Something a little more light-hearted

So, if you've been following the news at all lately, you're probably aware that this is not the happiest of all possible times in this country (nor in China).

In an effort to lighten it up a little bit, I'd like to draw your attention away from all that and to another thing that's been in the news lately:

Armageddon!!!

Basically, this word comes from the plain of Meggido, which according to the New Testament book of Revelations will be the battle ground of the true end of the world when Jesus Christ will come back and battle evil in a (kind of) final showdown that will be quite horrific indeed.  Plagues, blood running several feet deep, etc....  I say "kind of" final because John says that after this Christ will set up a kingdom and rule for a thousand years.  I'm not entirely sure what is supposed to happen after this millennial kingdom, but I'm guessing we'll have some more plagues or something.  (Keeping is light-hearted here.  Maybe in the future I'll do a post all about the Christian version of Armageddon, but for now....)

But I don't even want to talk about that right now.  I only bring it up because it's Armageddon all the time on the mis-named History channel right now, except when they take breaks for another wonderful historical topic: Ancient Aliens.  I actually am a fan of this show, believe it or not.  It goes around to really interesting archaeological ruins, tells you how these amazing structures were created, then, just for fun, imagines all kinds of crazy ways that aliens must have been involved.  As long as you look at it like that and don't take the alien thing seriously, it's a fun way to learn a lot about some really intriguing ancient civilizations.

Anyway, the History channel got back in touch with its roots in one episode and looked at the fun concept of "what if aliens and Hitler were in cahoots?"  Honestly, I could write a whole three-page blog post just about this....  (and you know what?  I will, right after this one.)  One point of evidence given cracked me up, and I have to relate this story....

Werhner von Braun

Werhner von Braun started off as a rocket scientist in Nazi Germany.  It's often been joked that the only reason the US got to the moon before the Russians was because we got the better German rocket scientists after WWII....  Werhner von Braun was one of ours.  Let's not get into too many details there, you can look him up on Wikipedia if you are really curious.  Let's just say he was possibly the best rocket scientist in history.

Werhner von Braun definitely had a sense of humor.  I tried for all of 30 seconds to find a few humorous anecdotes to illustrate this, but gave that up in the interest of finishing my train of thought here.  This blog would be a lot better if I would do a little research, I've often thought, and you're probably thinking that right now too!  (...now I'm thinking about trains....)  However, I think the depiction of him in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon  displays his goodnatured and kind of geeky sense of humor in a very real and human way.

With that minor bit of background, I'd like to share a little story.  In 1970, an ancient astronaut theorist Rt. Rev. Alan Greenfield was examining UFO files at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.  He was stunned when he sees the famous rocket scientist Werhner von Braun, and he tries to make conversation with him: "How did you develop that much technology so fast?"  Apparently Werhner von Braun takes a look down at the files Rev. Greenfield was poring over, and says, "We had help from them."

Take home message

Sorry, but I can't stop laughing.  That's just hilarious, and it displays Wehrner von Braun's quick wit and wry sense of humor better than any other anecdote I could've found for you.  The message I take home from that is even if you're the best rocket scientist in history, it always helps to not take yourself too seriously.  Also, next time I'm out making small talk with someone who seems impressionable, after I talk about my work as an astrobiologist, I might glance around as if to look for potential eavesdroppers, lower my voice, and say, "You know, I shouldn't tell you this, but would there really be a field of astrobiology if we didn't have some alien biology to study?"  Then I'll finish my drink and walk away.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep a straight face until I get to the ladies room.....  :-)

Stay positive my friends, and tell me, how will you interject a little humor into your life?