I love these instances of bringing the past into the future...how many people (especially kids) get to meet the creators of things that they build, and learn the stories of how they came to be?

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Indeed. And I was gratified that the kids (as well as parents) really paid attention to Bill as he was telling his stories yesterday, especially in the morning build session.

So yes, it was a great chance for kids to connect with the designer of a timeless model which has been available in some form continuously since some time in late 1965 (per MRN from December of that year).

I was hoping Bill would join us today at the launch, but he didn't. I wonder when was the last time he pushed the "go" button on an Electro-Launch ....

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Wow--if some of their parents' first or second rocket was the early Alpha, that event will have special significance for them and (especially later) their children. It's too bad Bill Simon didn't take part in the flying session. (I never had an Electro-Launch [an FS-5 and a Tilt-A-Pad instead], but that line mentioning an FS-5 was a time trip for me as well....)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I wish I lived where I could attend such wonderful events and meet some really great people.
You'all need to know how fortunate you are to be able to do what some of us will never get the chance to.

Did you go to NARAM?

__________________
-Wolfram v. Kiparski
NAR 28643 - TRA 15520
MTMA Section #606 President

No, I don't get to go much of any place. Other than to my back doctor every 3 months for a procedure. RF treatments every 6 months, and injections every 6 months in between the RF's.
I'm dealing with SSDI and I am about as broke as broke can be. Have been for quite some time.
In fact, I am selling off a bunch of my rocket collection because the truck is broke down right now and I need it fixed by this Friday. Which is the last day to file my appeal at the SSA office a ways away from my town.
Maybe someday I'll be able to attend something...nothing in future right now.

I think the Alpha was my third or fourth....I started with the cheap ones - Streak and Sprite - at 50 cents and 75 cents respectively.

The FS-5 we were using yesterday was feeding the orange first-version Porta-Pad in this picture. The Tilt-A-Pad was actually running a Centuri Powr-Control after the second Electro-Launch (on the ground) didn't give me a continuity indication even with clips tied together when we first went to launch off of it. Of course when I checked it after we were done it was indicating properly as it had been during the pre-launch checkout. I think the D-cells must have shifted just enough to break contact at some point inside the box. I'll put some foam or something behind the brass contacts to "help" them a little before I put it all the way away.

Photo by Chris Nutter

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

I was the opposite. My first flights included the Alpha - I had gotten the Alpha starter set (which included a Midget as the "free kit"). Then I got a 2nd Alpha from a relative a few weeks later at Christmas.

The Streak and Sprite along with a few others such as the Mark and Scout were the first ones I purchased on my own volition, usually with report card money. If I got 6 A's, I garnered a whopping buck-fifty, which was just enough to cover a small kit and shipping from Penrose (circa 1970)

Doug

.

__________________
YORF member #11

If I got an A I think my parents would have just handed over the keys to the toy store. Then again, most of my academic career was spent in parochial school, so we had E - Excellent, SP - Satisfactory Progress, and P - Poor. The occasional SP was cause for celebration in our house, at least when it came to my report card.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

We have similar maladies, and the same source of income. Also:

If it will help any, my SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance, for anyone who isn't familiar with the abbreviation) case manager, a former lumberjack who got his spine crushed when a tree fell on him, advised me that most SSDI applicants are turned down the first time they apply, but that I should immediately re-apply if that happened. This is done to--in his words--"separate the sick from the slick," because people who need it will re-apply because they have no other option (one that *doesn't* involve living under a bridge, that is), while most would-be fraudulent recipients don't bother to re-apply. SSDI's rejection letter does, as he also told me, list the additional information that re-applying people need. Both of these things happened when I applied for SSDI, and my re-application was accepted. In addition:

You may--as I did (without requesting it) get both Medicare and Medicaid. If you do, *don't* (as I foolishly did, thinking that I was only supposed to have one or the other rather than both, particularly since I wasn't 65 years old [Medicare eligibility age is irrelevant when one is disabled--ditto for SSDI eligibility age]) turn down either one. I got Medicaid first, then Medicare some months later (which I turned down on a card I had to mail back), and had I not called Medicare to rescind my rejection of it (before they got the card back--the Medicaid office told me that I'd made a big mistake), I would have lost *both* of them! Plus, having both Medicare and Medicaid makes patients attractive to health care providers (because between them, just about everything is covered), while patients who have only one or the other (especially only Medicaid, which pays slowly and at lower reimbursement rates) have a hard time finding doctors who want to take them on as new patients. As well:

Once you have SSDI and Medicaid (and/or Medicare), these are "gateway benefits" that make you eligible for disabled public housing under Section 8, a lower disabled telephone rate, door-to-door paratransit van service (bus services that accept federal grant money are required to operate these van services--I couldn't get to my many medical appointments without our Van Tran service [other communities' paratransit van services have other names]), Meals on Wheels, and other aid programs, and:

Living this way requires a different way of thinking, one that goes against everything we're taught. While we're taught to save our money, when one is living on aid programs such as these (or on VA benefits with VA health care, as a disabled Vietnam veteran friend of mine has told me), one must nearly go broke each month (my SSDI case manager and my landlady have told me this, too). Otherwise, we become "over-resourced" and lose our eligibility for these programs. What these agencies consider "over-resourced" is ridiculously low. For example, a local disabled veteran was turned down for surgery by the VA because he was over-resourced--and all he had was $200 in the bank! Plus:

I was where you are--about to lose my home, behind on house payments, and in great pain--as I waited for my SSDI application (and then re-application) to go through, and for an opening in one of the Section 8 housing units to occur. Those were miserable and worry-filled months, but ultimately everything fell into place, and they will for you as well. I would rather have my youth and health back, but that isn't going to happen. I don't live a princely life by any standard (I'll never make it to a NARAM either, and being bent over due to ankylosing spondylitis, I can no longer fly model rockets because I can't follow their ascents to see where they'll land; nor can I walk that far anymore), but my current circumstances, while austere, are pleasant. The only un-correctable error in this "contest" with the aid agencies is to give up. Be more patient than they are--outlast theirs--and you too will find a better life on the other side of your present situation.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR