Wednesday 7 January 2009

SpySats and Salesmen

Two in the "Interesting URLs" category.

First, the story of Ike’s gambit: The development and operations of the KH-7 and KH-8 spy satellites over at the Space Review.

A story of the Cold War, and the Eisenhower administration's gamble on replacing manned U-2 spy planes with low-orbiting recon satellites, at a time when neither Superpower had reliable orbital launch systems. Declassification of this historical data has been held up since 1992, but is now in progress, so the story can be told.

You see, while the US Congress was debating the SAMOS recon satellites - and leaking details like a seive - the real work on high-definition orbital photography was being done in a different part of the budget entirely. A very, very covert one, away from Congressional Blabbermouths.

The second URL is Not Always.., a reply to the old dictum about "The Customer is Always Right". Along with the usual tales of grownups behaving like spoilt two-year-olds, there's this little gem:


Scene: an adult store in Los Angeles. Enter a fat, balding guy in his 40s.

Guy: “Hello, Miss.”

Me: “Good morning.”

Guy: “Do you have any–HOLY ****! You’re a girl!”

Me: “I am?”

Guy: “Shouldn’t you be at home, getting ready for your husband, cooking or something?”

Me: “I burn salads. My WIFE tends to cook more.”

Guy: “Holy ****! You’re a heathen!”

Me: “Doom upon me. What was it you wanted?”

Guy: “Whatever. Got any Bibles?”

Me: “???”
Er... Right.

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