lakeroadster
When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
.... and just when I was hoping to attend a "Dwarf Star Wrestling Competition"
NASA drops "insensitive" nicknames for cosmic objects
NASA drops "insensitive" nicknames for cosmic objects
NASA drops "insensitive" nicknames for cosmic objects
- Thread starter lakeroadster
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CoyoteNumber2
Original San Diego High Power Rocketry
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Somewhat related:
I wonder if we'll be seeing a reexamination of the reverence held for Wernher von Braun, given the nature of his pre-American career.
I wonder if we'll be seeing a reexamination of the reverence held for Wernher von Braun, given the nature of his pre-American career.
In his pre-American career, he built rockets for the government of his country of birth.
His only crime was being born German at the wrong time.
I don't know if he was an actual Nazi at heart, or just did what men with guns told him to do or else. This is informative reading:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-wernher-von-braun-and-nazis/
I believe he reluctantly became a member of the SS, under pressure.
lakeroadster
When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
The alternative wasn't to appealing. But then again Dietrich Bonhoeffer chose a different route.
History.... learn it, love it, live it.
Or just do like the current youngsters do... just embrace whomever yells the loudest and [political comments removed- mods]
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Funkworks
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I think von Braun was genuinely interested in designing rockets for people but like everyone else at the time was drawn into his country’s war effort.
What this film’s title suggests anyway: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Aim_at_the_Stars
What this film’s title suggests anyway: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Aim_at_the_Stars
Wernher von Braun's actions towards the end of and after the war, namely hiding documentation that the Nazis told him to destroy to later deliver it to the Americans he surrendered to, fully cooperating with the US government in telling them all about the V-2, working with Walt Disney to promote space exploration, and never publicly talking about his past; treating it as something to be ashamed of, speaks to his disinterest in Nazi ideology and his purpose always being to explore space.
It is probably just as well he passed away when he did. The Saturn V project manager, Arthur Rudolf, wound up returning to Germany and renouncing his US citizenship in return for not being prosecuted.
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[Rant]
Let's see....
I was born in the 60's of mixed race and grew up in Chicago on the "North Side". Been called the "N" word and told to go back to my neighborhood, 2 blocks from my house. Lived with my dad for 2 years on the "South Side" (The Black part of the City). During those times I have been verbally and physically assaulted by groups in both areas who felt I did not belong.
If I can survive all that and not hate the world, then the rest of the world can get over itself when it comes to irrelevant names like "dwarf" and "Uranus".
PC = too many hyper sensitive people with too much time on their bloody hands. They need to spend time living in places like Africa, Central America, Syria, etc... Then they will realize just how bad real life can be and gain some true perspective.
Come on America, WAKE UP!
[/Rant]
Let's see....
I was born in the 60's of mixed race and grew up in Chicago on the "North Side". Been called the "N" word and told to go back to my neighborhood, 2 blocks from my house. Lived with my dad for 2 years on the "South Side" (The Black part of the City). During those times I have been verbally and physically assaulted by groups in both areas who felt I did not belong.
If I can survive all that and not hate the world, then the rest of the world can get over itself when it comes to irrelevant names like "dwarf" and "Uranus".
PC = too many hyper sensitive people with too much time on their bloody hands. They need to spend time living in places like Africa, Central America, Syria, etc... Then they will realize just how bad real life can be and gain some true perspective.
Come on America, WAKE UP!
[/Rant]
Tobor, bless your heart. Please don't see this as patronizing, but my view of it is that "mixed race" is a misnomer. There is one race, the human race, and characteristics of complexion and so on that have developed regionally over time are irrelevant. "He hath of one blood made all nations (not races) of men to dwell upon the earth" - and "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, bond or free, but all are one" (both quotes from Paul's letter to the Ephesians). And having been overseas, I very much agree with your perspective.
While with the Nazis I can clearly see the need for justice, our current culture is such that if a fellow has done one bad thing, he is forever banned from ever being able to good again. It is a poisonous atmosphere of extreme self-righteousness and it is killing the American spirit. There are so many examples in public discourse of the clear case that the finger pointer has 4 pointing back at themselves and don't see it... We assassinate character rather than evaluate positions and policies, and will dig up any piece of dirt we can find, no matter the age or circumstances, and fling it at one another like toddlers fighting in a playpen. It's pathetic and it must stop.
