Twenty Six years ago on January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger with six crew members plus school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, came to a horrifying end at 48,000 feet and fell to the earth with millions of people watching live TV, including many children in their classrooms.
In 1962, the day after John Glenn orbited the Earth in Friendship 7, Christa told a friend at her high school, "Do you realize that someday people will be going to the Moon? Maybe even taking a bus, and I want to do that!"
Christa became a teacher at Concord High School where she taught social studies, history, law, economics, and her self-designed course, "The American Woman". It was here that she learned of President Ronald Reagan's announcement of the Teacher in Space Project. NASA was looking for an "ordinary person and gifted teacher who could communicate with students while in orbit". Christa became one of 11,000 applicants writing, "I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies. I watched the Space Age being born, and I would like to participate."
Out of the 11,000 Christa was chosen with Barbara Morgan as her backup. They both took a year absence from teaching in order to train for the mission. Christa was prepared to conduct basic science experiments in the fields of chromatography, hydroponics, magnetism, and Newton's laws. She was also going to conduct two 15 minute classes from space, including a tour of the spacecraft called "The Ultimate Field Trip" along with a lesson about the benefits of space travel called "Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Why". Her lessons were going to be broadcast to millions of schoolchildren via closed-circuit TV.
Survived by her husband, son and daughter, parents, and 4 siblings Christa was buried at Blossom Hill Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire, and mourned by the world. She has been honored and memorialized with the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium/McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, the Christa McAuliffe Residential Community building at Bowie State University, a crater on the moon named McAuliffe, an asteroid named 3352 McAuliffe, and a crater on Venus named McAuliffe by the Soviet Union. There have been 40 schools around the world named after her, including the McAuliffe Space Education Center in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Scholarships and other events have been established in her memory. The Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference has been held in Nashua, New Hampshire, ever year since 1986, and is devoted to the use of technology in all aspects of education. The Nebraska McAuliffe Prize honors a Nebraska teacher each year for coverage and excellence in education. Grants in her name, honoring innovative teachers are provided by American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Council for the Social Studies. Christa's parents, Edward and Grace Corrigan, worked with Framingham State College to establish the McAuliffe Center for Education.
On July 23, 2004, Christa and all the other 13 astronauts lost in both the Challenger and Columbia disasters were posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Prohibition
On January 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the manufacturing, sales, or transportation of alcoholic beverages became law. It was followed up with the Volstead Act in October of 1919 enabling the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department.
Prohibition had long been the objective of the temperance movement which was mostly made up of Evangelical Protestants who believed abstinence from alcohol was the only way to prevent drunkenness. The victims of alcohol abuse were women and children due to economic deprivation and domestic violence. Because of this, women went to the streets in support of the temperance movement.
Out of the enforcement of the 18th Amendment was born bootlegging, rum runners, and speakeasies. This period was also known as the Roaring Twenties. In order to gain admittance to their favorite "Speakeasy", people would learn the password then enter to party the night away drinking and dancing. That is until they were discovered and "raided". Speakeasy owners quickly learned it would cost them to stay in business and protected. They had to pay off their local police department, Federal Prohibition Agents, district attorneys, and the Mafia.
Also born of prohibition was moonshine and home produced whiskey made in stills. The producers and smugglers worked at night to avoid detection thus the name "moonshine". Revenuers were always on the lookout, would prowl the woods and destroy their stills.
The Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages, and organized crime flourished in America. In 1933 the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed repealing prohibition.
Prohibition had long been the objective of the temperance movement which was mostly made up of Evangelical Protestants who believed abstinence from alcohol was the only way to prevent drunkenness. The victims of alcohol abuse were women and children due to economic deprivation and domestic violence. Because of this, women went to the streets in support of the temperance movement.
Out of the enforcement of the 18th Amendment was born bootlegging, rum runners, and speakeasies. This period was also known as the Roaring Twenties. In order to gain admittance to their favorite "Speakeasy", people would learn the password then enter to party the night away drinking and dancing. That is until they were discovered and "raided". Speakeasy owners quickly learned it would cost them to stay in business and protected. They had to pay off their local police department, Federal Prohibition Agents, district attorneys, and the Mafia.
