rose@odin.ucsd.edu (Dan Rose) (02/01/90)
In article <1096@sdrc.UUCP> mustard@sdrc.UUCP (Sandy Mustard) writes: >In article <5411.25c2dd7e@jane.uh.edu>, cheehh@jane.uh.edu writes: >> In article <226.25BEC3D6@uscacm.UUCP>, Edwin.Wootten@p112.f12.n376.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Edwin Wootten) writes: >> > >> > SN> The words are the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Jr. >> Could someone *please* tell me where I can get an (audio) copy of this song! > >You might try staying up late one night watching TV. Many stations use >the song as part of their sign-off sequence! When I was growing up in Western Massachusetts, one of the local TV stations (40 or 22, I can't remember) used to sign-off with a little "High Flight" film. They had a voice-over reading the poem, while showing a mid-sixties vintage fighter jet -- maybe an experimental rocket plane? -- soaring above the clouds with sun glinting off the wings. It was a bit corny, but stirring nonetheless. As far as I know, they still show this every night. Getting back to the newsgroup subject . . . Does anyone know some details about the LDEF experiments? In particular, what I'm wondering is whether there were "active" experiments in LDEF which might have been adversely affected by being left up an extra five years. (Clearly this is no problem for "passive" experiments, i.e. "let's see how well this slab of ceramic holds up after years in space.") Everyone has treated the extra few years of exposure as a bonus, but I can imagine it invalidating a lot of work on certain experiments. Dan Rose
shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) (02/01/90)
In article <7786@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> rose@odin.ucsd.edu (Dan Rose) writes:
When I was growing up in Western Massachusetts, one of the local
TV stations (40 or 22, I can't remember) used to sign-off with a
little "High Flight" film. They had a voice-over reading the poem,
while showing a mid-sixties vintage fighter jet -- maybe an
experimental rocket plane? -- soaring above the clouds with sun
glinting off the wings. It was a bit corny, but stirring nonetheless.
As far as I know, they still show this every night.
The one I always saw was a T-38 Talon. Pretty airplane! Familiar in
a recent incarnation as the black F-5's posing as MiGs in "Top Gun".
There also was a "Bloom County" Sunday strip based on this poem, featuring
Opus, naturally. Perilously close to desecration, but still funny.
--
Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
Of course I don't speak for NASAjwalicki@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (John Walicki [890904]) (02/07/90)
In article <SHAFER.90Feb1075008@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) writes: > >The one I always saw was a T-38 Talon. Pretty airplane! Familiar in >a recent incarnation as the black F-5's posing as MiGs in "Top Gun". > I've seen the video and was awed by the words and imagery. A very moving experience because I was about 13 at the time and still remember it 8 years ago. >There also was a "Bloom County" Sunday strip based on this poem, featuring >Opus, naturally. Perilously close to desecration, but still funny. > I clipped the Sunday comic and it's hanging on my wall at home. It depicts Opus hanging from a fishing rod controlled by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Opus is philosophizing (sic) in Magee's words. He boasts - "Breathe Deep mine eyes the frosty saga of eternal suns, From depths unseen and dreams undreamt, I sing the unending cantos of unvanquished space.. By thought I embrace the universial, With wings of mind I sail the Infinitude, Glory, Tis' the stars which beacons mans spirit and sets our souls adrift.. And now its back to work. <Opus now carrying a pop gun while suspended in air> Time to deploy the Anti-Soviet Death-beam Nuclear Laser. <The last panel has the gun go POP and Opus looking at the reader and saying> How woefully unpoetic!" My apologies to Mr. Magee and Burke Breathed, as I am reciting from memory. I have checked Lehigh's library and it doesn't have any of the anthologies with "High Flight" in it. I would be forever grateful if someone out there could mail me the entire poem. Or, at least, as to where I could obtain a copy. Thanks. _ /| John A. Walicki jwalicki@lehi3b15.csee.lehigh.edu \'o.O' Ack! Box F2 Lehigh U. JAW7@LEHIGH.BITNET =(___)= Bill Lives! Bethlehem, PA 18015 U "I slipped the surly bonds of Earth..."
shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) (02/08/90)
In article <751@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU> jwalicki@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (John Walicki [890904]) writes: :In article <SHAFER.90Feb1075008@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) writes: :>There also was a "Bloom County" Sunday strip based on this poem, featuring :>Opus, naturally. Perilously close to desecration, but still funny. :> :I clipped the Sunday comic and it's hanging on my wall at home. It depicts :Opus hanging from a fishing rod controlled by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Opus is :philosophizing (sic) in Magee's words. He boasts - :: "Breathe Deep mine eyes the frosty saga of eternal suns, :: From depths unseen and dreams undreamt, :: I sing the unending cantos of unvanquished space.. :: By thought I embrace the universial, :: With wings of mind I sail the Infinitude, :: Glory, Tis' the stars which beacons mans spirit :: and sets our souls adrift.. :: And now its back to work. : <Opus now carrying a pop gun while suspended in air> :: Time to deploy the Anti-Soviet Death-beam Nuclear Laser. : <The last panel has the gun go POP and Opus looking at the reader and saying> :: How woefully unpoetic!" :My apologies to Mr. Magee and Burke Breathed, as I am reciting from memory. Wrong strip. Mine had Opus being carried aloft at the hands of his compatriots (comcountites?) with "High Flight" at the top of each frame. The last frame had Opus crashed on his nose, calling for a medic. Interestingly enough, the poem was misquoted in the original cartoon (I put out my hand, ....) but was corrected in the bound Collection (Put out my hand, ....). In article <751@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU> jwalicki@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (John Walicki [890904]) writes: :I have checked Lehigh's library and it doesn't have any of the anthologies :with "High Flight" in it. I would be forever grateful if someone out there :could mail me the entire poem. Or, at least, as to where I could obtain a :copy. Thanks. Just buy the latest Bloom County Anthology. I got a really nice version, with two F-15s, great clouds, and good sun rays, from the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. From the Gov't Printing Office, actually. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA
nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Nick Watkins) (02/08/90)
In article <751@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU>jwalicki@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (John Walicki [890904]) writes: >In article <SHAFER.90Feb1075008@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) writes: >>There also was a "Bloom County" Sunday strip based on this poem, featuring >>Opus, naturally. Perilously close to desecration, but still funny. >I clipped the Sunday comic and it's hanging on my wall at home. It depicts >Opus hanging from a fishing rod controlled by Oliver Wendell Jones [ Stuff deleted ] I think the strip Mary was referring to is one where Opus goes for a spot of assisted flying but takes a nose dive as soon as he is released. That had the famous words from High Flight used directly. Was this poem the origin of the name High Flight Foundation for Jim Irwin's (?) organisation? Nick -- Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND JANET: nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: nickw%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac