Wednesday, October 24. 2012
I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
This pretty much sums it all up...
Tuesday, October 23. 2012
The Poetry Of Science
A very interesting discussion between evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Now isn't this a hell of a lot more inspiring than emmersing yourself in the UK media's current obsession with dead paedophile and utterly crap radio disc jockey, Jimmy Savile?
Monday, October 22. 2012
James Gates Jnr: Does Reality Have A Genetic Basis?
'The ultimate construction, as a basis for fundamental theoretical physics is an imperfectly understood structure called "M-Theory" or "Superstring/M-Theory" (SSMT). In a quest to create a rigorous mathematical background for SSMT, new mathematical structures called "Adinkras" have been proposed as the appropriate objects to study. This study has led to the possibility that there exist a "DNA of Reality" which will be presented in this talk.'
Friday, October 19. 2012
The Ultimate Destiny Of The Nature Of Matter
'In ancient Greece, Democritus put forth the idea that solid objects were comprised of atoms of that element or material, either jammed tightly together, as in the case of a solid object, or separated by a void (space). These atoms were thought to be little indivisible billiard-ball-like objects made of some sort of “stuff.” Thinking this through a bit, it was apparent that if atoms were thought to be spherical and they were crammed together in an optimal fashion, then matter was essentially 74% of the space that it takes up, the rest being air, or empty space. So, for example, a solid bar of gold was really only 74% gold “stuff,” at most.
'That view of matter was resurrected by John Dalton in the early 1800s and revised once J. J. Thompson discovered electrons. At that point, atoms were thought to look like plum pudding, with electrons embedded in the proton pudding. Still, the density of “stuff” didn’t change, at least until the early 1900s when Ernest Rutherford determined that atoms were actually composed of a tiny dense nucleus and a shell of electrons. Further measurements revealed that these subatomic particles (protons, electrons, and later, neutrons) were actually very tiny compared to the overall atom and, in fact, most of the atom was empty space. That model, coupled with a realization that atoms in a solid actually had to have some distance between them, completely changed our view on how dense matter was. It turned out that in our gold bar only 1 part in 10E15 was “stuff.”
'That was, until the mid-60’s, when quark theory was proposed, which said that protons and neutrons were actually comprised of three quarks each. As the theory (aka QCD) is now fairly accepted and some measurement estimates have been made of quark sizes, one can calculate that since quarks are between a thousand and a million times smaller than the subatomic particles that they make up, matter is now 10E9 to 10E18 times more tenuous than previously thought. Hence our gold bar is now only about 1 part in 10E30 (give or take a few orders of magnitude) “stuff” and the rest in empty space. By way of comparison, about 1.3E32 grains of sand would fit inside the earth. So matter is roughly as dense with “stuff” as one grain of sand is to our entire planet.' (The Universe - Solved! weblog).
Grindhouse: Planet Terror & Death Proof
I don't know how these Grindhouse movies slipped under my radar having thoroughly enjoyed Hobo With A Shotgun, but it is some of the funniest shit I've seen in a long time. I particularly enjoyed the additional fake trailers shown in the video streams below...
'Grindhouse is a 2007 action-horror/exploitation double feature co-written, produced, and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The double feature consists of two feature-length segments, Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof, and is bookended by fictional trailers for upcoming attractions, advertisements, and in-theater announcements. The film's title derives from the U.S. film industry term "grindhouse", which refers to (now mostly defunct) movie theaters specializing in B movies, often exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. The film's ensemble cast includes Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews, Fergie, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and stuntwoman Zoë Bell.
'Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror, revolves around an outfit of rebels attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a rogue military unit, while Tarantino's segment, Death Proof, focuses on a misogynistic, psychopathic stunt man who targets young women, murdering them with his "death proof" stunt car. Each feature is preceded by faux trailers of exploitation films in other genres that were developed by other directors.' (Planet Terror torrent download & Death Proof torrent download).
Thursday, October 18. 2012
We All Need A Bit More Of The Medusa Touch
I remember The Medusa Touch having quite a profound affect on me the first time I saw it as a child. It's possibly even an earliy influence that was responsible for steering me towards the works of Aleister Crowley in my teens. (The Pirate Bay magnet link).
