Oh, crap. We can't even FIND the source that told us that the "Zond-5" spaceflight which purportedly carried a TURTLE (and some worms), predated Sputnik 2, which carried the famous Laika. "Zond-5" which went around the moon was apparently in 1968, years after countless dogs, monkeys, and assorted air force he-men had ascended to orbital heights.
Boy, was that stupid. We'd apologize, but it's TOO LATE for that. It's an outrage. A travesty of justice, a cancer on the Wombattery and ultimately another reason to see this whole Web thing as an extra-capacious variety of handbasket in which we are now plummetting Hellward at a rate of speed made possible by the hi-tech highway of good intentions paid for by your tax dollars and secretly plundered 401K accounts.
We cannot expect a disgusted public to withold its outrage, but we BEG you to refrain from doing any harm to yourselves or your computers, peripherals, or routers and such. No, the proper forum for your discontent should be indignant correspondence which lets us know, in no uncertain terms, every scintilla of disappointment we have, however inadverdently, put you through. Send typewritten screeds and dung-filled paper bags to:
Wombat File Public Reparations Project
Internationaljusticestrasse 11
The Hague
Postage costs will be refunded via certified check or candy voucher.
Posted by BT at March 29, 2002 04:40 PMi was still guessing.
then i saw this breaking news.
how embarrassing!
Yeah - I even posted a guess, saying I thought it was a monkey, but also stating I _really_ thought it was a dog called Laika. Of course, I had completely failed to look at the update that was also on my screen - I was so caught up in my chance to win a Friday quiz I leapt right in. Normally the time difference between where BT posts and I comment is too weird for me to have a chance to get in before someone else wins.
That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it.
Cheers,
Garthmeister J
Perhaps we should all agree that the wombat will at least shortly be the most recent vertebrate shot into space. Thank goodness that there's always next week, which will give mlang plenty long enuff to perfect his/her answer-sonnet structure.
Give our regards to Slobo, Bill!
Posted by: bootsy on March 30, 2002 10:03 AMFound a little in Portugese using a new search engine, teoma. I kind of like the BabelFish translation. From http://www.solarviews.com/portug/zond5.htm. Looks like BT may have it right, although he didn't mention the worms and wine:
Zond 5 was launchn of a Sputnik Tyazheliy parked in terrestrial orbit to make scientific probings during one voo lunar and to return the Land. In 18 of September of 1968, the spaceship flied to the rollback of the Moon. The biggest approach was of 1.950 quilómetros (1.212 miles). Photographs of high quality of the Land to a pitch of 90.000 quilómetros had been gotten (56.000 miles). A biological load of turtles, alive flies of the wine was included in voo, earthworms, plants, seeds, bacteria and other substances. In 21 of September of 1968, the re-entry capsule came back to the terrestrial atmosphere, stopped aerodinamicamente and opened paraquedas the 7 quilómetros (4.35 miles). The capsule fell in the Indian Ocean and was recouped successfully. This spaceship was a percursora of the manned space voos.
Posted by: teenidol on April 1, 2002 11:32 AM