"You know, I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time."
~ Wernher von Braun (1930)
It seems fitting that Trump will announce the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Sessions at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama where Wernher von Braun led a team of rocket scientists (initially all Germans). Von Braun essentially drove our space program from the end of WW II through the Cold War. He is credited with inventing both the V-2 and Saturn V rockets.
But wasn't von Braun also a nasty foreigner who took STEM jobs away from Americans? Unfortunately for us, Robert Goddard had died. We have always attracted or taken (in von Braun's case) the very best scientific talent and probably always will. Years ago, I worked at a well-known science institute here in SoCal.
One day, an eminent chemistry professor named Sir Derek H. R. Barton,
PhD, FRS, paid a visit. Now Sir Derek (RIP) had an interesting history.
Schooled in Britain in her post war days, he made unprecedented
contributions to the field of organic chemistry (you can read details here). After reaching mandatory retirement age in Britain, Barton left
England to continue working, moving first to France and then eventually
to Texas, that bastion of free enterprise.
I forget Sir
Derek's lecture topic that day and my notes are buried somewhere,
currently irretrievable. What stands out in my mind was his effusive
praise for his graduate students and postdocs -- especially his Chinese
ones. Not for their cleverness nor for their contributions -- for Sir
Derek had an ego the size of Donald Trump's. Rather, he praised their willingness
to work around the clock and through weekends for him for very little
money. I still recall his quaint description of their microwaved noodle
breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. And I remember thinking "this is who
will rule the world." That was around 1997 or 1998.
20 comments:
Funny you mention moon rockets in Trump season.
Reminds me of a journalist's favorite - "Reaching escape velocity". The rocket burned in stages, as Christie spent his fuel and fell off, or got sent home, the next one ignited like clock work.
It would insensitive to say Trump is getting his ducks in a row...
So, I'm not going to say that.
Oh.. I can't believe this... blogger is making me prove I'm not a robot again.
"Select all images of bodies of water such as lakes or oceans."
I'm in Florida!... I guess it's giving me an easy one.
Cruz must be really hated. Has one senate colleague endorsed him?
tits.
It just says "Please prove you are not a robot."
Ignore it and your post goes up anyway.
Fitting?
Wow, there's a stretch.
PS "Trump will announce the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Sessions".
Here I thought Sessions was the One True Ted's best bud and the only pure Conservative.
I guess not.
Titus said...
Cruz must be really hated. Has one senate colleague endorsed him?
Only one former Senator, Bob Smith, who served NH from '90 - '03.
Werner Von Braun - "I aimed for the stars, but I hit London".
Wow, there's a stretch.
Yes ed, fitting because it's always important to keep in mind the contributions that immigrants made to American science. The more recent "STEM crisis" is a different animal which came from an overt shift in policy -- a deliberate one enacted and enabled to import just "qualified" talent -- not just the ones reaching for the stars.
I'm all in favor of us skimming off the 10,000 smartest STEM's people from all over the world. Its the other 990,000 thousand we let in every year that are the problem.
Oh, and beautiful young girls - get in free too. And they don't have to pass Go.
chickelit said...
Wow, there's a stretch.
Yes ed, fitting
No, the comparison to a man who worked for the Nazis is a cheap shot.
Whatever Trump is, he isn't that and doesn't have it coming.
And, yes, I would say the same for Cruz or Rubio.
Even poor old Bernie who takes his life in his hands with every waking breath.
It wasn't even intended as a cheap shot, edutcher. guess I should have seen that coming -- Trooper had the exact same reaction years ago when I brought up von Braun in the context of Walt Disney. There are no-go zones.
von Braun was a great scientist and a great American. I don't think he was a "Nazi" in any meaningful way.
Von Braun was a flawed man to be sure. So was Fritz Haber. So was William Shockley. But all three made important contributions to science. In Haber's case, we probably owe him as much as Normal Borlaug. Deal with it, ed.
norman
chickelit said...
It wasn't even intended as a cheap shot, edutcher. guess I should have seen that coming
If that's the case, so be it. My bad.
I'm just so tired of some people imputing all the evil in the world to Trump, it just gets a little old. Believe me, I do understand the man has his flaws.