In the following clip Richard Burton delivers a powerful and scathing criticism of western society's infatuation with war. I think his words hold much more relevance in today's current political climate than they did back in 1978...
Monday, October 15. 2012
The Walking Dead: Season 3 Premiere
AMC's wonderful zombie apocalyse series The Walking Dead is back, and it looks like it's going to be the bloodiest season yet. I'm not sure how long the whole episode will remain on YouTube, so watch it while you can or download the torrent.
'The Walking Dead's season three premiere suggests that the program's showrunner, Glen Mazzara, and writing team have listened to everyone's gripes about season two's frequent and labored pontificating. Bearing almost none of the heated bickering and discussions of morality that personified the previous season, "Seed" is about persistence and strategy. It picks up several months after Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group's escape from Hershel's (Scott Wilson) farm, which was overrun with walkers. Despite any unrest among them, the group exhibits a renewed sense of unity as it trudges on in an increasingly dangerous world. In the pre-credit sequence, Rick, his wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Hershel, Daryl (Norman Reedus), and the rest of the gang raid a home in the middle of the woods and share a brief meal consisting of canned food. If for no other reason, the sequence is striking for its silence. Without a word of dialogue, the opening ostensibly sets the series forth in a new direction, thematically and otherwise.' (Slant Magazine article & Isohunt torrent download).
Sunday, October 14. 2012
Air Force Manual 64-5
I'm currently reading Carrying The Fire by Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot (CMP) Michael Collins.
Carrying The Fire is probably one of the most fascinating and entertaining books I've ever read. Collins writes exceptionally well - his acid wit and dry sense of humour is an absolute joy - and he is by far my favourite astronaut of all time.
Being CMP on an Apollo mission seems like the perfect job to me, more so than taking a powered descent to the lunar surface, for one gets to spend plenty of time alone orbiting the moon - swinging round its far side and enjoying the tranquility of being out of communication with one's colleagues on the surface, as well as those back home at mission control on earth.
I love solitude.
In his book Collins talks about the survival training he underwent in the deserts of Reno and jungle of Panama. His bible on such trips was Air Force Manual 64-5 and he has many humorous anecdotes about its contents.
Curious about this manual I decided to seek it out online and it sure is an amusing and educational read. Armed with this, one could pretty much be thrown off a helicopter naked, anywhere on the planet, and still eventually come back home in one piece.
Air Force Manual 64-5, I think, will be my next online purchase, just so that I can bung it in my backback when I go on one of my extended trips off grid, just in case trouble brews.
Thank you, Lucky Mike, for the heads up. (DTIC pdf download).
Friday, October 12. 2012
Physicists May Prove We Exist In A Computer Simulation
This is a particularly favourite subject of mine and I've become increasingly more fascinated with the matter since reading Jim Elvidge's excellent book The Universe - Solved! It's wonderful to hear that science may finally be able to prove the concept one way or the other...
'If recent measurements of cosmic ray particles are correct, then we may have the first evidence that the universe as we know it is really a giant computer simulation.
'Humans have explored the laws of our universe for many years now, and it's not uncommon to hear people talk about how amazing it is that certain fundamental values are just right for life to exist. Some people have wondered if that's because the whole universe is actually some kind of sandbox simulation, and we're merely characters in some cosmic game of The Sims. If that's true, then there should be a point where we start to bump up against the edges of the simulator, like Jim Carrey's character escaping from The Truman Show - and now a team of physicists think that a particular measurement of some cosmic ray particles might be the first such indication of one of those edges.
'The idea that we might be living in an artificial reality constructed by something higher than ourselves has been a recurring philosophical hypothesis for centuries. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Descartes' evil demon, Putnam's brain in a vat - these are all variants of justifications for solipsism, a philosophical idea that says it's impossible to know with any certainty whether the world as we experience it is "real" or a simulation projected by some external entity. Keanu Reeves' character Neo in The Matrix opts for a dose of reality when he chooses to take the red pill, but figuring out whether our universe is "real" or not is a touch more complicated than that.' (Wired article & TechSpot article).
