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The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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Daft Punk – Get Lucky

An evening pause: Hat tip Kyle Kooy. I don’t think the Chinese military realized that they were marching to this music, but gosh darn it, they sure appear to. As Kyle noted to me, “Somebody took a Chinese military parade and set the music to the American song “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk. … [It] creates a very mesmerizing video that is both upbeat and somewhat eerie at the same time.”

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

  • Steve

    Reminds me of the Clone Army from Star Wars. They all appear to be the exact same height and body mass….

  • Good point. I wondered how they were able to remain in such perfect equal distance through out the march. Perhaps they were specific chosen to have the same size and weight.

    Bob Clark

  • Steve C

    These guys spend way to much time marching.

  • PeterF

    As a retired Air Force veteran, I LOVE to see the premier units of the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) march with such precision. The incredible amount of practice needed to march with such precision means that they are not training for combat.
    Historically, marching skills are useful only for moving conscripts when mechanized transportation is unavailable.
    I LOVE seeing the PLA marching
    In the USAF, the only time you get to march after basic training is if you volunteer for the color guard to carry the flag at football games.
    People forget the the US Army met the Chinese army in combat. They call it “The Forgotten War”. The Chinese (including many of their “elite” units) were horribly undertrained and unequipped. The US Army, struggling after crippling drawdowns and equipped with worn-out “surplus” equipment and barely resupplied should have kicked their butts. The only reason we didn’t was because of the below zero winter weather. The Chosin reservoir battle was an amazing example of a fighting retreat. Supply points established during the initial advance (not authorized by MacArthur) allowed them to fight a rear guard fighting retreat. The only reason the Chinese prevailed was the incredible number of unequipped conscripts who overwhelmed the Marines. Many of the Chinese didn’t even have SHOES! never mind a firearm or ammunition! The Chosin reservoir would have been an American victory if they had air cover, or resupply, (or political support).
    Even though I admire President Eisenhower (and Reagan), (I have an I LIKE IKE bumper sticker), any president who would commit American soldiers to battle without the ultimate goal of complete and TOTAL surrender of the enemy, is guilty of criminal negligence.

  • pzatchok

    Since the first gulf War the Chinese military has done an almost total about face from their old tactics of overwhelming manpower to a new, better equipped and trained military.

    They have drastically cut back manpower at the same time increasing military spending on both training and equipment.
    Add in the fact they are trying to finally build a blue water navy and improve their aircraft and they will soon be on par with the US and other western nations.

    I just hope that their military power peeks at the same time as their democracy movement does.
    Basically they get to be a superpower and then get reigned in by political pressure.

    I know, I dream a bit.

  • MikeP

    You’re absolutely right Peter. Because we did not deal with them in 1950, we have a North Korea with nukes and ballistic missles and a willingness to share them with terrorist states and a China with a nuclear arsenal that probably now exceeds our own. The fault is Truman’s, not Eisenhower’s.

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