For those of you who don't know it, Snopes (www.snopes.com) is a web-site which debunks Urban Myths. They have a message board on which people discuss myths.

Anyway, on the science message board, someone reckons that the crew of the "Eagle" had to hot-wire the Ascent Stage engine with a pen or pencil to make it work, because the circuit breaker had been damaged. Well, it's half true. The circuit breaker was damaged, but the pen was only used to push the circuit breaker in, not to provide a short circuit.

Now I'm not registered at Snopes's message board, and couldn't be bothered doing it. But one of you might wish to do so, and educate the denizens of that board.

The thread is at:

http://www.snopes.com/message/ultima.../t/000756.html

I have tried for you. SO far my account hasn't been activated..... and I don't feel too inclined to try too hard..... :roll:

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Are we alone in the Universe? Are we the only intelligent life? Who knows? But the universe is so BIG, it somehow seems such a waste of space if we are ....

I'm waiting for my account to be activated too.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

Peter, I posted your OP directly on that thread, but it looks like Jay beat me to it.

They've DENIED my account.

Guess I was too vague in some of my answers.

This used to be in sky and space magazines I'll post the page when i get home from school

Do they Quiz you

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No - not really - just personal info like FULL name, Birth date, etc.

I know someone who is a victim of identity theft - so I'm a bit paranoid now and just used initials for my name, etc.

Yeah I see I just joined up

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If this writing is blue you're going too fast!

The Snopes BBs are very unreliable as sources of accurate, reliable data. The main Snopes site is better, although many recent entries have indicated that there might be some kind of agenda (political?) there.

To wit, a Snopes main site reference is not a coup de grâce, instead just another point of contention. A reference to the Snopes BB is a coup de théatre, signifying nothing.

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A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

Well, you have the possibility that it is just more things of a political nature that is submitted at this time. Of course, politicians are always targets of jokes and stories, and war tends to create at least as much emotion as politics, and my guess is that making, reading and/or proliferating these stories, true or false, gives an outlet for some of these feelings. A hot topic often generate more noise than the smaller ones, after all...

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Game over, you lose, we hope you enjoyed playing the exciting game of Thermodynamics...

For the record Jay has answered this over on the Snopes site

I can not post the reply here, much though I would like to, but this might infringe the Snopes BB copyright and that would upset BA .

As a side point and I raise it here as I would rather not sign up to the Snopes forum at this time.

After the incident on Apollo 11 in the LEM, did they do any redesign for the subsequent LEM's to prevent this from happening again?

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...but this might infringe the Snopes BB copyright and that would upset BA .

I am the author of the article in question and therefore its copyright owner. Nothing in Snopes' terms of service mentions that contributions become their intellectual property, so they don't have a say. You have my permission to repost it, but it's worth mentioning that people can just follow the link in the original post above and read it directly. Better to link than to cut and paste.

After the incident on Apollo 11 in the LEM, did they do any redesign for the subsequent LEM's to prevent this from happening again?

Yes, the circuit breakers were fitted with guards or covers as appropriate.

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I have put the link in before, that goes to the top of the thread, but did not know what the link would be to a specific post.

Again this link goes to the top of the thread.

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I've got the feeling that there is some political / religious bias from snopes, but I've never been able to put my finger on exactly why, or find a concrete example. At least I know someone else has that idea too, so I'm not just being paranoid.

Unless we both are.......

:-k

(edited once for spelling)

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From fisher pens advertisment

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They print that story on a placard that is put up in Fisher pen stores. It's not surprising that the biggest proponent of the Fisher space pen "We saved Apollo" story is Fisher. Unfortunately it's a historical fact that Aldrin, who was the one to press the circuit breaker, says not only that he used a Flair fel-tip, but that he actually disliked the Fisher pen.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
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So how come the manufacturers of Flair felt tips got beaten to the draw by Fisher?

Had NASA signed some product placement deal which Buzz violated ? :-k

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Anyone who was around in the 1960s and 1970s may recall that Flair pens needed no such endorsement -- they were reasonably well-made, inexpensive, and made a clear, vivid line. And of course they didn't need gravity to work. Nobody had ever heard of the Fisher space pen then, and I don't know of many people today who have ever heard of the Fisher space pen. Flair didn't need NASA to sell pens.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

So has the Flair felt pen used by Buzz been lodged with a museum somewhere?

Ar Flair felt pens still sold today, and if so can we get them on this side of the Pond


You never know when one might come in handy

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Still available - I use them all the time when I'm hand writing a FAX because of the thickness of the line.

Made by PaperMate - you can contact them here to ask if they have a distributer in the UK or EU. They may not use the Flair name outside North America.

I have been there and put my question

By return of e-mail I got this

Very professional :roll:

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I haven't revived a reply yet........

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Okay, so the BA's FAQ says, "Do not post private email you have received without express permission of the sender," and your e-mail says, "ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING OR COMMUNICATION OF THIS MESSAGE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED," and yet you posted it here anyway?

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SeanF

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The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

I have edited out the e-mail addresses now #-o

According to the first bit
I thought that as I was the intended recipient I could post it here as that applied if the person was not the intended recipient :-s

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I can read the e-mail you posted, but I am not the intended recipient.

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papageno


"Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?" - Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)

"It's all about context!" - Vince Noir (The Mighty Boosh)

"I've never heard of such a brutal and shocking injustice that I cared so little about!" - Zapp Brannigan (Futurama)

"...because the logic of the lines traced from reality is as poor of aesthetic value as it is strict in consistency. " - Paolo Bozzi (Naive Physics - free translation)

This UK Office Supplies company looks like they carry them, but without the Flair name.

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While I'll admit that I haven't been to Snopes for a bit, in the past I have found them to be pretty politically neutral. They have covered rumors and tales on both Republican and Democrat. They have fairly dealt with untruths about the Clintons, Bush Jr, and during the recent Election, the John Kerry Quick Boat claims. As an outsider without any political feeling one way or the other, I have never noticed any bias from them.

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Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

I have two "space pens". I got them for Christmas a few years ago and they are very handy in situations where you are writing on a non-horizontal surface or the underside of a horizontal surface.

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I never did get my pen, and now the link on the snopes site is long gone

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