You (Almost Certainly) Missed It

If you happened to be in Namibia or the South Pole 8 hours ago as I write, and looked up, you would you would have seen a partial solar eclipse. But since you probably didn't, here's an artist's recreation:

Happy Moon Day!

This may well be the anniversary of the most epoch-making event in history not commemorated by an official holiday. Well, this and D-Day perhaps. This is 'Moon Day' -- the point in history when 2 human beings, backed by thousands of others, along with the will of a nation, walked on the moon.

Up until July 20, 1969 literature was filled with books imagining how we might get to the moon and what it would be like to once we did. This type of science fiction began in Greece and Rome, and we have evidence people were pondering the "smaller light to rule the night" well before that.

But on that one glorious pinnacle of history, broadcast to humanity by a rudimentary black and white camera, this immemorial fantasy finally became a reality.

And then we promptly lost all interest.