Armstrong: El humor con uno mismo

El 20 de julio de 1969, Neil Armstrong fue el primer hombre en pisar la luna.

Sus primeras palabras: “Este es un pequeño paso para el hombre, pero un gran salto para la humanidad“, fueron televisados y escuchados por millones. Pero justo antes de volver de regreso al módulo lunar, hizo el enigmático comentario “…buena suerte, señor Gorsky“.

Muchos en la NASA pensaron que el comentario se refería a alguna rivalidad con un cosmonauta soviético no conocido. Sin embargo, al buscarlo, no encontraron ningún Gorsky en los programas espaciales rusos o americanos.

A lo largo de los años, muchos le preguntaron a Armstrong el significado de ‘…buena suerte, Sr. Gorsky‘, pero Armstrong siempre sonreía.

El 5 de julio de 1995, mientras respondía preguntas después de una conferencia, un reportero le hizo la misma pregunta que por 26 años no había querido contestar. Como para entonces el señor Gorsky ya había muerto, Armstrong sintió que era hora de responder:

 

En 1938, cuando era niño, Armstrong jugaba béisbol con un amigo en el patio trasero de su casa. Su amigo golpeó la pelota tan fuerte, que aterrizó en el patio de su vecino; muy cerca de la ventana.

Sus vecinos eran el señor y la señora Gorsky. Mientras se inclinaba para recoger la pelota, el pequeño Armstrong escuchó a la señora Gorsky gritandole a su marido: -¿Una mamada? -¿Quieres una mamada? -¡Te daré una mamada cuando el niño del vecino pise la luna!

Esta es una historia real.

Que increíble guardarse una broma así por tantos años.

Armstrong: Humor for onself

On July 20, 1969, as commander of the Apollo 11 lunar module, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon.

His first words after stepping on the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” were televised to earth and heard by millions. But just before he re-entered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky”.

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs.

Over the years, many people questioned Armstrong as to what the – ‘good luck, Mr. Gorsky’ statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question about Mr. Gorsky to Armstrong. This time he finally responded because Mr. Gorsky had died, so Armstrong felt he could now answer the question:

In 1938, when he was a kid in a small mid-western town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit the ball, which landed in his neighbor’s yard by their bedroom window.

His neighbors were Mr. And Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “- …a blowjob?!    -You want a blowjob?!    -You’ll get a blowjob when the kid next door walks on the moon!”

It broke the place up.
This is a true story.

Widor: Opacado por el éxito

Sabes quién es Charles-Marie Widor? Pocos lo saben. Widor fue un brillante músico, maestro y compositor francés nacido en 1844.

Como maestro del Conservatorio de París, definió y desarrolló las técnicas modernas que se utilizan hoy en día para tocar el órgano.

Sus virtudes interpretativas le permitieron mantener por 64 años (1870 a 1937), el importantísimo puesto de organista titular de la iglesia del Saint-Suplice en París.

También fue el responsable de inaugurar los más importantes órganos de Francia como el de Saint-Germain-des-Près, el del Trocadéro, el de Saint-Ouen de Rouen y el de Notre-Dame de Paris.

Fue un compositor prolijo que compuso más de 100 obras:

16 obras orquestales
15 obras para órgano solo
25 piezas de música de cámara
26 composiciones para piano
28 obras corales y oratorios
6 obras de escenario y operas

Sin embargo, a pesar del amplio reconocimiento mundial que tenía en su tiempo, todas sus obras cayeron en el olvido opacadas por el éxito de UNA sola de ellas: El quinto movimiento “Toccatta” de la Sinfonía #5 para Órgano.

Después de su estreno en 1879, se volvió rápidamente en la obra de referencia para lucir el órgano de cualquier catedral.

La Tocatta se ha utilizado en las ceremonias religiosas de tres bodas de la realeza de Dinamarca, cinco de Gran Bretaña y una de Noruega.

Esta obra es el sueño de cualquier organista. Complicadísima de tocar!

