During the period July 16, 1994, to July 22, 1994, over 20 fragments from the comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 collided with Jupiter’s southern hemisphere at a speed of approximately 134,000 miles per hour., providing the first direct observation of a collision between two Solar System objects.
Astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker, one of the people that comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is named after, once held the record for most comets discovered by an individual.
Carolyn Shoemaker never formally studied astronomy, and is a true amateur in the field that she had no interest in until she was in her fifties… In fact, nearly all named objects in the skies were discovered by amateur astroomers like Shoemaker. Professional degree astronomers are too few in number and don’t have time in their line of work to search the skies. Shoemaker was born in Route-66’s Gallup, New Mexico.
Astronomer James Van Allen (for whom the Van Allen radiation belt was named) enjoyed introducing Astronomy to students, teaching the General Astronomy course at the University of Iowa for decades.
[a friend was his student in his later years and remembers that she and her friends would speculate on the size of Van Allen’s belt: 44 inches? 46?]
One of the odd shortcomings of standard biographies, is that they rarely reference physical size, such as height, weight or belt size. The general physique of all famous people is well-known to everyone who saw them in public, but unless remarkable, is never mentioned by biogaphers. In spite of the easily researchable fact that clothing of a certain size was hanging in their closet when they died, as well as medical records from routine examinations.
Wikipedia excerpt:
The phrase “poète maudit” was coined in the beginning of the 19th century by Alfred de Vigny in his 1832 novel Stello, in which he calls the poet “la race toujours maudite par les puissants de la terre.” (The race that will always be cursed by the powerful ones of the earth).[1][2] Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud are considered typical examples. Lautréamont or Alice de Chambrier are also considered as poètes maudits… {End excerpt]
Three of the poets listed in the excerpt, which is at the entry for “poète maudit,” have their pictures shown in the entry (Baudelaire, Verlaine and Lautréamont). All three appear to have been very slender, so perhaps something is known of their physical appearance.
The 17th Century poet John Milton’s appearance may be the origin of his college nickname; at Cambridge, fellow students called him the “Lady of Christ’s College,” perhaps because of his fair complexion, delicate features, and auburn hair. Some biographies say that he was so named for his effeminate ways and youthful looks, or for his small stature and lack of maturity.
There is a Cambridge in 19 of the USA’s 50 states: ID IL IN IA KS KY ME MD MA MI MN NE NH NJ NY OH PA VT and WI.
My niece lives in Cambridge WI. So does NasCar’s Matt Kenseth. Note there is a Cambfidge in all four states beginning with the letter I, but none with letters before I.
Pretty cool.
Cambridge is the county town of Cambridgeshire, England. It contains several bridges over the River Cam. One of them is the Mathematical Bridge, the popular name of a wooden footbridge in the southwest of central Cambridge, originally built in 1749 and connecting two parts of Queens College. Although it appears to be an arch, it is composed entirely of straight timbers built to an unusually sophisticated engineering design, hence the name. In mathematical terms, the arrangement of timbers is a series of tangents that describe the arc of the bridge, with radial members to tie the tangents together and triangulate the structure, making it rigid and self-supporting.
gkster ninja’ed me.
In October 2014, the world’s first pedestrian footbridge to connect two mountain peaks opened on Glacier 3000 in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland. The 351 feet bridge connects View Point peak with Scex Rouge peak.
It’s pretty neat: http://www.fatzer.net/enUS/Home/TabId/91/ArtMID/2595/ArticleID/45/Glacier-3000-From-Peak-to-Peak-on-Full-Locked-Coil-steel-wire-ropes.aspx
That is a *great *story - thanks! Hope the HOF bigshots still on his list will see this story and help out free of charge.
In play:
In Robert Harris’s alternative history novel Fatherland, Hitler wins World War II. The only Western European country it does not occupy or dominate by 1964 is Switzerland, which becomes a hub of espionage and financial skulduggery in the Cold War that develops between the U.S. and Nazi Germany.
“Bomber” Harris was the commander-in-chief of Bomber Command during World War II, and developed the tactic of area bombing rather than precision bombing.
Area bombing was controversial, because of the high rates of civilian casualties in the target areas, such as the bombing of Dresden. The veterans of Bomber Command were denied their own service award after the war, which led to Harris refusing the offer of a peerage, in solidarity with his men. He was the only c-in-c of a service arm not to receive a peerage.
Some considered him a war criminal.
Harris–Stowe State University is a public university in St. Louis, MO. It is located on the same block as a popular barbecue place (and one of my favorites), Pappy’s Smokehouse.
One of Ron Glass’s first TV appearances was as “Jack,” a refrigerator repairman on an epiosde of All in the Family, “Everybody Tells the Truth.” Archie, Mike, and Edith all told of Archie’s run-in with Jack, with Archie making me out to be a militant Black Panther and Mike as a “Stephen Fetchitt” type character, and Edith would give the true story. Glass played all three roles.
Ron Glass would later achieve fame as Detective Ron Harris on Barney Miller.
According to Fresnel equations, the reflectivity of a sheet of glass is about 4% per surface (at normal incidence in air), and the transmissivity of one element (two surfaces) is about 90%. Glass with high germanium oxide content also finds application in optoelectronics—e.g., for light-transmitting optical fibers.
“To Tell the Truth” first aired as a game snow on TV in 1956, and is one of only two game shows (with The Price is Right) to have aired a new eipsode in seven different decades. Through the years, it has been hosted by Bud Collyer, Garry Moore, Joe Garagiola, Lynn Swann and Alex Trebek
In St. Louis MO, on “The Hill”, the old Italian section of town, is perhaps the only block in America where two MLB Hall of Fame players hailed from at the same time. The 5400 block of Elizabeth Avenue is where Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up. The street sign on that block has a second street sign proclaiming it Hall of Fame Place.
In 1925, Yogi Berra was born, and he grew up playing baseball there on The Hill. He died last September.
In 1926, Garagiola was born, and he grew up playing baseball there on The Hill. He died last March.