Quote:Lunar Exploration Suit

In this September 1960 photo, Allyn B. “Hap” Hazard wears a space suit he designed. Hap was a Senior Development Engineer in the Missile Engineering Section of JPL in 1959 when he wrote a plan for manned space exploration. JPL was transitioning from missiles to space exploration, and Hap had a lot of ideas about the subject. In March 1961, Hap left JPL to work at Aerojet, and presumably to work on the suit and his other inventions. In addition to the suit, he designed and built a hydrofoil boat and a snow making machine during his time at JPL.

It doesn’t appear that the suit was ever an official JPL project, and very little documentation exists in the JPL Archives except for the photographs and his report, which includes a disclaimer, “The views expressed in this paper are those of the writer ….” The Section 352 online photo album includes a series of photos and drawings of his Lunar Exploration Space Suit Mark 1 and plans for a moonmobile that could be controlled from the dashboard inside the suit.

After Hap left JPL, he and the suit appeared or were mentioned in Life magazine, Boys Life, and the Syracuse Post-Standard. An Experimental Engineering class at UCLA studied the suit, and Mattel created an astronaut toy that wore a replica of it. Even today, there are many web sites that include the story of Hap Hazard, his space suit, and Major Matt Mason (the toy).

Quote:Prospect Hill was where George Washington had his encampment and fortifications during the Siege of Boston during the first year of the American Revolution. On New Year’s Day, 1776, in order to raise morale for the beleaguered Continental Army soldiers, the very first American flag raising on American soil took place.

There is some debate as to which flag was actually flown on January 1st. Traditional accounts state the Continental Union Flag, the de facto flag of the United Colonies and the first flag of the United States featuring 13 stripes and the Union Jack was flown. Modern researchers have questioned this, claiming the standard Union Jack was flown or perhaps a combination of the two flags. Others have proposed that maybe a defaced version of the standard British Red Ensign such as the flag for the City of Taunton might’ve been used. The flag on top of Prospect Hill follows the traditional account of flying the Continental colors and it wasn’t until the Flag Act of 1777, the recognizable design featuring stars in a blue canton was officially adopted as the new flag for the United States.

Prospect Hill Monument

Quote:

Wovoka's Message:
The Promise of the Ghost Dance

[James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology, was sent to investigate the Ghost Dance movement in 1891. He obtained a copy of Wovoka's message from a Cheyenne named Black Short Nose, who had been part of a joint Cheyenne-Arapaho delegation that visited Wovoka in Nevada in August 1891. Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) delivered his message orally, and it was transcribed by a member of the group who had attended Carlisle Indian School. Mooney renders the "Carlisle English" of this transcription in a more grammatical form.]

THE MESSIAH LETTER

When you get home you must make a dance to continue five days. Dance four successive nights, and the last night keep us the dance until the morning of the fifth day, when all must bathe in the river and then disperse to their homes. You must all do in the same way.

I, Jack Wilson, love you all, and my heart is full of gladness for the gifts you have brought me. When you get home I shall give you a good cloud [rain?] which will make you feel good. I give you a good spirit and give you all good paint. I want you to come again in three months, some from each tribe there [the Indian Territory].

There will be a good deal of snow this year and some rain. In the fall there will be such a rain as I have never given you before.

Grandfather [a universal title of reverence among Indians and here meaning the messiah] says, when your friends die you must not cry. You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in life. This young man has a good father and mother. [Possibly this refers to Casper Edson, the young Arapaho who wrote down this message of Wovoka for the delegation].

Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon the earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are still alive again. I do not know when they will be here; maybe this fall or in the spring. When the time comes there will be no more sickness and everyone will be young again.

Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make any trouble with them until you leave them. When the earth shakes [at the coming of the new world] do not be afraid. It will not hurt you.

I want you to dance every six weeks. Make a feast at the dance and have food that everybody may eat. Then bathe in the water. That is all. You will receive good words again from me some time. Do not tell lies.

[TEXT: James Mooney, The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2 (1896).]

