Posted on 11/15/2019 1:00:06 PM PST by sodpoodle
1. When Nasa first began sending astronauts into space, they were confronted by a small problem. Their standard ballpoint pens would not work in space. They spent a decade and twelve million dollars designing a pen that would work below three hundred degrees, in space, and on glass. Russia used a pencil.
3.A father buys a lie detector robot that slaps people when they lie. He decides to test it out at dinner one night. The father asks his son what he did that afternoon. The son says, "I did some homework." The robot slaps the son. The son says, "Ok, Ok, I was at a friend's house watching movies." Dad asks, "What movie did you watch?" Son says, "Toy Story." The robot slaps the son. Son says, "Ok, Ok, we were watching p*rn." Dad says, "What? At your age I didn't even know what p*rn was." The robot slaps the father. Mom laughs and says, "Well, he certainly is your son." The robot slaps the mother.
Robot for sale.
7.Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner, they retire for the night, and go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" exclaims Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
And Holmes said: "Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent."
I have a ‘Space Pen’ that someone working at Goddard gave me 25 years ago - maybe longer. I used it a lot, and it still writes without ever having changed the ink out. Best relatively inexpensive pen I’ve ever had.
WOW!!!! It might be worth some money;)
This was for purchase by the public - they still make them. A long time ago they seemed to only have them in the NASA gift shops, but now you can buy them in office supply places. I don’t know if they’re as good as the originals, though.
(Another cool thing from those gift shops is ‘astronaut ice cream’ - tastes just like Neopolitan ice cream, but a very weird texture.)
The space pen was developed because it was recognized that having bits of graphite (carbon) floating free, in an oxygenated environment full of electronics, was a decidedly bad idea.
That would explain why their vessels crashed. Graphite and wood shavings do not mix well with electronics.
Thanks for the laughs. I really enjoyed the robot joke.
“Graphite and wood shavings do not mix well with electronics. “
Another benefit was learning about fluid dynamics in micro gravity.
There were other benefits besides writing in space.
I got my Space Pen as a gift for joining the Pan-Am “First Moon Flights Club”, along with an official wallet card with graphics from the movie 2001. I was, as I recall, somewhere around 4,000th in line for the trip.
I’m still waiting. ‘Twas a good thing that they did now want any money as a deposit.
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