Gordo wins the X-Prize

Gordon Cooper, last of the Mercury 7 to lift into space passed away Monday at the age of 77. He was among a group from a day gone by when the space race meant a life or death competition with the U.S.S.R. For those of you who lived through it, (I was just a kid) you may remember him as the "cocky" one. His famous line, immortalized in the book and the movie "The Right Stuff" was, when asked, "who's the best test pilot you've ever met?", he responded, "You're lookin' at him." How fitting that the day after he died, SpaceShipOne wins the $10 Million X Prize by making a 2nd trip into space, thereby (some think) launching space tourism. What's so special about this SpaceShipOne? After all, it flew, just barely, into space and then came right back down. Gordon Cooper did that 40 years ago! Well, again I didn't get picked for a jury this week. They thanked us and sent us home. I don't think they like me; I've reported for jury duty at least six times and I've been on exactly one jury. I did meet a very nice guy while there and managed to spend the better part of Monday and Tuesday with him. Though quite a bit younger than me, we never ran out of things to talk about, though most of it was Church and Bible stuff. I went to lunch with him and his wife on Monday and she was just as nice as he was. They have a baby due December 26! We exchanged emails and I hope to see them both again sometime. The Cardinals beat up on the Dodgers this afternoon. I don't think they'll give us any trouble; it's the Astros we have to look out for. The Vice-Presidential Debates just finished and it was pretty much what I expected. Cheney was his usual staid, even toned self and Edwards came out swinging and in his closing argument, I mean statement, I felt like I was on a jury. That kind of made up for not being able to serve on a real jury so I felt better. I don't think this debate will have any effect on the race at all, and as I mentioned in an earlier entry, the race has tightened up with Bush ahead by a few points.

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