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[Reply #30 on:]

A 1999 Gallup poll found that a scant 6 percent of Americans doubted the Apollo 11 moon landing happened,

Oh that is a relief, I think I was mixing it up with the number of people who believe in creationism. 

[Reply #31 on:]

I wonder what proportion of creationists don't believe in the moon landings. 

[Reply #32 on:]

The American Flag will be flown at half-staff by order of The President of the United States on Sep 14-15 in honor and tribute to the memory of Neil Armstrong on all Department of Defense buildings, Grounds and Naval Vessels, throughout the United States and Abroad.

[Reply #33 on:]

That is better. 

flown at half-staff

That is a very odd expression, I have never come across it before. In the U.K. we say half-mast.

[Reply #34 on:]

I'd say the UK expression  is odder.
We fly flags on a flagpole, but put the flag at half mast to mourn.
Americans, meanwhile, fly flags on a flagstaff.

Armstrong seemed to me a man of composure and immense dignity.
I wonder if we'll ever see his like again.

[Reply #35 on:]

We fly flags on a flagpole, but put the flag at half mast to mourn.
Americans, meanwhile, fly flags on a flagstaff.

English is odd either side of the pond. If I have something delivered on land, I might call it a shipment. Send it on a ship and it's cargo. I pity anyone trying to learn a language where a fat chance and a slim chance are the same thing.

[Reply #36 on:]

English is odd either side of the pond.

thank heavens I learnt it as a home language !  I wonder if other languages can have such hard crossword puzzles if they don't have 20 words that can match a clue ?

[Reply #37 on:]

Rolltreppenbenutzsungshinweise

a common german word.

[Reply #38 on:]

Need more than 7 scrabble letters for that!

[Reply #39 on:]

My wife says that "half mast" has a Wikipedia entry where as "half staff" as not so we we win. 

[Reply #40 on:]

"so we win"

American Astronaut  --> half-staff.

[Reply #41 on:]

American Astronaut  --> half-staff.

Can't argue with that.

[Reply #42 on:]

My favorite Neil Armstrong story:

When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" statement but followed it by several remarks, usual com traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995 (in Tampa Bay, FL) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball which landed in the front of his neighbor's bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.

As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, "Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"





Just a story tho:
During November 1995, a clever (and slightly risqué) story was widely circulated on the Internet concerning a statement Neil is supposed to have made during the Apollo 11 EVA. At the suggestion of several readers, let me state that Neil never said "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" at any time during the mission. Indeed, on November 28, 1995, Neil wrote, "I understand that the joke is a year old. I first heard it in California delivered by (comedian) Buddy Hackett."

[Reply #43 on:]

I love the Gorsky story too,

and all British Astronauts refer to a flag being half-mast  :-)

And our own  South African Astronaut, Mark Shuttleworth, who flew with the russians as a paid passenger, assures me it is "1/2 мачтовых"