• Rolando@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      3 months ago

      OMG… I wouldn’t have got the joke if you hadn’t said that!

      Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; some were former members of the Nazi Party.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

      p.s. also see Ministry of Space, an alternate history comic book in which the British grab all the scientists instead.

    • tquidEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      It took me a second viewing to realize that’s like 50% of the joke. Well played

  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.mlEnglish
    16·
    3 months ago

    "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?

    That’s not my department, " says Wernher von Braun.

      • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        3 months ago

        For anyone scrolling by and wondering, these are lines from two Tom Lehrer songs: Wernher von Braun and We Will All Go Together When We Go. Used to keep the latter one on hand for classes on nuclear fallout mapping (a much more boring subject than the name might suggest) and play it while people were returning to their seats after a break. Also had the clip of Colbert acting out a nuclear explosion to spice things up a little. Serious topic and all but a little humor can help with information retention.

    • agamemnonymousEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      You too can be a big hero, once you learn to count backwards to zero