It hit us hard last Wednesday afternoon with super-bitter cold (at least by Iowa standards).  I know it gets lots colder elsewhere…we’ve talked about it before, but this is Iowa, not the polar regions.  When I went to work Thursday morning, the bank display indicated -22°F, which is as cold as I’ve ever experienced.  It stayed below zero all day Thursday and all that night.  Friday’s bank-display passing was little better, at -16°F, but then the “warmup” started.  Since then, we’ve been in the 20′s and 30′s and all is right with the world again…it feels like summer.  Still, my wife and I are considering moving someplace warmer…like Puerto Rico.

That cold blast was felt all the way into the south, as temps in Atlanta dipped into the teens.  Our good friends in southern Florida, however, were mostly spared, as Miami’s temps remained in the mid to upper 60′s.  Of course, Miami rarely sees cold weather, or even cool weather.  And the city has almost never seen snow…almost.

On January 19, 1977, Miami got snow for the first (and only…so far) time in recorded history.  I’m no weather expert, but others are, and they say that some very unusual weather patterns that winter caused all kinds of temperature records to be broken in the southern United States.  On the 18th, Pensacola got a couple inches of snow, and high winds pushed the cold air, and the flakes, further and further south.  Before sunrise on the 19th, Palm Beach reported snow.  And throughout the morning, snow would fall in and around Miami.

Of course, the National Weather Service at Miami’s airport didn’t actually receive any snow, so no official snowfall was recorded.  But trace amounts were recorded all around the city.  And as the afternoon rolled around, temperatures warmed sufficiently to melt whatever was on the ground.

Within a couple days, temps would return to normal, but the cold had caused immense damage to Florida’s citrus and vegetable industry.  Entire crops were completely wiped out.  So, while residents of Miami got to see actual snowfall and the kids ran around like it was Christmas, the entire country paid (with higher produce prices) for that once-in-a-lifetime event.

It’s another grain of sand in the ever-growing pile that counts the reasons why I don’t like the cold…

Recommended Reading:  The Weather Doctor – Want more technical details?  Go here for the scoop.

Every once in a while a song gets in my head and just gets stuck there.  And usually it’s some song I really hate, and I spend the next two or three hours trying to think of something (anything!) else while a hideous ditty rolls around my mind.  Today, however, is an exception as I’ve been constantly humming a couple songs I really like.  One of them, Paul Overstreet’s Heroes, has been causing me to do that little “bobbing head” thing for a couple hours.  The chorus goes something like (I have this CD, so I better know it)…

Heroes come in every shape and size
Making special sacrifices for others in their lives
No one gives them medals, the world don’t know their names
But in someone’s eyes, they’re heroes just the same

The song is coincidentally appropriate today as we discuss Air Florida Flight 90, which crashed shortly after takeoff on January 13, 1982.  As I recall the news coverage, the weather was pretty lousy in the nation’s capital that day, with snow squalls, icy conditions, and limited visibility.  Schedules were completely shot, and all the flights at Washington National Airport (now named after Ronald Reagan) had been delayed several hours.  Flight 90 was no exception.

Headed for Fort Lauderdale, the Boeing 737 (shown above) took flight over D.C.’s rush hour traffic, rose a few hundred feet, stalled, and then plunged into the icy Potomac River just after smacking the 14th Street Bridge.  The crash was investigated and it was determined that the pilots chose not to de-ice the plane a second time after sitting for an extended period of time.  In addition, the on-board engine de-icing systems were not turned on, so the ice and snow injested into the engines when backing away from the terminal didn’t fully melt.

73 of the plane’s 79 occupants died on impact, and the other 6 got out of the plane.  But all of us that saw that accident on TV remember one of them in particular.  The hero.  The sixth passenger.  When a rescue helicopter arrived 15 minutes later and dropped a rope, Arland Williams was clinging to the plane’s tail.  But rather than take the rope himself, he passed it to another passenger, who was pulled up.  Two ropes were dropped the second time, and Williams again handed them off to two others.  When the helicopter came back the third time, the tail section was gone, as was Arland Williams, the crash’s lone drowning victim.

There were other heroes that day, like the guy that jumped into the water to rescue a lady who fell off the rope and back into the river.  But Arland Williams could have saved himself on at least 3 occasions.  Three times the rope was in his grasp, and three times he chose to give his second chance at life to someone else.

More than 25 years later, the details of the crash had faded and I needed some help remembering them.  But I’ll never forget that 6th man in the water.

Heroes.

Today, let’s talk little plastic ducks.  Every little kid plays with at least one at bathtime.  He (or she) floats it through the bubbles, holds it under the water and lets it pop to the surface, or maybe pounds it against the water in a vain attempt to help mom wash the bathroom floor.

So what could little plastic ducks possibly have to do with history?  I suppose I could make up a story about a freighter that was coming to America when a container of ducks fell overboard, broke, and spilled its contents into the ocean.  What’s more, my story would continue with the ducks not sinking, but actually floating all over the place while providing valuable data for oceanographers.  Pretty cool, huh?

But why make up a story when it actually happened?  On January 10, 1992, a freighter was coming from China (isn’t pretty much everything made there now?) with a load of freight.  Included was a crate of Friendly Floaties plastic water toys, produced for The First Years company.  On its way to Tacoma, the freighter ran into nasty weather and a dozen giant containers (including the one holding the bath toys) fell overboard.

The container broke, spilling nearly 30,000 toys into the central Pacific Ocean.  Their cardboard containers quickly rotted away and the toys (the ducks shown above as well as turtles and frogs) were free to float.

And that’s what they’ve been doing…for more than 15 years.  The first ducks washed ashore on Alaska around Thanksgiving of 1992.  Some finally made to their original destination when they were found on Washington’s coast in 1996.  Others have headed toward Australia and Japan.  Those making the longest journey have ventured north through the Bering Strait, east through the Arctic Ocean, and south.  Some of these were found off the eastern United States and across the Atlantc Ocean in the British Isles as late as 2007.

And more will probably be found as the years pass.  Like I said, oceanographers learned early on about the Friendly Floaties, and have been tracking their movements for years.  Comparing their travels to existing computer models has allowed these scientists to learn even more about the ocean currents.

If you want even more information on these real-life “Moby Ducks”, a search of “Friendly Floaties” using Google will turn up a bunch of hits.  There have been a couple children’s books written about it as well.

It’s a goofy story, but it’s the kind of thing the just fascinates me, and it’s what helps make Today’s History Lesson so much fun for me.

