Personally I think it is a bit of a reach to call Corporations barnstormers;but then again I am somewhat of a curmudgeon.Having read We,and Spirit of St.Louis;both great reads that stand the test of time;I can't muster a sense of the barnstormer these mercenary projects.Perhaps I am a purist.

Corporations are not the evil entities that our President wants us to believe.

Everything we have, everything we own, everything we can do came from one of two places.

Military R&D or Corporate R&D..

Michale.....
148

Michale.....
145

OK, there you go!

Michale has just put us not only over 3/4ths of our goal, but actually over 80%.

Woo hoo!

:-)

-CW

The graph isn't automatic. I have to manually do the math, and then edit the image, and then post it.

Today's Friday, so FTP is being written and edited (always a busy day of the week here) right now.

Check back tonight, I promise I'll update the graph by then. As it stands, it is up to date to about midnight last night.

:-)

-CW

Didna move it at all. :(

Oh, well.. I have banked some more comments.. :D

Michale.....
138

Are you saying I have a rep?? :D hehehehehe

On another note, I want to see how much power I have over your DONATION Graph... :D

Michale.....
137

Dang, you're right. I just saw "long movie quote" and immediately leapt to the conclusion "Michale must have posted this." Don't know why that happened... heh.

My apologies to dsws, for his fine efforts in posting that hilarious takeoff of the cheese shop sketch!

Mea culpa!

:-)

-CW

I think you have suffered a schizoid embolism.. :D

It was dsws who posted that, not I.. :D

Michale.....
133

Anyone interested in why this tickled my fancy should procure a copy of the short story "Requiem" by Robert A. Heinlein. It's available both in the short story collection "The Man Who Sold The Moon" and the longer collection "The Past Through Tomorrow."

Well worth your time, I guarantee it. The spirit of D.D. Harriman lives on....

-CW

What leapt to my mind while writing this was the original MP sketch, and how it would have been added in:

CUSTOMER (in exasperation): Well then, do you have any of that space cheese?

PROPRIETOR: Space cheese?

CUSTOMER: You know, that wheel of Le Brouere that was shot into orbit by the Yank company? The rarest cheese on Earth? I thought I'd just give that a shot, on the off chance you just got some in...

PROPRIETTOR (checking clipboard): Well, let me just see... nope, none in this delivery... maybe next Tuesday...

Heh.

And, not to get picky, but when you say:

...by the time you could send home a postcard.

Surely you meant a space-postcard? I mean a real one would take forever and a day...

Heh.

OK, now for a personal question -- did you get to see the launch?

-CW

No kidding. A hundred thousand light years at .99c, anyone? It won't seem that long, but half the species on the planet will have evolved into something completely unrecognizable by the time you could send home a postcard. Offer not available in this universe.

"SpaceX says the flight of the round of Le Brouere was a tribute to the Monty Python comedy team, which had a famous cheese shop sketch."

Customer: Most certainly! Now then, a trans-galactic ticket please, my good man.

Beetle Juice: (lustily) Certainly, sir. Where would you like?

Customer: Well, eh, how about a little jaunt to Rigil Kentaurus.

Beetle Juice: I'm, a-fraid we're fresh out of tickets to Rigil, sir.

Customer: Oh, never mind, how about Sirius?

Beetle Juice: I'm afraid we never have seats on that flight at the end of the week, sir, we start booking the next on Monday.

Customer: Tish tish. No matter. Well, stout yeoman, one ticket to Proxima Centauri, if you please.

Beetle Juice: Ah! It's beeeen en route, sir, for eight years. Was expecting it this morning.

Customer: 'T's Not my lucky day, is it? Aah, Luyten 726-8A?

Beetle Juice: Sorry, sir.

Customer: Ross 154?

Beetle Juice: Normally, sir, yes. Today the ramscoop broke down.

Customer: Ah. Epsilon Eridan?

Beetle Juice: Sorry.

