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Readers!

 

My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

No matter. I am here, and here I intend to stay. If you like what I do and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.


January 30, 2023 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

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

  • Jeff Wright

    They are a bright and hardworking people. As I recall-a sliding German shower fixture inspired a Hubble repair instrument. I have wondered if any work on bridge construction or vibration might also be of use with ever larger rockets.

    Other message boards gave me headaches about such musings being “off topic.” Those two words are worse than “I can’t” or “not feasible” when it comes to innovation killers. “Energy vampires” Saban calls them.

  • Paul

    Reminds me of reading NASA Tech Briefs many years ago. I used to laugh at some of the inventions. They were things that were in common use in manufacturing and the real world. No diversity.
    The most unique cross industry reuse of technology I saw (some time ago):
    Toilet paper roll handling for packaging was adapted to a shredded wheat biscuit production line.
    That Project / Design engineering firm had enough breadth to see how one industries solutions could be used elsewhere.

  • Ryan Lawson

    I was the first to push use of ultrasonic cleaners for extruder parts in my company. I had first used ultrasonic cleaners as a step in the process of restoring old metal miniatures after stripping the paint, it helped remove the paint still stuck in small crevices.

    Here is another one I wonder if they have thought about, highly polishing the insides of flow channels and piping in rocket components. A guy I work with does this for air intakes on some cars as a hobby because it increases power by like 5% according to him.

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