Nerd TV

Neil Armstrong really did walk on the moon. I watched them prove it last night on Mythbusters.

I never doubted that he walked on the moon. I was 17, I wanted to believe that he was there, and it was easy for me to buy into the notion that smart people were able to figure out the science and math needed for the LEM's soft landing, the rocketry to lift off and return to Apollo 11, the re-entry spacecraft protections, the pressurizing and breathing apparatus and especially those very spiffy moon boots. We were Americans, after all. If we wanted to do something, it got done.

Apparently, though, there are people who think that, with nothing else to occupy their minds (Vietnam? Nuclear proliferation? Civil Rights?) our government spent time and resources in an effort to delude the American people. Would that they were that clever. I don't think so. And now I have proof.

And it was really cool proof, too. "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing," they said. There was faux space dust from NASA, a mini-gravity airplane ride and a personal spacesuit. There were movie lights and vacuum chambers and lots of unconventionally attractive people jumping up and down in nerd glee.

Nerd glee is fun to watch. It's relaxing. There's no pressure. "Adam chafes for science." Uncomfortable underwear is uncomfortable underwear and it's funny, too. There's no schadenfreude. Everyone's had a wedgie. It's a free giggle.



"The Eagle has landed"