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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:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it 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.


Steve Cutts – This is our world

An evening pause: This animation expresses well what I often feel and think, as someone who does not use a “smart” phone.

Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who sent it from his own smart phone, which left him “not feeling very high and mighty.”

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

  • wayne

    This animation style, reminds me of the work of Basil Wolverton.

    pivoting humorously….
    “Look at this Instagram”
    (Nickelback Parody)
    https://youtu.be/Nn-dD-QKYN4
    2:54

  • Michael

    I have had people come into the store I am at and walk around for 20 minutes and never hang up once.

    There is much more truth to this video than not and I am so happy to identify with the kid. I have nothing against cell phones personally but I do despise what they do to people.

  • Garry

    If you enjoy shows that examine this theme, I highly recommend the British anthology Black Mirror; the title refers to what cell phones have become to many. Like any anthology, the quality of episodes can be hit or miss, but there are enough good, thought-provoking episodes to make it worthwhile. I personally can’t watch more than 1 or 2 episodes at a time; some of them are too intense.

    A good introduction is the episode Nosedive, which follows social media to its logical conclusion. It’s one of the few episodes that has a measure of humor in it; most are pretty grim. One of my favorites is called White Christmas. Hated in the Nation is long enough and produced well enough to stand on its own as a movie. I specifically do not recommend watching the first episode first; if I had, I never would have watched any other episode.

    The episodes are not connected, except for subtle references, such as a newspaper headline that references another episode. A typical episode involves a new technology of some sort, usually one that’s plausible in the near future (if not now), and illustrates how the new technology allows man to abuse his fellow man.

    I haven’t watched any episodes from the latest season.

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