Recommended Reading: RubaDuck.com – You love ducks.  They love ducks.  Check the News section.  For the kids, check out 10 Little Rubber Ducks.

There’s been no shortage of controversy concerning the government’s numerous multi-billion dollar cash infusions over the last several months.  I don’t know all the details, but it started with $700+ billion and I’ve heard the number is going (or has gone) much higher.  Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, billions of dollars to AIG and, most recently, the automotive industry.

In December, $13.4 billion was promised to the Ford, GM, and Chrysler in order to keep the assembly lines running.  But, as some of you may know, 2008′s automotive bailout wasn’t the first time the government intervened in the affairs of an auto maker.

In the late 1970′s, the Chrysler Corporation was facing bankruptcy.  The 70′s had seen a gas crisis and the cars in Chrysler’s line simply weren’t very efficient.  What’s worse, the cars just weren’t all that enticing either.  Ricardo Montalban did his best to talk up the line, particularly the Cordoba, but it, along with the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare, simply epitomized boring.

Faced with collapse and the loss of thousands and thousands of jobs, Chrysler asked the government for help.  Five months later, the government responded…favorably.  On January 7, 1980, legislation was signed by President Jimmy Carter that provided the bleeding car company with $1.5 billion in loans.  In addition, a new chairman, Lee Iacocca, was brought in.

And Chrysler made good.  A new ad campaign featured Iacocca pointing his finger at us saying, “If you can find a better car, buy it.“  What’s more, Iacocca’s charges lived up to the challenge by building better cars.  The Omni/Horizon compacts were small, cheap, really efficient, and had engines that pretty much ran forever.  And the K-cars (Aries/Reliant – shown above) were immensely popular, of much better quality, and were the cars that ultimately brought the company back from the brink.  Just three years later, Detroit’s number 3 auto-maker was profitable, growing, and had repaid the loans that had saved them.  And then came the Caravan…

I think the crisis facing the Big 3 today is much bigger than what Chrysler faced alone in 1980.  Will they survive?  I have no idea.  But solid leadership, quality car lines, and listening to the customer allowed the government’s infusion to have maximum effect nearly 30 years ago.  It might happen like that again…only time will tell.

Since it’s the end of 2008, we should probably highlight something that had its conclusion today.  Let’s talk phones, since all the kids are digging them so much.  More specifically, let’s talk phone companies, since most of the kids digging the phones probably don’t remember the good old days.

When Alexander Graham Bell got his patent for the telephone back in the 1870′s, he formed the Bell Telephone Company.  The popularity of his new invention meant that, by the early 1900′s, there were gobs of little phone companies all over the place.  Bell Telephone (now called AT&T) began buying them up, increasing its control over the system until, in 1934, the U.S. government stepped in and placed the giant under the Federal Communications Commission, essentially creating a monopoly regulated by the government.

In addition to almost complete control over the U.S. phone network, AT&T owned large chunks of phone operations in Canada and the Caribbean until 1956, when it was forced to relinquish them as part of an antitrust settlement.  In addition, the company was limited to 85% control of the U.S. phone system.  But still, that’s a lot, and almost complete control of the network tempted AT&T to use that power to bury their competition as well as gain a foothold into the emerging computer industry.

Another antitrust suit, filed by the Department of Justice in the mid-1970′s, ended with the breakup of AT&T into regional phone companies, each independent of the other.  The new “Bells” would all begin operation on the first day of  1984.

So as the clocks wound down on December 31, 1983, people around the world gathered to ring in the New Year.  They quaffed their favorite beverages, ate lots of treats, played games, gathered in Times Square, or watched Dick Clark on television.  And in the halls of AT&T buildings all over the country, staff counted down the hours, then the minutes, until one of the largest and most powerful companies in America was split into pieces.

Have a wonderful, safe, and of course, Happy New Year!!

Recommended Reading: A Brief History: The Bell System – Get a little more information from the experts.

It’s an airplane that spent most of its life shrouded in secrecy.  The missions it flew were even more top secret.  It leaked fuel like a sieve when it sat on the ground, but it could tear through the air!!  It flew faster than the rotational velocity of the earth, giving it the appearance of out-pacing the sun.  You could eat breakfast in New York City, fly to LA in this plane, and eat another breakfast earlier (time-wise) than you ate in New York.  At full chat, this airplane covered 33 miles a minute, making it faster than the bullet fired from a 30-06 rifle.

That’s the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird in a nutshell.  Developed by Kelly Johnson’s “Skunk Works”, the SR-71 was another in Lockheed’s rather unconventional designs that just flat-out worked, such as the P-38 Lightning and U-2. Like the U-2, the Blackbird was designed for high-altitude reconnaissance.  Unlike the U-2, it was meant to fly at extremely high speed.

The designation “SR-71” is actually connected with another plane we’ve discussed:  the XB-70 Valkyrie (see?…70…71).  After its failure to reach full production, the Valkyrie was considered as a recon plane, but when Lockheed showed off its aircraft (called the A-12), the Air Force chose it, calling it the SR-71.

In order to fly so quickly, Lockheed used special engines.  At lower speeds, they operated like a standard turbojet engine.  But they became ramjets at extremely high speed, as the cone on the front of the engine would slide back, allowing air to pass into the engine.  When the air went around the cone, it was compressed, generating heat that, when combined with fuel and exploded, produced even more power.  It takes a scientist to fully understand it…and I’m not one of those.

The intense heat of air friction expanded the plane several inches as it flew (and heated the skin to well over 500°F), so at rest, the panels were gapped slightly, sort of like expansion joints on the Interstate.  The fuel cells were similar, so they leaked on the ground.  The plane would take off and, after sufficiently warming up the skin (and sealing the tanks), the Blackbird would refuel for its missions.

The plane was packed full of cameras and sensors and recorders for use in its spy work, which it did for nearly 25 years.  From its first test flight on December 22, 1964 until its final retirement in 1998, the SR-71 was the primary spy plane of the United States.  Only 32 were built (the tooling was destroyed in 1968).  12 were lost in accidents, but only 1 crew member perished.

Though now retired, the Blackbird’s mission is still important.  Satellites provide good coverage, but their regular orbits provide the enemy a “satellite schedule”.  Aircraft provide additional, on-the-spot coverage for which the enemy cannot plan.

Maybe the SR-71′s successor is already flying…maybe it’s the Lockheed Aurora…maybe it’s not.  Whatever the case, that successor has a most formidable reputation to uphold.

