The true lover of antiquity

To truly convey a love of the past, one must free oneself of the present:

The cult of antiquity has always been a kind of madness at Babylon.  Credit for this must be given to Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king.  He spent his life digging up forgotten cities.  When Cyrus invaded Babylonia, Nabonidus was so busy trying to decipher the contents of the foundation stone of a thirty-two-century-old temple that he never noticed that he was no longer king until he returned to the city one evening and found Cyrus in residence at the new palace.  At least that's the story the black-haired people like to tell.  Actually, Nabonidus was captured, imprisoned, freed.  He then went back to his digging.

Between Nabonidus and his friend Amasis, the pharaoh of Egypt, the past was--and is--constantly being not only disinterred but imitated.  Nothing can ever be old enough or ugly enough for the true lover of antiquity. 

Gore Vidal, Creation, p. 314

Wouldn't it be a shame?

The shadows creep faster and further, my son,
When you let this world find you afraid.
And the absence of light plays tricks on your mind
And makes devils from spots in the shade.

But no devils lay waiting, no gods in your sky,
It's just you and the road beneath your heels.
And the pale morning light, it will warm the hillside,
And there's beauty in what is revealed.

And wouldn't it be a shame
If we lived our lives dull and afraid--
We squandered and pissed them away.

Wouldn't it be a shame
If we missed out on what's to be learned,
And we shut off our minds in His name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiLsoiq4J50

Destroy the dying sun -- Virgil Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee

53 years ago, these people died for the advancement of all of humanity:



A decade-and-a-half(ish) ago, a band wrote a song about them.  The band is Baboon.  The song is '12 seconds'.  It is respectful, and fucking rocks your knickers off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_chTZ1uRLI

Mission on, the tension it drowns us.
Our breath is short, the capsule surrounds us.
Countdown on, we stretch for the stars
And see the dark, or light, whichever awaits us.

Open up! 0012 Seconds and Counting.
Open up! As the fire surrounds me.
Open up! Well, freedom has found me...
Mission on, the spark and the wire
Sucks the life from the heart of the fire.
No air to breathe, no scene to see,
But there's light, and there's power,
And the power surrounds me...

Open up! 0012 Seconds and Counting.
Open up! As the fire surrounds me.
Open up! Well, freedom has found me...

God! Help! This is White! This is White!
Open 'er up, open 'er up!  Fire! Fire!
God! Help! This is White! Open 'er up, open 'er up,
Fire! Fire! Fi-re!

Destroy the dying sun...

Mission on, and the force of the fire
Grows the light of future desires.
Countdown on, we stretch for the stars
To see the dark, or light,
Whichever awaits us.

Open up! 0012 Seconds and Counting.
Open up! As the fire surrounds me.
Open up! Well, freedom has found me...

God! Help! He-elp!
This is White! This is White!
Open 'er up, open 'er up!
Help! Fire!
This is White! This is White! 
Open 'er up, open 'er up!

Fire! Fire! Fi-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-re!

De-stroy the dying Sun,
Lay down belo-o-o-ow.
De-stroy the dying Sun,
Lay down belo-o-o-o-o-ow.

Darkness comes,
I'm dying slow.
I only want to ever
come back
to her.