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38 Comments
- dicketj8050, on 07/06/2009, -0/+20Neil is the man.
- hackiavelli, on 07/07/2009, -0/+13Neil Armstrong is great but Buzz Aldrin wins the Awesome Award for punching out a moon hoaxer nutcase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU#t=13 - DouglasQ, on 07/07/2009, -1/+9Astronaut.
- Ghostalker, on 07/07/2009, -0/+8I don't blame him at all. Back then, people were raised to be quite modest and humble. He might just want to return to normalcy but finds it impossible cause everyone knows his name.
If everyone in the civilized world knew your name, your life story, and equated you down to a single event in your life... wouldn't you get tired of it after a while? - Beveridge89, on 07/06/2009, -0/+8I don't think anyone is arguing there aren't a lot of good things to come out of America. You're not one of them.
Edit: And achievements in science and technology aren't some standalone achievement one nation can claim. They come about because the creators are 'standing on the shoulders of giants', so to speak. The science behind creating the first laser owes as much to American scientists as it does to French and German ones. The development of the TVs we use today has had contributions from scientists in so many countries its hard to count. Perhaps Armstrong's belief that he shouldn't be viewed as special for his part in the moon landings when 400,000 contributed to the mission is one anyone wanting to boast about their countries achievements should keep in mind. - bwjacket, on 07/06/2009, -0/+8As an Ohioan, I seemingly never stop seeing John Glenn. I've met him several times and he just spoke at my sister's graduation. He is the ideal American hero and he seems to never shy from the limelight.
Conversely, I don't think most people can conjure an image of Neil Armstrong's face. The closest contact most people have with his is visiting his museum in Wapakoneta. - acliffhang3r, on 07/07/2009, -0/+8Respect. Of all the people in this world, this man seems to have his feet firmly on the ground.
- DirtyVicar, on 07/07/2009, -0/+8"Years ago I worked with a gentleman in Ohio. Through a series of circumstances he wound up giving Neil Armstrong a checkout/refresher in a fabric covered taildragger aircraft. As I understand the story, Mr. Armstrong was very clear that he didn't want any special favors or shortcuts. He got about a three hour checkout....did just fine. My friend said his biggest thrill came from signing off the endorsement in Neil's logbook."
source: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/military/ ... - bencanfield, on 07/07/2009, -1/+7"So anyway, what has your country done for the world lately?"
They gave us Americans. - nubnub, on 07/07/2009, -0/+5One badass *****
- TobiasParker, on 07/07/2009, -1/+6Family Guy references are not flying lately.
- Soniti, on 07/07/2009, -0/+4You must be a riot at parties.
- TheDHC, on 07/07/2009, -4/+7Nationalism is for *****.
- ftc08, on 07/07/2009, -1/+4HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING
/moonlanding nut.
Being serious now, Neil Armstrong is a certified BAMF. He doesn't gloat about it all, and arguably has all the reason in the world not to.
Digg, can you fix the comment box? It's twitching annoyingly and I can't see what I'm typing right now. - ftc08, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2Alex Lifeson is my hero, but that has nothing to do with any of this.
Your initial comment was garbage. Your second comment didn't matter. I'll tell you why... Going to the moon was the first hurdle in space travel, and thus space colonization.
End of argument. - cosworth99, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2I respect his professionalism, absolutely.
However in one generation (early 80s) I was polling friends as to who Neil Armstrong was. No one knew. Take a poll around the office. You'll see that no one knows who he is sadly. Time has eroded the glimmer enough that he can't capitalise on the momentum as before. A missed opportunity to spur people into being pilots, engineers, adventurers, visionaries. Neil could have galvanised a nation, a planet. I respect that he chose not too, but the entire world wold be a different if he had.
When a shuttle launches these days no one is ever aware. It's sad really. I usually look over at my wife and proclaim "There was space travel today!" - inactive, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2Neil Armstrong, astronaut, he had balls bigger than King Kong...
- TheRanged, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2After seeing him come to Purdue, I'm pretty certain he isn't a recluse. Charlie hit it on the head, he probably just doesn't give a damn about another film crew.