And I'm not an acolyte, so, if it seemed I was jumping to save my guy, I wasn't. If there was somebody better (as I've said, I wish Jindal and Walker hadn't quit so early and Rand hadn't weirded everybody out by going all Libertarian), I'd be willing to look at him.
The other 2 contenders just don't do it for me.
Maybe it is rocket science for all I know. It could be propulsion pathology or renal engineering for all I know, it could be corporate tax accounting of astrophysics, or Radio City Music Hall of insurance actuary. The clue I had yesterday that is. I thought of you because I know you would like it. You would like it like an otter likes fish. Like a frog likes flies. A gimmie for you but not for me.
The clue is this:
C8H8
And I'm all, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this is a chemical. I got this. I got this. Shut up, I got this. They will always always always have some kind of sugar and this does look like a crystal, all nice and even like that. A big honking crystal, 8 carbons that's big, right? Like a complex sugar, and 8 hydrogens, right? It makes sense to me. So I write OSE on the end. And I fancy myself clever. I do.
But it's wrong. Nothing is working. It starts with an S and sucrose does not work. And man am I ever bummed. Removed everything except the S.
Know what it is? Guess what it is. Guess what it is. Guess. Guess. Guess, I said. Guess! Styrene.
Totally faked me out.
And I don't even know what styrene is. But now I know it is C8H8. So put me on Jeopardy! and I'm all BUZZ what is Styrene, Bitch? But that's as far as it can go. Another question about styrene and I'll have to just smile knowingly nod and walk away.
Sometime the wiki knows how to hit the nail on the head, if not drive it home.
Von Braun had an ambivalent and complex relationship with the Nazi regime of the Third Reich.
There's a pair, ambivalent and complex. They also describe my attitude/feelings toward Trump.
As for Rubio, A Mouseketeers hat does not seem too big a stretch.
Regarding Disney workers fired for H-B1 replacements: While Donald Trump has called on Disney to hire back all of these workers and has pledged to end H-1B job theft as President, Sen. Marco Rubio has pushed to expand the controversial H-1B program—he has introduced two bills that would dramatically boost the issuances of H-1Bs. As recently as last year, Rubio introduced a bill—endorsed by Disney’s CEO Bob Iger via his immigration lobbying firm—that would triple the issuances of H-1Bs. Disney is one of Sen. Rubio’s top financial backers—having donated more that $2 million according to Open Secrets.
Chip, C8H8 need not be styrene. It could also be cyclo-octa-tetra-ene -- that's what I first think of as C8H8 -- the stop sign molecule. But the coolest C8H8 of all is cubane. Each vertex is a carbon, each with a single hydrogen (not shown).
As for Rubio, A Mouseketeers hat does not seem too big a stretch.
Ouch! Double ouch!
I still recall his quaint description of their microwaved noodle breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. And I remember thinking "this is who will rule the world." That was around 1997 or 1998.
Work ethic. Some have it...some don't. Americans, especially those under the age of 30, have lost it entirely. Perhaps it has to do with being raised in a culture of wealth and well being.
Raised by the Boomers who were coddled by their parents who went through WWII and who personally remembered the Great Depression. Several generations of entitled people who have not suffered (in general) hardships, privation. Generations where even if you fail or give up, you still get a lush handout from the Government and from the working class taxpayers to support your life. There was NO social safety net in the Depression. You worked or starved or depended on your family and church charities.
No all have been so entitled. Many have had to work their asses off and struggle. Many like myself and my husband, had parents who worked hard......very hard. Parents who learned the thrifty ways of the Depression babies and Grandparents who lived through the really hard times.
Americans (not all) are soft, entitled, unrealistic, whiny babies who are about to get a real dose of reality. I don't think they are up to the challenge.
"No all have been so entitled. Many have had to work their asses off and struggle."
And BTW: those are the core of Trump's voting base. The pissed off, hard working people who are denigrated at every turn. Called racist, vulgarians, doing the dance of the sloping foreheads, clinging to their religions and guns. Expected to lay down and take it while being crushed by the Government and overwhelmed by illegal immigration and now by foreign workers with visas who will take your job and squeeze you out like a used tube of toothpaste.
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