Something I've wondered as of late

Am I the only one who now cringes any time the TV or radio or any other source of media regurgitates the Neil Armstrong moon landing sound bites?

I guess I should flesh that one out a bit. When I cringe, it's the same kind of cringe I do any time I see one of my fellow Americans blurt out something idiotic like: "We bailed you out in WW2.." as if something that didn't even happen within most of our lifetimes still holds precedence over everything that's happened (good or bad) since. Or, for another example, it's like seeing a 40- or 50-something guy constantly talking about stuff he did while in a high school sport.

I've been hearing it a lot lately, which is even more cringe-worthy since I really don't watch much TV (probably 3-4 hours a week) and I don't listen to the radio anymore.

I would hazard a guess that I'm not the only one who was inspired by stuff like this as a kid, and can probably credit it at least partially for being here now. ("here" as in forums like this, sharing an interest in the topic) But now.. now it almost feels like a joke. A somewhat cruel joke at times.



Maybe my negative feelings about it are amplified by my situation. My father didn't make it to 50 years old, and I have some of the same health problems he did. (just lost my job over it) I'm 34 now.. and really being hit hard by feelings that there's a lot I should do or should've done by now, but won't be able to. I feel like I won't make it too much further past him, sometimes. IF that were the case, (and I'm NOT saying it'll happen that way, just that it feels that way sometimes) that would only leave me about 16 more years. I really question how much more I'd see, let alone be able to do, within that time. Or maybe I just listen to "Time" by Pink Floyd far too often.. I don't know. At any rate, sometimes I feel like an event that happened before I was born will still be the same regurgitated highlight I see for the rest of whatever's left of my life.. and actually participating, even in the most limited of senses, (like even a suborbital flight) is probably already out of the question for me. Gotta love arthritic conditions.

I think Neil Armstrong did something great in his time.. it's terrible today we're not on the moon.. but I guess we'll go back within 20 years of time.. if not the US.. maybe the chinese, or the private industry..
I think it's good for history, but of course.. we live today.. and we want to move on to the moon "again".
The current change to the better of the space industry, with more developments going faster and more companies than ever before researching space projects, I think we finaly reached the beginning of our real space age... but it wil still cost some time..

Space helped the medical industry before... but the medical industry and research moves on as well.. I hope (and 16 years or more is a long time) they will find something to cure and atleast reduce the pain without side effects for arthritic conditions..

How more humans are "developed" how faster things will go, more chinese people developed, will also result in more inventions, and more chance a cure or solution will be found to problems.
And on world scale, not just china, but also brazil, india, vietnam etc.. more people get the time and resources to research such problems people face.. so I hope you'll become atleast 90 years old

Maybe, maybe not. Suborbital flight could become cheap enough in 10 years or so for you to go. But, even if it doesn't, it will still be fun to watch from afar, just like Apollo was. The next 5 years show every indication of accomplishing far more interesting things in space flight than the last 30 did.

And I thought only Australians suffered from cultural cringe
But on a different note, I'd like to put technological change into perspective using a personal example.
My dad, who is passed on to wherever you want to believe in, back in 1985, made 64 years of age so he was born in 1921.
He was born on a farming property - wheat and some sheep - and when he was in primary school age 6 to 12, one of his morning jobs was to get the horses fed and ready for the day's work of pulling the plough, or harvester or whatever else they had to do that day. When he was 11, that's 1932 he built a little crystal radio set to listen to the cricket from England and his father didn't believe that it was actually a broadcast from the other side of the world.

Dad left the farm and moved to Perth and became a radio/electronics engineer and when I was in primary school, around the time Neil Armstrong walked on the moon (I watched it on black and white TV) I remember crawling around inside the aircraft he worked at Perth Airport - Perth being the capital of Western Australia. When Dad retired and bought a business, he was working on 747's.

The point I'm making is that from a technological perspective, the change over just 2 generations - my dad's and mine - was simply amazing. And it doesn't stop there. Nowadays we've got satellites in orbit, computers the size of a pin, blueprint of the human geno' and god knows more stuff than I'll ever understand and my Dad couldn't even dream about as he's seen none of this and wasn't a sci-fi nut like me.

So Strategery71, don't get disheartened. My dad's generation saw enormous change - not all of it for the better. I've seen more than he has and I have the advantage of being able to view events that happened before I could understand them and so can you too. Technology and its creations continues whether people like it, understand it, or can even use it, so I'm sure that if you look for it, and are willing to embrace it, then you will enjoy your life for however long you're allotted.

By the way, don't just focus on the technological. For all mankind's creations don't come even close to what nature has provided for our enjoyment. Embrace it all.

By the way, 16 years, even if that is all the time you might have, is a lot when you consider the life spans of early explorers such as Columbus, and yet they embarked on journeys of years without worrying about how long they may have.

All the best for whatever you decide to do but maybe being part of this online world will help. I look forward to your posts.

Near the end of yesterday's space show, Dr. Phil (Phil Chapman of t/Space, not that other Dr. Phil) says he is more excited about the possibilities in space now than any time since Apollo 11. There is lots of other good stuff too.
Listen to the show at http://thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=420