Customer: Achird, Eta Cassiopeiae?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Any flights to Altair, per chance.

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Formalhaut?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Antares?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Epsilon Cygni?

Beetle Juice: (pause) No.

Customer: Canopus?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Capella, Castor, Cor Caroli? Beta Canum Venaticorum?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Deneb, perhaps?

Beetle Juice: Ah! We have a flight to Deneb, yessir.

Customer: (surprised) You do! Excellent.

Beetle Juice: Yessir. It's..ah,.....it's a bit long...

Customer: Oh, I like long flights.

Beetle Juice: Well,.. It's very long, actually, sir.

Customer: No matter. Fetch hither the boarding pass to journey to the brightest star in Cygnus!

Beetle Juice: I...think it's a bit longer than you'll like it, sir.

Customer: I don't care how fucking long it is. Hand it over.

Beetle Juice: Oooooooooohhh........!

Customer: What now?

Beetle Juice: The dog's eaten the tickets for that flight.

Customer: (pause) Has he.

Beetle Juice: She, sir.

(pause)

Customer: Iota Draconis?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Epsilon Pegasi?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: You...do *have* some interstellar flights, don't you?

Beetle Juice: (brightly) Of course, sir. It's a galactic travel agency, sir. We've got--

Customer: No no... don't tell me. I'm keen to guess.

Beetle Juice: Fair enough.

Customer: Uuuuuh, Betegeuse.

Beetle Juice: Yes?

Customer: Ah, well, I'll have a trip there!

Beetle Juice: Oh! I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mister Beetle Juice, that's my name.

(pause)

Customer: Gagrux?

Beetle Juice: Uh, not as such.

Customer: Uuh, Garnet Star?

Beetle Juice: no

Customer: Kaus Borealis,

Beetle Juice: no

Customer: Polaris,

Beetle Juice: no

Customer: Merope,

Beetle Juice: no

Customer: Mesarthim,

Beetle Juice: no

Customer: Gamma Microscopium?

Beetle Juice: Not *today*, sir, no.

(pause)

Customer: Aah, how about Arcturus?

Beetle Juice: Well, we don't get much call for it around here, sir.

Customer: Not much ca--It's the single most popular star in the galaxy!

Beetle Juice: Not 'round here, sir.

Customer: {pause}and what IS the most popular interstellar destination 'round hyah?

Beetle Juice: Tau Ceti, sir.

Customer: IS it.

Beetle Juice: Oh, yes, it's staggeringly popular in this manor, squire.

Customer: Is it.

Beetle Juice: It's our number one best seller, sir!

Customer: I see. Uuh... tickets to Tau Ceti, eh?

Beetle Juice: Right, sir.

Customer: All right. Okay. 'Have you got any?' he asked, expecting the answer 'no'.

Beetle Juice: I'll have a look, sir... nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno.

Customer: It's not much of a galactic travel agency, is it?

Beetle Juice: Finest in the district!

Customer: (annoyed) Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.

Beetle Juice: Well, it's so tidy, sir!

Customer: It's certainly uncluttered with tickets....

Beetle Juice: (brightly) You haven't asked me about Pollux, sir.

Customer: Would it be worth it?

Beetle Juice: Could be....

Customer: Have you --SHUT THAT BLOODY BAZOUKI OFF!

Beetle Juice: Told you sir....

Customer: (slowly) Have you got any tickets to Pollux?

Beetle Juice: No.

Customer: Figures. Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place. Tell me

Beetle Juice: Yessir?

Customer: Have you in fact got any trans-galactic flights here at all.

Beetle Juice: Yes,sir.

Customer: Really?

(pause) Beetle Juice: No. Not really, sir.

Customer: You haven't.

Beetle Juice: Nosir. Not a one. I was deliberately wasting your time,sir.

Customer: Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you.

Beetle Juice: Right-0, sir.

The customer takes out a phaser and shoots the owner.

Customer: What a *senseless* waste of carbon-based life.