Recommended Reading:  SR-71 Revealed:  The Inside Story – Ok, this is one I don’t have in the inventory, but is it too late to get it on my Christmas list?

If I were to ask you what you were doing 10 years ago today, I bet only one or two would have even the vaguest of ideas.  If you were to ask me that same question, I could tell you that I was celebrating the release of Falcon 4.0, which was, at that time, the most highly-anticipated flight simulator ever.

Exactly one week before, I had been at the office, online with a bunch of guys in an Internet chat room.  But this one was dedicated to Falcon 4.0, and we were awaiting the pronouncement of Falcon’s “Gold” status, due at any time.

Many of us had flown earlier versions, specifically Falcon 3.0 (with its add-on packs).  Sold by Spectrum HoloByte in the early 1990′s and featuring the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, it was immensely popular for its realistic flight model and avionics suite, which were as good as computer power (and declassified documents) would allow.  But Falcon 4.0 was going to be something really special.  Now being built by Microprose (Spectrum HoloByte had purchased Microprose and purloined the name), the new sim promised advances galore.  I believe the “4.0″ project had begun in 1993 and had carried on until the team hired Leon Rosenshein as the project lead.

At that point, development pretty much began anew…and would continue for several years.  There were various modes developed, such as the Tactical Engagement (a one-target canned mission) and the Dogfight mode (you against the world).  But the heart of Falcon 4.0 was the campaign.  Unlike other “sims” that used scripted campaigns or mission trees, warfare in Falcon 4.0 was entirely dynamic.  When a campaign (between North and South Korea) began, missions looked pretty similar.  But as you (and all the AI) flew their sorties, subsequent missions would be tasked based on what was (or wasn’t) accomplished.  In addition, you could modify the tasking order as the campaign progressed (attack more bridges, go after air defense, take out more industry), and the AI aircraft would receive more of those missions.  Every campaign was unique.

There was a ground war as well, and Microprose brought in a developer who cared little for flight sims but loved tanks.  His job was to build the ground war…so that’s what he did…and at least 100,000 lines of code (if I remember right) went into that aspect of the sim.

No one had ever (or has since) attempted to build a sim this ambitious, but the legacy of Falcon 3.0 somewhat demanded it.  And then Hasbro Interactive purchased Microprose in 1998.  The Falcon project had, to date, cost millions, and Hasbro wanted a return.  They ordered that the sim be released in time for the Christmas season…

…which brings us back to that Saturday night in the Falcon 4.0 chat room.  There was immense excitement that evening.  We didn’t know for sure, but the Falcon guys had popped in from time to time saying it was close.  You probably can’t imagine the anticipation (unless you’re a sim-head like all of us are) that was there, nor the joy we had when it was announced that Falcon 4.0 was “Gold” (code-locked for distribution).  We were soon joined by Grout (Steve Blankenship – Falcon’s producer) who confirmed the status.

And a week later, December 12, 1998, Falcon 4.0 was released.  Its rush to production meant it was full of bugs, which caused a lot of initial frustration.  But subsequent patches fixed many of the problems.  Ten years later, you can still purchase the sim, now produced by Lead Pursuit.  Titled Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, it’s more stable and feature-complete than ever.  And in those 10 years, no other sim has even come close to what “Leon and the boys” put together.

Recommended Playing: Falcon 4.0: Allied Force – You can’t get the original anymore (unless you just happen to find one laying around).  So get F4:AF instead…and experience the love for just a couple Hamiltons.

I’m really excited about Today’s History Lesson, even though I know I won’t do the subject the justice I think it deserves.  Still, I’ve been looking forward to this day for months…almost since this site was brought into existance.

I get to talk about Mystery Science Theater 3000.  It is, without question, my favorite show of all time.  Started by prop comic Joel Hodgson, its television debut was on Thanksgiving night, which happened to be November 24, 1988.  Back then, the audience was made up of people that could receive KTMA (a UHF TV station in Minneapolis, MN), the film sets were primitive, the bots were even more primitive, and the jokes were completely off-the-cuff.  But it was the start of something very special.  The show took off fairly quickly and became something of a local favorite and, when Comedy Central was formed a couple years later, MST3k was one of its flagship programs.  And for the next decade, audiences of both Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi Channel were privileged to watch some really hysterical stuff.

In case you’ve never seen the show…what the heck’s wrong with you?!?  Sorry…I’ll give a brief breakdown.  A guy (Joel Robinson) works at Gizmonic Institute with a couple of evil scientists who plan to take over the world by turning them into zombies through the medium of really cheesy movies.  To prove their theory, they send into to space (on the Satellite of Love) and force him to watch movies.  Joel attempts to maintain his sanity by making fun of the movies and creating robots to help him pass the time.  That’s it.

Over the years, the structure of the show changed some, the door sequence (watch the show and you’ll know what that means) changed, and all the personnel changed.  But the main premise, making fun of terrible movies, remained the same.  In all, nearly 200 episodes made it onto TV screens, and there was a movie as well.

I’ll never forget the first MST I watched…Ring of Terror (#206).  I had never seen any show like it, but after watching the opening sequence of movie with Joel and the Bots getting all nervous and scared as the camera walks up to the gate, I knew I’d found the perfect show.  And watch I did.  When I graduated from college, one of my first purchases was a Hi-Fi VCR…and the taping began.

So let’s see…I think I now have all of Season 1 on DVD, though the quality isn’t very good.  In Seasons 2-10, I have all but 6 episodes recorded, and 5 others have errors or glitches.  I recorded them one-movie-to-a-tape, that makes about, I don’t know, a bunch of tapes.  And I still haven’t watched all of them, but eventually I will.  I’m fortunate enough to have a wife that enjoys the show, so on occasion, we’ll watch them.

My favorites?  Trying to pick one is impossible.  Trying to pick several is still impossible.  Here are a couple, in no particular order…Ring of Terror (it was the first), Monster A Go-Go, War of the Colossal Beast (for Mr. B Natural), Manos, the Hands of Fate (of course), Santa Claus, The Starfighters, The Dead Tal…oh well, nearly all of them are great.

Just go find some and watch them.  Rhino has kindly published quite a few and, while it’s probably impossible to get all the episodes, you can still have quite a collection.

Push the button, Frank!

