Category Archives: Personal

Parallels Between the Sputnik and 9/11 Crises

Posted on October 5, 2015 by launiusr

Is there a relationship between the so-called “Sputnik moment” in October 1957 and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks? Yes, at several levels there are intriguing parallels between the Sputnik crisis of 1957-1958 that Eisenhower faced and the aftermath of the … Continue reading →

Posted in aeronautics, aviation, History, Personal, Politics, Space | Tagged 1960s, 9/11, Afghanistan, American exceptionalism, Apollo, ARPA, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, History, Homeland Security Act of 2002, international relations, Iraq, JFK, Moon, Moon race, NASA, National Defense Education Act, Patriot Act of 2002, Presidential Science Advisor, public perceptions, public policy, Soviet Union, Sputnik, Terrorist Screening Center, Terrorist Threat Integration Center, U.S. Civil Space, World Trade Center | Leave a comment

Pretty Blue Planet

Posted on September 4, 2015 by launiusr

This is a stunning collection of images from space: PrettyBluePlanet. Enjoy.

Posted in Earth Science, International Space Station, Personal, Space | Tagged aesthetics, environmental movement | 1 Comment

Perceptions of Belief in a Flat Earth

Posted on August 28, 2015 by launiusr

It’s a wonderful thing, the imagination of humankind. It has brought us the wonders of science and technology, the ideals of freedom and democracy, the inspiration to question, and the desire to help others, to name only a few positive … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Lunar Exploration, Personal, Religion, Science | Tagged 1960s, Apollo, Earth science, History, public perceptions, space science | 5 Comments

The George Brett “Pine Tar” Incident

Posted on July 24, 2015 by launiusr

It seems like it took place yesterday, but on July 25, 1983, one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of Major League Baseball. It involved future Hall of Famer George Brett, to this day one of my all … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Sports | Tagged Billy Martin, Goose Gossage, History, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Pine Tar Incident, Tim McClelland | Leave a comment

Stimulating Aerospace Capabilities in America

Posted on July 3, 2015 by launiusr

Historians five hundred years hence may well characterize successful human flight, and all that followed in both air and space, as the most significant single technology of the twentieth century. Has it fundamentally reshaped our world, at once awesome and … Continue reading →

Posted in aeronautics, aviation, History, Personal, Politics, Space | Tagged air mail, Department of Defense, FAA, History, NACA, NASA, public perceptions, R&D, Samuel Pierpont Langley, Smithsonian Institution, technology development, TWA, Wright brothers | 1 Comment

Good Charlie/Bad Charlie: What Made Charlie Finley Tick?

Posted on June 19, 2015 by launiusr

Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City/Oakland A’s between 1960 and 1980, had a public persona as one of the dark princes of Major League Baseball. He engaged in manipulation, connivance, and cajolery for what he wanted, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Charles O. Finley, History, Oakland A's, Personal | Tagged Charlie Finley, Kansas City A's, MLB, Oakland A's | Leave a comment

Embracing the All-American Automobile

Posted on June 12, 2015 by launiusr

No doubt, the railroads of the nineteenth century enabled Americans to move about with a speed and ease never possible before. Even so, they did not provide the freedom to which Americans have long believed they have a special right. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Personal | Tagged automobiles, Flivver, Henry Ford, John Steinbeck, Middletown, Model T, Progressivism, Robert and Helen Lynd, Russell Olds, The Grapes of Wrath, U.S. Highway 66 | 1 Comment

Space as Battlefield or Sanctuary?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by launiusr

For more than fifty years since the first space satellites were orbited the world engaged in activity in outer space for military scientific, and commercial purposes, but without placing weapons there or engaging in serious efforts to target objects in space. … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Politics, Space | Tagged Al Gore, cold war, Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization, Department of Defense, Gen. Lance Lord, George W. Bush, History, international relations, Malcolm Mowthorp, military space policy, national security, politics, presidential power, public perceptions, public policy, Robert F. Turner, Soviet Union, space policy, space weoponization | 1 Comment

The Conspiracy Motif and the Nineteenth Century RLDS Church

Posted on May 11, 2015 by launiusr

While the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) emerged from elements in the early Mormon movement that accepted more mainstream American religious and social ideals its membership also spun its own formidable conspiracy theory. An early and … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Mormonism, Personal, Religion, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | Tagged Alexander McCord, apostles, Brigham Young, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David H. Smith, Edmund C. Briggs, John Taylor, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith III, Mormons, religion, RLDS, Willard Richards, William B. Smith | 1 Comment

Toward a Theory of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on May 8, 2015 by launiusr

The recent conspiracy theories surrounding the military exercise, Jade Helm 15, being planned by the U.S. Department of Defense in the summer of 2015 has led me to consider the place of conspiracies in American history. There are a lot of conspiracy … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Personal | Tagged conspiracy, conspiracy theory, David Brion Davis, FDR, Pearl Harbor | Leave a comment