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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:

 

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Behind The Black
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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.


Nandi Bushell – Rock and Grohl

An evening pause: The musical talent and passion are both outstanding. The shallow philosophy, when compared to Aristotle or Plato or Moses (to list only a few), is kind of sad to watch. She really believes that life is that simple. As a child such shallow passion is fine. I fear however that in the arriving dark age no one will ever do anything to make her think more deeply.

Hat tip Mike Nelson.

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

5 comments

  • Ed Shendell

    Why ruin the sheer joy of her innocence & talent. Her innocence will be ripped away from her at some point & she will learn to play the blues.

  • Alex Andrite

    Sadly, this is not a “Cool Image Time”.
    Nor is it a “shallow philosophy” Mr. Z.
    It is passion without reason or control.
    As, may be, the present and coming age.

    Sadly.
    Perhaps she will become “cropped and rotated” to realize her, and a true, perspective.

  • Alex Andrite wrote:

    “Sadly, this is not a “Cool Image Time”.
    Nor is it a “shallow philosophy” Mr. Z.
    It is passion without reason or control.
    As, may be, the present and coming age.

    Sadly.
    Perhaps she will become “cropped and rotated” to realize her, and a true, perspective.”

    My goodness. These are children. Let us not get carried away.

  • janyuary

    She’s delightful, but her musical accomplishments are, IMO, predictable, is the only word. Technology is making people appear to have much more ability than they do in reality, and that same technology as a crutch stunts their growth and development.

    Do you know the best way to use a digital tuner for any stringed instrument (bass guitar, guitar, or any stringed orchestral instrument)?
    The same way as Jose Feliciano would use one.

    Using the eyes for the most basic musical chore, tuning four to six strings (or up to 8 and 12 on double-stringed critters like mandos and fancy guitars) is a bad idea for all except professional musicians in a very loud venue. But used as they are today, digital tuners are thieves. They are like a crutch that ends up making healthy muscles atrophy. It breaks my heart when I see young folks thinking it’s something amazing (it’s not) when I tune my violin sans digital tuner but by reference of hearing a proper “A” on a tuning fork, from a lead player, or even calling up 440 hz on the computer.

    So again … I think the girl is cute and has a lot of enthusiasm that moves the heart, but her actual musical talent is nothing that particularly moves my musical spirit. The technology dominates.

    However I am happily confident that when it all comes out in the wash, music in the human spirit will always prevail … this little girl also epitomizes that dynamic. She will be liberated when the technology is removed and she must make music with nothing but string, wood, and ear.

  • pzatchok

    I like the enthusiasm.

    I hope she dues not lose it.

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