I have just returned from my town's annual Texas ceremony. We raised the flag of Texas and sang the State song to commemorate our links with Carthage TX and the fact that all citizens of the town are honorary Texans. I was tempted to renounce my honorary citizenship in protest at Texas being a Trumpanzee State. 

Tempted! You should have taken a video of you spiting on that flag and dancing on it while you lit it on fire. There is nothing there but tear me down buildings, red neck Mexicans, a home for wayward girls and line dancing in an old movie show on Saturday nights. The only place of interest is an old jail built in the late 1800's hundreds which they still use to hold drunk and disorderly line dancers in.

All most left out that all the woman have hairy legs and no teeth and think Trump is the second coming. Are you planning on visiting there soon Mark?

Sounds like Trump Gaza. 

Watched the action movie "The Beekeeper" & Jason Statham's character Adam Clay reminded me of me. Any of our valued members seen it?

 Not yet, will have to check it out first and tell you. '

I would have pegged you more for the computer illiterate black lady who got scammed out of her life savings.

I watched the movie on Crave tv but had to watch it in French or pay to watch it. As you know I don't speak French but the plot was easy enough follow. Was a good action movie.

Excitement for Canadian company as Firefly's Blue Ghost lands on moon

MONTREAL — The head of a Quebec aerospace company says he's thrilled by the confirmation that a private lunar lander has touched down on the moon with his company's technology aboard.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost successfully descended from lunar orbit on autopilot early Sunday morning, carrying experiments for NASA and several Canadian-based technologies.

Jean de Lafontaine says the moment has been a decade in the making for Sherbrooke, Que.-based NGC Aerospace, which produces a GPS-like lunar navigation system that uses the moon's craters as references.

He said the company has experience deploying its technology on satellites orbiting, and has tested the lunar system repeatedly on simulators. "But there's nothing like making it happen in the real environment of the moon," he said Sunday in a phone interview.

He says the technology should allow scientists to calculate lunar landings far more accurately than previously -- to within as little as 100 metres -- allowing them to more quickly reach interesting areas of study, and avoid dangerous spots.

"If you aim at an area which is flat and safe, then precision landing allows you to land exactly where you want it to be," he said, adding that he expects to receive data back in the coming days that will show him how well the technology performed.

The lunar lander carried a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA, as well as NGC's software and a Canadian-made moon dust repellent.

Jacob Kleiman, the president and chief executive officer of Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc., told The Canadian Press the lander was carrying samples treated with a coating developed by the Markham, Ont.-based company. These will be tested for their ability to repel the tiny, abrasive particles of lunar dust that cling to everything from mechanical equipment to astronauts' suits.

Sunday's upright and stable landing makes Firefly the first private outfit to put a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Two other companies’ landers are following close behind Blue Ghost, with the next one expected to join it on the moon later this week.

De Lafontaine says the success of the private lander is proof that access to the moon is increasing rapidly.

"It's not only governments that can spend the energy and the money to get to the moon," he said. "Private companies can do that, so it's like a democratization of the moon, basically."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2025.

With files from The Associated Press and Sarah Smellie in Saint John's. Newfoundland.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press