One year ago today, the good people of Boston displayed their vigilance in the international war on terror by reporting Lite-Brite displays of Ignignokt and Err to the authorities. A shameful display of fear, incompetence, and demagoguery immediately followed. Thank God the perpetrators’ hair was safe.
This past Monday Richard Knerr, the founder of Wham-O, passed away. Wham-O was the company that brought us the Superball, Frisbee, Silly String, Slip ‘n Slide, and consequently hundreds of hours of childhood fun. Mostly these were the kinds of cheap toys that your parents could pick up for pocket change, the kinds of toys you could actually get by just asking while you were at the store. You couldn’t get an expensive G.I. Joe or Transformer that way, no sir. How they ever turned a profit is a tribute to mass production and low petroleum costs, I suppose.
Back in the fall of 1994, my web browser was NCSA Mosaic, but it was quickly replaced by Netscape Navigator. A great deal of my early, enthusiastic surfing of the World Wide Web was done using these classics. It wasn’t until years later that other browser software had any relevance in my eyes. Back in 1999, AOL purchased Netscape for about four billion dollars, an act of financial hubris that has since become the object of a kind of wistful, nostalgic scorn and pity.
Yesterday, Netscape’s official blog announced that the browser is dead. They’ve stopped development and will suspend product support entirely after February 1st, 2008. All that’s left of the once-mightly brand is the Digg-like portal page. Another titan ploughed under by progress…
On October 4th, 1957, the United Soviet Socialist Republic took mankind’s exploration of our environment into a brand-new phase. For millennia we had looked up into the night sky and wondered. For the past half a century, the moon, planets, and stars have seemed much closer to us than they ever had before. Fantastical stories of interplanetary and interstellar travel seemed much more plausible, more reasonable. It is my firm belief that active space exploration is one of the most optimistic, noble endeavors we have set our collective minds to. The innovations and inspiration we draw from this effort, as young people take interest in the sciences and technology is turned to purposes other than wanton destruction or sloth, far outweigh the costs in labor, material, capital, and even the lives that have been lost.
Man has his eyes in the front of his head so that he may always look forward. Let’s keep moving forward.
The Monster is Zero. Monster Zero periodnd all units to take defensive position. What is Monster Zero? Monster Zero is the reason we cannot live on the surface but must forever live underground like this. I will show you Monster Zero. Hey look its King Ghidorah! On earth you gave this terrifying monster the name of Ghidorah. Everything is numbered here. The Monster is Zero. Pay head to my warning. The entire human race will perish from the Earth. Where the monster Ghidorah passes unacclaiming ruins are left. So now you’re convinced that we’re from outer space. It would be a bad situation if that creature came to Earth. It’s worse. He has arrived. How could that possibly be and why?! What is it? What is it? My lovely lady it’s Ghidorah! Ghidorah the space monster!
It is very likely that one or more of you know this individual. Someone who’s experienced with access with select biological agents with the knowledge or expertise to produce a deadly product. Someone who works in isolation. A killer who may have used all powers in the laboratory to produce Ghidorah. I do call myself an expert but I’m sorry to tell you I’ve never seen King Ghidorah. Not even on live science. I’m very sorry young man but I can’t talk to you anymore.
Evacuate the streets when King Ghidorah is in your area. It’s King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah will destroy the whole country. But why? Why King Ghidorah? He’s not from the Earth. What happened? Ghidorah is a space monster. I will get in touch with him. When you feel like giving up. Remain where you are.
Johnny Cash passed away this morning.