| | Home
The Daily Dose/January 16, 2007
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
More notes from the Human Expereince, campers, starting out with significant On This Date action, looking back at Papal finances, the Protestant Reformation (more or less), the raging success of Prohibition, plus the latest from mankind's second trip to Mercury and an official government report on the collapsed Minneapolis bridge. Plus, for the second day in a row, the Column Four Foto is Brooke Shields. We offer no apologies!
AND YOU THOUGHT THE BUSH'S WERE POWERFUL: On this date in 1412 the Medici family is made Papacy's official bankers by Pope Gregory XII. The Medici's were not a family to be messed with. Already one of the most powerful and wealthiest families in Europe at the time, the family would go on to produce three popes and two queens of France, though two of their popes (Leo X and Clement VII) were unable to do anything about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and the break with the Church of England and the third (Leo XI) served only 27 days.
In A Related Matter: On this date in 1581 the English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
Go South Young Man: On this date in 1909 three men, part of an expedition led by famed Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton discover the South Magnetic Pole. The South Magnetic Pole is currently located just off Wilkes Land in Antarctica, and moves westward at a rate of just over nine miles a year.
Bloody Good: On this date in 1707 the Scottish Parliament passes the Acts of Union, and act which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union with England, which Scotland and England into the Kingdom of Great Britain. The acts took effect in May, when both parliaments formed the Parliament of Great Britain. The two countries had shared a monarch since 1603.
Cheers! On this date in 1920 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution takes effect, prohibiting the manufacturing, sale, importation and transportation of alcoholic beverages. One year earlier, the several states had completed ratification when Nebraska, North Carolina, Utah, Mississippi and Wyoming had ratified the amendment on Jan. 15, 1919.
Mud In Your Eye: Magically, all Americans immediately lose the desire for a cocktail before dinner or a nightcap or a cold one at a ballgame and Prohibition is such a success it wouldn't be repealed until 1933.
Tick, Tock: On this date in 1945 Adolph Hitler entered his bunker in Berlin. He would commit suicide there on April 30.
In 2001: President Bill Clinton awards the Medal of Honor posthumously to former President Theodore Roosevelt for bravery shown during the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in the Spanish-American War on July 1, 1898. Roosevelt's is one of 24 Medals of Honor awarded for heroism in that battle and the only president to do so.
SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER: Ignoring our call to use condemned prisoners (for testing purposes) as astronauts for a manned landing on Mercury, NASA's unmanned Messenger spacecraft arrived at the first planet this week. It's the first visit to Mercury since Mariner 10 completed its mission in March, 1975.
Uh, Let's Not Get Too Far Ahead Of Ourselves Here: Messenger is merely flying by Mercury this trip, the first of three flyby's scheduled. The flyby's are planned parts of the itinerary. Offhand, it might not make sense to fly to Mercury several times before falling into orbit, but there are reasons.
What The Hell's Going On Here?: Here's the simple version, put in terms even a Daily Dose staff member can understand: as a spacecraft flies toward Mercury, it gains speed as it falls towards Mr. Sun. Some sort of braking mechanism is needed, especially since Mercury does not have an atmosphere, meaning Messenger can't slow down by flying through the atmosphere and using the drag created to slow down.
To Boldly Go Where No NASA Unmanned Spacecraft Has Gone Before: So after liftoff on Aug. 3, 2004, Messenger flew more or less paralleling Earth's orbit until it flew past Earth on Aug. 2, 2005. It then swung around the Sun again and flew by Venus in Oct. 2006. It then flew out past Earth's orbit (but not flying by Earth) before swinging around towards Venus and flying by again in June of 2007.
Messenger will then swing past the Sun in smaller and slower orbits, eventually flying by Mercury again in Oct. of 2008 and Sept. of 2009 before inserting itself into Mercurian orbit in March of 2011.
Dry, Technical Matter: Messenger will spend one Earth year orbiting Mercury. It will attempt to characterize the composition of Mercury's surface, its geological history and other scientific-type things.
Is Mercurian A Word?: We don't really know. We just made it up. It is now, though, since it's been used on the Internet.
NOW WE KNOW: An official report by the National Transportation Safety Board said the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August was due to undersized gusset plates that were used to connect steel beams in the bridge. The report said the plates were about half the size they should have been. This makes official what the NTSB had said a week or so after the collapse.
And that appeared to be it. Investigators found no fault with the concrete or steel used in the bridge and said there was no evidence that such gusset problems were widespread.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: According to the NFL's official Super Bowl site, superbowl.com, marching bands from the universities of Arizona and Michigan provided halftime entertainment at the first Super Bowl.
Today's Trivia Question: Of the 19 men who have won two Medals of Honor, how many were awarded the Army and Navy Medals for the same action and how many were awarded Medals of Honor for separate acts? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
Home |
|