Biker, Happy Joan of Arc Day!

[Goatboy]

Happy Alice Ramsey Day.

Well in honour of our resident car nut I thought we'd celebrate today in 1909 - When Alice Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip.
Ramsey was born Alice Taylor Huyler, the daughter of John Edwin Huyler, a lumber dealer, and Ada Mumford Farr. She graduated from Vassar College in 1907. On June 9, 1909, the 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey began a 3,800-mile journey from Hell's Gate in Manhattan, New York to San Francisco, California in a green Maxwell 30. On her 59-day trek she was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and another female friend, none of whom could drive a car. They arrived amid great fanfare on August 7.
The drive was originally meant as a publicity stunt for Maxwell-Briscoe, the carmaker. At that time, women were not encouraged to drive cars. The group of women used maps from the American Automobile Association to make the journey. Only 152 of the 3,600 miles the group traveled were paved. Over the course of the drive, Ramsey changed 11 tires, cleaned the spark plugs, repaired a broken brake pedal and had to sleep in the car when it was stuck in mud.
Along the way, they crossed the trail of a manhunt for a killer in Nebraska, a case of bedbugs Ramsey received from a Wyoming hotel, and in Nevada they were surrounded by a Native American hunting party with bows and arrows drawn. In San Francisco, crowds awaited them at the St. James Hotel. Ramsey was named the "Woman Motorist of the Century" by AAA in 1960. In later years, she lived in West Covina, California, where in 1961 she wrote and published the story of her journey, Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron. Between 1909 and 1975, Ramsey drove across the country more than 30 times. She was married to congressman John R. Ramsey of Hackensack, New Jersey, with whom she had two children, John Rathbone Ramsey, Jr. (1907–2000) and Alice Valleau Ramsey (1910- ), who married Robert Stewart Bruns (1906–1981).
She died on September 10, 1983 in Covina, California.

Birthdays.

1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, Somersby, England, Poet Laureate of Great Britain.

1881 - Alexander Fleming, London, bacteriologist (penicillin; Nobel 1954), (d. 1955).

1911 - Lucille Ball, Jamestown NY, comedienne/actress (I Love Lucy, Mame), (d. 1989)

1917 - Robert Mitchum, Bridgeport Ct, actor (Winds of War, North & South).

1928 - Andy Warhol, McKeesport PA, pop artist & film producer (Frankenstein, Bad), (d. 1987).

DEATHS.

1623 - Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, dies.

2004 - Rick James, American funk musician ("Super Freak") dies aged 56.

[video=youtube;QYHxGBH6o4M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M[/video]



​

 

[TurboGirl]

Ohhh she sounds like MY kinda lass! You don't often see that wide cheesy grin on ladies photos of the day do you... bet if she parted her lips there'd be flies on her teeth

 

[Goatboy]

Aye she seems a free spirit, hope Dad doesn't get jealous sharing one of his days? But it seemed a timely dedication.


Now do I have to do space news today or is Blob Be Zee going to step in like yesterday? (What I want to know is who/what took the photo of Curiosity rover in the first of his pics, it's stuff like this that gets the tinfoil hat wearers going you know.)

 

[Goatboy]

Inner-space news, did you read about the fat-berg in London? LINK

 

[belzeebob23]

Aye she seems a free spirit, hope Dad doesn't get jealous sharing one of his days? But it seemed a timely dedication.


Now do I have to do space news today or is Blob Be Zee going to step in like yesterday? (What I want to know is who/what took the photo of Curiosity rover in the first of his pics, it's stuff like this that gets the tinfoil hat wearers going you know.)

Well here you go
[video=youtube;uxVVgBAosqg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVVgBAosqg#at=23[/video]
There might not have been anyone around to hear it, but yesterday a very familiar tune played out across the surface of Mars. To celebrate the one year anniversary of landing on the surface of red planet, Nasa engineers managed to coax a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday To You’ out of the 2,000lb Curiosity rover.
“Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5th, 2012. It was born on Mars that day, and so we consider that day as its birthday,” said Florence Tan, lead electrical engineer of SAM, the rover’s onboard chemistry lab responsible for analysing soil samples.
Tan and her teams have marked the loneliest birthday ever by programming motors within SAM (it stands for Soil Analysis at Mars) to vibrate at the certain frequencies, creating a buzzing rendition of the well-known tune.
Although there’s no recording of Curiosity’s celebrations, the video below shows the tune played on SAM’s earthly twin – an exact duplicate of the machinery contained within Curiosity that’s used to trial experiments before sending instructions up to Mars.
Although Curiosity’s birthday is solely a terrestrial celebration (an actual Mars year is equal to 686.89 Earth days) NASA have a lot to celebrate about the rover’s mission.
Curiosity has already completed its prime goal – proving that an ancient Mars could have supported life – but has also sent back to Earth more than 190 gigabits of data; fired more than 75,000 laser shots to investigate the composition of the planet’s rocks, and analysed sample material (using SAM) from two different locations.
Bob