I'm guessing people just haven't met too many Purdue Grads. We aren't people persons. - jordanmoore, on 07/07/2009, -1/+3He was the guy that walked on the moon, duuuuuuuh BBC.
- fragMasterFlash, on 07/07/2009, -2/+4All hail Neil Armstrong, king of the Mooninites!
- inactive, on 07/08/2009, -0/+1Yeah and?
That has absolutely zero to do with what I said about science and tech. - inactive, on 07/07/2009, -1/+2And Charlie Brookers review of the programme:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/04/bein ... - TomKWS, on 07/07/2009, -0/+1Dugg for providing a source. (Thanks!)
- GeorgeStone2, on 07/07/2009, -0/+1Anyone think this was going to be a video where someone asks kids in the street who he is and they all get it wrong?
- inactive, on 07/07/2009, -1/+2It's probably not worth the trouble to type this, but I'm bored.
alanocu said:
"No, I guess the world would be a much better place without all of those things had America never come along."
Had America never come along - think about that for a moment: do you imagine there might be some other great empire straddling the world (like the empires which came before and will most likely come after the American one, for example) in the place of America, had it "not come along"?
If so, do you imagine that this hypothetical empire might also be working on the cutting edge of science and technology? (Or is that strictly a characteristic of the American empire, perhaps?)
Take your time, alanocu. (If you can spare a moment from your groundbreaking research work, of course). - gijoe86, on 07/07/2009, -1/+1The United States of America was the first government IN THE WORLD to be founded on reason. An authoritarian structure rooted in reason, however it may historically evolve, is next to impossible to banish (the reason would have to be removed).
So it is not "like the empires which came before it". Its power comes from its structure, not the other way around.
- inactive, on 07/07/2009, -1/+1getting to space was the first hurdle. thank you russians
- quinnquinn12, on 07/07/2009, -5/+4and I always thought he rode a bike and had one nut
- BasalCellBossk, on 07/07/2009, -2/+1If you want to take credit for the good things, you have to take credit for the bad things, too. I don't see the dishonest likes of you doing that any time soon.
- inactive, on 07/07/2009, -2/+1No Armstrong is a type of cars without power windows.
- TheRanged, on 07/07/2009, -4/+3I'll put that thing in my mouth when the kid next door walks on the moon!
Neil Armstrong--helping neighbors get oral since 1969 - Presbyterian, on 07/07/2009, -6/+4Pathetic, ignorant statement.
Try telling that to the Irish or Palestinians. - Presbyterian, on 07/07/2009, -3/+0huh?.
- inactive, on 07/07/2009, -3/+0sam kinison was my hero, think of him when you read that comment, its how i thought it.
- TobiasParker, on 07/07/2009, -8/+4Neil Armstrong? Isn't he that trumpet guy?
- cornelje, on 07/07/2009, -7/+1MOONLANDING NEVER HAPPENED SEE LINK
http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html - alanocu, on 07/06/2009, -20/+4Neil Armstrong, one of America's giant leaps for mankind. Ranking up there with the vaccines our scientists and doctors came up with, saving millions of lives. Or what about electric light, or the little thing you're using now - THE INTERNET. I guess the TV, motion pictures, synthetic rubber, nylon, the phonograph, the laser, the supercomputer, the mimeograph, and air conditioning are no big deal. Discoveries such as DNA, and mapping the human genome. Oh yeah, America's brainpower joined two oceans. The Panama Canal was no big feat to behold. No, I guess the world would be a much better place without all of those things had America never come along. So anyway, what has your country done for the world lately? Please let us know so we can imagine life on this earth without those accomplishments.
Oh yeah, and those Macs you're using now - America. But who needs those, right? - inactive, on 07/07/2009, -21/+1God dammit Neil Armstrong is a crotchety old man that drank his own piss and defecated into plastic bags 40 ***** years ago just so he could slavemine a few hundred pounds of rocks from an asteroid that got stuck circling around a bigger dumber rock a few billion years ago. jesus ***** christ he aint moses.
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