One Giant Leap

Two nights ago, The PC said that he was taking a couple of nights off from posting.

And yet, here I am.

Last night's quick correction of an earlier post probably doesn't count.

But still.

Here I am.

"They pull me back in."

Last night marked the 44th anniversary of the first moon landing. Just a few hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.

"That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."

No one seems quite sure if Capt. Armstrong forgot the "a" in that statement, or if the transmission just "glitched" and lost it.

Either way, the statement makes more sense with the "a" included.

Whatever.

What is important is this...

Everyone, everywhere, in every country that had ready access to a television broadcast, witnessed these historic moments, together, as one people.

As "mankind."

Has the history of the world ever had a more unifying moment?

Most Americans, who were alive in the 1960s, remember where they were when they learned JFK had been assassinated.

*Digression*

I was three years old, soaking an infected big toenail in epson salts and eating a bologna, mustard and ketchup on Wonder Bread sandwich, waiting for the "Captain Penny" show to come on.


TMI? I don't care.

*End Digression*

And those of us who were alive on that night in July, 1969 remember where we were, then.

I was up way past my bedtime. Sitting in front of the family television.

My Mom and Dad were there. Two of my sisters were also present. My youngest sister was technically present, also, but, would not actually be born until 8 days later.

The Blog's faulty memory likes to think that he and his family were witnessing history being made on a 28 inch Dumont, black and white TV.

This isn't the exact Dumont that we had, but it is the closest that I could find on Google Images.

But, thinking hard, I think that, by that time we had actually, finally, upgraded to a color Zenith TV.

It is not much of a stretch to believe that The Blog Dad finally replaced the old Dumont for the specific purpose of having the new TV in time for the moon landing.

That feels true to me. So, it probably is.

I do know this to be true.

Following instructions from the newspaper, The Blog Dad adjusted the contrast on the TV screen, so that the young, future Blog could take photos of the event with his Kodak Instamatic™ camera.

I don't know where those photos are, today.

What I do know is that they came out looking something like this...

So, no real loss, there.

The PC still treasures his sketchy memories of that night.

There are a few facts about that moon landing that blow The PC's mind.

The Blog's grandparents were alive when two brothers in Dayton, Ohio, built a machine that flew a few feet off the ground.

(One of his grandfathers became a pilot in WWI, for the Army Air Corp.)

And, they lived long enough to see a man from Wapakoneta, Ohio (not far from Dayton) walk on the moon.

How amazing is that?

For the next four years, several Americans walked on the moon.

And then, it all stopped.

An incredible number of people, a whole generation or more, depending on how you measure generations, weren't even born when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

An even more incredible number of people believe that the whole moon landing thing was a hoax, played out on a soundstage in Arizona.

(Those people are regular visitors to Breitbart.com and WND.com.)

*The Blog will not direct traffic to conspiracy theory web sites. If you want to check them out, do so at your own risk. And tighten your tin-foil hats.*


Okay. The PC is done for tonight.

Tomorrow night, I might take a break.

Or, I might not.

The Blog is currently sautéing one last rant about "Zimmerman/Martin."

Tomorrow night or the next.

We'll see.

 *Update*

One of my sisters, (not the one who wasn't born yet, but the next oldest,) has confirmed that we did, in fact, witness the moon landing on the old Dumont. So, I guess the old PC's memory is better than he thinks. 

Which, it just occurs to me, means that I saw both the news about JFK's assassination and the moon landing on the same TV set.

Also, she pointed out that I got the name of Neil Armstrong's hometown wrong. I have corrected that and will not speak of it again.