Archives of The West

Quote:When it comes to military history, the Hamilton story is one of absolute precision. It was the superior quality and accuracy of Hamilton’s early pocket watches, as well as the ability to innovate and act quickly while maintaining high standards that caught the attention of the American military. The same qualities kept Hamilton at the forefront of supply, earning five prestigious Army-Navy ‘E’ Awards for manufacturing excellence along the way.

Hamilton Watch Company [way too rich for my blood!]

Quote:That the Ventura had star power was also underscored by many celebrities that choose the watch. Amongst them was Rod Serling, writer of The Twilight Zone, that introduced some episodes of this TV-show while wearing his Ventura. But it is of course Elvis that gave the Ventura everlasting fame when he wore it in the 1961 movie “Blue Hawaii”. The star power of the Ventura has not faded over the years. In 1997, Will Smith strapped on a Ventura re-issue in the blockbuster “Men in Black” and in 2010 featured a Ventura in an episode of the TV-show “Mad Men”.

Old School – Hamilton Ventura

Quote:The 74-second film opens with Topsy being led past a crowd of people through an unfinished Luna Park to the execution spot, an island in the middle of a "lagoon" used for boat-rides, by elephant handler Carl Goliath.

The film cuts and an intervening hour and forty-five minutes are not recorded. During this unrecorded interval, Topsy refused to cross the bridge to the island forcing the park employees and Brooklyn Edison electricians to re-rig the strangling apparatus and electrical wiring to where Topsy stood. Topsy was also fed carrots laced with cyanide while copper-clad sandals connected to electric lines were strapped to her feet.

When the film camera restarts, Topsy is seen with the bridge over the lagoon and the original execution spot. Topsy tries to shake off one of the sandals and then stands still. At that point she stiffens as 6,600-volts AC is applied to her body. Smoke rises from her feet as she topples to the ground. Right at the end of the film, the noose tied around Topsy's neck can be seen tightening.

Quote:The Eisenhower Doctrine

The U.S. and Egypt in the 1950s

Question: What did the United States do to try to stop Egypt from becoming a communist satellite state in the 1950s?

Answer:
The goals of U.S. foreign policy toward Egypt during the 1950s were to protect American and western European access to oil in the Middle East, to end British colonial rule throughout the area in line with the ideal of self-determination expressed in the Atlantic Charter, to contain the expansion of communism and particularly the influence of the Soviet Union in the region, and to support the independence of Israel without alienating the Arab states.

...
For the next few years, U.S. policy toward Egypt was guided by what became known as the "Eisenhower Doctrine," a declaration that the U.S. was prepared to offer assistance to any Middle Eastern country (if it asked for assistance) in order to oppose the military threat of "any nation controlled by international communism." In reality, the doctrine was fairly impractical for a number of reasons.

It invited pro-Western countries in the region to gin up internal or external "communist threats" as a simple way to procure U.S. aid without the necessity to negotiate agreements or treaties. Also, the policy was actually aimed at thwarting Nasser's ambitions to undermine his Middle Eastern rivals in the region, many of whom were pro-Western. The policy was given public shape, however, in a resolution that the Eisenhower Administration had pushed through Congress by the expediency of using the phrase "international communism." This left the Administration's actual policy in the dark and often at odds with its publicly expressed policy.

The practical result of this was State Department and CIA involvement, by covert means, in the complicated internal politics of the region, as the political winds within each country shifted. This created unintended and unwanted consequences for the United States, for which the CIA coined the term "blowback." Much of this activity, including coups and counter-coups, was inspired, influenced, or even orchestrated by the CIA. In Egypt, CIA operator Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. (Teddy's grandson), developed an exceedingly complicated and intimate relationship with (and sometimes against) the Nasser regime, as did CIA operative Miles Copeland. The U.S., however, acted for the rest of the decade under the conviction that Nasser himself was too powerful to be deposed and came to reconcile itself to containing his attempts to consolidate his influence with the other Arab states.

