It’s A Good Night…

…to be a fan of the LA Kings hockey team and the LA Angels baseball team (as my family is).

I had a big, important, ranty topic to talk about today, but I was up and on the freeway at Zero Dark Thirty to get to my writing group (things are going well, another thing I’m feeling good about), then spent a good chunk of the day installing a new piece of computer hardware (a Fujitsu SnapScan ix500 high-speed scanner), using it to get a big project done for the CAF first quarter closing, then went nuts on the hockey game.

As a result, I’m exhausted and would strongly recommend against thinking great thoughts, tackling complex subjects, or operating any machinery more complex than a pencil or a pen.

So as far as the somewhat trivial and pointless but still a big deal to a fan news goes tonight:

The Angels have won three in a row for the first time this year, swept a series for the first time this year, and are now above .500 for the first time since Opening Day of 2013, almost thirteen months ago. This is a good thing and we should continue to improve in order to keep me happy. (Which is, after all, what everything is about, right?)

The Kings are in the playoffs and played like crap the first two games of the series against the San Jose Sharks and then played better but lost the third game in overtime. In the history of the league, only nine previous teams had ever gone down 0-3 to start a best-of-seven series and even taken it to a seventh game, and only three of those won the series and moved on. Tonight, the Kings are the fourth with a convincing win.

The Vuvuzela of Victory sings its sweet song tonight!

As far as it not being advisable for me to be operating any machinery more complex than a pencil or pen, let’s see if I can at least debunk an urban legend about pencils and pens.

It’s a common misconception or urban myth that in the 1960’s NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would write in zero gravity — while the Russians used a pencil.

This is obviously an object lesson on how stupid and wasteful NASA is with your hard-earned tax dollars, and how pragmatic and straightforward the Russians are.

Except, none of it’s true.

1. NASA didn’t spend or “waste” millions of dollars. The pen company (Parker?) spent a few thousand dollars of their own money and then sold pens to NASA (and anyone else who wanted to buy one) for a few dollars.
2. There was a damn good reason that NASA wanted a pen. Pencil “lead” is actually graphite, i.e., carbon, and it’s a very good conductor of electricity and highly flammable when powdered. As one writes, it gives off a powder, which in zero gravity floats around the cabin, and then can find its way into a switch or circuit. A small short circuit like this can be serious, and if there’s an arc of any kind, in a high-oxygen, low-pressure environment, that can be explosive and deadly.
3. The Russians knew this and also started buying and using “space pens” when they became available.

So the next time someone spouts this tale, especially if they’re using it to bash NASA, let them know that they should check their facts. It’s a great story (I told it for years myself) but it’s wrong. At this point, the truth is actually far more interesting.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll pontificate on something deep and philosophical. Wait, tomorrow’s Flash Fiction Thursday. How about Friday for deep thoughts? I’ll pencil it in. (Pun intended, of course!)