La mano derecha tiene que hacer rapidísimos arpegios usando los cinco dedos durante poco más de seis minutos, mientras que la mano izquierda debe concentrarse en tocar acordes a un ritmo más lento en staccato y los pies tocando los pedales en todo el rango. Para interpretarla, el cerebro debe pensar en cuatro ritmos diferentes para cada extremidad.

Esto produce un efecto de música en oleadas que van llenando todo el volumen de una catedral.

Existe una rara grabación de la obra interpretada por el mismo Widor en 1934. Hay que tomar en cuenta que ya contaba con 88 años cuando se grabó, por lo que le fue muy difícil tocarla a la velocidad y el brío como se interpreta hoy en día.

Una anécdota cuenta que cuando estaba grabando, se le oyó decir que se sentía “…más cerca de la muerte que del banco del órgano”.

La que sigue es una interpretación de Sebastian Küchler-Blessing que permite ver la velocidad y la destreza que se necesita en manos y pies. Disfrutala:

 

We May Have Uncovered the First Ever Evidence of the Multiverse

In Brief

A recent study on a space anomaly that has perplexed scientists for years has some suggesting that it could be explained by a parallel “bubble universe” — although there are other, more standard potential explanations, as well.

Too Cold

For years, scientists have been baffled by a weird anomaly far away in space: a mysterious “Cold Spot” about 1.8 billion light-years across. It is cooler than its surroundings by around 0.00015 degrees Celsius (0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit), a fact astronomers discovered by measuring background radiation throughout the universe.

Previously, astronomers believed that this space could be cooler simply because it had less matter in it than most sections of space. They dubbed it a massive supervoid and estimated that it had 10,000 galaxies fewer than other comparable sections of space.

But now, in a recently published survey of galaxies, astronomers from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) say they have discovered that this supervoide could not exist. They now believe that the galaxies in the cold spot are just clustered around smaller voids that populate the cold spot like bubbles. These small voids, however, cannot explain the temperature difference observed.

Multiverse?

To link the temperature differences to the smaller voids, the researchers say a non-standard cosmological model would be required. “But our data place powerful constraints on any attempt to do that,” explained researcher Ruari Mackenzie in an RAS press release. While the study had a large margin of error, the simulations suggest there is only a two percent probability that the Cold Spot formed randomly.

Credit: The Royal Astronomical Society

“This means we can’t entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard model. But if that isn’t the answer, then there are more exotic explanations,”  said researcher Tom Shanks in the press release. “Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our universe and another bubble universe.”

If more detailed studies support the findings of this research, the Cold Spot might turn out to be the first evidence for the multiverse, though far more evidence would be needed to confirm our universe is indeed one of many.

https://futurism.com/new-evidence-about-cold-spot-in-space-could-support-case-for-a-multiverse/

On – 27 Apr, 2017 By Christianna Reedy

We May Have Uncovered the First Ever Evidence of the Multiverse

In Brief

A recent study on a space anomaly that has perplexed scientists for years has some suggesting that it could be explained by a parallel “bubble universe” — although there are other, more standard potential explanations, as well.

Too Cold

For years, scientists have been baffled by a weird anomaly far away in space: a mysterious “Cold Spot” about 1.8 billion light-years across. It is cooler than its surroundings by around 0.00015 degrees Celsius (0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit), a fact astronomers discovered by measuring background radiation throughout the universe.

Previously, astronomers believed that this space could be cooler simply because it had less matter in it than most sections of space. They dubbed it a massive supervoid and estimated that it had 10,000 galaxies fewer than other comparable sections of space.

But now, in a recently published survey of galaxies, astronomers from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) say they have discovered that this supervoide could not exist. They now believe that the galaxies in the cold spot are just clustered around smaller voids that populate the cold spot like bubbles. These small voids, however, cannot explain the temperature difference observed.

Multiverse?

To link the temperature differences to the smaller voids, the researchers say a non-standard cosmological model would be required. “But our data place powerful constraints on any attempt to do that,” explained researcher Ruari Mackenzie in an RAS press release. While the study had a large margin of error, the simulations suggest there is only a two percent probability that the Cold Spot formed randomly.