Quote:“There’s not a war. We are at war against drug trafficking organizations — not a war against Venezuela.” (Watch)

“We don’t have U.S. forces on the ground in Venezuela. They were on the ground for about two hours when they went to capture Maduro… What the President is saying is very simple — and that is as President of the United States, he is not going to go around telling people what he’s not going to do.” (Watch)

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.” (Watch)

“The first steps are securing what’s in the national interest of the United States and also beneficial to the people of Venezuela, and those are the things that we’re focused on right now. No more drug trafficking. No more Iran, Hezbollah presence there. No more using the oil industry to enrich all our adversaries around the world.” (Watch)

“This was not an action that required congressional approval. In fact, it couldn’t require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This is not an extended military operation… We will seek congressional approval for actions that require congressional approval. Otherwise, they’ll get congressional notification.” (Watch)

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan. This is not the Middle East, and our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.” (Watch)

“The most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interests of the United States. That’s why we’re involved here — because of how it applies and has a direct impact on the United States.” (Watch)

“We’ve seen how our adversaries all over the world are exploiting and extracting resources from Africa, from every other country. They’re not going to do it in the Western Hemisphere. That is not going to happen under President Trump. Read our national security strategy. He is serious about it.” (Watch)

“What we are going to react to is very simple: what do you do? Not what you’re saying publicly, what happens… Do the drugs stop coming? Are the changes made? Is Iran expelled? Is Hezbollah and Iran no longer able to operate against our interests from Venezuela?” (Watch)

“It’s running policy — the policy with regards to this. We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest.” (Watch)

“We retain all the options we had before this raid and this capture and this arrest… until such time as changes are made.” (Watch)

“In the Biden Administration, they had a $25 million reward for [Maduro’s] capture — so we have a reward for his capture but we’re not going to enforce it? That’s the difference between President Trump and everybody else… President Trump did something about it.” (Watch)

“Until they address [the problems], they will continue to face this oil quarantine. They will continue to face pressure from the United States. We will continue to target drug boats if they try to run towards the United States. We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders. We will continue to do that and potentially other things until the things we need to see addressed are addressed… The number one thing we care about is the safety, security, wellbeing, and prosperity of the United States.” (Watch)

“Maduro is not just an indicted drug trafficker; he was an illegitimate president. He was not the head of state. I continue to see these media reports referring to him as ‘President Maduro’ and the ‘head of state.’ He was not the head of state.” (Watch)

RUBIO: This Is Our Hemisphere — and President Trump Will Not Allow Our Security to be Threatened

Quote:But experts in Latin American crime and narcotics issues have said it is actually a slang term, invented by the Venezuelan media in the 1990s, for officials who are corrupted by drug money. And on Saturday, after the administration captured Mr. Maduro, the Justice Department released a rewritten indictment that appeared to tacitly concede the point.

Prosecutors still accused Mr. Maduro of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy but they abandoned the claim that Cartel de los Soles was an actual organization. Instead, the revised indictment states that it refers to a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption” fueled by drug money.

Where the old indictment refers 32 times to Cartel de los Soles and describes Mr. Maduro as its leader, the new one mentions it twice and says that he, like his predecessor, President Hugo Chávez, participated in, perpetuated and protected this patronage system.

NY Times

Quote:On the machine front linguist Léon Dostert at Georgetown University directed the first attempt, in which the IBM 701 electronic computer was used in 1954 to translate Russian into English. The project was eventually funded by the CIA, along with the National Science Foundation and U.S. military. In the Soviet Union, Aleksei Liapunov, a leading figure in cybernetics, discovered a scientific abstract about Dostert’s project and launched a competing English-to-Russian project, which by 1964 made the Soviet Union the leader in the field of machine translation.

Speaking in Tongues

Quote:This unit was purchased and used by the Australian Employers of Waterside Labour. It was used for the organisation's accounting, payroll and bookkeeping operations. There is an asset register on the machine of items owned by the AEWL at each of the South Australian ports. There are also letters, correspondence and labour allocation files. This particular model was built in 1976 and the last time it was booted up was 29 December 1989.

