Aviation, Freemasonry, Tech nerdery, random musings and anything else that interests me.
Brother Gordon Cooper was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts – the first manned mission to space. He also acted as the command pilot for Gemini 5. Cooper was fond of carrying Masonic items to space. He reportedly carried a Masonic coin, a Masonic flag, and a Scottish Rite banner on various missions. He…
“On this date in 1963 Captain Joe Walker flew the North American X-15A to an altitude of 271,000 feet. Having flown higher than 50 miles, he qualified for astronaut wings.” Only The Space Shuttle ‘flew’ Faster Than This Rocket Plane Designed With A Slide Rule Queue the theme song/video to Star Trek ‘Enterprise’ …
better !pout !crybetter watchoutlpr whysanta claus < north pole >towncat /etc/passwd >listcheck listcheck listcat list | grep naughty >nogiftlistcat list | grep nice >giftlistsanta claus < north pole >townwho | grep sleepingwho | grep awakewho | egrep ‘bad|good’for (goodness sake) { be good} (by Frank Carey, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1985)
I was controlling a westbound Concorde just entering my airspace when I received details of an SR-71 coming eastbound on a route that would conflict with Concorde. The SR-71 did not always fly supersonically, it was doing less than Mach1 on this day, but it was still at a very high altitude. I had been…
I’ve finally been ducked! 🤣 I was at the Home Depot picking up an order and came back to this little guy on my Jeep. Thanks Gladys! 😁
Mary McDonald was born on November 14, 1770 in Frogtown (near Norristown). When Mary was 4 years old, her mother died. She was then sent to live with the family of Rees Howell as a bound servant. Howell had a farm situated on the road between Gulph Mills and Valley Forge. In mid December, 1777,…
While The Masonic Temple in Philadelphia is gorgeous, there were several other grand Masonic edifices in the city prior to its construction. Once such building was the 1855 Masonic Hall, which was consumed by fire. Remnants of that building can still be found in today’s Temple. For instance, the seats in Gothic Hall were actually…
Admiral William Halsey, who once said “I never trust a fighting man who doesn’t smoke or drink,” was not a supporter of the Navy’s ban on alcohol on ships. During WWII, he requisitioned 100 gallons of bourbon so that flight surgeons could issue shots to his pilots. h/t – US Naval Institute
For a little Sunday Punday Funday, I give you.. the pièce de résistance of puns: These loafers must have cost a lot of dough. They are shoes that most people would just loaf to have. You could make some bread selling these loafers. I believe it’s a product you could spread without getting into a…
The USS Connecticut’s collision last week was not the first time the submarine unexpectedly came into contact with something. After the Connecticut had surfaced in an ice pack in 2003, a polar bear approached and began to lick the exposed rudder before deciding that he was not in the mood for a sub and wandered…