Pushing the Envelope

Hello Far Middle friends, Nick Deiuliis is back to talk with you again. Episode 135 begins with a sports dedication taking listeners from the gridiron to the stars as Nick honors wide receiver turned engineer and astronaut, Leland Melvin. Nick describes Melvin’s career from the football field to NASA as a “made for Far Middle topic and dedication.” The tribute to Melvin follows a recent string of dedications celebrating athletes (such as Ted Williams, Nile Kinnick, Archie Moore) who’ve pushed the envelope to achieve greatness beyond their sports careers. “I've always been interested in space because of the science and the constant innovation found in the associated industries, but I never wanted to be an astronaut,” says Nick. “Just too much risk for me to life and limb, which leads to our first connection for this episode, how innovation and risk in the profession of astronaut, they came together in the late 1960s during the Apollo space missions.” Nick proceeds to discuss how the Apollo astronauts devised an innovative insurance system autographing postage envelopes. Next, Nick recounts a remarkable and inspiring story on the lifelong impact that educators, specifically elementary school teachers, can have on individuals. As for something less inspiring, Nick discusses Encyclopedia Britannica’s grossly misleading Vietnam War timeline. “Encyclopedia Britannica tells only part of the true story and only the part that fits a narrative favored by the Left,” says Nick. “Frankly, it reads as if written by a communist and someone who holds a grudge against the United States. Tell the whole truth, Encyclopedia Britannica, not selected pieces of it to skew the uninformed looking to become informed. Those who served in Vietnam deserve at least that much. As do young students looking for objective and balanced resources to tell a complete story.” Students and education are a frequent theme this episode as Nick next explains how a CNX Mentorship Academy student recently taught him about “sleepy sickness.” Formally known as encephalitis lethargica, the disease was a global epidemic that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in the 1920s. From sleepy sickness Nick connects “to what most people desire to hear when trying to sleep—the sound of silence.” With that, Nick closes by looking back on Simon & Garfunkel’s hit “The Sound of Silence.” And Nick offers “the rest of the story” (a frequent theme this episode) highlighting the connection of the song and album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., to Art Garfunkel’s longtime friend Sandy Greenberg.