Wednesday, October 10. 2012
Quantum Suicide: Why We May Never Die
'In quantum mechanics, quantum suicide is a thought experiment. It was originally published independently by Hans Moravec in 1987 and Bruno Marchal in 1988 and was independently developed further by Max Tegmark in 1998.
'It attempts to distinguish between the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Everett many-worlds interpretation by means of a variation of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, from the cat's point of view.
'Unlike the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment which used poison gas and a radioactive decay trigger, this version involves a life-terminating device and a device that measures the spin value of protons. Every 10 seconds, the spin value of a fresh proton is measured. Conditioned upon that quantum bit, the weapon is either deployed, killing the experimenter, or it makes an audible "click" and the experimenter survives.
'The theories are distinctive from the point of view of the experimenter only; their predictions are otherwise identical.
'The probability of surviving the first iteration of the experiment is 50%, under both interpretations, as given by the squared norm of the wavefunction. At the start of the second iteration, if the Copenhagen interpretation is true, the wavefunction has already collapsed, so if the experimenter is already dead, there's a 0% chance of survival. However, if the many-worlds interpretation is true, a superposition of the live experimenter necessarily exists, regardless of how many iterations or how improbable the outcome. Barring life after death, it is not possible for the experimenter to experience having been killed, thus the only possible experience is one of having survived every iteration.' (Wikipedia article).
Tuesday, October 9. 2012
Skydive From The Edge Of Spaaaaaace!
Today, Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner (only someone with a name like Felix is capable of doing something like this) is expected to leap from a balloon that will be positioned 23 miles above the earth's surface and make a harrowing freefall that will see him become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier. Not only that, but it'll mark the longest-duration freefall and highest manned balloon flight ever.
To Felix, this is more than just etching his name into the record books as it is an opportunity to gather information that could contribute to the development of life-saving measures for astronauts and pilots - and maybe even for the space tourists of tomorrow.
Felix is an expert in skydiving and extreme sports. He's also probably bat-shit crazy, but here at Media Underground we love crazy, and I can't help feeling that the name "Felix Baumgartner" is one that will either go down in history as a 'Darwin Award' spectacular or a pioneer of jumping from great heights.
Launch of the balloon is expected to occur at around 6:15pm (London Time) with the jump occurring sometime after 8:45pm.
Footage of the event will be streamed live in the video below provided everthing goes to plan.
Update: it didn't go to plan.
Monday, October 8. 2012
The Entity - Channel 4 Documentary On Sleep Paralysis
Over the last few months I've been experiencing a lot of sleep paralysis which seems at the moment to be occuring almost on a weekly basis. My first experience of this happened a couple of years ago and was utterly terrifying since I came face to face with the archetypal 'Hat Man' that one often hears other sufferers of sleep paralysis talk about.
However recently the experience has become more enjoyable, in the sense that I am starting to experiment a little more with the phenomenon. The situation is usually the same, I wake up, find that I cannot move, realise that I am experiencing sleep paralysis, and when I try to force myself to move my body feels like it is numb or vibrating, accompanied by a sound similar to very loud feedback that one might expect to hear from a microphone that has been placed too close to an amplified speaker. Finally when I do manage to move I get an audible "pop" which concludes the entire event.
Something about this utterly fascinates me, and I am intrigued by the somewhat electrical/electronic feel of the whole occurence.
The following video is an interesting Channel 4 documentary on the matter entitled The Entity.
Friday, October 5. 2012
Media Underground Welcomes Back James Inman
Media Underground is glad to welcome back James Inman as one of our regular contributors. James used to write for us several years ago as a guest and he's been bugging me ever since to put a good team of contributors together (with him included) to restore Media Underground to its former glory.
There are many words one can use to describe the anomaly known as James Inman. ‘Stand-up Comic’ is one such phrase, ‘Rural Punk Gen-X Anti-Hero’ is another. One might also refer to him as a ‘Recurring Alcoholic’ or ‘Angry Middle-Aged Man’. Yet whatever James is he certainly loves to torture himself, and in so doing can occasionally manifest ‘Genius’. Author of the depressingly hilarious travel guide Greyhound Diary, James works the comedy circuit travelling state to state on the Greyhound bus. He is also one of the main characters in the fly-on-the-wall documentary The Unbookables.
