In space, no one can hear you bark.

On November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2… a month after they’d made history by making the original Sputnik the first satellite to orbit the earth.  Sputnik Part Deux did not go into space alone, though… as Soviet scientists plucked a three year old female, mixed breed, stray dog off the Moscow streets to test the effects of space travel on living creatures.  Laika (the barker), as she was called, thus became the first terrestrial living creature to orbit the earth.  And also, the first terrestrial earth creature to die in space, as she only made it a few hours into the historic flight before succumbing to overheating.  Not that it mattered, as Sputnik 2, like it’s predecessor, was never intended to come back safely to earth… with a serving of poisoned food ready for her after a few days to put the canine space pioneer out of the misery she was placed in.

At least Laika’s statue wasn’t done by the same butcher who did Carl Barger’s head.

For more on the ugly history of both the Soviets and the Americans at shooting poor critters into space, check out this post I did for Prompt the Squirrel in 2016.

And now for something a bit more lighthearted…. my answers to this week’s Share Your World questions!  As you can see from the post title (if you even bother to read those), this is my landmark 200th foray into the SYW arena, which began for me in January 2019!  That makes it a bit awkward that for this milestone edition, Melanie, who’s been the main hostess those four years, will again be yielding the floor to Di from Pensitivity this week.  But I’m all for letting the chips fall where they may, and Di has done a wonderful job being Jay Leno for Melanie’s Johnny Carson.  Let’s get this party started….

Laika would want it this way.

If you were a ghost, who would you haunt, and why?

All of the people who annoy me.  Granted, I don’t know very many people… especially outside of work.  But of that small group, quite a few of them would be getting strange visits from my spectral counterpart…

Time to work on my haunting face…

If broomsticks were legitimate modes of transport, would you like one?

Eh….. bicycle seats aren’t all that comfortable… but at least they have some surface area and cushion.  Riding around on a skinny wooden pole that would likely wedge itself you- know-where?  No thank you.

About as comfortable as it looks…

Would you cook in a cauldron?

Cauldrons are for cooking people, and I haven’t gotten THAT hungry or THAT annoyed with anyone yet….

I almost never use these old avatars I drew years ago anymore… and now two in one post!

Have you ever had your fortune told?

Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in my first year at Mecca (1998, in case you missed this week’s Dusty Vinyl Archive), there was this kid that worked overnights with us for a few months.  I’m blanking on his real name now (it definitely started with a D), but we nicknamed him The Devil since he seemed to be obsessed with the occult, and even brought in tarot cards once and did readings for whoever wanted one.  For some reason, I volunteered…. and I can remember nothing about it other than what my final card supposedly revealed about me…. that I tend to get stuck in a rut and am very resistant to change.  The Devil couldn’t have possibly nailed one of my biggest personality traits any better had he actually known me….

And then there was this “reading” from some online hack site.

Man, it’s like Old Blog Day here at The Nest!  Sparky would be proud!

Who would you like to say thank you to?

My original ES cartoon gang, who helped make this blog what is WAS and still kinda IS today….