The Information Super-Frog

In honor of Moon News, some tidbits from 1990s Usenet:


All About Moon Rocks & NASA

Newsfroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories,alt.fan.beable,alt.religion.kibology
Subject: Re: NASA wastes more money
Organization: Obvious Trolls, Inc. Etc.
X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test67 (15 July 1998)
From: Caj@B_r_a_i_n_H_z.c_o_m (Xcott Craver)
Glenn Knickerbocker wrote:
:Beable van Polasm wrote:
: : to the moon and paint some rocks purple or whatever color moon rocks
:SILLY! Everybody knows moon rocks are GREY, because we didn't have
:color televisions back then!
NO! Moon rocks are grey because of the lack of air.
Don't you know bluebirds turn grey in a vacuum? Same reason: light is actually a wave, like sound, and you can't have sound in space. They sky would be grey too if it wasn't for air to reflect the ocean, which is itself blue because of algae (water is normally transparent.)
-S
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From: Carlos "Froggy" May (froggy@neosoft.killallspammers.com)
Subject: Why won't the Moon leave me alone??
Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology
X-Frog: Yes
Organization: Planet Of The Frogs
Leader Kibo said:
: The Moon could double as a loofah.
A loofah that is marketed for almost $5million a gram.
According to the AP via Yahoo News:

: Lowly moon rock at center of court fight MIAMI - In a cross between science fiction and a children's tale, a moon rock gets dug up from its peaceful valley, flies aboard Apollo 17 to Earth, visits Honduras and winds up in a U.S. court."

That was my favorite Theodore Sturgeon Geisel story ever!

: "It's one of these curious little cases," said Keith Rosenn, a University of Miami law professor recruited by the judge as a consultant on Honduran law. "But it is a real case with grown men arguing about it."

Though it's being ignored by grown women.
And by men affected with dwarfism.

: The extensively traveled bit of cosmic geology couldn't care less where it ends up,

By cracky, this new generation of young punk moonrocks, they just don't give a damn!
Fight moonrock apathy!

: but Justice Department lawyers and a Florida man who claims it are fighting for possession.Technically, the encased, fingertip-sized rock is listed as the defendant in the case of "United States v. Lucite ball containing lunar material."

Worst episode of Celebrity Deathmatch EVER!

: For now, it is a prisoner, waiting to learn its fate

Although it doesn't care

: from a federal judge busy with a fight over congressional redistricting.Anxiously watching from the sidelines are space buffs who have developed a high-end market for anything that's flown in space. Pieces of the moon are particularly prized. Think Van Gogh.

Van Gogh loved to buy moonrocks.

: This 1.142-gram chunk could be worth millions on the open market. The last man to have it was asking dlrs 5 million."Many space collectors consider it the ultimate collectible to have a piece of the moon," said Florian Noller, a German authority on space memorabilia who has legally sold moon dust.

It's legal to sell moon dust in Amsterdam.
Dude, if you think 5 million dlrs is too much for a rock of moon, you must never have tried it, man! That's some primo stuff.
And the best part is, if the cops catch you with moon rock, they don't arrest you, they arrest the rock!
And the rock doesn't even care!

: "That's something very symbolic or very cool to have." [...]

Now let's see...
Cost of Apollo program: $25.4 billion
Amount of moon material brought back by Apollo program: 381.7 kg
25,400,000,000 / 381,700
Works out to about $60,540 spent per gram of moon brought back, no?
(my calculator doesn't have that many digits)
Going rate for Apollo moon rock on open market: almost $5million per gram
So NASA is sitting on a stockpile of moon with an estimated street value of about $19085 Billion!

Explain to me again why the taxpayers need to support the space program, rather than the other way around?
Wondering simply, -- Froggy

Two years ago today was my last day of evacucation in Austin, Texas, before I started heading back to New Orleans.

On 3 October 2005 Ms.Hollie and I had BBQ for lunch at Ruby's-- sorry, anyone who thinks that's quality BBQ needs to come eat at "The Joint" in Bywater, New Orleans. The Tex-Mex place our kind hosts tooks us to for dinner that night was much better -- Austin is the Tex-Mex capital as far as I'm concerned. The next day we hit the road, drove the newly reopened but still Rita devastated I-10, crashed in Baton Rouge. Next morning the usually 40 minute drive from BR to NOLA took 4 hours.

A hell of a lot has happened in the last two years, but that doesn't seem so long ago. July of 2005, on the other hand, seems like it was back in the 1980s or something.

H & I are planning to mark the anniversary of our return on Friday by going back to Specialty in Terrytown, where we had our first meal back at one of the few restaurants open (limited hours and menu) in Greater New Orleans at the time.

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Last week Pentomino was visiting town. He thought the nail gun from reconstruction work down the street was gunfire.

Pentomino, H, & I went to the WWII museum, which has interesting stuff and ties in with the Ken Burns series running on PBS.





German "ENIGMA Machine".
In the early '40s taking a photo of one of these babies probably would have gotten you shot.

A "Higgins Boat", via which New Orleans saved the world from Fascism. You're welcome.

I was glad the last episode of the Ken Burns series at least touched briefly on how war often screws up for life even those who escaped without physical injury.

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Monday there were memorials for late musician/bandleader Jacques Gauthe. Things started off in the afternoon in front of Preservation Hall.




A "jazz band", via which New Orleans saved the world from Squareness. You're welcome.


There was then a memorial second line parade-- sort of a tumble, stopping at various bars-- winding to the Palm Court for a memorial concert with buffet. Good music for a good musician.


Tuesday H & I saw the film "In the Shadow of the Moon", about the Apollo moon astronauts. Reccomended!

Mmmm, Eclipse-y.