If you've never heard of James Inman before, then the following video is a good place to start...
Happy Birthday Media Underground - 11 Today
Over the last few years Media Underground has slipped into what can only be described as a very unfortunate state of lethargy. The rise of social network sites - where no-one sees the internet as anything other than Facebook or Twitter - has in many ways contributed towards this feeling of pissing into the wind, as the population's attention span for anything other than a few lines of banal text is largely non-existent.
Fortunately, we don't give up easily, and to celebrate the site's 11th birthday we have returned to the fold with a small team of dedicated contributors with a willingness to stick it to 'the man' with more emphasis placed on social commentary and vitriolic opinion.
You will not find us on Facebook. You will not find us on Twitter. You will not find us on MySpace, Bebo, Google+, Pinterest, Reddit, or any other fleeting corporate run fad that offers you meaningless social interaction in exchange for personal information that is being used for the purposes of personalised advertising at best, and social profiling at worst.
You will only find us in the underground where we retain our initial promise of never advertising anything and only promoting the things we like and find of interest.
It is our plan to add to our team of contributors over the coming months - if you have what it takes and like what we do then please feel free to submit an example of your writing and we may get you on board.
Thursday, October 4. 2012
Famous For Being Famous
Can someone please explain to me just what it is about celebrities that everyone seems to find so fascinating? I mean, Jesus H. Christ, who the fuck are these people anyway? Did one of them find a cure for cancer? No. What about the invention of some amazing technological advancement or a scientific discovery perhaps? Er, nope, wrong again. How about risk taking - are they incredible risk takers or adventurers that have some kind of fascinating story to convey? It would appear not. So why the hell are so many people bothering to read about these frivolous underachieving nobodies?
Celebrity. What an empty, senseless, inconsequential thing to be. I mean, I was asked the other day for my opinions on the recent Jimmy Savile paedophile allegations.
“First of all,” I said, “he’s dead so who gives a shit?”
“Secondly,” I went on, “he was a famous weirdo, whose only contribution to entertainment was sitting in a big red silly looking chair, with a tonne of bling all over him, smoking an enormous sized cigar and making weird orgasm noises around a bunch of kids who wanted him to fulfil their dreams in return for Christ knows what. And you are seriously asking me if I think he was a paedophile or not?”
“But if it’s not true these allegations could ruin his reputation as a celebrity,” remarked the idiot I was talking to.
“Ruin his reputation!?" I exclaimed. “As a celebrity!? If you’re a celebrity, you don’t have a reputation that is worth a damn as far as I’m concerned. You’re already at the bottom of the shit pile for being such an egocentric turd that actually wanted to be famous for nothing in the first place. You are the lowest of the low, in my eyes, and should be taken straight to the gas chamber for an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something worthwhile, like free up some air and parking spaces.”
Out of curiosity I actually flipped through one of those 99p celeb magazines that the barmaid in my local boozer was “reading” the other night just to see how many famous people I could actually recognise. The magazine might as well have been a clothing catalogue as I turned the pages pointing at photos going “Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.”
Finally I came across a picture of Simon Bastarding Cowell with his stupid smug grin and bog brush haircut.
“Aha!” I exclaimed. “Here’s one that should be shot in the face!”
“How can you say such horrible things?” queried the barmaid. “Simon’s done well for himself.”
Done well for himself. Jesus fucking Christ! Look at the guy. He’s a goddamned nobody who’s made a living out of creating other nobodies and sticking them in the limelight. Famous for being famous and well-known for being well-known. That’s it, ladies and gentlemen, a turd. A blemish on our society and this is what our civilisation has come to. We live on a tiny little fragile blue and green ball floating in the immense, incomprehensible vastness of space, but somehow Simon ‘Cocksucker’ Cowell has done well for himself and this is in some way important.
Well, he sure as fuck hasn’t done well for anybody else.