 

[Goatboy]

Well here you go
[video=youtube;uxVVgBAosqg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVVgBAosqg#at=23[/video]
There might not have been anyone around to hear it, but yesterday a very familiar tune played out across the surface of Mars. To celebrate the one year anniversary of landing on the surface of red planet, Nasa engineers managed to coax a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday To You’ out of the 2,000lb Curiosity rover.
“Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5th, 2012. It was born on Mars that day, and so we consider that day as its birthday,” said Florence Tan, lead electrical engineer of SAM, the rover’s onboard chemistry lab responsible for analysing soil samples.
Tan and her teams have marked the loneliest birthday ever by programming motors within SAM (it stands for Soil Analysis at Mars) to vibrate at the certain frequencies, creating a buzzing rendition of the well-known tune.
Although there’s no recording of Curiosity’s celebrations, the video below shows the tune played on SAM’s earthly twin – an exact duplicate of the machinery contained within Curiosity that’s used to trial experiments before sending instructions up to Mars.
Although Curiosity’s birthday is solely a terrestrial celebration (an actual Mars year is equal to 686.89 Earth days) NASA have a lot to celebrate about the rover’s mission.
Curiosity has already completed its prime goal – proving that an ancient Mars could have supported life – but has also sent back to Earth more than 190 gigabits of data; fired more than 75,000 laser shots to investigate the composition of the planet’s rocks, and analysed sample material (using SAM) from two different locations.
Bob

Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.

See I was curious and now satisfied, Cheers Bob. And you've done the Space science bit for the day, Nakedly Scrolls would be chuffed.

 

[belzeebob23]

Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.

See I was curious and now satisfied, Cheers Bob. And you've done the Space science bit for the day, Nakedly Scrolls would be chuffed.

he's probably hiding from dad cause he been Naughty.
Bob

 

[Goatboy]

he's probably hiding from dad cause he been Naughty.
Bob

Nah, 'cos he's posh and the favourite he get's away with everything, even Auntie Spider legs lets him off 'cos of his posh car.

You realise you've to do a space/NASA thing 'till he returns now?

 

[belzeebob23]

Nah, 'cos he's posh and the favourite he get's away with everything, even Auntie Spider legs lets him off 'cos of his posh car.

You realise you've to do a space/NASA thing 'till he returns now?[/QUOTE
hahaha . It all depends where we end up and if there is an free wifi .
fort bill was heaving today when I was up doing a delivery.
but there be something before I go

 

[Goatboy]

Nah, 'cos he's posh and the favourite he get's away with everything, even Auntie Spider legs lets him off 'cos of his posh car.

You realise you've to do a space/NASA thing 'till he returns now?[/QUOTE
hahaha . It all depends where we end up and if there is an free wifi .
fort bill was heaving today when I was up doing a delivery.
but there be something before I go

B****r, forgot you were leaving too.

.....

 

[belzeebob23]

:sadwavey:

 

[Goatboy]

:sadwavey:

Hope the two of you have a great time, don't forget the camera.

 

[belzeebob23]

:sadwavey:

They need to rebuild you quicker if hadn't had to go to the bodyshop for your ticker and legs you could have came.
blee-bzeb

 

[belzeebob23]

Hope the two of you have a great time, don't forget the camera.[/QUOTE
Cameras in the car, nothing else is gear lying all over the place

 

[Goatboy]

They need to rebuild you quicker if hadn't had to go to the bodyshop for your ticker and legs you could have came.
blee-bzeb

I know, but I'm getting there. Had a good walk up the back fields today, gorged myself on wild raspberries and vetch pods.

 

[belzeebob23]

I know, but I'm getting there. Had a good walk up the back fields today, gorged myself on wild raspberries and vetch pods.

Good to hear

 

[Goatboy]

So it's a seafood bonanza for the next few days then...yumm

 

[TurboGirl]

B****r, forgot you were leaving too.

.....

Its a very dangerous thing, being my favourite! But luckily you're safe being 650odd miles away Take care of yourselves lads, your spirits will sit with us often down there x

 

[Goatboy]

Its a very dangerous thing, being my favourite! But luckily you're safe being 650odd miles away Take care of yourselves lads, your spirits will sit with us often down there x

Thanks Aunt Sally,

Hope you have a great time playing with the others - and scaring the heck out of the others Have fun, take pictures and learn lots of new skills.

