QUARANTINE BLOG # 480

July 23, 2021

Yesterday morning the New York Post headlined, and FoxNews parroted them, “Wally Funk gives Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin spaceflight a lukewarm review.”  Having read and heard her pre-flight comments, and watching the video from inside the cabin, I heard nothing but excitement, fun, appreciation, and the sheer joy of being rocketed into space.  

So I read the article.  Here are some quotes.

“Wally Funk is giving Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight a two-star review.  The 82-year-old passenger on Tuesday’s Blue Origin mission enthusiastically thanked the billionaire for the flight, but the trailblazing former NASA trainee [NOTE: I don’t know where the writer got this because Wally Funk was never a NASA trainee – she applied 4 times and was turned down 4 times] also offered some less-than-stellar comments on the 11-minute trip.

“‘We went right on up and I saw darkness. I thought I was going to see the world, but we weren’t quite high enough,’ said Funk, who’s now the oldest person to travel to space.

“The passengers could see Earth out the windows of the capsule, but it was a far cry from the Pale Blue Dot that’s been pictured from deep in outer space.  And the view from onboard the Blue Origin flight couldn’t quite match the images taken from the International Space Station, which is about four times higher than the Blue Origin flight.

“Additionally, Funk added at the post-flight press conference, she would have liked to have spent longer in zero gravity on the flight to ‘do a lot more rolls and twists and so forth.’

“And finally, Funk’s last critique was that she wishes the trip could have been longer. ‘I loved every minute of it,’ she said. ‘I just wish it had been longer.’”

I listened to Wally’s words, and I do not hear the first criticism.  I do not hear any criticism at all in her comments.  This woman successfully completed all of the tests that the Mercury 7 astronauts completed, scored better on some of them than John Glenn (Glenn did 3 hours in the isolation test – in a dark room where he could walk around; she did 10 hours 40 minutes – in an isolation tank deprived of all sensory perception, and that was just for one test where her scores were higher), and flew more hours in conventional aircraft than any of the 7 (as of 2019 she had over 19,000 hours in the air – more than 2 years of flight time!), and was denied – simply because she was a woman and NASA wasn’t interested in flying women into space – a chance to ride into orbit.  

It was Will Feuer writing for the Post who said, commenting on the distance New Shepard reached, “it was a far cry from the Pale Blue Dot that’s been pictured from deep in outer space.”  Not Wally.  And it was Feuer who said, “the Blue Origin flight couldn’t quite match the images taken from the International Space Station.”  Not Wally.  It was Feuer who said, “Funk’s last critique was that she wishes the trip could have been longer.”  Well, duh!!  Look, I’m 74 years old, overweight and out of shape and have never piloted an airplane, but if Jeff Bezos calls me today and says, “David, come on the next flight,” my bags will be packed before he hangs up, and when we will land I will say, “Again!”  And however long the flight is, it will not be long enough, and I will wish it had been longer.

I heard a woman who was excited about fulfilling a dream over 6 decades long and who wished for more – and who among us has not done that?  You check out the video and see if you see a two star review.

👉  Speaking of “Again!” there was a TV show called Dinosaurs which aired from 1991-1994.  Jim Henson conceived the show in 1988 to be a sitcom about a family of dinosaurs.  My favorite clip from the series, features Earl, the father, taking care of Baby, who calls his dad, “Not The Mamma.”  Enjoy.

👉  Here are a couple more movie quotes:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

–  Quote: “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

–  Character: Sherlock Holmes

–  Actor: Basil Rathbone

This quip became the ultimate response from smarties to those less-adept. Sherlock Holmes is the quintessential deductive genius, magnified by the simpler wits of this sidekick Watson. The quote is not actually in any of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books; it’s an invention from the cinematic adaptations.

The Graduate (1967)

–  Quote: “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”

–  Character: Benjamin Braddock

–  Actor: Dustin Hoffman

This line’s iconicity comes from the visual that accompanies it. The young college grad, Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) delivers the line while shot through the silhouette of Mrs. Robinson’s leg, giant in the foreground. The shot offers the striking composition of the older woman overpowering the diminutive Benjamin.

👉  Let's play a game of Name That Tune -- 1980s Game Shows.  There are 25 in this collection.  The answer is: “I’ve watched 22 of them, and knew 2 of the shows.”  What are Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune?  And I recognized the Price is Right tune, but couldn’t pull out the name.  These tunes are chirpy and cheery and virtually the same, and I never realized that until listening to the clip.  How did you do?

👉  Tokyo hit another six-month high in new COVID-19 cases yesterday, one day before the Olympics begin, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games.  Thursday’s 1,979 new cases are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on January 15.  Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.

👉  In 1919, Robert Ripley started a cartoon called “Believe It Or Not.”  This piece should go into the collection.

An Indonesian man with the coronavirus boarded a domestic flight disguised as his wife, wearing a niqab covering his face and carrying fake IDs and a negative PCR test result.  But the cover didn’t last long.  Police say a flight attendant noticed the man change the clothes in the lavatory.  “He bought the plane ticket with his wife’s name and brought the identity card, the PCR test result and the vaccination card with his wife’s name.  All documents are under his wife’s name,” the police chief said after arresting the man upon landing.

👉  Signs for the times:

👉  Today’s close continues our meditations from Psalm 119 from Praying with the Psalms, by Eugene H. Peterson.

“Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it” (Psalm 119:140).

No one is asked to believe the word of God on the evidence of a slick brochure or the sales pitch of a smooth-talking witness.  There are centuries of evidence to show its consistent truth and working power.  No human words are so well tried and thoroughly tested as the words of God.

Prayer: I have spent far too much time, Lord, in wondering if your promises work.  I ought to be spending my time testing them out.  By your grace I will do that today.   Reveal to me the word you would have me test in this day’s belief and behavior.  Amen.

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