And honestly, ARPAnet (at this time) was only a data connection between Stanford and UCLA, but it was a packet-switching connection, and that’s what made it so special.  And some of you are saying, “Big deal…packet schmacket…we just landed on the moon!”  But it gets better.  Circuit switching, the technology of the day, allowed for a source to communicate with a destination, and that was it.  If the connection failed, the data stream was lost until that connection could be re-established.  Old phone systems used circuit switching principles, so think of it that way.

Packet switching took data and broke it into chunks before sending it, and it also did a couple of very important other things as well.  First, it attached the address of the destination to the front of the packet before sending it.  And second, once the packet was sent, it waited for the destination to respond with an “I received the packet” before sending the next packet.

So what does it mean?  Well, this technology (with some added reliability and more formal standards) is what drives the Internet we use everyday.  Of course, between 1969 and roughly 1995 (when the Internet really started to take off) there was refinement to the system, improved infrastructure, and eventual exposure to the public.  But the product we “surf” today without thought descends directly from ARPAnet’s first two nodes.

Now, about Vice President Al Gore and his “invention of the Internet”.  He’s been made the butt of jokes for years about it.  No, he didn’t invent the Internet.  But as a Senator, he did invent legislation in the early 90′s providing for a system of private and public networks using the technology founded in ARPAnet.  The bill’s passage made expansion of the networks and creation of the first web browsers possible, which led to the explosion of the Internet.  So whatever you think of the man, give him some credit for what has become so integral to us today.

And let’s face it.  Moon landings were a fad (albeit a pretty cool achievement that gave us Tang…sort of), and Apollo 11 doesn’t let me purchase books from my chair.

Happy Birthday, Internet!!

The Edmund Fitzgerald went down with all hands on November 10, 1975.  Having left port with 26,000 tons of taconite the day before, she was crossing Lake Superior to Detroit (and then to winter rest in Cleveland) when she ran into a ferocious winter storm.  Superior is known for its squalls, but this one was bad even by “Great Lake” standards, with winds reaching 60mph, heavy snow, and powerful waves more than 30 feet high.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was built for lake crossings, and one would have expected the boat to withstand even this foul weather.  What’s more, she had been practicing her craft for nearly 20 years, and had proven herself more than capable.  So there’s mystery concerning what actually happened just after 7pm that night.  Some have speculated that the cargo hatches didn’t properly close,  allowing water (which was constantly washing over the decks) to fill the boat and drag it down.  But there was no distress call of any kind…the boat was floating (with some difficulty and both bilge pumps running) and then, 10 minutes later, it was gone.

Others have stated that rogue waves, which were in the area that night and large enough to give off a radar return, acted in concert with the defective hatches.  The water slowly dragged the boat down and a massive rogue wave simply washed it below the surface, where it broke in two and sank, giving no one any real chance to cry for help.  Whatever the exact cause, the boat took twenty-nine men down with her.

Under normal circumstances, I suppose that this sinking, like the more than 300 on Superior before it, would have made the local and regional news for a couple days, and then faded away, leaving only the rusting hulk sitting in 530 feet of water and grieving families on land.  But normal circumstances wouldn’t have accounted for Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot, whose 1976 release of the song concerning the wreck was not only relatively accurate historically (as songs go), but was incredibly popular as well.  The song still gets airtime more than 30 years later, bringing the intrigue and mystery of Gitche Gumee (as well as a bit of history) to another generation of listeners.  But discussing Gordon Lightfoot too much is getting ahead of ourselves just a bit.  We’ll talk more about him in very short order.

Recommended Reading: Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Let’s see…what would I have been doing at about 7pm on October 17, 1989?  If memory serves me right (and it doesn’t), I was probably sitting at home relaxing after yet another day of exposure to college life.  Baseball’s World Series was going on at the time, but since it was Oakland and San Francisco and not the Atlanta Braves (who had endured another horrible season), I wasn’t really interested.

At the same time in San Francisco, people may have been heading home early or driving to Candlestick Park for the big game.  Many would have been working in their offices or taking an afternoon nap.  Regardless, the lives of Bay-area residents were about to be turned upside down…in the most literal sense.

Just a couple minutes past 5pm, a monster earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale, struck the Bay area, caused by a large slip along the infamous San Andreas Fault.  According to experts, the earthquake only lasted about 15 seconds or so, but the energy released in the slippage was equivalent to exploding (and this is hard to fathom) nearly 54 billion pounds of TNT.  That’s more than 1,000 times larger than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki.  That’s a lot of power and, needless to say, the results were catastrophic.

While damage was concentrated in San Francisco, it certainly wasn’t limited to just that area, as heavy damage was reported in locations nearly 60 miles from the epicenter.  The quake was felt as far east as Reno, NV and as far south as Ventura, CA.  Thousands and thousands of buildings and homes collapsed, numerous sections of the Interstates split apart, as did hundred of highways and city streets.  Many bridges were heavily damaged, with some collapsing altogether.  Ruptured gas lines caused numerous fires.  Total damage would run into the billions of dollars.  Even the Goodyear Blimp, flying above Candlestick Park, was bounced around by the quake.

Sixty-three people lost their lives as a result of that 15 seconds in October, two-thirds of them on the collapsed Cypress Street Viaduct in Oakland.  More than 3,700 people were injured, and hundreds of thousands of lives were changed forever, as upheaval, uncertainty, and helplessness became the order of the days and months ahead.

Almost 20 years later, the homes have been rebuilt, buidings have been reconstructued, and the roads and bridges are servicing traffic again.  But the San Andreas still lurks…

Recommended Reading: The Loma Pietra Earthquake – The U.S. Geological Survey site.

As the clock passed the midnight hour of September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov was in the middle of yet another mundane night shift, monitoring his computers.  Holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, the computers he watched were in a bunker…near Moscow…in the Soviet Union.  And those computers listened to Soviet satellites that were watching for the telltale ignition plumes that indicated missile launches from the United States or from her ballistic missile submarines.

Well, after years of nothing, the warning bells pealed.  A launch from the U.S. had been detected, and Petrov probably jumped at the sound.  With his mind racing, Petrov focused on the basics:  Soviet doctrine.  It taught that a U.S. attack would not be a “decapitation” strike with a solitary missile, but an all-out attack with many.  And frankly, the computer system had been a little “glitchy” lately.  So the detection of a single missile could only be a computer-processing error.  Whew!!!

