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You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
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5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Success: The Russians today successfully redocked their unmanned Progress freighter to ISS, using a new docking system.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
Comeback: The Marines have put in an order for 12,000 M1911 pistols, the iconic 45 caliber pistol designed by John Browning more than a 100 years ago and used by the American military for most of the first half of the 20th century.
A new comparison by scientists of polygon-shaped formations on both the Earth and Mars suggests that both were formed underwater, providing further evidence that Mars once had oceans.
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.
"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
New analysis of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images appears to prove that most of the American flags planted at the Apollo landing sites are still standing.
Sadly, the analysis also seems to prove what Buzz Aldrin reported, that the Apollo 11 American flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent stage when the astronauts took off.
I wonder if anyone from the United States will ever have a chance to pick it up?
There are now only 3 copies left of the now out-of-print hardback of Leaving Earth. The price for an autographed copy of this rare collector's item is now $150 (plus $5 shipping).
To get your copy while the getting is good, please send a $155 check (which includes $5 shipping) payable to Robert Zimmerman to
Behind The Black, c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Leaving Earth is also available as an inexpensive ebook!
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
The law is for thee, not me: A Democrat inspector of elections has said he will not enforce the Pennsylvania law that requires identification in order to vote.
He might not like the law, and the law itself might be bad, but he has no right to pick and chose what laws he will enforce as an elected official.
A Colorado judge has issued an injunction preventing the Obama administration from enforcing its contraceptive drug mandate against a private company because the mandate might violate that company’s religious rights.
July 28 has now been set for the next docking attempt by a Progress freighter to ISS to test Russia’s new docking system.
Researchers think they’ve found a World War II German U-boat buried in the sand in a Canadian river, almost 100 miles inland.
We’re here to help you: Local government officials shut down a kid’s hot dog stand — before it even opens.
We’re here to help you: An Oregon man faces 30 days in jail for collecting rainwater on his property.
Leftwing civility: A New Hampshire businessman who appeared in a Romney ad criticizing Obama has asked the police to investigate the phone threats he has since received.
One [call] called him a “vile piece of (expletive),” among other things, and demanded he call Obama to apologize. The caller was identified by Gilchrist through his caller ID. The man called from area code 630, which is the Chicago area. He has posted anti-Republican and anti-conservative messages on Twitter in the past, including a 2009 posts that said, “GOP needs to be eliminated,” and, “I am prepared to kill people. Let the tea bagers fire the first shot and I will pile up the bodies of the traitors.” [emphasis mine]
An evening pause: As they say on the webpage, “All shot in one day, one of the last few days of summer.”
Go out and enjoy life. It can be so good.
I must apologize for the light posting the past few days. I am on a trip with my wife Diane visiting friends in Colorado. (The picture on the right of me (on the left) having lunch in the woods with Diane (standing) and friends Joel and Marianne will give you a taste of some of the fun we are having. The lamas were the pets of our host, who took the picture.)
I will be back home Sunday, when posting should resume with vigor.
The Democrats in the Senate have passed their tax plan, extending the Bush tax rates for families making under $250,000 for one year while allowing the rates for families earning above $250,000 to expire.
The big Democratic claim has been that in order to balance the budget richer people have to pay more of their fair share. Okay, so now they’ve made their point by law. If I were the Republicans I’d accept it, since we all know that this tax increase on higher income taxpayers will do nothing to lower the deficit. We could raise the tax rate for anyone earning more than $250K to 100 percent and we would still have a gigantic yearly deficit.
What will the Democrats next claim when this tax increase fails? It won’t matter. The problem is spending, and the failure of this tax plan will further demonstrate that point. The federal government has to learn to live within its means.
A solar powered experimental airplane has successfully completed the first intercontinental roundtrip between Europe and Africa.
Skydiver Felix Baumgartner has successfully completed an 18 mile dive in preparation for a record 23 mile dive next month.
Bad news: One of Kepler’s four reaction wheels — used to orient the space telescope — has failed.
Kepler only needs three wheels to function – one to control the probe’s motion along each axis – and the probe resumed its observations on 20 July. “Kepler is functioning very well on three reaction wheels,” says mission manager Roger Hunter of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. If the glitch can’t be fixed, though, Kepler will be left without a backup wheel. “This is reducing the odds of making the mission go as long as we can,” says Kepler chief scientist William Borucki of NASA Ames, who doubts that Kepler could point accurately enough to look for transiting planets if reduced to two reaction wheels. “It was a disappointing surprise to find this wheel stopped so early.”
Good news: Mars Odyssey has successfully adjusted its orbit so as to provide up-to-the-minute communications when Curiosity lands on August 5.
Repeal it! According to a new survey of businesses, 1 in 10 will drop health coverage for their employees when Obamacare goes into full effect.
A test redocking of a new automatic docking system on a Russian Progress freighter was aborted last night when the system did not work as planned.
They will probably try again on the weekend, after a Japanese cargo craft is berthed with the station.
An evening pause:
So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker’s hand.So make your sirens call
And sing all you want.
I will not hear what you have to say.
Cause I need freedom now
And I still know how
To live my life as it’s meant to be.
NASA successfully tested a new inflatable heat shield today in a suborbital flight at Wallops Island..
Indicating the trends: House Democrats are not paying their dues to the party’s central committee.
As of June 30, 64 Democrats — around one-third of the entire caucus — hadn’t paid anything to the DCCC, according to a party document provided to POLITICO. Another 109 members had paid only a portion of what they owe in dues, which are calculated based on seniority and committee assignments.
Thank you DOT and US Airways: Because of a new federal regulation, passengers who use US Airways for only part of their flight will have to check their bags and go through security again when they switch airlines.
It appears that US Airways is at much at fault here as the DOT. Read the article.
