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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. 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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it 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.


Laser tag replaces air pistol in 2012 Olympic games

The summer Olympics has decided to replace the use of air pistols in the 2012 Olympics with laser guns. Air pistols shoot actual pellets, and using lasers instead will, according to the powers that be, “reduce the cost of shooting by two thirds in the sport and the improved safety of the event could mean new venues are used.” Of course, no one can cite any actual accidents from the use of air pistols, so this decision is essentially political correctness gone wild.

Update: Several shooting friends have emailed me to note that this change only applies to the Pentathlon, not to the air pistol events. Mea culpa.

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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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

  • Just wait for the saftey issued raised from retina damage from errant laser shots!

    Incidentally, I enjoy your segments on John Batchellor’s show.

  • John H

    The last time I purchased pellets for my air gun it nearly wiped out my bank account!

    You need a clip from A Christmas Story where Ralphie is told “You’re going to shoot your eye out!” as your next evening pause.

  • Mr. I

    And, let’s not forget that using rechargable laser guns will be “green”. (As long as you don’t consider the environmental costs of providing the power to recharge the batteries …)

  • Chris L.

    So exactly what part of the shooting event will actually involve ballistics?

  • Elizabeth

    Should use phasers instead.

  • LINO---Lloyd in name only

    I was driving to work today.
    I passed three gentlemen—only yards apart from each other–each clutching a cardboard sign describing their plight. They were all dressed in the attire of their trade: a ratty outfit, torn and notably unwashed. The solution to their woes?
    Any coin or currency I could spare. Of course, each sign offered the blessing of G-d.

    Instead, I thought they should be voting. They should raise their voices to the East and shout out to Obama that they should not be oppressed by his taxes that they do not pay.
    Our constitution does not exclude their voices or reduce the pitch of their respective cardboard.

    Yes, they were within their natural rights to make this tacit request.
    My question was: what reasonable franchisee would pursue such a business opportunity in such a careless manner?
    Where were the demographic studies pursuant to such an enterprise? Poorly thought out, to be sure.

    I suspect these people would make wonderful lobbyists. I propose that Lobbyists be confined to the “cardboard sign” approach to fundraising. They should be made to hand-letter these signs to prove their sincerity.
    Our great country would be a better place.
    The purveyors of cardboard understand what drives people and the people who drive.
    Allow them to be the voice of the banks that are leading us to our fate.

    May the hand-lettered Cardboard Signs become the deposit slips of our Great Society!

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