But then things got ugly quickly.  Another missile launch was detected.  Then another.  Then a fourth.  And a fifth!!  Now what to do?!?  The Soviets were still bearing the incredible sting of world condemnation for shooting down that Korean jet just 3 weeks prior.  Was that the final straw for the West?!?  The “Start” button in front of Petrov was flashing, and pushing it would initiate the process of a massive Soviet nuclear response.  But still, Petrov wasn’t sure.  Was it a horrible computer failure, or was it the real thing?  Waiting for Soviet radar to detect the incoming missiles would be to wait too long.

It was a calm Sunday evening in the United States, and in a Soviet bunker, complete and utter destruction was a finger-push away.  Stanislav Petrov’s gut told him it was a mistake, even though all available evidence was to the contrary.  So Petrov, going against his orders, did nothing and waited for the ground to begin rumbling, the searing heat, and inevitable death…which never came.

Petrov’s superiors didn’t expressly punish Petrov for disobeying doctrine, but neither did they reward him, as doing so would have shown the faults in the Soviet detection systems, bringing certain consequences on themselves.  Still, Petrov’s career was largely over and he would be retired in short order.  It wouldn’t be until the fall of the Soviet Union and the publication of his superiors’ memoirs that Stanislav’s deeds would become known…to a very appreciative world.

NOTE: I thought I’d try a different look to the site…hope you like it.  A special thanks to my co-worker Beth for her outstanding work on the new graphic.  I think it’s terrific!!

Recommended Reading: Stanislav Petrov Averts a Worldwide Nuclear War – Not wanting to use photos without permission, go to this site for even more details…and pictures of Petrov.

It’s nice to be back home after an exhausting “vacation”.  A missed flight, lost luggage, and some doofus who dinged up our rental car (thank God for the $40 we spent on insurance) made the down time more stressful, but our time in Seattle was still pretty good.

As I get back into the swing of writing, I want to take to the skies again.  Today’s History Lesson actually has, as its roots, a topic I covered back in June: North American’s XB-70 Valkyrie.  The Valkyrie, designed as a super-fast, high-flying bomber, succeeded at both.  But its cost, as well as Soviet advances in missile technology, put paid to the B-70′s chances of entering production.

From the Soviet perspective, however, the B-70 was a huge threat to their security.  Yeah, they had missile technology, but with massed high-altitude bombers attacking at Mach 3, there was a sizeable risk that the bombers would reach their targets.  Their response?  The MiG-25 Foxbat.  The Foxbat was the ultimate expression of the Cold War concept of the Interceptor – a concept which emphasized raw speed and standoff air-to-air missile attack rather than maneuverability.  The U.S. built an entire series of interceptors in the late 50′s and 60′s culminating in the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, though none could match the straight-line speed of the Soviet mark.

The U.S. saw the Foxbat, mistook it for a fighter of awesome performance, and went to the drawing board.  What came out of the fire was also from McDonnell Douglas (today part of Boeing) and was christened the F-15 Eagle.  You can see some of the Foxbat in the Eagle, but similarities end there.  The Foxbat was an interceptor and the Eagle was designed from the outset as a dogfighter.  So it was given a gun (the first fighter since the F-100 to have one)…the M61A1 cannon.  Standoff capability was added with an advanced Hughes radar suite and short- and medium-range missiles.  Finally, because air superiority was crucial, an emphasis was placed on low wing loading and powerful engines.

The Eagle, first flown on July 27, 1972, would be extensively tested, delivered in 1974, and enter front-line service in 1976 as the premier fighter of its day.  It could continue its front-line duties for another 15 years.  My love for aircraft in general, and the ’15 in particular, means we’re 100% sure to discuss this plane again as its various milestones show up on the calendar.

As a side note, our son commissioned into the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant at Fort Lewis on Friday morning (hence our trip out West).  It’s been wonderful to watch him grow and mature into a leader.  We’re so proud of you!!

Recommended Reading: Storm Over Iraq – Air Power and the Gulf War - The F-15, like so many of our weapon systems, was untested until this conflict.  The F-15, like so many of our weapon systems, passed with flying colors.

At just after 2:00pm on July 19, 1989, United Air Lines Flight 232 took off from Denver on its way to Philadelphia with a stop in Chicago.  It didn’t arrive in Philly…and it didn’t arrive in Chicago.  But what did happen with this aircraft is one of the most remarkable stories in the history of flight. 

The DC-10 is a plane with 3 engines, one under each wing and a “middle” engine, in the rear beneath the rudder.  An hour into the flight, the center engine experienced one of the rarest of failures…the fan disk shattered.  The shards passed through the nacelle and into the horizontal stabilizers at the plane’s rear, cutting the lines of all three hydraulic systems, the odds of which are so remote as to hardly be contemplated (experts have said a billion to one).  Once the fluid drained, the pilots lost control of the ailerons, rudders, flaps, spoilers, landing gear brakes, and nosewheel steering.  Flight 232 was at 37,000 feet, and the pilots had nearly zero control of the plane.

Captain Haynes and First Officer Records, were joined by Dennis Fitch, a pilot deadheading on the flight.  They discovered that the plane could be pseudo-controlled by adjusting the throttles on the left and right engines.  Making mostly right turns (the plane could turn to the right more easily), the horribly crippled craft made its way to Sioux City, Iowa, where they attempted to land.

But landing with no flaps, no control, and only the throttle to drive was nearly impossible.  Just before the plane’s wheels touched (at nearly double the normal landing speed and six times the normal descent rate), the plane tilted and smacked the runway, broke into several pieces and skidded down the runway, enveloped in flames.  Amateur video captured the event and it’s probably the most incredible footage you’ve seen.

Miraculously, 184 of 296 passengers and crew survived a crash through which, realistically, no one should have lived.  But how?  Well, those factors may be the most remarkable part of this story.

• Of course, there was the incredible skill of the pilots to put the plane on the ground.  By rights, it should have been a smoking hole in the ground somewhere.
• The location.  Sioux City’s EMS structure is one of the premier systems in the country and, once informed of 232′s approached, no city could have responded as well.
• The Sioux City airport was home to the 185th Air National Guard Fighter Wing (now a Refueling Wing), and July 19th was their training day, so a full contingent of National Guardsmen were there to assist.
• The emergency coincided with the 4:00pm shift change of emergency elements in Sioux City, so all staff were held over, providing hospitals, ambulance services, and fire stations with double staff.

An incredibly improbable set of circumstances led to the crash of UAL 232 that July afternoon, but an equally improbable set of circumstances substantially reduced the loss of life.

Recommended Viewing: I’ve mentioned National Geographic’s “Seconds From Disaster” before, and one of the outstanding episodes features Flight 232. Find it. Watch it.

