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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:

 

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UC-Berkeley Chemistry College to shutter?

The coming dark age: The University of California in Berkeley is considering disbanding its College of Chemistry to deal with $150 million pf debt.

One commenter noted this key fact: “What about African American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies? Are those programs going to be affected too?” with two others adding sarcastically, “No, they are essential,” and “Because they teach such marketable skills.”

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

9 comments

  • wayne

    Say What?
    My daughter has a PhD in Pharmacology (B.S. & M.S. in Chemistry) and is happily ($) employed at a large Company. (Research & Synthesis, she is not a Pharmacist.)
    The only places that employ “African American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies” grads, are University’s, which get massive amounts of tax subsidies.
    It’s only going to get weirder…

  • Political Girl

    But chemistry companies are “evil.” Didn’t you know that?

  • wayne

    Political Girl wrote:
    “But chemistry companies are “evil.””

    Har, I’ll assume you’re goofing me, ‘cuz I can’t see your face. :)

    Personally– I’m a firm believer in “better living through chemistry.” She had childhood leukemia & beat it with the help of those “evil” Company’s. I have every faith that her current research might just save somebody else in the future.

    Interesting new (audio) commentary by Victor Davis Hanson at Hoover dot org;
    “Weimar America,” that addresses some points directly relating to Mr. Z’s post.

  • Dick Eagleson

    Just a nitpick, but that headline should say “UC-Berkeley” not “UCLA-Berkeley.”

    As to the substance of the story, it would seem that California continues on its long leftist path of burning its seed corn and otherwise fatally abusing its patrimony.

  • Whoops, you are right. I will correct. Be aware that this might change the url to reach the post and comment thread.

  • Political Girl

    Wayne … my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek.

  • ‘Better Living Through Womyn’s Studies’. Hmmm. The evidence is in. Don’t think so.

  • wayne

    Political Girl
    No problem!
    :)
    Fully 60% of all communication is non-verbal, just couldn’t see your tongue was firmly planted in your cheek.
    We need more Chemistry Departments, not fewer!

  • wayne

    “The proper study of mankind is man.” Alexander Pope

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