The AEWL organisation ceased to exist in 1993 when it merged with the Seamen's Union of Australia to become the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). The AEWL was deregistered on 23 January 2006.

The computer was then stored in a space which became an office occupied by Flinders Ports Pty Ltd. Peter Dowset, and employee of Flinders Ports, recognised the machine's signioficance, and that it was still opperable, and offered it for donation to the Powerhouse Museum in 2010.

IBM System/32 office computer

Quote:Q: So what do you think makes a good Twilight Zone?

A: Well, mystery is one thing, mysteriousness and the circumstances. Something odd about this man sitting there at the counter drinking his coffee. And it’s very stimulating to the imagination, because you wonder what’s about to happen.

Most of the time, you didn’t know what the outcome would be – as an audience, I mean. And I think Rod enjoyed fooling people. third-from-the-sun11He was like a magician, or like an entertainer, anyway. I remember his laugh. I can’t remember the jokes, but I remember this kind of shrill laugh that would come out of him.

But one of the reasons why it’s called the Golden Age was because television didn’t know where it was going. It was a new medium, and it wasn’t geared to the maximum audience. I mean, the very fact that they would go after Rod Serling – nowadays he’d be just a figure off-camera somewhere, in his little abattoir in the studio turning out plays. Writers, you know, are no longer very welcome on set.

Fritz Weaver: “We Had Such Great Times In Those Days”

Quote:On January 8, 1918, a cattle rancher reported the body of a cow in the mountains that had been used to make sandals. The Army dispatched a reconnaissance patrol, who found the Yaqui not far from the post. The Army sent a force after the Indians, who had moved south. The cavalry kept up its pursuit toward the border.

After some time, they dismounted and moved ahead on foot, finding a hastily-abandoned Yaqui camp. The Indians were close by and knew they were being chased. As the soldiers advanced forward, they came under fire from the Yaqui, who had cleverly concealed their positions. From behind boulders and trees, the firefight began.

The Yaqui fired on the Americans freely, seeming to disappear behind every rock and bush. One of the reports from the battle said the Indians disappeared like “shadows.” But the Army continued moving forward in a skirmish line. As they moved forward, they pushed the Natives back and began to close in on them. Eventually, they had the Yaqui confined to a small area. Realizing their predicament, one of the Yaqui stood up to surrender. The captain called a cease-fire.

As the troop of cavalrymen moved to surround what turned out to be ten Yaqui, they realized this band of Indians had made a glorious stand to buy time for the rest of the tribe, some 20 or more, to escape. One Yaqui was killed, and nine were taken, prisoner. A federal court sentenced them to jail for 30 days rather than extradite them to Mexico, where they would have been executed.

The American Indian Wars – The Battle of Bear Valley

Quote:The year started turbulently.

1. First and foremost, its opening will be remembered for the kidnapping of Maduro. Of course, this is sheer thuggery and vileness — or, to put it more elegantly, a civilizational catastrophe in the sphere of international relations.

Today there are only two scenarios. Either the United States quietly releases the kidnapped Venezuelan president under some respectable pretext (the probability of this is minimal), or he becomes a new Latin American Mandela (most likely). In that case, his name will be inscribed in the tablets of South American history alongside Bolívar, Miranda, and Chávez.

And even if, out of sheer stubbornness, Trump does not pardon Maduro after some time, public pressure will almost certainly force Vance or another successor to do so.

Yes, oil is the key factor here. But even that will not be simple. What if the current Venezuelan authorities refuse to share it with the Americans in the long run? Will Trump really launch a ground operation? That would definitely require Congress — and it would be far bloodier than the brazen abduction of Maduro. And the Senate has just tightened the noose around Trump, restraining his militaristic frenzy. And does the current administration even need something like this? Highly doubtful.

And one more thing. I noted this immediately after the Americans’ grotesque orgy: after such actions, the American elites — both Republican and Democratic — should permanently shove their long tongues back into their rickety asses.

And simply acknowledge the legitimacy of Russia’s actions during the SMO.