While with the Nazis I can clearly see the need for justice, our current culture is such that if a fellow has done one bad thing, he is forever banned from ever being able to good again. It is a poisonous atmosphere of extreme self-righteousness and it is killing the American spirit. There are so many examples in public discourse of the clear case that the finger pointer has 4 pointing back at themselves and don't see it... We assassinate character rather than evaluate positions and policies, and will dig up any piece of dirt we can find, no matter the age or circumstances, and fling it at one another like toddlers fighting in a playpen. It's pathetic and it must stop.
If that's the case then they need to change the name of Mars (god of war) to something like, oh, I dunno, Rust.
Yeah, that's it!. Rust, the Red Planet!
And the name of Venus (goddess of love, suggestive undertones) to maybe, Planet Ormphby.
Nothing suggestive there.
Ridiculous.
Yeah, that's it!. Rust, the Red Planet!
And the name of Venus (goddess of love, suggestive undertones) to maybe, Planet Ormphby.
Nothing suggestive there.
Ridiculous.
"Rusty the Red Planet" would be more like something from a kids' story book...
Marvin the Rustolian?
Funkworks
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A name based on the reflection spectrum of oxidized iron? “BLOODY BRILLIANT”!
I won't be able to top that word play in the near future everyone, so enjoy.
(Blood is also red because of iron and oxygen, and brilliance refers to reflected colors ... oh never mind.)
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Wait, you had a HS named after "Eskimo Nebula" or "Siamese Twins Galaxy" ?
That's either super cool, or super weird.
As to von Braun, he was a great rocket scientist, and by all indications, a ruthless opportunist.
I'm glad he did something good for the US space program, but I would have never allowed a man of his character to babysit my kids.
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What?
pterodactyl
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The intelligence community in the US was fully aware of von Braun's scientific and political affiliations in Germany at the conclusion of WWII. Leadership in the US and likely its allies would have been aware of von Braun's potential ties to the Nazi's and made a moral decision to accept him into their fold, rather than let the Russians have him. Without von Braun and the Project Paperclip scientists America would not have developed the Saturn V and other technical capabilities in sufficient time to beat the USSR to the moon.
Seventy-five years after the fact, it is fine to retrospectively consider the moral choices von Braun made to avoid execution by the Nazis of him along with his immediate family. You might also consider the moral choices of the nations like the US, Britain, and Canada who elected to engage the services of some morally questionable people like Arthur Rudolf who met the space program's immediate strategic needs, but after their usefulness ended they were thrown to the wolves by the US justice system, representing the very same government that had decided to employ them a few decades earlier.
Opportunistic? They all are.
On the other hand he squandered critical wartime resources on a most inefficient killing machine.
Do you mean the Oort Cloud?
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Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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Adafruit, one of the major hobbyist electronics module suppliers, either initiated or signed up with a (very small) group to get the "master" & "slave" terminology for the I2C two-line serial communications protocol officially changed because of the non-PC aspect of those terms. Thankfully, I don't think it's going anywhere.
Welcome to the 1984 Newspeak era. Insane...
Welcome to the 1984 Newspeak era. Insane...
Not venturing too close to overtly political, @Winston, but you are correct. The euphemisms employed to put a positive spin on horrific things is, to my mind, past newspeak and well on the way to terms such as "Final Solution", "re-education camps", and so on, as employed by the most monstrous of regiemes of the past century.
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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There's nothing "political" about common sense. Speech which people disagree with or are offended by is the only type of speech that NEEDS defending. What we have are a bunch of pampered people with nothing better to do than to bitch about "first world" problems, making major cases over irrelevant issues. See Solzhenitsyn's quote, a guy who suffered greatly from the end results of political correctness.
Winston, yes I'd noticed Solzhenitsyn's quote in your signature; it is too sadly true. I think the bigger goal of some of these is not so much "justice" or "correctness" but chaos, mistrust of media and government, and a repudiation of Western values, because people generally will chose tyranny over chaos.
I completely agree with you on this.
I saw this too. It was interesting that some of what was proposed actually communicated the intent of the signal lines for less precisely.
As for WVB discussion, he dealt with difficult times as best he could. I hope I never end up in a situation where I am required to make such choices. I guess I would deal with it as best I could, if it happens.
Sort of, but maybe I meant Orc.
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