©Fred Knight

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite places ever.  I’ve vacationed there on several occasions and, every time I go, I’m awed by the grandeur of the mountains, the pristine quality of the various lakes and ponds, and the overall beauty of the surroundings.  Today’s History Lesson takes us to this “little slice of Heaven on Earth” where, on at least one occasion, circumstances conspired to make the Park feel anything but heavenly.

At about 5:30 on the morning of July 15, 1982, the Lawn Lake Dam failed.  Experts estimated that the elapsed time from the first failure to full breach was only 10 minutes or so.  This is important for two reasons.  First, in 10 minutes very little water has been released from the 48-acre lake.  Second, when the dam fully collapsed, the water had nowhere to go but down, because at nearly 11,000′ above sea level, Lawn Lake is one of the highest in the Park.  So the full power of the water was released almost at once.

Flowing at 18,000 cubic feet per second, the Lake emptied in very short order, and 215 million gallons of water cascaded down the Roaring River (an appropriate name that morning as witnesses said the noise was deafening).  Dropping almost 2,500′ in its 6 miles, the River carried boulders the size of cars and gouged out the river bed.  The waters slowed as they entered Horseshoe Park and joined the Fall River.  A second, smaller hydroelectric dam was quickly overrun and destroyed, adding its water store to the flood.

Shortly after 8:00am, the waters began pouring down the main street of Estes Park, carrying trees, cars, propane tanks, and tons and tons of mud.  Joining the Big Thompson River, the torrents flowed into Lake Estes, where finally the Olympus Dam held the line and the contained the flood.

By mid-morning, it was mostly over, but the damage was immense.  Cleanup began almost immediately and was arduous work.  For days, work would continue to repair businesses and dispose of the mud, comprised of alluvial dust with a flour-like consistency that proved very difficult to remove.  Damage was estimated at more than $30 million.  Sadly, three lives were lost, two rather needlessly as two people ignored the warnings, returned to a campground to retrieve their gear, and were swept away.

More than 25 years later, you can still see the effects of the Lawn Lake Dam failure.  A massive alluvial fan sits at the base of the still-visibly gouged walls of the Roaring River, and Lawn Lake (shown above) still bears witness to its original size.

Recommended Reading: Rocky Mountain National Park Dayhiker’s Guide – This 1st Edition has been replaced by a 2nd, so I’m hoping my original is worth millions…I’ll have to check.  In the meantime, pick up a copy and go visit this natural wonderland.

But among all the firsts in Armstrong’s life (and there are many, deservedly so), there is one category where he takes but the silver:  “Americans to win the Tour de France”.  There is another who takes that victory.

Born on June 26, 1961, cyclist Greg LeMond was the first from our shores to stand on the top step of the Tour’s podium.  Like Armstrong, he was a mulitple winner, taking the prize first in 1986, then again in ’89 and ’90.  And similar to Lance’s battle with cancer, LeMond had his own adversity to fight as the victim of a hunting accident that cost him a chance at the ’87 & ’88 Tours, nearly ended his life, and left him with with a body full of shotgun pellets.

But LeMond would prevail, and in ’89 took an improbable win while, at the same time, providing me with one of my most vivid Tour memories.  Down 50 seconds to Laurent Fignon with only one time trial to run (actually, there was the final stage in Paris, but that was pretty much just for show), LeMond dug deep and beat Fignon’s time by just 8 seconds.  LeMond repeated his overall win in ’90, but accomplished it without winning a single stage, highlighting the need for a strong consistent showing rather than outright speed.

So let’s ride our bikes in honor of America’s first Tour de France winner.  Alternatively, eat a donut…preferably the cream- or custard-filled variety.

Happy Birthday, Greg LeMond!!

I think the North American XB-70 Valkyrie is one of the coolest airplanes to never enter military service.  First flown in 1964, the aircraft had its roots in design and feasibility studies from the mid 1950′s.  At that time, the Strategic Air Command had Boeing’s B-52 Stratofortress as its primary heavy bomber.  It carried an enormous payload for long distances, but it was a slow subsonic aircraft.  SAC also had Convair’s B-58 Hustler coming online (it entered service in 1960), and it was a relatively small, supersonic “dash-and-blast” bomber.  It set all kinds of speed records in its day, but didn’t have good range or payload capacity.

The XB-70 was designed to be the best of both, combining Mach 3 speed with huge range and payload capacity.  North American Aviation, already famous for the P-51 Mustang (and the F-86 Sabre and F-100 Super Sabre), was selected for the project.  Every possible bit of technology was utilized to make the monstrous B-70 a reality, but the neatest was the use of compression lift.  Designers built the outer wingtips to tilt down at supersonic speeds, which trapped the shock waves between the wingtips and engine nacelle, providing even more lift.

The first prototype was beset with problems, mostly due to the advanced designs being implemented and exotic materials being used, but many of them were fixed in the 2nd prototype, which first flew in 1965.  And fly it did!!  In 1966, it flew at Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) on several occasions, maintaining that speed on May 19th for more than 30 minutes.  The XB-70 achieved its top speed of Mach 3.05 on June 6th.

But just two days later, on June 8, 1966, disaster struck.  The XB-70 was flying in close formation with several other planes in a photoshoot for General Electric (the Valkyrie used six massive GE engines in a “six-pack” configuration), when an F-104 Starfighter flying behind it rolled over the top of bomber, clipping its wing and destroying the rudders.  The 104 exploded (killing its pilot) and the XB-70 spun out of control and crashed, and while the pilot was able to eject, the co-pilot could not and was killed as well.  The photo to the left was taken just after the mid-air collision.

But it was the mid-60s now, and missile technology had advanced to the point that even a bomber flying at 70,000 feet could be shot down, and the B-70′s prodigous cost couldn’t be justified.  The program was cancelled with just the one aircraft (prototype 1) remaining.  It flew tests for NASA for several years and was then retired.

I think the XB-70 Valkyrie was, without question, one of the most beautiful and unique aircraft ever to lift off.  If you ever get a chance, see the remaining XB-70 at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, Ohio.  I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.

Recommended Reading: North American XB-70 Valkyrie – A Photo Chronicle – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve leafed through my copy.  This plane continues to fascinate me.

At 8:32am on May 18, 1980, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale struck directly below the north slope of Mount St. Helens.  In those first few seconds, it probably didn’t seem all that abnormal.  After all, it had been earthquakes that first testified to the volcano’s stir from slumber back on the Ides of March.  And frankly, there had been thousands and thousands of minor (and not so minor) tremors since then.  In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey counted more than 10,000 quakes in that 2-month period.

