Alphin C. Tom

1. The Apollo's Saturn rockets were packed with enough fuel to throw 100-pound shrapnel three miles, and NASA couldn't rule out the possibility that they might explode on takeoff. NASA seated its VIP spectators three and a half miles from the launchpad. 2. The Apollo computers had less processing power than a cellphone. 3. Drinking water was a fuel-cell by-product, but Apollo 11's hydrogen-gas filters didn't work, making every drink bubbly. Urinating and defecating in zero gravity, meanwhile, had not been figured out; the latter was so troublesome that at least one astronaut spent his entire mission on an anti-diarrhea drug to avoid it. 4. When Apollo 11's lunar lander, the Eagle, separated from the orbiter, the cabin wasn't fully depressurized, resulting in a burst of gas equivalent to popping a champagne cork. It threw the module's landing four miles off-target. 5. Pilot Neil Armstrong nearly ran out of fuel landing the Eagle, ...

I do not love you except because I love you; I go from loving to not loving you, From waiting to not waiting for you My heart moves from cold to fire. I love you only because it's you the one I love; I hate you deeply, and hating you Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you Is that I do not see you but love you blindly. Maybe January light will consume My heart with its cruel Ray, stealing my key to true calm. In this part of the story I am the one who Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you, Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood. ~ A Poem by Pablo Neruda

Spaniards and holidaymakers sweltering in the summer heat might not be too impressed, but desperate times — and a deep recession — call for desperate measures. The Spanish Cabinet agreed yesterday to reduce energy consumption by limiting the use of air conditioning. Madrid has decided to establish minimum and maximum temperatures for public buildings and thus shops, bars, airports, cinemas, railway stations and airports cannot be cooled below 26C (79F) in summer. During winter, moreover, heaters cannot be turned up above 21C. The Economic Sustainability Law is designed to reduce Spain's overreliance on imported energy, but this may not figure highly in the priorities of anyone gasping for breath in August. It is not the only new direction taken by Spain as it seeks a path to better economic times: under new rules, banks and all publicly listed companies will have to disclose how much they pay their leading executives. Elena Salgado, the Economy Minister, said: ...

Sometimes when nothing goes just right And worry reigns supreme, When heartache fills the eyes with mist And all things useless seem, There's just one thing that can drive away The tears that scald and blind – Someone to slip a strong arm 'round And whisper, "Never mind." No one has ever told just why Those words bring such comfort; Nor why that whisper makes our cares Depart on hurried wing. Yet troubles say a quick "Good- day," We leave them far behind When someone slips an arm around, And whispers, "Never mind." But love must prompt that soft caress- That at love must, aye, be true Or at that tender, clinging touch No heart ease come to you, But if the arm be moved by love, Sweet comfort you will find When someone slips an arm around, And whispers, "Never mind!"