On 2013-12-25 16:57:06 +0000, George Kerby said:

On 12/25/13 1:27 AM, in article ,
"Robert Coe" wrote:

On Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:52:45 -0500, "J. Clarke" wrote:
: In article 2013122418340062173-savageduck1@REMOVESPAMmecom,
: says...
:
: On 2013-12-25 01:58:55 +0000, PeterN said:
:
: On 12/24/2013 8:35 PM, Savageduck wrote:
: On 2013-12-25 01:24:33 +0000, PeterN
said:
:
: On 12/24/2013 7:16 PM, Alan Browne wrote:
:
: Cheers all! Safe and Happy Holidays and a Healthy 2014.
:
: Alan
:
: Thank you, Alan.
: I echo your wishes.
:
: Here are two options:
: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...e/badsanta.jpg
:
: ...and to cover all eventualities:
: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/Fil...everything.jpg
:
: You and I have different beliefs. You will be much better off if I am
: wrong, than if you are wrong.
: Safe holidays, whatever you believe.
:
: I don't play the fire insurance game.
: Just chill and enjoy the show.
:
: Personally I don't believe in much of anything, but this is something
: I'll never forget:
:
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFUx_KC1bHQ

Neither will I, and neither, I suppose, will anyone old enough to remember
that event. The Flat-Earthers tried to claim that it was all a fake - that
what NASA was feeding the networks was a video of one of the mockups of the
Moon's surface that they used for astronaut training. But a few years later I
spent several months in Huntsville working for a software developer on a NASA
contract, and I spent a lot of time hanging out in the very room with one of
those mockups. Believe me, it wasn't convincing enough to have fooled anybody
with a moderately decent knowledge of planetary astronomy.

Possibly the next international event with as great an emotional impact also
happened shortly before Christmas: the fall of the Berlin Wall. We watched on
TV as young Germans armed with pickaxes and bottles of wine swarmed onto the
wall and began to chisel it into rubble. Earlier in the day, during a session
of the West German parliament, a messenger had walked to the podium and handed
the speaker a note. He stopped to read it and then told the hall that the East
German Government had announced that it would no longer enforce the border
between East and West Berlin. After a few seconds of stunned silence, one of
the parliamentarians rose to his feet and began to sing the (West) German
national anthem. Immediately everyone in the hall was on their feet and
singing. I wish I'd been in that hall with a camera in my hand. :^)

Bob

Two great moments in our lifetime. Thanks for the remembrance, Bob!

And that night in 1969 listening on the radio to those goosebumpling
words: "Houston. This is Tranquillity Base. The Eagle has landed."

--
Michael