But, in the time it probably took you to read that paragraph, it became abundantly clear that this wasn’t just “quake number 10,001″.  Indeed, the earthquake caused an enormous bubble (shown above), which had been building for more than a month, to break free of St. Helens’ grasp.  The ensuing landslide was (and still is) the largest in recorded history, displacing 3.7 billion cubic yards of material, much of which was sliding at more than 100 miles per hour.

The landslide then exposed the magma underneath, releasing the pent-up pressure in a massive explosion.  At times approaching the speed the sound and reaching temperatures greather than 650° F, the explosion quickly overtook the slide and mowed down everything in its path.

According to the USGS, ash reached 80,000 feet into the air before falling back to earth to clog rivers, air intake systems in vehicles, and lungs in people and animals.  Ash fall was reported as far away as western Minnesota.  Fifty-seven deaths resulted from the eruption.

I remember the day very well…actually, I might remember the next day better, because it was the first day I started delivering our local paper, and the photo of the eruption was on the front page.  Our family had a subscription to National Geographic magazine, and I recall the big issue that devoted most of its pages to Mount St. Helens and the aftermath.  I pored through that issue numerous times.  I can even vaguely recall the interviews with Harry Truman, the old man who simply refused to leave the mountain and, after the eruption, was never seen again.  A family friend that was a truck-driver brought back a little jar of ash he had picked up in Montana, and it was almost like flour…just a bit grittier.  Many of you reading this will likely have memories of your own.

Recommended Reading: Mount St. Helens: The Eruption and Recovery of a Volcano

Then, of course, there’s Jim Henson, the subject of Today’s History Lesson.  Like the others I mentioned, his name doesn’t usually cause a spark of recognition, but mention any of his creations and all mystery disappears.  His brainchildren include “The Muppet Show“, “Fraggle Rock“, a couple of Muppet movies, and a movie that’s become something of a  cult classic…”Labyrinth“.  Not surprisingly, his creativity helped start “Sesame Street“, one of the longest-running TV programs ever.

I didn’t watch much “Sesame Street” as a kid, but I saw plenty of the Muppets.  “The Muppet Show” (in case you didn’t know) was something of a variety show starring Kermit the Frog (and a weekly special guest, like John Denver), a crazed female pig, a goofy chef, and an orchestra with a piano-playing bear and wild drummer…all performed in front of two crotchety old guys in a theater with a “live” Muppet audience.

Jim Henson and his puppet-genius was taken from us way too early, dying on May 16, 1990 from Toxic Shock Syndrome.  He was just 53 years young.

The Real Thing.  I’d like to teach the world to sing…  Have a Coke and a Smile.  Coke is it!  The slogans are as familiar to us as the bright red cans.  And for years, Coke had been it.  Since the emergence of carbonated drinks in the first half of the Twentieth Century, Coca-Cola had enjoyed a dominant position in the soft drink hierarchy.  More than half of all soda purchases were Coke.  But that began to change and, by the early 1980′s, the brand was rapidly losing market share to its biggest rival, Pepsi-Cola.

So, the powers-that-be steering the corporate ship at Coke decided on a new course.  The original Coke formula was put away, a “new-and-improved” Coke was created and, on April 23, 1985, it was introduced to the public.

Initial positive reaction very quickly gave way to intense negative criticism for Coca-Cola.  Emotional ties to the original flavor caused an immediate, and powerful, uprising among fans of the brand.  Angry phone calls flooded Coke’s switchboards, hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions, and Pepsi had an advertising field day, suggesting that “The Real Thing” apparently wasn’t so real after all.

Faced with brand mutiny from its proponents and commercial crucifixion from its opposition, the original formula for Coke was quickly dusted off and, a few months later, re-introduced as “Coke Classic”.  And all was right with the world again.

“New Coke” would continue to hold a place on shelves for a few years but, by the early 1990′s, it was history…and few Coke diehards were sorry to see it go.

It’s pretty much the only beverage for me, and that should be all the endorsement you need.  Coke Classic (well, just “Coke” to me) is it!!

Recommended Activity:  Do I even need to write it?  I normally have a Coke on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  But today, I’m enjoying one to celebrate the world’s greatest beverage, and to remember the Great Calamity that Almost Was.  So, at 3pm CDT,  I’ll be imbibing my most favorite drink.  Have a Coke (or two or three) with me.

I’ve been a fan of the Atlanta Braves for more than 25 years and, believe me, I’ve watched some terrible baseball.  The teams that were assembled in the mid/late 1980′s were so bad that they needed improvement just to reach the level of “stink”.

But, for anyone that’s followed them since then, it’s been a very different story.  Constant contention, a string of division titles (I just call it The Streak), a handful of World Series appearances, and one Ring (though not the One Ring).

At the center of the success was dominant starting pitching, and that could best be described with two words…Greg Maddux.  Born on April 14, 1966, and catapulted to super-stardom in the 90′s, Greg is one of the most unassuming staff leaders ever.  Just look at his picture.  He’s kind of small, he looks kind of wimpish, and has the appearance more of a school-teacher (hence one of his nicknames…”The Professor”) and less of a pitching ace.  Not possessing an overpowering fastball, nor anything really approaching what scouts would call a “plus” pitch, Greg has relied mostly on deception for his success.  Location, changing speeds, tenacity (from which comes another of his nicknames…”Maddog”), and an uncanny ability to know what to pitch are what have filled his bank accounts and awards room.

I could list statistics until I’m blue in the fingers, but that would only bore y…well, I’ll list some of my favorites.  Three hundred forty-nine wins (he got #349 last night).  Four consecutive Cy Young awards (’92-’95) and a fifth he may well have won in ’97 (except for a bullpen that cost him several wins).  Two straight years with an ERA of less than 1.65, which is totally unheard of in this era of expansion, steroids, and the “live ball”.  In 1997, Greg Maddux won 19 games while allowing just 20 walks…staggering.  A 76-pitch, 9-inning complete game.  The numbers, and the stories, could go on and on for days.  Just do an Internet search on the guy and you’ll get all the neat stuff you’ll ever want to read.

Dad and I used to sit and watch him pitch, and our mouths would just hang open in amazement.  You could almost predict what he was going to throw, and know the guy in the batter’s box didn’t have a prayer.  A fastball that looked like it would hit lefties, then tailed right back over the plate.  A change-up that simply fell off the planet.  Control, control, control.

