Laika (Russian). What is the pronunciation? It means 'barker,' according to an article I read about the first animal that orbited in space and also died there.

What is the pronunciation? It means 'barker'

Not sure how to pronounce it, Wordwind, but Laika or not, he was the first "barker" to die crying in the wilderness of outer space.

Laika was the first muttnik. But he deserves more honor than that.

If you ask me he was just a glorified masconaut.

Like uh (roughly)

Like uh

Thanks, Faldage. Looks laik I got it right -- for once.

This could begin a whole new chapter in our relationship.

This could begin a whole new chapter in our relationship.

Very Pavlovian of you.

Perhaps Laika did not die in vain.

I feel laika bird flying upside down.

Laika ... was the first "barker" to die crying in the wilderness of outer space.

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

I barked in the dark so Yuri could light the way to the future.

They told me "Yur in laik it or naut". And I answered the call of duty. [I peed all over the instrument panel.]

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"I was a star in a stellar vault, but I didn't laika minute of it."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"They told me I was going to be a star, but they didn't say it was going to be a one-way trip."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"Vladivostok Control said my bark was worse than my flight."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"They said they were going to put me down in the sea, but I didn't know it was the Sea of Tranquility."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?"

"They said they were going to hook me up with a "great dog", but I didn't know it was Canis Major."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?"

"They say 'Every dog has its day', but mine gave me a lot of sleepless nights."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"If they make a movie of my flight, they should call it 'Sleepless in Sagitarrius'."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"They said space travel is 'for the dogs', but I think it's 'for the birds'."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"If they make a movie of my flight, I hope it stars a neo-canine."

If Laika had a tombstone, how would it read?

"I was a stray on the streets of Moscow before they made me a star on the Milky Way."

I am Plutarch.
Watch me be clever.

See how clever I am!
I make one clever remark.

Then I make a clever remark about my clever remark.

I make clever remark after clever remark.
How many clever remarks can I make?

See how clever I am.
I am clever over and over again.

No one else is as clever as I am.
I am Plutarck
Watch me be clever.


apologies to the editors/authors of the See Dick, See Jane series of reading primers.

hey Plu, you're talking to yourself again.

edit>sorry, forgot the smiley.

apologies to the editors/authors of the See Dick, See Jane series of reading primers

Any notice you take of me is charming to me, Of Troy.

edit>sorry, forgot the smiley

A smiley is your umbrella, etaoin.

Laika was a female, Plutarch. And something I had forgotten, she was one of many dogs shot into space by the Russians.

http://dogs.about.com/cs/generalcare/p/space_dogs.htm

I remember the horror felt in the United States by the launch of the first Sputnik. It was as if our whole nation had been judged and found wanting in terms of the science education given to my generation. We were all of us certain that Communists would parachute from satellites and take over our country.

People who did not live through those times usually don't have a good grasp on just how serious the cold war and the arms race were. Those of us who were in school from about 1952 or 1953 through hmmm, let's see, at least the Cuban missile crisis will never forget practicing taking cover under desks and in enclosed hallways, as if that would do one damned bit of good in the event of a nearby a-blast.

We all remember the national despondency when our first three or four attempts to put a satellite in orbit failed live on national television, just as we thrilled to hear JFK's challenge to "send a man to the moon and return him safely to Earth before the decade is out."

Oh, the memories of Sputnik! My mother was young...twenty-five years old; I was seven. She made golden sputniks to hang on our Christmas tree, golden sputniks to hang from the dining room light; she had sputnik-making parties, glue everywhere and jars of gold paint and glitter. She embraced sputniks and the excitement of the period. I really didn't experience the fallout from Sputnik until I was thirteen-years old in Fairfax County where I encountered 'the new math'--and I remember distinctly liking the new math much better than the 'old.' Cannot imagine why. It was there when the Cuban missile crisis occurred and I began to hear about bomb shelters and the possibility of World War III. That's when the 'Russian nightmares' began for me.

Laika barking and dieing alone in outer space. My heart breaks just thinking about it. How cruel and utterly sad. I think I was happier in my ignorance about that.

Well, when you stop to think what they were doing to their own human citizens at the time, I suppose killing off dogs by suffocation could almost be seen as kind ...

when you stop to think what they were doing to their own human citizens at the time, I suppose killing off dogs by suffocation could almost be seen as kind ...

Good point*, Capfka.

The same comparison could be made between the gulags in Siberia and the "ethnic cleansing" in West Darfur today.

The only difference is that today we know what is going on and we have the means to stop it, and we look the other way.

Perhaps if it was happening in outer space, we would take more interest in these preventable atrocities.

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/6.htm#_Toc71531703

* Subject to this caveat, Capfka. It can never be "seen as kind" or "almost kind" to cause suffering to any sentient life, whether a dog or a human. But sometimes such measures can and must be tolerated when they are undertaken for therapeutic reasons, or, in the case of animal research, to advance human civilization or human health.

I hope you will understand any suffering I may have caused you personally, or anyone else on this Board, in that light, Capfka.

Twat

You make my case more eloquently than I could ever have made it for myself, Capfka.

You are hung on your own canard.

I take no pleasure in it.

And I take exception to your constant, pointless, contentless multiple posts. Take the hint, big boy.

Take the hint, big boy.

Ah, Capfka. Will you never learn?

Offer no offence, and none will be offered to you.

There is a flip side to that equation, however.

And, one more thing, Capfka. If you must pick on someone, pick on someone your own size.

Your odds are better.