This world is going to the dogs. We are seriously doomed as a species if this is what is important to us in the 21st Century. It’s ‘Game Over’ time kids, unless we march the likes of Simon Cowell off to the gas chamber right now, or blow his bog brush haircut right off the top of his head with a Magnum 44.
"You want a flat top with a middle parting, Simon, ya bastard!?"
KABOOOM!!
Apparently though, in my local community, I’m the guy that needs the attitude adjustment.
Go figure.
Wednesday, October 3. 2012
The Space Junk Climate Change Solution
Two stories in the news today, which stick out at me for some reason...
The Space Junk Conundrum
The Asteroid Dust Solution
Couldn't we just use all the space junk as some kind of sun shield?
Monday, October 1. 2012
Man From The South
When I was a kid, I used to love Saturday nights when John and Lillian would come round to the house for a few drinks with my parents. John used to work in a Cash & Carry and he'd always bring me a pile of treats like crisps and sweets and juice and stuff.
As the night progressed and they all began to get a little tipsy, I'd retire to my bedroom with my collection of tasty treats - having had enough of adult company for the evening - and tune in the TV to Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected, which was usually always followed by something like Hammer House Of Horror or The Twilight Zone.
One particular episode of Tales has always stuck in my mind and, for whatever reason, I thought about it recently and sought out the episode on YouTube.
Something about it still haunts me to this day.
So sit back, open up a pack of snacks and enjoy this short but macabre tale entitled 'Man From The South'.
It also just so happens to be the very first episode ever broadcast under the Tales Of The Unexpected banner, which is why it has probably stuck in my mind all these years.
Friday, September 28. 2012
Curiosity Rover Finds Old Streambed On Mars
The Mars Curiosity Rover is proving to be a fine investment for NASA. Something new and exciting seems to be discovered by this intrepid robot on a daily basis. Will it be enough to excite a science illiterate public or inspire US Congress to invest more money in space exploration instead of throwing it all away on trying to prop up a doomed economy? One doubts it, but one can hope...
'NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence - images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels - is the first of its kind.
'Scientists are studying the images of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. The sizes and shapes of stones offer clues to the speed and distance of a long-ago stream's flow.
'"From the size of gravels it carried, we can interpret the water was moving about 3 feet per second, with a depth somewhere between ankle and hip deep," said Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich of the University of California, Berkeley. "Plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them. This is the first time we're actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it."
'The finding site lies between the north rim of Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside the crater. Earlier imaging of the region from Mars orbit allows for additional interpretation of the gravel-bearing conglomerate. The imagery shows an alluvial fan of material washed down from the rim, streaked by many apparent channels, sitting uphill of the new finds.
'The rounded shape of some stones in the conglomerate indicates long-distance transport from above the rim, where a channel named Peace Vallis feeds into the alluvial fan. The abundance of channels in the fan between the rim and conglomerate suggests flows continued or repeated over a long time, not just once or for a few years.' (NASA Mars Science Laboratory article).
Tuesday, September 25. 2012
London Real Interviews Graham Hancock
An interesting interview with journalist and alternative historian Graham Hancock - much of which I agree with and some of which I don't. You can make up your own minds...
Sunday, September 23. 2012
Media Underground Welcomes The Sergeant Matron
Here at media underground, it is with pleasure that we welcome new contributor Stephen Lewis to the site. Stephen (or the 'Sergeant Matron' as he is often referred to) is some kind of bizarre human hybrid prototype with a keen eye for everything that is fucked up with the planet.
Author of Boots On The Line: Walking 1000 Miles Of Britain's Dismantled Railways, The Matron spends much of his free time either wandering around seriously remote parts of rural Scotland for extended periods, smoking peculiar and unusual tobacco blends out of one of his vast collection of briar pipes (a pastime that he's somehow managed to get me interested in), or rallying against corporate corruption wherever it rears its ugly head.
A staunch atheist and anti-royalist, we are delighted to have him onboard and look forward to his perfectly sane take on the ills of the 21st century.
