Forrest Fenn treasureMr. Fenn,

NASA plans to have a man on Mars in 20-30 years. Given your Indiana Jones personality for adventure and flight, as a young man, would you have wanted to be selected as an astronaut for that program? ~BW

No BW, that NASA thing was not meant for me. It required too much study, and I’m just smart enough to know I’m not smart enough for that program. And I didn’t want to get in the centrifuge. I knew Buzz Aldrin and Dave Scott, both of whom walked on the moon. We were both in the same fighter wing in Germany in 1958 or so.

If one of them called and said, “Hurry Fenn come down here and jump in this rocket with me,” I’d been there in a minute. At 85, I’m still sitting by the phone. That line must be out of order. f

82 Comments

      2. Well…this is cool. I wasn’t expecting to hear from Forrest until maybe Friday. Speaking of stowaways…it would be sooo cool to actually be on the Apollo 11 flight that landed on the moon. You know…like a fly on the wall. 🙂

        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486321/

        Perhaps that will be the entertainment of the afterlife…to go to any moment in time and space and experience it in “real” time.

        “Where are you going, honey?”

        “I’m going fishing with some friends for a few weeks…in Alaska…in 1840. I’ll be back in a just a second. Literally.”

        “Okay. Have fun!” 🙂

        That would never get old.

        JC1117

        1. Reminds me of that dove sitting on the moon. The dove is a symbol of peace. When it sits on the moon I think of Apollo 11 lunar landing:
          [I]Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.[/I]

          It was inscribed on a plaque on the ladder of the Eagle lander, displaying 2 circular pictures or earth representing two hemispheres.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11#/media/File:Apollo_11_plaque_closeup_on_Moon.jpg

          The Wolf

    2. Mr. Fenn, Thank you for answering my question.

      Someday many, many years from now a 9 year old, inquisitive little boy, will be kicking the dust on Mars and have the same joy you had when you found your arrowhead. I wonder what he will find?

      BW

  5. I remember watching the movie Apollo 13 when the astronauts needed to calculate a re entry burn. They all pulled out their slide rules and started doing calculus, I realized that I had made the right decision then.

    On a side note, I once worked with a guy that was a NASA engineer at the start of the moon missions. He once showed me a book with all the calculations that NASA came up with to get a man to the moon. It was several hundred pages.

    Mark J

    1. The line is not out of order, just not placed were we think it should be. Where have I heard that before… lol.

      I’m a bit twisted on; … “We were both in the same fighter wing in Germany in 1958 or so.”
      He knows both men, Was this a simple word mistake such as ‘ we were all in…’ or ‘they were both in…’

      There was no distinction between which men were in the same fighter wing. Then goes back to “If one of them called…”

      Maybe the year[s] will explain. Now my curiosity is heightened.

      Seeker

  9. I love the video where Buzz Aldrin punches the conspiracy theory nut who has been harassing him for years, claiming the moon landing was faked. I think Mr. Aldrin was in his 70’s when he decked the guy. FYI, please don’t harass Mr. Fenn and tell him that his treasure is not hidden in the Rockies. He may do the same.

    CordeleGA

  10. Peace will be achieved on Earth when a Warp Drive is developed and we can travel faster than the speed of light to other Habitable Worlds and/or into the unknown. Christopher Columbus not only discovered America, he discovered discovery (David Wootton: The invention of Science)…Glad I am alive during this century, future is bright for humanity.

    cluesfromphilly

    1. LOL Timberwolf,

      I can relate to ” T time is MY time ” My wife always yelling at me… ” T time is not for reading and thinking, it for… and …” Well, you get the gist of .. it.
      I don’t understand her complainting… I mean, there’s a 4 volume set of ‘Uncle john’s Bathroom reader’ Apparently it’s only for “company”

      Seeker

      1. I am in total agreement about the cherished “thinking time”, Timberwolf and Seeker. Many times I spend so much time in the Reading Room that my legs fall asleep and turn into pins and needles when I stand up again.