Also born of prohibition was moonshine and home produced whiskey made in stills. The producers and smugglers worked at night to avoid detection thus the name "moonshine". Revenuers were always on the lookout, would prowl the woods and destroy their stills.
The Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages, and organized crime flourished in America. In 1933 the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed repealing prohibition.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
CAUCUS vs PRIMARY
It has come to my attention that some people are not familiar with the difference between a primary and a caucus. Since we are in an election cycle I thought I would explain.
Caucus: A private meeting of members of a political party to plan action or to select delegates for a nominating convention. A caucus is more of a party affair, similar to a town hall meeting. These meetings can be held anywhere from public venues to private homes. Members gather, listen to speeches, and engage in discussion before voting for a candidate. Only registered members of that particular party are allowed to vote.
Primary: An election held to nominate a candidate for a particular party in a forthcoming election for public office. Democrats can vote in a Republican primary and vice versa. These elections are held only in public voting poll locations. The majority of candidates today are selected in primaries.
Caucus States: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nevada, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, Wyoming, Texas, Utah.
Texas has both a primary and a caucus. 2/3 of the delegates in Texas are determined by primary results, and 1/3 of the delegates in Texas are determined by the caucus results.
Caucus: A private meeting of members of a political party to plan action or to select delegates for a nominating convention. A caucus is more of a party affair, similar to a town hall meeting. These meetings can be held anywhere from public venues to private homes. Members gather, listen to speeches, and engage in discussion before voting for a candidate. Only registered members of that particular party are allowed to vote.
Primary: An election held to nominate a candidate for a particular party in a forthcoming election for public office. Democrats can vote in a Republican primary and vice versa. These elections are held only in public voting poll locations. The majority of candidates today are selected in primaries.
Caucus States: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nevada, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, Wyoming, Texas, Utah.
Texas has both a primary and a caucus. 2/3 of the delegates in Texas are determined by primary results, and 1/3 of the delegates in Texas are determined by the caucus results.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The History of New Year's Day Lucky Black Eyed Pea
The story of THE BLACK EYED PEA being considered good luck relates directly back to Sherman's Bloody March to the Sea in late 1864. It was called The Savannah Campaign and was lead by Major General William T. Sherman. The Civil War campaign began on Nov. 15, 1864 when Sherman 's troops marched from the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia and ended at the port of Savannah on Dec. 22, 1864.
When the smoke cleared, the southerners who had survived the onslaught came out of hiding. They found that the Union aggressors had looted and stolen everything of value and everything you could eat including all livestock. Death and destruction were everywhere. While in hiding, few had enough to eat, and starvation was now upon the survivors.
There was no international aid and no Red Cross meal trucks. The Northern army had taken everything they could carry and eaten everything they could eat. The devastated people of the south found for some unknown reason that Sherman’s bloodthirsty troops had left silos full of black eyed peas.
At this time in the north, the lowly black eyed pea was only used to feed stock. The northern troops saw it as the thing of least value. Taking grain for their horses and livestock and other crops to feed themselves, they just couldn’t take everything. So they left the black eyed peas in great quantities assuming it would be of no use to the survivors since all the livestock it could feed had either been taken or eaten.
Southerners awoke to face a new year in this devastation and were facing massive starvation if not for the good luck of having the black eyed peas to eat. From New Years Day 1866 forward the tradition grew to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.
When the smoke cleared, the southerners who had survived the onslaught came out of hiding. They found that the Union aggressors had looted and stolen everything of value and everything you could eat including all livestock. Death and destruction were everywhere. While in hiding, few had enough to eat, and starvation was now upon the survivors.
There was no international aid and no Red Cross meal trucks. The Northern army had taken everything they could carry and eaten everything they could eat. The devastated people of the south found for some unknown reason that Sherman’s bloodthirsty troops had left silos full of black eyed peas.
At this time in the north, the lowly black eyed pea was only used to feed stock. The northern troops saw it as the thing of least value. Taking grain for their horses and livestock and other crops to feed themselves, they just couldn’t take everything. So they left the black eyed peas in great quantities assuming it would be of no use to the survivors since all the livestock it could feed had either been taken or eaten.
Southerners awoke to face a new year in this devastation and were facing massive starvation if not for the good luck of having the black eyed peas to eat. From New Years Day 1866 forward the tradition grew to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.
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