Soon to be Hurricane Isaac: Here’s someone I’ve been reading for a couple of years now, Levi Cowan, who is quite young, but really has a profound intuitive sense for hurricanes and how they behave. A future Nobel Prize Laureate? Quite possibly, in my opinion.
He’s really done a lot better than anyone else at ferreting out the intricacies of Tropical Storm Isaac’s dance in the last 12 hours, interacting, as it is, with the mountains of Hispaniola, Cuba and the open 30 C. water it so desperately craves to wind itself up into a historic storm:
The Republicans were wise to cancel Sunday and Monday conventioneers’ grandstanding. Mother Nature is going to give Tampa quite a wallop, if Levi’s prediction (already more accurate than the models) is correct.
There’s a frenzy going on right now at Jeff Masters’ blog. In the last 45 minutes, there have been about 300 comments posted. It’s something to see. Though the signal-to-noise ratio certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
Again, off topic, but any chance of the Republicans putting two and two together here? i.e. Florida getting lots more hurricanes? drought in the Mid west? Climate change anyone?…..or will they just blame the Hurricane on Obama?
It seems that Neil Armstrong inspired comedian Buddy Hackett. Who told this joke:
TRUE STORY:
When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” statement but followed it by several remarks, usual com traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.”
Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.
On July 5, 1995 (in Tampa Bay, FL) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball which landed in the front of his neighbor’s bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.
As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You’ll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”
Like you, I found out about Buddy Hackett being the author of the “Mr. Gorsky” story at Snopes.com.
It’s almost become a ritual now for me to check Snopes.com whenever a friend sends me a chain letter via email. And disappointingly enough, about two out of three chain letters turn out to be bogus.
Recently a couple of well-meaning but naive folks sent me a chain letter on How to Fix Congress according to Warren Buffett. Snopes.com covers this as well:
Neil Armstrong and I share the same home town, Wapakoneta. My father was a schoolmate of Neil’s younger brother, Dean. He recalls getting chewed out when he and Dean were caught playing with a little steam engine Neil had made, which engine is now on display, I think, at the Air and Space Museum in Wapak.
I was nine when Neil stepped onto the moon. We watched the landing on our black and white tv. The earth did not explode, as some predicted.
Later there was a homecoming parade for Neil. The parade route went right by my grandmother’s house on Pearl Street. As I recall she was more interested in waving and crying “Yoo-hoo!” to Bob Hope, the parade’s grandmaster, than in waving to Neil, whom she remembered simply as the quiet kid who lived a few doors down on Benton Street. Phyllis Diller was also in the parade (if they die in threes I wonder whose left?)
Anyway after the parade went by and the crowd dispersed I walked down to the Dairy Queen on the corner to get a Dilly Bar. As I was standing there a convertible pulled up and Neil got out — wanting some refreshment, I suppose, before facing the crowd at the fairgrounds. I was terrified, dared not turn around to look him in the eye.
So on that day the most famous man on earth had to wait in line BEHIND ME, wait till I got my Dilly Bar, before he could quench his thirst.
The world has lost a truly wonderful soul. God speed Neil Armstrong!
OFF TOPIC:
Soon to be Hurricane Isaac: Here’s someone I’ve been reading for a couple of years now, Levi Cowan, who is quite young, but really has a profound intuitive sense for hurricanes and how they behave. A future Nobel Prize Laureate? Quite possibly, in my opinion.
He’s really done a lot better than anyone else at ferreting out the intricacies of Tropical Storm Isaac’s dance in the last 12 hours, interacting, as it is, with the mountains of Hispaniola, Cuba and the open 30 C. water it so desperately craves to wind itself up into a historic storm:
http://www.tropicaltidbits.com/
The Republicans were wise to cancel Sunday and Monday conventioneers’ grandstanding. Mother Nature is going to give Tampa quite a wallop, if Levi’s prediction (already more accurate than the models) is correct.
There’s a frenzy going on right now at Jeff Masters’ blog. In the last 45 minutes, there have been about 300 comments posted. It’s something to see. Though the signal-to-noise ratio certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
Again, off topic, but any chance of the Republicans putting two and two together here? i.e. Florida getting lots more hurricanes? drought in the Mid west? Climate change anyone?…..or will they just blame the Hurricane on Obama?
Off topic again, but you know how I was only joking when I suggested that republicans would blame Obama for the hurricane….well it seems that’s what Rush Limbaugh is now doing:
http://www.politicususa.com/rush-limbaugh-claims-hurricane-obama-conspiracy-cancel-gop-convention.html
Neil Armstrong definitely inspired a lot of people and will be missed.
It seems that Neil Armstrong inspired comedian Buddy Hackett. Who told this joke:
TRUE STORY:
When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” statement but followed it by several remarks, usual com traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.”
Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.
On July 5, 1995 (in Tampa Bay, FL) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball which landed in the front of his neighbor’s bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.
As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You’ll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”
True story.
:0
good one!
Lately I’ve been receiving so many emails from people about “Mr. Gorsky” that I decided to look it up at snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/mrgorsky.asp
It’s a cool story but not true.
Hi Neil,
Like you, I found out about Buddy Hackett being the author of the “Mr. Gorsky” story at Snopes.com.
It’s almost become a ritual now for me to check Snopes.com whenever a friend sends me a chain letter via email. And disappointingly enough, about two out of three chain letters turn out to be bogus.
Recently a couple of well-meaning but naive folks sent me a chain letter on How to Fix Congress according to Warren Buffett. Snopes.com covers this as well:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/buffett.asp
These folks were just a tad embarrassed when I sent the Snopes link in reply. Oh, well. 🙂
Neil Armstrong and Apollo-11. Those were such optimistic years (provided you excluded the Vietnam War, Nixon and Kissinger 🙂
Neil Armstrong and I share the same home town, Wapakoneta. My father was a schoolmate of Neil’s younger brother, Dean. He recalls getting chewed out when he and Dean were caught playing with a little steam engine Neil had made, which engine is now on display, I think, at the Air and Space Museum in Wapak.
I was nine when Neil stepped onto the moon. We watched the landing on our black and white tv. The earth did not explode, as some predicted.
Later there was a homecoming parade for Neil. The parade route went right by my grandmother’s house on Pearl Street. As I recall she was more interested in waving and crying “Yoo-hoo!” to Bob Hope, the parade’s grandmaster, than in waving to Neil, whom she remembered simply as the quiet kid who lived a few doors down on Benton Street. Phyllis Diller was also in the parade (if they die in threes I wonder whose left?)
Anyway after the parade went by and the crowd dispersed I walked down to the Dairy Queen on the corner to get a Dilly Bar. As I was standing there a convertible pulled up and Neil got out — wanting some refreshment, I suppose, before facing the crowd at the fairgrounds. I was terrified, dared not turn around to look him in the eye.
So on that day the most famous man on earth had to wait in line BEHIND ME, wait till I got my Dilly Bar, before he could quench his thirst.
It’s all been downhill since . . .
Kelly,
What a delightful story. Thanks for sharing your slice of Americana. 🙂
What a great story. Neil was certainly a modest and quiet professional that Americans can look on with admiration.
I loved the space museum in Wapak as a kid, grew up not too far south