2. Sanctions against Russia, announced by Trump and which he “hopes not to use.”

Everything here is clear, and there are no illusions. U.S. sanctions policy will continue regardless of circumstances. Russia will be pressured into compromises on security guarantees and territories that are absolutely unacceptable to us. And then the White House ringleader will be “forced” to impose them under the law of the old degenerate Russophobe Graham. Unpleasant. Nothing new. But we will endure this time as well.

3. The story with the tanker of the so-called shadow fleet.

It is obvious why it came under Russia’s “temporary flag”: under threat of seizure, it sought protection from illegal American sanctions.

However, the method chosen was not entirely appropriate. Yes, what happened is a clear violation of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. But it is worth recalling that the United States never ratified it. In this context, issuing a temporary permit to fly our flag to a vessel that, albeit illegally, is being pursued by our main geopolitical adversary — an adversary currently in an unstable state — was a move with predictable consequences.

Which, of course, does not diminish the indisputable fact that the actions of the brazen Americans constitute a criminal seizure of a civilian vessel. And the response to it should be entirely outside the framework of the Law of the Sea Convention. Especially since, as one prominent legal scholar noted, international law is not required at all.

In any case, one must bear in mind that international relations have turned into outright Bedlam since the start of the year. And we must behave accordingly: there are far too many violent lunatics around. With the understanding that such patients are never calmed by the gentle persuasion of kind psychiatrists. Only by orderlies with massive fists and an impassive expression. Because dangerous madmen require either a straitjacket — or a lifesaving injection of haloperidol. As happened last night in the west of the Bandera-run Ukrainian periphery."

Quote:Where Americans Choose to Move and Where They Leave

Domestic Migration from 2020 to 2024



Patterns of domestic migration—where people who already live in America choose to move—reveals a lot about where people do or don’t want to live. Or, framed differently, where they can and can’t afford to. This map shows the cumulative domestic migration of each US county, from 2020 to 2024.

The darkest green color shows places where the (net) number of people who’ve moved in since 2020 is equal to 10% or more of the population in 2020. The darkest purple color shows the reverse. In those counties the net number of people who’ve moved out is equal to 10% of the 2020 population. This only includes people who moved from one place in the United States to another, not people who moved into or out of the country.

Because this map shows net migration, a place where a roughly equal number of people move in and out—like a college town—won’t feature prominently.

There are six times as many dark green counties as dark purple ones. A few counties are experiencing intense in-migration, while a lot of counties are seeing a small out-migration.

Some of the patterns seem to follow state boundaries, but more commonly they reflect urban agglomerations or ecological regions.

In fact, I was surprised by the extent to which certain ecological regions correspond to the patterns on this map. The next version of the map shows a few of the patterns that most stood out to me. I highlighted certain regions, like the Ozarks, by identifying the counties included in specific EPA Level III ecoregions. (Follow that link to see official maps of Level I, II, III, and IV ecoregions. They are fascinating).

...

The biggest hotspots for domestic movers are in the American South. Many of these cross state lines in ways that follow ecoregions.
The Piedmont / Southern Appalachia

One such region covers portions of the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and nearly all of Tennessee. The sprawling area (340 counties) basically corresponds to the ecoregion comprising Appalachia south of Virginia (the Blue Ridge Mountains, Southwestern Appalachians, Ridge and Valley) along with the plateaus to their east (the Piedmont) and west (the Interior Plateau). 974,000 more Americans moved into this region than out of it from 2020 to 2024, equal to 3.3% of the 2020 population.

...

Some Losers

Most of the places with more out-movers than in-movers only lost a very small fraction of their population. But a few regions stand out with more serious losses.
The Lower Mississippi

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain extends from the river’s confluence with the Ohio in southern Illinois all the way to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly all of these 58 counties lose more movers than they gain. In total, the region lost 116,000 people, or 5.0% of its population to net domestic migration from 2020 to 2024. Losses were even more severe (proportionally speaking) in the core of the region, the Mississippi Delta.