Saturday, September 22. 2012
Landmark In Quantum Computing
Friday, September 21. 2012
How We Pay Our Richest Landowners Millions
'Were David Cameron to announce tomorrow that some of the wealthiest landowners in the country would receive millions in subsidies from the taxpayer, there would be predictable outrage. Yet, in the form of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), such a programme already exists.
The average British household contributes £245 a year to the CAP, most of which, a New Statesman investigation has found, is handed to the wealthiest landowners. Originally established with the intention of supporting small farmers and reducing Europe’s reliance on food imports, the CAP, which accounts for 43 per cent (€55bn) of the EU budget, has become a slush fund for assorted dukes, earls and princes.
'A freedom of information request by the NS to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that claimants last year included the Duke of Westminster (net worth: £7.4bn), who was paid £748,716 for his ownership of Grosvenor Farms, the Duke of Buccleuch (£180m), who received £260,273, the Duke of Devonshire (£700m), who received £251,729, and the Duke of Atholl, who was paid £231,188 for his 145,000 acre Blair Castle Estate.
'It was also a lucrative year for the Windsor family. The Queen received £415,817 for The Royal Farms and £314,811 for the Duchy of Lancaster, while Prince Charles was paid £127,868 for the Duchy of Cornwall. Similarly well remunerated was Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar, who netted £273,905 for his 2,000 acre Glympton Estate in Oxfordshire, alleged to have been purchased with the proceeds of the 1985 Al-Yamamah arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia.' (New Statesman article).
Thursday, September 20. 2012
Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought
Friday, September 14. 2012
Out There Radio - Episode 53
It sure is good to hear 'Out There Radio' back on the airwaves. 'Out There' is by far the best podcast by any standards. In all seriousness, you need to check this shit out. I never paid much attention to what they did during their disinfo phase, but always hoped that one day 'Out There' would make a resurrection. Well crazy kids, that glorious day has arrived. Tune into these fuckers and have your brain scrambled...
'This episode features an interview with animator, film-maker, and urban exploration expert Bryan Papciak. Bryan is the creator of Met State, an award winning experimental film which explores the abandoned Met State mental hospital. This interview also contains a number of fascinating and creepy stories about Bryan’s experiences in America’s condemned underbelly.' (Out There Radio podcast).
Friday, September 7. 2012
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: 28th National Space Symposium
Tuesday, September 4. 2012
Horizon: How Small Is The Universe?
Monday, September 3. 2012
Horizon: How Big Is The Universe?
Sunday, September 2. 2012
Out There Radio - Episode 52
'Episode 52 of Out There Radio features an interview with Randall Carlson.
'Randall is the founder of Sacred Geometry International, and is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced Freemasons in the Atlanta area. Randall is an experienced home-builder, and a leading expert on esotericism, archaeo-astronomy, and catastrophism.
'Co-hosts Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy also discuss their experiences at Infusion Festivals, and their constant battle with equipment malfunctions over the past two weeks.' (Out There Radio podcast).
Thursday, August 30. 2012
Jim Elvidge - Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?
What if reality isn't really what you think it is?
What if our world was just a big video game?
It's actually not as far-fetched as it seems, says Jim Elvidge. Within 30 years, we will be able to create virtual environments indistinguishable from our reality. Within a few more decades, even physical realities will be manufactured. And we are marching toward an inevitable merge with machines. What's more, it is actually impossible to tell whether or not we have already reached that point.
Sunday, August 26. 2012
Space Pioneer Neil 'Balls Of Steel' Armstrong Dies
'Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has died aged 82. The former US astronaut, who will go down on history as the most famous pioneer of space exploration, passed away as the result of heart complications following surgery.
'As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, he became the first person to set foot on the moon, on 20 July 1969, fulfilling the longheld dream of the United States to get there before the Soviet Union. His first words as he stepped on to the surface - "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" - instantly became one of the most recognisable phrases ever uttered.
'Armstrong underwent heart bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on 5 August, to relieve blocked arteries.
'His family released a statement on Saturday describing him as a "reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job".
'It read: "We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his nation proudly as a Navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut.' (Guardian article and CPA Australia video interview).