Today in History

The guy at the top of this blog is an American Hero, if for no other reason than his awesome "hurry up and take the picture, you geek" nonchalant pose. He was James Dean for real. He was what Tom Cruise pretends to be. He was what GWB thought he was when he landed on that aircraft carrier three years ago. NASA test pilot Mike Adams died in the California desert on this day, November 15th, in 1967. His X-15 crashed after reaching 266,000 feet, making him officially an astronaut, if only for a few minutes. (I did not know today was the anniversary of his death until I had already started this post. Cue Twilight Zone music and retitle entry.)

I found his image accidentally a few years ago on a Google search, but having learned his story, I like to use him whenever possible. Here he is at the original Where's My Jetpack and lurking in the garage of RFB. Below he is found standing on the porch of a house on the edge of a canyon, where a giant dog has just ripped up a telephone pole while a Stealth bomber flies overhead in a freak lightning storm...it's a long story.