Credit: The Royal Astronomical Society

“This means we can’t entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard model. But if that isn’t the answer, then there are more exotic explanations,”  said researcher Tom Shanks in the press release. “Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our universe and another bubble universe.”

If more detailed studies support the findings of this research, the Cold Spot might turn out to be the first evidence for the multiverse, though far more evidence would be needed to confirm our universe is indeed one of many.

https://futurism.com/new-evidence-about-cold-spot-in-space-could-support-case-for-a-multiverse/

On – 27 Apr, 2017 By Christianna Reedy

The Universe Doesn’t Give a Flying Fuck About You – Johnny Truant

The universe doesn’t hate you or love you.
The universe doesn’t care if you live, die, suffer or do well.
The universe doesn’t play against or in your favor.

What you want your life to mean only matters to you (…and nobody else). It just depends on you.

This is a short and irreverent book that will wake you up from the dreams and stories you tell yourself every day to safely live your pity life and end up doing nothing.

 

The Universe Doesn’t Give a Flying Fuck About You – Johnny Truant

El universo no te odia ni te quiere.
Al universo no le importa si vives, mueres, sufres o te va bien.
El universo no te pone trampas o juega a tu favor.

Lo que quieres que tu vida signifique sólo le importa a ti (…y a nadie más para que quede claro). Sólo depende de ti.

Este es un libro corto e irreverente que te despertará de los sueños y las historias que te haces y que te cuentas todos los días para no arriesgar y terminar no haciendo nada.

Einstein’s Dreams – Alan Lightman


This is one of my favorite books, I have read it at least five times, and it always arouses my curiosity.

The book is a series of short stories having Albert Einstein as the bored protagonist of a patent office clerk. So bored that he falls asleep and dreams about time …

What if the time were upside down? That we begin the life old and wise and as time passes we become more immature and ignorant?

What would happen if the time length were different for each one? Time goes by faster for happy and slower for sad and bored people (and therefore this is the reason why when we do something we don’t like time seems eternal?)

What if a life span were only a day? You wake up without knowing what happened yesterday because there was no “yesterday” and at night you die. What would your relationships be? Your actions? Your reactions?

This is what this book is all about; incredible short stories to spark the imagination.

 

Einstein’s Dreams – Alan Lightman

 

Este es uno de mis libros favoritos, lo he leído al menos unas cinco veces y siempre me ha dejado pensando.

El libro es una serie de cuentos cortos con Albert Einstein como protagonista mientras tiene un trabajo aburrido en la oficina de patenetes que lo hace quedarse dormido y soñar…

Y sus sueños son sueños relacionados con el tiempo. Por ejemplo:

Que pasaría si el tiempo fuera al reves? Es decir, que empezaramos la vida viejos y sabios y que conforme pasa el tiempo nos volvemos mas inmaduros e ignorantes?

Que pasaría si el tiempo fuera diferente para cada uno? Que para la gente feliz el tiempo pasara mas rápido y mas lento para la triste mas lento ( y por lo tanto esa es la razón por la cual cuando hacemos algo aburrido se nos hace el tiempo eterno?)

O que pasaría si la vida fuera un día? Despiertas sin saber que paso ayer por que no hubo un “ayer” y al anochecer mueres. Como serían tus relaciones? Tus acciones? Tus reacciones?

En fin. De esto se trata este libro, cuentos cortos increibles para despertar la imaginación y curiosidad.

Caesar Ritz and the Gold Standards

If you have ever stayed at any of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels, you have had the opportunity to stay at the #1 company in Service and Customer Satisfaction.

Their service process is followed religiously by all Ritz-Carlton resorts around the world.

The way they take care of their customers took more than 20 years to develop and has been studied and analyzed by great thinkers like Stephen Covey or Peter Druker.

This process is clearly documented in its “Gold Standards” and summarized in the motto:

We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.