I’m talking about the high temperatures forecast for this weekend….91 degrees!  In Dallas.  In July.  That’s COOL by Texas standards, lemme tell ya.  Our apartment’s social director either read The Farmer’s Almanac or is just super lucky, because she scheduled our Summer Luau for this Saturday.  I’m not sure what to expect, but so far their events have been pretty nice.  I’m looking forward to getting lei-d.

Before I can enjoy Saturday, however, I’ve got to first survive today.  My thermometer currently reads 106.  Our days are slowly but surely getting shorter (by 1 minute a day), and every minute less we have the sun beating down on us, the better I like it.

Stay cool.

S

Have you ever seen a fast-draw shooter….you know, one of those guys who can draw his 6-shooter and fire all 6 rounds in 1 second?  Or how about a trick-shot bowler who can make that 7-10 split?  Ooooooo!!  Have you ever seen the video of that little Jap guy who can eat his weight in Nathan’s hot dogs in 3 minutes (or some absurdly fast time)?  And who hasn’t seen the film of Evil Knievel jumping over 50 buses(?) on his motorcycle?  All cool to watch for sure, but what good did it do???

It was 40 years ago today that Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL for it’s rendeveau with destiny, ie: man’s first moon landing.  Remember Neil Armstrong’s famous words:  ”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”?  Like every other person with a TV, I sat spellbound and watched every second of the coverage.  Now, 40 years later I’m wondering, what good did it do?  

I guess there’s still a little flag up there not waving in the no-breeze lunar atmosphere, and some giant footprints in the moon dust….OH….and I saw a moon rock once under glass at a museum.  WooHoo!  Some egghead scientists did some esoteric research, which now probably resides in some dusty volumes in some scientific depository somewhere.  And most important of all, it gave rise to that most famous of cliches:  ”If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we (fill in the blank)?”

It was cool to watch, and a great reason to wave the flag (Take THAT you evil Rooskies!).  It did inspire a generation of young people to look into science for a career, so I guess that was a nice benefit.  Why didn’t we just spend the money on developing rocket technology for the military (which was what the whole thing was really about all along) and dispense with the show-boating?  Was it just another government sponsored trick shot?

S