        Regarding the “4 volume set of ‘Uncle john’s Bathroom reader’ Apparently it’s only for “company””. Women are really uptight like that. We have a similar set of books, too. My wife is getting tired of me explaining to our guests all the various sources of the “smudges of ochre” on the pages. :/

        (Sorry about that. That’s not true…but I did work for several years as a Nurse’s Assistant in a care facility and got quite accustomed to “smudges”.)

        JC1117

    2. 23kachinas…And then there is Frank Sinatra also singing “All Alone” with the wording…

      “All alone by the telephone
      Waiting for a ring, a ting-a-ling”

      Maybe Forrest takes after his mother, as in TTOTC page 128…”She didn’t answer, but just kept nodding and looking out the window. I think she was watching for the postman or something.”

      Ellen

  23. I had to stop for a moment and consider the ‘that NASA thing was not meant for me’ vs the minute-ready to jump into the rocket. They probably got the wrong number for the line, so if they really want to contact you I say, “Nasa just needs to visit yonder site > Ask Yahoo !”

    It has answers for everything.

    astree

  24. JC117, your “back in a second” (never gets old  ) reminds me of the poor man who went off to pray. He was talking to God, and asked, “God, what is Eternity like for You ?”

    “It is as a second”.

    The man thought for a while, then said “God, how do you see a million dollars?”

    “As a cent”

    The man smiled and said “God, can I have a penny?”

    God smiled and replid, “Wait a second”

    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    Last night, our family was out in the car, and the new moon was rising in front of us, on the horizon. It had the tiniest of a sliver crescent on it. One of our daughters asked, “Why does it look so big when it’s close to Earth”? Good question, there are several explanations that have been offered. Maybe I’ll go Ask Yahoo.

    astree

    astree

      1. That’s one of the common explanations, but it’s probably not correct. It seems like it’s more of a psychological phenomena (the way our minds interpret visual information with and without reference – horizon – data).

        But, I really did like Mercury Rising. 🙂
        .

        astree

        2. Hello Astree and Clues. The moon illusion is crazy, indeed. I’ve seen it many times…and I always thought it was some kind of atmospheric lensing effect. I swear the moon looks twice as big as it normally does when it’s full and near the horizon. It’s extra trippy when the moon is colored…like a harvest moon.

          It turns out it’s actually the Ponzo Effect. There’s a great example on the link below. The picture looks like the London Underground maybe.

          http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/13/why-does-the-moon-look-so-huge-on-the-horizon/#.VrvbgFgrKUk

          I’ll have to watch Mercury Rising, Astree. It looks really good, and I’ve never seen it. I’m going to try to watch it tonight.

          JC1117

              1. “However, some sparrows are a little lazy”. The excitement in her voice when she narrated kept me on the edge of my seat. I recall our discussion of the “1117” several years ago. Were you aware that the video was 1:07 and posted on 7/17 ?

                Your “Nothing is too small to know” hit a resonance with me (and, then again, how small is nothing, and can you know it?). It reminds me of what was once said to me, in a most unusual voice “Look ever more closely”.

                “… or too big to attempt”

                You’ve probably seen these type of illustrations, but after the first few steps, I still start getting vertigo

                http://scaleofuniverse.com/

                (from below) Glad you liked the movie- good quote, too.

                astree

        3. Thanks, JC1117 and Clues. I had actually thought that it had at least something to do with traveling through more atmosphere when it’s near the horizon, too, before I looked it up. Ha, JC, I had heard of a Ponzi Scheme before, but not the Ponzo Effect – interesting name.

          Here’s something that bends my mind a bit – Why do the moon and sun appear to be the same size ? ( I know about diameters and distances, but the question is ) … Why here, the only place we know of in the solar system, where someone can see that effect? Crazy stuff. I don’t think any of the other planets I looked at have moons that give that effect … but I need to recheck.

          Have a good night,
          astree

          astree

  29. Pingback: A Journey - Page 1187

  34. I would like to call and say, ‘come here with me’ but I do not have a number to call – maybe that is why the phone appears to be out of order. I sure would like a hand, leg, foot, arm, ingenious idea, sneaky character, whatever it would take–I’m getting whipped!

    Crow

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