Pan Am created a waitlist for moon travel in the 1960s.

SCIENCE & INDUSTRY

In 1964, an Austrian journalist asked a travel agent in Vienna to book him on a flight to the moon, and it gave the folks at Pan Am an idea. Within weeks, the popular airline created a waitlist for would-be space travelers eager to reserve a spot on the first lunar flight. It was an advance reservation to be sure: The airline predicted that the first commercial flight to the moon would depart in the year 2000. 

Though Apollo 11 would not make its historic journey to the lunar surface for another five years, Pan Am was already busy working out the messy details of spaceflight service (chief among them being the inevitable discomfort of rocket launches). As the airline advertised its lunar list on radio and TV, the waitlist only grew. By the time Neil Armstrong took his “one small step for man” in July 1969, some 25,000 people were waiting for their ticket beyond Earth’s gravitational embrace. Pan Am even set up a “First Moon Flights” Club, issuing club cards to around 93,000 certified members between 1968 and 1971.

Ultimately, Pan Am was unable to deliver on its lofty lunar promises; high operational costs combined with an economic slowdown led to the airline’s financial decline in the 1970s and eventual bankruptcy in 1991. The dream of space tourism, however, lives on. In 2021, Virgin Galactic’s space travel waitlist (at $250,000 per ticket) had some 600 names on it, including Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Lady Gaga. The spaceflight company Axiom Space, meanwhile, is busy curating 10-day visits to the International Space Station for a cool $55 million and launched its first private mission in April 2022. Still, though humans have clearly long been hungry for ways to leave our home planet, the surface of the moon remains an exclusive destination for professional astronauts — for now.

Homo sapiens has been on Earth for only 0.0067% of its existence.

SCIENCE & INDUSTRY

Though humans have been the planet’s dominant species for some 50,000 years, our reign is a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. Homo sapiens(Latin for “wise man”) has been on Earth for only 0.0067% of its existence, an infinitesimally small amount of time that emphasizes both how insignificant and how impressive a species we are. Homo sapiens first emerged in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago, at which point several other types of humans were still extant, including Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Homo naledi, Homo luzonensis, and Homo erectus. Though our ancestors are known to have coexisted with Neanderthals and Denisovans, it’s possible they never encountered the other early humans.

There are a number of theories seeking to explain why we survived and our predecessors didn’t, including superior brainpower and dumb luck, plus a newer theory suggesting that our interpersonal skills and dependence on one another helped us succeed where others failed. (Perhaps the secret really was the friends we made along the way.) We haven’t been here the longest — that would be Homo erectus, whose 1.5 million years on the planet is a record among humans that we sapiens won’t surpass for some 1.2 million years — but we have left the most sizable footprint. Whether that ends up being a good thing may be for the next species to decide.

Myth: Medieval People Thought the World Was Flat

One of the most common myths about medieval society is that people widely believed the Earth was flat, but there’s no evidence that supports this. On the contrary, by the fifth or sixth century BCE, ancient Greeks (specifically Pythagoras) had already begun investigating the planet’s true spherical nature, and by 240 BCE, Greek mathematician Eratosthenes even measured the globe’s circumference (and was pretty dead-on). In fact, the popularity of the flat Earth myth is a considerably more modern development: The myth was perpetuated in 1828 when Washington Irving, who’s known for his inventive short stories, penned The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which told a tale of the Italian explorer’s mission to prove that the Earth has curves.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The Judge in New York has a simple decision to make for violations of court orders, send the violator to jail. Seems like it should not take a great deal of effort to do that but the person that is playing truth or dare is someone that feels like he can get away with anything.
What will be the backlash of this action if any? What jail will the Judge pick for Mr. Trump to be housed in? I am not sure what the results of this action will be but I do know that jail, and the worst one you can have access to is the one the Judge should choose. One that will make any supporter gathering difficult not to mention accommodation for supporters if necessary.
Trump is finally being taken to task for all the crap he has gotten away with for a lifetime. He is still threatening News outlets for not agreeing with him, He is threatening people if they don’t agree with him and tell him how wonderful he is. He is still telling lies about everything and people are still supporting his nonsense.
Our legislative branches of government are acting more like kindergarten classes with the constant bickering and drawing a line in the sand antics over every issue they are supposed to be resolving. This kind of government is not doing us any good at all. The world stage is pretty much doing the same thing as all the children seem to have a stick and know how to draw a line even if they have no idea what to do if challenged. The rise and fall of civilization can probably be tracked by the number of times that mankind has gotten too big for their britches and fallen flat on their face, and we are about to do it again.
We need to collectively recognize the issues that are confronting us as inhabitants of this planet and they work to correct and resolve those issues that are confronting us that have dire consequences. The petty ego trips and we know better than you do and everyone should listen to us attitudes is not the answer. We need to listen to every idea and be willing to attempt even the least plausible of them as all are guesses and although we are equipped with large brains that does not guarantee that they are working that well.
Case in point, Trump has not been put in jail yet even though he has repeatedly violated the gag order. Put him in a booth in the courtroom where he can not see or be seen and make sure he can not be heard. Let him read the things that are being said. Bring him in blindfolded and take him out the same way. He is required to be present, nothing says it has to be a pleasant experience. The judge lost credibility by not following through with the jail threat and if he was afraid to do it for some reason then that reason should be made public and those making the threats to the judge need to be jailed.
As for Mr. Trump it is most unfortunate that he is being afforded more accommodation as he should have been jailed long ago. When the day comes and he is under the grass it is hoped that his grave will be either marked as a traitor or unmarked at all, either way is too good.

The largest volcano in the solar system, Mars’ Olympus Mons, is more than twice as tall as Mount Everest.

Earth is home to stunning snow-capped mountains that tower over their surrounding landscapes, but none quite compares to Mars’ Olympus Mons. First photographed in detailby NASA’s Mariner 9 probe in 1971, Olympus Mons (Latin for “Mount Olympus”) is nearly 16 miles tall. For comparison, its most famous earthly competitor — Mount Everest — is only about 5.5 miles above sea level. The width of Olympus Mons is just as impressive as its height: Stretching 374 miles across, it’sas big as the entire state of Arizona. Olympus Mons is what’s known as a shield volcano, a type formed as lava slowly spreads out and cools; these volcanoes usually have a low profile and are named for their resemblance to a warrior’s shield.

So how did Olympus Mons get so big?Scientists think a combination of low surface gravity and high volcanic activity allowed Mars’ great shield volcano to grow — over billions of years — beyond anything seen on Earth. And unlike on Earth, where volcanoes form as tectonic plates drift over hot spots of lava, Mars’ plate movement is much more limited, meaning magma can build and build in one spot over a long time. So while summiting peaks like Everest and K2 remains an impressive terrestrial feat, the solar system’s biggest climbing challenge awaits on the red planet.