Sputnik Plus 50
Fifty years of spaceflight. What a time to be alive! To commemorate this most momentous occasion, and to illustrate how often outer space is on my mind, here is a tour of the space themed episodes of "The Explorers Club." Enjoy and be enlightened. Fifty years of artificial satellites! Amazing! Astounding! Astonishing!

No. XLV - Sputnik 1

No. XLI - The W. M. Keck Observatory

No. XXXVII - Project Apollo, Part III

No. XXXVI – Project Apollo, Part II

No. XXXV - Project Apollo, Part I

No. XIX - The Great Moon Hoax of 1835

No. IX: The crater Odysseus and the Ithaca Chasm on sundered Tethys

No. IV - NASA's Astronaut Group 2, nicknamed "The New Nine"

Halloween's Revenge
I have not celebrated Halloween by wearing a costume in several years, far, far too many years, since October 31, 2001 if memory serves. Yes, now I recall. I attended a Halloween party at The Cove with Mrs. Sacramento (then Never Girl) as my companion; as was often the case, we were the only two singles in a sea of couples, and so had been invited as an ad hoc couple. The couples The Thin Man & Emily and Uncle Jerry & the SSG had agreed to a costume "double date." The Thin Man and Uncle Jerry were to be "T-Birds" while Emily and the SSG were to be "Pink Ladies," from Grease, I believe, having never myself seen the film. The room was tense because we had two Pink Ladies, but only one T-Bird, The Thin Man. At the eleventh hour, Uncle Jerry had decided to cross-dress alongside The Plate; his reasons for this reversal were ill-explained. Despising the SSG, I was elated by her disappointment and anger. I believe The Bradman was wearing his tremendously authentic Indiana Jones costume, as well as an incredibly self-satisfied smirk. But I digress.

When I was a lad, I was the king of Halloween, the creativity of my costumes far outstripping my technical abilities (we shall be exploring this in greater depth through the month). My costumes invariably required use of a large cardboard box. I doubt I can ever recapture that ancient enthusiasm, but even at this early date I have been invited to a Halloween function and so shall be requiring a costume. I am requesting from you, my treasured audience, costume suggestions. Nothing is too grand or too plain. I already have a stand-by costume at the ready (my Aqua-cadet uniform, I'd go as Captain Thumbs-Up); so, be fearless in your suggestions.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."