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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.


Happy birthday Linux!

On this date in 1991 Linus Torvalds announced that he had developed a free computer operating system and wanted help from others to improve it. That operating system is what we today call Linux.

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

3 comments

  • ken anthony

    When I couldn’t recover from a win7 error I installed Linux Mint. Didn’t miss Windows at all and even bought a compiler to write code for Linux. After another year the computer crapped out, but my next will definitely have the newest Mint on it.

  • James Stephens

    I have to deal with all P.C. and mobile operating systems on a daily basis. Each of them have their good points and their bad points Linux included. But I must say LinuxMint is outstanding, a cut above. It’s safe and secure and vary easy to use. I would recommend it for anyone from first-timers to expert. It does everything the others do plus quite a bit more. A great replacement for XP.

    I love Linux because of it’s openness and versatility and peer review. If I have an idea or see a problem and want to change something I can, and then pass it on to the community at large for review and perhaps adoption. In this way millions of users such as myself make Linux better and better. It’s a wide field but to get some idea of what Linux is check out:

    http://www.distrowatch.org

    There you will find descriptions and reviews of the many Linux distributions available free for download. LinuxMint tops the list as most popular. Most are what’s called live. That is to say you can boot into it and try it out without bothering your present operating system or files. Much like a video game. Then if you like it you can install it along side your present OS or replace it. Once actually installed it runs like lightning.

    By the way I’m seeing a lot of the kids using Linux now.

  • Pzatchok

    Its been years since I have played with linux on a daily basis but I do manage to keep a live copy around just for data recovery, repairs, password recovery and the such.
    Normally its PCLinuxOS but I have used most of the major varieties.

    Maybe I’ll pick it up again when I replace my next PC.

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