Greg Maddux was (and still is) a scientist on the mound, opposing hitters were (and still are) his experiments, and the baseball was (and is) his instrument of precision.  Accolades are cheap, but I believe Greg may be the greatest right-handed pitcher since Walter Johnson…and one could make a legitimate case that Greg is the greatest righty ever.

Happy Birthday, Greg!!

On April 10, 1963, the USS Thresher was performing some deep-water testing in the Atlantic.  As the lead ship of the Thresher class, she signified the latest iteration of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Now “deep-water” was something of a misnomer since, relatively speaking, submarines at that time didn’t go beyond 1,500 feet below the surface.  It was simply too dangerous.  Any mechanical or structural failure could lead to a death dive, in which sailors could only wait for the implosion that would end their lives in less than a tenth of a second.  So, having completed two years of testing and refurbishing, the USS Thresher began her dive and, at about 8:30 in the morning, levelled off at 1,000 feet.  One hour later, her escort ship heard the distinctive sounds of a submarine implosion and the USS Thresher was gone, with 129 sailors and crew.

What had gone wrong?!?  Investigations on a submarine under more than 8,000 feet of water are difficult, but the best conclusions were that, about 40 minutes after reaching depth, a failure in the piping system had caused a leak.  The leak may have shorted out some electronics which then led to a shutdown of the nuclear powerplant.  With power being lost and water being added, it’s possible the sub commander gave the order to blow the ballast tanks, which meant forcing compressed air through a valve into the water tanks to add buoyancy.  But the compressed air coming through the valve cooled as it expanded, freezing enough of the water to clog the valve and prevent the ballast from blowing, dragging the sub down.  In all likelihood, the USS Thresher began her ascent, only to stall and slide backwards to her end, just 10 minutes after trouble first struck.

In response to the accident, the U.S. Navy began a significant overhaul of its testing and safety procedures.  Flood-control systems were improved, engine room layout and design was reconsidered, and more formal and rigorous documentation had to be kept in shipyards during construction.

Recommended Reading: Blind Man’s Bluff – The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage – Easily one of the most fascinating books I’ve read.  It is cloak-and-dagger Cold-War fiction at its absolute best…and it’s NOT fiction.

Today we celebrate the life of Ferde Grofe.  Born in New York City in the late 1800′s, he passed away on April 3, 1972.  Both his parents were musically-gifted, and Ferde first gained acclaim for his orchestral arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

But it was his own creation, The Grand Canyon Suite, that really made him famous, and it’s one of my favorite pieces.  If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon (I have, one time), listening to this piece of music with your eyes closed can transport you there.  The arid landscape, the beauty of the North Rim, the serenity of Bright Angel Trail…it’s all there.

Grofe’s passing brings to my mind the question as to whether classical music is fading away as well.  I’ve had people tell me on many occasions that classical music is boring and that nobody listens to it anymore.  But I believe we’ve been conditioned to 4-minute songs, 8-minute TV segments broken by commercials, and the ever-changing images of the video game.  It now takes patience, planning, and even strength of will to sit back, shut off the world for 30-45 minutes, and lose oneself in a single piece of music.

Is it too late?  I think not.  Believe it or not, most people my age have been listening to classical music all their lives…they just may not have known it.  Old MGM (here and here), Looney Tunes, and Merry Melodies cartoons were often created with classical works supporting them.  Some television commercials have used classical music (Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner ads from the 90s used music from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo).  And there are many more examples.

So, why not give classical music a try?  The Grand Canyon Suite is a great place to start.  Aaron Copland is probably the most famous American composer, and his works have a distinct American flavor.  I have this in my collection and recommend it.  I like tone poems as well, so I recommend Ottorino Resphigi’s The Pines of Rome…my favorite work of all time.  The trumpet solo in the second movement gives me shivers every time I hear it.

I think there’s a little Grofe in all of us…maybe there’s a lot in you.

It was March 27, 1970 when the Concorde made its first supersonic flight, but airplanes not yet off the ground are the subject of Today’s History Lesson and are what dominated the news for months following this date in 1977.  The Canary Islands are famous for tourism and vacation getaways, but the island of Tenerife is also known for the deadliest airline disaster not connected with September 11, 2001.

In the mid-afternoon hours, two Boeing 747′s collided on the runway, killing nearly 600 passengers and crew.  The two jumbo jets started at opposite ends of the airport’s only runway, one taxiing, one taking off.  They met near the middle and collided just as the one jet was lifting off.  I was eight years old at the time, but I still remember it to some degree.  I vividly recall the issue of “Time” magazine with the big “How Safe?” cover sitting on our attic steps and me looking through it over and over again.

Investigators would later uncover a myriad of causes that led to the horrific effect, including fog, misunderstood and squelched communications, an impatient pilot, and an airport forced to handle aircraft that it really wasn’t designed to take.

I think there’s a ton of garbage on TV, but amongst the trash are a couple gems.  One such nugget is on the National Geographic channel and is called “Seconds From Disaster“.  The show takes all kinds of incidents (the Mount St. Helens eruption, F1 legend Ayrton Senna’s death, the crash of the afore-mentioned Concorde, etc.) and meticulously dissects the events leading up to them.  One of the episodes I watched detailed the Tenerife disaster, and I found it to be very revealing.  Look for that episode and watch it.  I believe it’s also possible to order episodes from National Geographic, so that may be an option as well.

Also, on this day in 1965, my parents were married.  Happy 43rd anniversary!!!

Now all aspiring poets have reason to rejoice!!  So take a minute today and create a poem.  Rhyme away about anything and use any meter you like.  Maybe even set it to music…like these guys.  My wife makes pans and pans of lasagna that she gives to friends and family on Easter, and we roll hundreds of little meatballs for it.  So I will “pen” a piece in honor of that.

 ”An Ode to Meatballs”
She called me to the kitchen
I thought to eat some food
My stomach was a’rumbling
And something sure smelled good

I scampered to the kitchen
Expecting tummy treats
Delicious pizza so divine
Or something sweet to eat

Three pots with simm’ring pasta sause
Were what my eyes did see
“Oh no” was my initial thought
“There is no food for me”

That’s right, no eats awaited me
There on the table white
Instead eight pounds of hamburger
Were all that filled my sight

I wished myself asleep again
This was no gastric prize
“We get to make the meatballs now
And keep them marble-sized”