From The Earth To The Moon

We Choose the Moon: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing

In honor of the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11. Here is an excerpt from episode 6 of the HBO mini-series "From The Earth To The Moon"

Intro and Main Titles to the Mini-Series



Excerpt Part 1


Find more videos like this on Royal Caledon Air Force (RCAF)

Excerpt Part 2


Find more videos like this on Royal Caledon Air Force (RCAF)

Destination Moon



The Project Apollo Image Gallery

Online Talk Radio Station - Live365 Internet Radio - Apollo 11-Lunar Landing

Clavius Moon Base - debunking the moon hoax

Check ArminasX Saiman's blog for his Second Life Apollo Experience....

Second Effects: To The Moon, Almost

Second Effects: Back to the Moon

Mitchell

July 4, 1776

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

****************************************************************

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Tiny Dogfights in Steelhead

For a bit of fun this week Miss Eladrienne and the usual suspects from the RCAF and Timeforce 10 arranged for some tiny dogfights in Steelhead Port Harbour. One for 1pm SLT (which was a little early for me) and another at 7pm.


After a long absence the Krimson Koala takes to the skies again.

Sadly someone in Steelhead still has a grudge against Mr. Trenton and myself so I had to be careful not to fly too close to the banline or I got summarily booted.

Great fun watching people not used to flying take to the sky.


Lunar tried for the Kamikaze approach and succeeded in taking me out.


Changing planes after my first one got shot down I took to the Fokker.


Tensai opted for the more unusual flying gear. Though water bombs seemed to be very effective against it.


Tiny Air Aces all.

Musical diversions

I've been doing a lot with music of late.

Last weekend was the RFL Grand Tour of which New Babbage hosted the Illusions White Themed Ball.


Christine and I enjoy a much anticipated dance together.


The collection of white in New Babbage was an unusual site to say the least.

Later that night (or the wee hours of the morning SLT) I came back for the JLU leg of the Tour in Steelhead and played a mix of superhero inspired songs

DJ Stark at the decks with Dickens out begging for shrimp again. Elda keeps the other speaker warm


Certainly the most colourful of the dances of the evening :-)


Then most recently Josh from the Vernian Process was lured inworld to discuss music of the steampunk nature and it's influences.


See it is possible to blink in your own photos.

This topic that Miss Emilly and I and various other have been discussing for some time, it was interesting to hear from someone actively involved in producing music of the "steampunk" nature. There were many groups I'd not even heard of before. Some I'm not overly into, other I really liked. Gogol Bordello have been on loop for many an evening since then :-)

I've reposted the playlist here partially as a record for myself but also of interest for others to discover new music.

Vernian Process - The Maple Leaf Rag (GAR)
The Widow's Bane - Wormwood Waltz in C Minor (GAR)
Devotchka - Charolette Mittnacht
Edwardia - En Pleurs
Vernian Process - The Queen of the Delta (GAR)
Synthonym - Laboratory (GAR)
Inertia - Le Cirque Noir
Beats Antique - Roustabouts
The James Gang - Shut it Down
Dr. Steel - Bogeyman Boogie
Crimson Muddle - Lamentations Psychotiques (GAR)
The Real Tuesday Weld - Bathtime in Clerkenwell
F.M. Einheit & Gry - Princess Crocodile
This Way to the Egress - Saint (GAR)
Man Man - Engrish Bwudd
Johnny Hollow - This Hollow World
Rasputina - Leechwife
Vernian Process - Behold the Machine (GAR)
Unextraordinary Gentlemen - Ants Under Glass
The Tenth Stage - Francois Martin (GAR)
Unwoman - Habit (GAR)
Darius Greene - My Personal Demons
Gogol Bordello - Wonderlust King
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Ballrog Boogie
The World/Inferno Friendship Society - All the World is a Stage (Dive)
Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Nellie Bell (GAR)
HUMANWINE - Rivolta Silenziosa
Tom Waits - Singapore
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltraine
Vagabond Opera - Cabarista Farewell
Paul Roland - Wyndham Hill
The Clockwork Dolls - The Ballad of Black Jack Jezebel (GAR)
Vernian Process - Her Clockwork Heart (GAR)

Changes with the new client

Not that posting anything on a Jira report will ever mean it gets fixed, it at least gives me a minor place to vent about the idiotic changes to the pie menu that have been put in with client release 1.23.

Please consider voting here:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-13320

To try and have the interface menu returned to the format that it's been in for over three years.