Fuddland

“Voyager 1 just crossed the termination shock eight billion miles away, the first human object to leave the solar system.

“Voyager, in case it’s ever encountered by extra-terrestrials, carries photos of life on Earth, greetings in fifty-five languages, and a collection of music from Gregorian chants to Chuck Berry — including Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground by ’20s bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, whose stepmother blinded him at 7 by throwing lye in his eyes after his father beat her for being with another man.

“He died, penniless, of pneumonia, after sleeping bundled in wet newspaper in the ruins of his house that burned down, but his music just left the Solar System.”

[Dialogue from a recent episode of The West Wing, factually correct.]