If the opening monologue of every Star Trek series (except Enterprise of course; what was up with that theme song?) is to be believed, space is the final frontier. The first step into that frontier – 1969’s Apollo moon landing – is considered one of Mankind’s greatest achievements. Unfortunately, we haven’t been back since 1972 and the moon colonies that science fiction always told us we’d have remain science fiction. Worse, many space-minded experts now say that there isn’t much point. They argue that the future lies not in going back to the moon, but in going forward to Mars.
Of course, this proposal presents a number of technical hurdles to overcome in and of itself. After all, reaching Mars with the goal of studying it and eventually colonizing it means we have to master not only getting there safely, but also getting back. Or does it?
We mentioned the official LGA Curios Cabinet in our last podcast when Gentleman Jesse presented us with the plaque of St Brendan’s Boat, so I thought I’d present some pictures of both for our listeners. The plaque represents the possible discovery of America by St Brendan in his leather canoe some 1000 years before Columbus.
A gift to our dear Gentleman Jesse as he travels off to Dublin in search of Adventure. Please feel free to consult this before deciding whether or not to abandon your plans:
As promised on our Slapdashery podcast, Jesse and I have come up with a graph for the possible outcomes of slapdashing. We hope you find it helpful in deciding what in your day to day life could use less planning.
In the days of yore, it seems like you couldn’t be defined as a true gentleman adventurer without killing somebody – and preferably several somebodies. In 1899 (which firmly qualifies as yore), The New York Times published an article entitled, “The Gentleman Adventurer in Letters,” which discussed fictional characters inspired by the LGA. The article explained:
Fortunately for us, the original rules and bylaws of the LGA which defined a gentleman adventurer were lost long, long ago, meaning that we can pretty much make up whatever definition we want.