quote

Captain Eric Brown was friends with astronaut Neil Armstrong

Update with BBC vedio: "Story of Captain Winkle Brown"

Readers' comments:
"Bow in Respect!! I kept Saluting him during the Documentary. Blessing!!!"
"What a human being, RIP Captain Brown. A true Scots old school hero."
"He is probably the greatest man that I ever heard about. R.I.P Mr Eric Brown:')"
"An interviewer once said he made James Bond seem boring. RIP great man."
"Will we ever know the FULL story, I wonder? What an astonishing man, what an astonishing career. I salute you, Sir. RIP."
"Would love to meet this gentleman. The word hero is overused but in this case it's spot on?"
"I had some friends from Scotland when I attended Arizona State University. They were fearless rugby players. Captain Brown is a true Scot. Best pilot, and one of the greatest humans the world has ever known. Honest and true. God bless you Sir!!!"

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Pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown holds two of the most startling records from the world of flying. He has flown 487 different types of aircraft. Today's test pilots average fewer than 100 flights. "Over 50 is deemed a large number. We can't imagine in this day and age how dangerous his job was." Captain Brown has piloted 2,407 aircraft carrier landings. That's just a part of his extraordinary life. Brown's exploits run through some of the most momentous events of world history. He was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he interrogated Hermann Goering, helped liberate the Belsen concentration camp and by chance managed to sing with the Glenn Miller band.  read more »

2016 ~ Year of Tree
How wonderful!
7 billion people plant or rescue
7 billion trees -
Earth will be greener
air fresher, neighbourhood prettier
Everywhere bloom magic flowers
we will be healthier
and surely happier
in a new year, Year of Tree
2016!

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George Lucas, father of "Star Wars", is a pioneering filmmaker who redefined how films are made. Lucas wanted to make a movie that would teach children the central ethic of right and wrong, good and evil. “I want[ed] to see if I can bend their lives at a particular point in time when they’re very vulnerable,” he recalls, “and give them the things that we’ve always given kids throughout history. The last time we had done it was with the Western. And once the Western was gone, there was no vehicle to say, ‘You don’t shoot people in the back’ and such.”

He’ll receive a Kennedy Center Honor this weekend for his blockbuster work in movies and film technology, but he’s quick to point out that he’s the only recipient this year who isn’t technically a performer. The Honors are being held a mere 12 days before the intensely anticipated release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the saga’s seventh episode. Harrison Ford said: “George has been amazing to me. He’s been the author of the early chapters of my life and given me the opportunity to have a really extraordinary life.”  read more »

The Cloud
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
...
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
...
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.

excerpt from "Poem in Art and Story" Collection 2 (ebook)

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New York Times, Wednesday September 23, 2015 - News and features on Pope Francis’ visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia in September, his first visit ever.
"When Pope Francis speaks, millions listen." "the English translation of Pope Francis’ speech to United States bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, as prepared for delivery and released by the Vatican"
Wisdom quoted from the full speech –

- I am well aware of the immense efforts you have made to welcome and integrate those immigrants who continue to look to America, like so many others before them, in the hope of enjoying its blessings of freedom and prosperity.

- I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims – in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed – and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated.

- What does work is the combination of the epic struggle of the pioneers and the homely wisdom and endurance of the settlers. As one of your poets has put it, “strong and tireless wings” combined with the wisdom of one who “knows the mountains”.  read more »