Drive safe TTFN,
GB.

 

[belzeebob23]

Your spacey one for today talk about flying by the seat of your pants
[video=youtube;eWQIryll8y8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQIryll8y8[/video]
43 years ago today, on November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 successfully launched to the Moon. But it wasn’t without a little drama. The weather that day at Cape Canaveral in Florida was overcast with light rain and winds, but at 11:22 am EST, the spacecraft, carrying astronauts Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean, blasted off into the clouds. Thirty-seven seconds into launch, all hell broke loose.

“What the hell was that?” asked Gordon. Twenty seconds of confusion ensued, and then another disturbance occurred.

“Okay, we just lost the platform gang,” reported Conrad, “I don’t know what happened here. We had everything in the world drop out.”
The crew and Mission Control didn’t know what had happened, and only later determined the Saturn V rocket had been struck by lighting – twice.
Were it not for flight controller John Aaron, the mission might have been aborted. Aaron may be remembered more for being instrumental in helping to save Apollo 13, but the part he played in Apollo 12 was just as crucial.



Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/98484/this-day-in-space-history-apollo-12-and-sce-to-aux/#ixzz2bG2oSaSb
When he saw the unusual telemetry readings from Apollo 12, he remembered a flight simulation that took place about a year earlier, where similar telemetry showed up. He recalled this simulated anomaly concerned an obscure system called Signal Conditioning Equipment (SCE), and remembered normal readings were restored by putting the SCE on its auxiliary setting, which meant that it would run even under low-voltage conditions.
So when he quickly called out the recommendation, “Flight, try SCE to ‘AUX’”, most of his mission control colleagues had no idea what he was talking about. Both the flight director and the CapCom asked him to repeat the recommendation. Pete Conrad’s response to the order was, “What the hell is that?”
Fortunately Alan Bean was familiar with the location of the SCE switch inside the capsule, and flipped it to auxiliary. Telemetry was immediately restored, allowing the mission to continue.
This was just one instance that earned Aaron the compliment of being called a “steely-eyed missile man,” the absolute highest of NASA compliments. And even today — among us geeks — the phrase “SCE to AUX” used to describe a situation where one narrowly averts a catastrophe by coming up with an ingenious plan.

Lightning bolt during the launch of Apollo 12. Credit: NASA
​

After all the systems and telemetry had been restored, Conrad wondered if they had been struck by lightning, and it later was confirmed. Conrad remarked, “Think we need to do a little more all-weather testing.”
In February of 1970, the Apollo 12 incident report about the lightning strikes concluded that atmospheric electrical hazards needed to be considered in greater depth for future Apollo flights.
According to the report, the lightning was most likely triggered by an electrical conduction path created by the spacecraft and its exhaust plume as it entered into the electric field of the weather system above. The possibility that lightning could strike a launch vehicle had not previously been considered.
The report’s suggested corrective actions included actions to “minimize the probability of a lightning discharge by avoiding flight operations into conditions, which may contain high electrical fields.” It also provided the following launch restrictions, that later would be expanded upon for the space shuttle program:

No launch when flight will go through cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) cloud formation. In addition, no launch if flight will be within 5 miles of thunderstorms cloud or 3 miles of associated anvil.
Do not launch through cold-front of squall-line clouds which extend above 10,000 feet.
Do not launch through middle cloud layers 6,000 feet or greater in depth where the freeze level is in the clouds.
Do not launch through cumulus clouds with tops at 10,000 feet or higher.
​

Ten minutes after the second lightning strike, when operations returned to normal and Apollo 12 was heading towards the Moon, Conrad said, “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. This is a first-class ride, Houston.”
Over the next ten days, the crew of Apollo 12 would go to the Moon and back. The lunar module performed a mostly automatic landing at the Ocean of Storms, a first at the time. They inspected and retrieved parts of the 1967 Surveyor 3 spacecraft, brought back lunar rocks, and set up experiments to measure various aspects of the Moon. The three astronauts safely returned home, splashing down on November 24, 1969.
You can download a 4 minute audioclip of the Apollo 12 launch here (via NASA)
The lead video is taken from the documentary “Failure Is Not An Option.”
Image: John Aaron on console in Mission Control. Credit: NASA

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/98484/this-day-in-space-history-apollo-12-and-sce-to-aux/#ixzz2bG33Itm0
​

Bob