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Alma Thomas was born during the horse and buggy days of the end of the 19th century, and raised under Jim Crow laws. By the end of her life, in 1978, she had been the first black woman to be given a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with works inspired by the possibilities of space travel.
"Today not only can our great sciences send astronauts to and from the Moon to photograph its surface and bring back samples of rocks and other materials, but through the medium of colour television all can see and experience the thrill of these adventures. These phenomena set my creativity in motion."
(Alma Thomas, an incandescent pioneer, New York Times, Aug 4 2016)
If you look at our current time and technologies, after a little thought, what makes you feel amazed about, and hopeful, curious for, the future?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday August 22 2016, @04:51AM
My teacher, Mr Barnes, gave us 3 days notice a black kid would be joining our class and we should be nice to him. He joined, I said "Hey nigger, how you doing?". He caught me after school and beat the ever loving shit out of me. I had no idea why, my parents and their friends always call black people niggers.
1969, I was 11. Recorded the moon landing from TV onto a reel to reel tape deck an uncle gave me.
1979, I bought a TRS-80 hoping to save money I was spending at video arcades. Learned BASIC, then Z-80 assembly. In fact, I was driving to a Radio Shack sponsored BASIC class when the DJ broke in to tell us John Lennon had been shot. I remember it was a rainy day.
1980, was a certified welder and in school for electrical engineering. Told my girlfriend at the time I'd get on that space station either because I could weld, or I could fix circuits.
1981, I was an electronics tech, some black dude did cleanup (but he wasn't a janitor). Called him boy once (called everyone boy at the time), he said next time I called him boy he'd beat the shit out of me. Had no clue why, but I never called him boy again (Wilbur, from Loral Instrumentation night shift, you reading this?)
2013. Mom died. Dad had helped create a church that had a black pastor (he actually formed 3 churches that I know of). Tony gave the eulogy for mom.
2016. Here I am. Dad's hanging in there. I don't call black people boy. I don't expect to help build a space station. Hoping to survive before an H1-B takes my job, hoping I can afford my generic meds before some pharma-bro decides profits before people.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @05:18AM
2011. A black man yelled at me as I was minding my own business walking down the street, "Hey white boy! Hey white boy!"
The man ran over to walk beside me and asked, "You wanna buy some dope?"
I was 31. Not a boy. But I happen to be white. I declined the offer of dope.
Racism lives. White men are the boys now. Thank the Obama voters for racism.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @07:24AM
Note to the fool who moderated the "white boy" anecdote Troll.
That event really happened. If you feel the need to moderate Reality as Troll, then you are delusional.
Let me tell you something else that really happened.
When I went to vote at my neighborhood polling place in 2008, a black woman declared, "I'm just here to vote for Obama."
Because of Obama, that's what elections have become: you vote for what you are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @09:04AM
There some kind of automatic downmod for Obama comments now? Let me check. I didn't vote for Obama. Not even once.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday August 23 2016, @02:35AM
Note to the fool who moderated the "white boy" anecdote Troll.
Maybe if you didn't post as AC people wouldn't tend to think of you as a troll. I've had some unflattering downvotes, but every damned one of them had my name attached to them.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jelizondo on Monday August 22 2016, @05:53AM
¡Oh! Those memories... imagine Streisand...
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
I remember watching Apollo 11 launch on TV, but maybe it was some other launch. I was a bit younger than you, so I perhaps misremember exactly what I saw on TV that morning, but I suspect it was Apollo 11.
I also started on a TRS-80 (model II) but really learned programming on a VIC 20, 6502 assembly and then on to other, bigger stuff, like an HP 250 minicomputer, then an HP 832, Unix V, SCO Unix (before they became evil), Netware but by the time Windows NT came to dominate the server market I was very much onto other stuff.
Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
Cheers! To life and health!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @06:06AM
Yep, Doctor Who rewrote Neil Armstrong's famous quote to include a subliminal alien message, and made Dick Nixon a flaming homophobe. History will never be the same. The times they are a changing.