The Immortal

Seems like his condition worsened and he was hospitalized again in June, no clue if he is still there.

In all honesty it's a sad situation to see how political extremism on both parties has divided the U.S. I visit the U.S often and these days even so much as having a friend who supports the other political party is enough to get you shunned by even your family or spouse, at least that's what not too long ago happened to a friend of mine who's family berated her for having a friend who supports Republican. If only more people could put aside their political differences, and see and get to know people for who they are and not their political affliation, the country (actually, the world) would be a better place.

A good many, even from the early pre-Challenger missions. It's the Apollo and Skylab era astronauts that have been dying off.

He was the last X-15 pilot and STS-2 crew member (Dick Truly having died a couple months ago, and yes that is in fact his real name.)

As did Joe Engle, a hit for me.

My personal immortal Ira "Ike" Schab turned 104 a few days ago. Not too shabby (or rather Schabby, in this case.) I must say, considering he was hospitalized several times for pneumonia and once for COVID-19 in his centenarian years and made his "dying wish" three years ago. Doesn't seem to be any recent news except he has extremely poor eyesight now according to his daughter and Schab himself remains alert.

Bengt I. Samuelsson is my first hit.

Well this is an unexpected surprise. Back to back hits for me with Bengt I. Samuelsson (unique pretty sure) and Jane McAlevey (huge replacement name).

No regrets on my part. The day I changed my profile pic, that decision was already made. I don't regret not replacing him with the human Chauchat (Jayapataka) either.

Putting my replacements before I forget. Replacing Kate Micucci with Sven-Goran Eriksson Replacing Alberto Fujimori with Jane McAlevey Replacing Bruce Willis with Johnnie Walker Replacing Ken Rosewall with Tippi Hedren And finally, replacing Jimmy Carter with Jose Rodela.

75 years old and a lateral impact going over 300 miles per hour, lucky to survive honestly. A huge name in drag racing so most definitely will obit.

Brigadier General William Weise, a Marine commander in the Battle of Dai Do in the Vietnam War, is still alive at the age of 95 but I haven't seen any public news of him in the last five years.

I'm no Einstein or Mozart. All my hobbies and talents are unusual or strange. I can name every Formula 1 Champion in reverse order. I have a surprising amount of knowledge on wars and battles. I'm talking everything from the Battle of Bannockburn to the Battle of Dai Do. And it's not just wars and battles, but all things military such as operations, aircraft, ships and equipment used in different wars by different countries,. I doubt many people know what a Chauchat is (Spoiler: It's what Jayapataka would be if he were a gun, cause most of the time something or the other doesn't work.). Also military awards, ranks and so on. I can also name most people and objects sent to space.

Don't give up yet mate. May the force of Jimmy Carter immortality be with you.

I'm slowly getting into my wife's taste in European (mainly Nordic) rock and metal singers and bands. Her favorites ranging from well known ones like Nightwish, Nena, Sabaton to more obscure ones like Hel, Amon Amarth and Kerli. I quite like this song by Hel, Den feges lögn.

If his family or Bev Stohl doesn't announce it, most likely it's fake end of story.

After little consideration, I have decided to replace James Earl Carter and appoint myself someone I feel deserves to live to immortal status even though is he quite far from that. That man is Giorgetto Giugiaro. Not only does he have the kind of awesome name only an Italian could have and that he's probably the last living 60s major Italian car designer, but I also learned recently he designed the Alfa Romeo Brera, a car I had the pleasure of owning for two years (though an absolute nightmare to maintain, hence just 2 years). Some of his more notable designs being the Lotus Esprit, the DeLorean and the original Lancia Delta. With this I will also announce the drop of James Earl Carter from my DBN 2024 team for the mid season replacements, seeing as he just won't die.

Ed Stone, physicist and former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory dead at 88.

Weird, I just went to a place that contains astronaut memorabilia, moon rocks, rocket components, a spaceflight Hall of Fame and even an entire Space Shuttle for an exhibit. Now why would I bother to visit such a place if spaceflight didn't exist? Oops, because it does.

What a tragic irony. To survive the most dangerous period in Spaceflight history only to die in a plane crash at age 90. It's not exactly a rare occurrence in astronauts as Ted Freeman, S. David Griggs, Elliott See, Charles Bassett and Manley "Sonny" Carter (albeit as a passenger) all died this way, but it's still extremely unlucky (especially as many old astronauts flew well into their senior years). Nonetheless we lost a legend in spaceflight history and another Apollo Astronaut, R.I.P.

A mix of both I presume though Engle and Lovell are the only ones who for sure appear to have health problems going on in the aforementioned list. The other factor is many astronauts live far from Florida (Bill Anders for one lives really far away in the secluded Orcas Island area in Washington state) these days.

Last known portrait taken of Karl Marx in 1882, one year before his death.

While I did get to see the Astronaut Hall of Fame ceremony in person for the first time, I have basically nothing DL wise to update you on unfortunately. Bob Crippen was there, as well a few Group 8 TFNG astronauts but they and every other astronaut who was there easily walked in and were well. I think what really stands out to me though, is this is first HOF ceremony to my knowledge where no astronaut from the pre-Space Shuttle programs attended (Joe Kerwin was there the last 2 years, Rusty Schweickart was there last year I think, Vance Brand used to attend till 2019.) and it clearly shows they won't be around for much longer. I can even compile a list of surviving astronauts before Group 8 because there are really that few left. Group 2 "New Nine" - Jim Lovell Group 3 - Buzz Aldrin, Bill Anders, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott Group 4 "Scientists" - Edward Gibson, Harrison Schmitt, Joe Kerwin Group 5 "The Original 19" - Vance Brand, Charles Duke, Joe Engle, Fred Haise, Jack Lousma Group 6 "The Excess Eleven" - Joseph Allen IV, Anthony England, Story Musgrave, Robert A. Parker (there is also Donald Holmquest, who never flew to space as he left NASA few years after joining and is completely under the radar) Group 7 - Bob Crippen

Congratulations Drol! Missed the entry (would have gone with Rupert Keegan or Salman of Saudi Arabia if I entered) but had no choice since I'll be at the KSC (Kennedy Space Center for those wondering) in just a few hours.

I am at her house now. She hasn't added much to her collection unfortunately as coins pre 1850s and especially pre 1800s are getting increasingly harder to acquire as more and more collectors hold onto them, so she's been unable to find much. She did manage to get an 1828 U.S Coronet copper large cent (alas that one has seen better days) and an 1845 Queen Victoria silver shilling but that's really it.