December 23, 2021 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, well worth your time, go here.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, well worth your time, go here.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
It was exciting to watch the launch of the JWST onboard the most sexy rocket in the world, Ariane 5, just now. I hope you didn’t miss it. The countdown as the very last Vulcain engine ignited on the Devil’s Island:
“- Cinq, quatre, trois, dö, UNITÉ, feu! Allumage! Décolage!”
https://youtu.be/PK_yguLapgA?t=48
Localfluff:
I think the devil rides you! We cannot wish for Ariane 5 to fail tomorrow. Don’t be evil, aren’t you also interested in the scientific results of the James Webb telescope?
@Questioner
I am hysterically hopeful for the JWST’s success. And I am truly hopeful! Ariane 5 hasn’t failed in 15 years. And it is the most beautiful rocket. And as to the telescope, everything with it has already failed, and has been fixed safely here on the ground! There remains nothing more to fail, again. It cost $10 Billion and was delayed by 14 years for a reason. It has been fixed. It was difficult. I mean, try doing it yourself! Hands off. Everything is double plus okay now. It’s as with the LIGO gravitational observatory. When I first heard of it I thought that this cannot work, and payd no more attention to it. But it worked! Fantastically! Their famous paper had a thousand authors. Do I think that I am smarter than a thousand physicists who signed this Nobel Prise winning paper? It was a crazy idea. But it worked, and that’s enough. Not anymore. I learn. That’s also a way to use ones brain, it is good at it if one tries. And I am deeply impressed.
JWST will see the first star that ever lit up our worlds. At the same time as it lits up! Through a quirk in spacetime. How can we do that? What are we? The answer will not be a slip up on the launch pad. Ariane 5 will do its do, as it has always have done. Or it will add to the English grammar in comparativum:
Horrible. Terrible. JWST.
The astronomer asks his creation:
“- Mirror mirror in the sky, tell me what is furthest away!”
And is answered by the Heavens, with:
“- Furthest away from reality of all is your mind. You’re MAD!”
I liked Ariane 4 the best-looks wise, with Saturn IB.