California

Finally, any discussion of net migration has to mention the county’s most populous state: California. From 2020 to 2024, 1.47 million more people moved from California to elsewhere in the United States than from a different state into California. That outflow is equal to 3.7% of the state’s 2020 population.

Quote:This wonderful sketch of "teeth painlessly extracted by steam power" appears on an envelope addressed to a certain Dr J. Chapman of Totton, Southampton. As to whether he is the creator of the drawing also (or indeed someone in his household), the jury is out -- though the idea that the envelope made its way through the Victorian postal system so adorned is rather a nice thought. There seem to be arguments either way. Looking closely one can see that the ink from the drawing overlays the stamp in the left hand corner, which would imply it made its way onto the envelope after postage (if the late 19th-century mailing process was anything like today's), though mysteriously also part of the address (the "D" of Dr) appears to overlay the stamp. All quite confusing. Also, are there unnatural gaps between the "m" and "a" of "Chapman", and between the "c" and "o" of "Beaconsfield", where the pulley runs, and so implying the address was written around the drawing? Also, is the drawing signed "C. E. H." to the bottom left? If so, does that imply someone other than Chapman? Someone else in his house-hold? The sender of the letter? "Chapman's Envelope Handiwork"?

If an expert on Victorian postal systems, or indeed, a handwriting expert (are the address and caption to the drawing done by the same hand?), can help out all would love to your ideas in the comments. Likewise regarding who this Dr J. Chapman was. We tried to find out a bit more about him, but alas to no avail. There's an outside chance it could be physician and publisher John Chapman (1821–1894) famous for running the influential radical journal the Westminster Review (which provided an important platform for ideas on evolution), and whose assistant, was Mary Ann Evans (AKA George Eliot). It appears this Chapman did have one loose link to Southampton, in that he wrote to the Times in 1866 to describe his use of ice packs to treat cholera patients in the city.

Steam-Powered Tooth Extraction on an Envelope (1894)

Quote:Project Diana demonstrated the feasibility of using the Moon as a passive reflector to transmit radio signals from one point on the Earth to the other, around the curve of the Earth. This Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) or "moonbounce" path has been used in a few communication systems. One of the first was the secret US military espionage PAMOR (Passive Moon Relay) program in 1950, which sought to eavesdrop on Soviet Russian military radio communication by picking up stray signals reflected from the Moon. The return signals were extremely faint, and the US began secret construction of the largest parabolic antenna in the world at Sugar Grove, West Virginia, until the project was abandoned in 1962 as too expensive. A more successful spinoff was the US Navy Communication Moon Relay or Operation Moonbounce communication system, which used the EME path for US military communication. In January, 1960 the system was inaugurated with a lunar relay link between Hawaii and Washington DC. Moonbounce communication was abandoned by the military with the advent of communications satellites in the early 1960s. Since then it has been used by amateur radio operators.

Quote:In 1981, Garroway underwent open-heart surgery, as a result of which he contracted a staph infection. On January 14, 1982, Today broadcast its 30th-anniversary special, which featured all of the important living, former, and current staff members. Garroway, who had recently undergone drug rehabilitation for an amphetamine addiction, appeared to be cheerful and in good spirits during the show. He also indicated that he would be present for the show's 35th anniversary in 1987.

A few months later, however, Garroway began suffering complications from the infection he had contracted during surgery. He spent some weeks in and out of hospitals and had an in-home nurse tending to him. On July 21, he was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound at his Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, home. No suicide note was found and Garroway's nurse did not recall him being unusually depressed in the final day of his life. Garroway's son Michael said that his father had been experiencing complications from his heart operation and he had "unfortunately succumbed to the traumatic effects of his illness". In addition, he was extremely depressed at his inability to resurrect a TV career, saying to friends and family "I'm old hat, old news. Nobody wants old Dave anymore". His family held a private graveside service for him in Philadelphia on July 28.

Because of Garroway's dedication to the cause of mental health, his third wife, Sarah, helped establish the Dave Garroway Laboratory for the Study of Depression at the University of Pennsylvania.