Numerical Explorations

Due to my poor performance in regular English literature, I was forced to retake the class in the summer of 1969. I was in between the sophomore (10) and junior (11) grades. The class was held on July 4, 1969, since we were not allowed a vacation day on Independence Day. Also concurrently on July 4, 1969, the great Atlanta International Pop Festival was held at the Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia. A fellow classmate tried to get me to skip class to go to the festival. I decided against skipping class.

Concerts That I Have Attended

1970 or 1971 Muddy Waters at the University of Georgia

1973 (?) Larry Coryell at a small venue in Northeast Atlanta, Georgia

November 30, 1974 “The Relayer Tour” by Yes with the lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Patrick Moraz, Chris Squire, and Alan White. The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia

1975 (?) Jethro Tull at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Geogia

August 25, 1976 “The Going for the One Tour” by Yes with a lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White

In the early 1970s I saw the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform “The Planets” by Gustave Holst and Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”.

Today, I was reading a review of the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. The film was released on September 18, 1951. The reviewer referred to Gort, the planetary defending robot, as having a laser beam eye. However, the laser on Earth was invented by Theodore H. Maiman on May 16, 1960. Science fiction authors had written about death rays (directed energy weapons) since almost the invention of the fictional genre. Perhaps these deaths rays were composed of x-ray or gamma-rays. The Strategic Defense Initiative (also known derisively by the Fourth Estate, the press, as the “Star Wars” ABM [Anti-Ballistic Missile defense] program]) a 1980s President Ronald Reagan proposed and supported DARPA funded strategic ballistic defense program envisioned x-ray or gamma-ray lasers to knock out multiple ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) in their vulnerable launch phase or ballistic outer space flight phase. The problem with these high energy lasers is that most of the designs used a nuclear weapon to initiate the lasering action. Lately, there are some high-energy lasers that were being tested about 10 years ago by the United States Department of Defense: https://www.darpa.mil/program/high-energy-liquid-laser-area-defense-system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_oxygen_iodine_laser

https://www.darpa.mil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_national_missile_defense

Even though I am an agnostic, I scored 47 out 60 on the following Biblical test. That is a pitiful 78. 33 % or C on a five-letter scale (A, B, C, D, F). Evidently, I should have stayed studied in more Sunday school classes.

https://www.factable.com/trivia/quiz-christian-bible/62