further where you found this.

    War of the Worlds begins with the idea of an alien civilization watching us. Which is an interesting thought experiment. Like we watch ants. How clumsily, but still productive like all survivable random biology, they would think, I think, the items of our industry are manufactured. And we were the first to leave the planet. Omnius Terra venerandum. All life on the Earth bow to our herding and gardening, because we have proven to be so superior to reach out into the infinity. All life wishes to get a ride along with us on our Noah’s Ark to eternity.

  • wayne

    Edward– excellent selection!

    As well, I would highly recommend “Master Hands,” 4 -part series produced by the Jam Handy Organization from 1936, detailing the manufacture & production of Chevrolet’s in Flint, Michigan. (not just assembly–they manufactured everything from the ground up.)
    >Selected for preservation in 1999 by the National Film Registry.
    Parts 1-2 start out slow, but are also fascinating nonetheless. (all 4 parts run about 30 minutes total.)

    https://archive.org/details/MasterHa1936_3

  • Joe

    Fascinating, was that a plasma ark they used to cut the sides out with?, I wonder if this kind of labor intensive building happens any where in the world today, not talking about ship building, but locomotives, China maybe?

  • I love watching things being built. I worked for a company that had me in various Boeing plants in the Seattle area, and I’d sometimes get so caught up in watching the manufacturing that I’d neglect my job for a bit. Humans, and life in general, are the antithesis of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. From chaos; order. Good stuff.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *