Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table For Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consists of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which is the space shuttle in the narrow sense.

The orbiter carries astronauts and payload such as satellites or space station parts into low earth orbit, into the Earth's upper atmosphere or thermosphere. Usually, five to seven crew members ride in the orbiter. The payload capacity is 22,700 kg (50,000 lb). When the orbiter's mission is complete it fires its Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enters the lower atmosphere. During the descent and landing, the shuttle orbiter acts as a glider, and makes a completely unpowered ("dead stick") landing.



Click on the picture!


Today In History~

1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid at Bedloe’s Island (now called Liberty Island), New York. The actual statue was accepted as a gift to the United States from the people of France by U.S. President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. The statue became a symbol of freedom to the European immigrants who passed it on their way to Ellis Island and their admittance to the United States. It remains today as a symbol of liberty for all.

1914 - Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio became the first intersection in the U.S. to be equipped with an electric traffic light. The lighting ceremony occurred on this day.

1921 - KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, PA did the first play-by-play broadcast of a baseball game. Harold Arlin described the action as the Pirates beat Philadelphia 8-5.

1921 - The New York World published the first cartoon to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize. On the Road to Moscow, by Rollin Kirby, received the prestigious journalism honor.

1923 - Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim across the English Channel and he did it on this day.

1924 - The comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted in the New York Daily News. Annie and her little dog, Sandy, were creations of cartoonist Harold Gray. His work would come to life in the Broadway and film adaptations of Annie a half-century later -- to great success.

1935 - The radio drama Backstage Wife was first aired -- on the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show was heard until 1959.

1936 - Jesse Owens won his third gold medal by running a 200-meter race in 20.7 seconds at the Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany.

1960 - In an unprecedented move, two major-league baseball clubs traded managers. Jimmy Dykes of the Detroit Tigers moved to manage the Cleveland Indians while Joe Gordon left the Indians to take over the managerial reins of the Tigers.

1962 - Actress Marilyn Monroe died from a drug overdose in Los Angeles, in a case that is still unsolved and involves a lot of speculation. She was 36 years old.

1974 - The comic strip Tank McNamara premiered in 75 newspapers. Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds created the 6-foot, 4-inch, 225-pound former defensive tackle of the State University Sand Crabs; and who became a jock/sportscaster.

1975 - Singer Stevie Wonder signed the recording industry’s largest contract: $13 million over a seven-year period. Wonder stayed with his original label, Tamla/Motown, while other major Motown artists, including Diana Ross, Gladys Knight and The Four Tops had left the label over creative differences and financial accounting disputes.

1983 - Vida Blue was released by the Kansas City Royals. Blue had spent 13 years in the big leagues. At his release by the Royals, the former Cy Young Award winner had gone 0-19 in pitching appearances.

1984 - Toronto’s Cliff Johnson set a major-league baseball record by hitting the 19th pinch-hit home run in his career as he led the Blue Jays to a 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

1984 - Joan Benoit won the first women’s Olympic marathon at the Summer Games in Los Angeles, California.

1984 - Show business mourned the loss of one of its greatest and most colorful actors. Richard Burton died of a stroke at the age of 58.

1986 - John McEnroe beat Marko Ostoja in the Volvo Invitational Tournament held in Vermont. The ‘bad boy of tennis’ had taken a 6-1/2 month respite from tennis before returning to the court to defeat Ostoja.

1994 - Michael Jackson and bride, Lisa Marie Presley, visited Budapest, Hungary. While there, they filmed an advertisement for his upcoming album, HIStory - Past, Present and Future - Book 1. The couple also visited children’s hospitals where they comforted young patients and distributed toys.

1999 - St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire belted home runs #500 and 501 to reach the 500-homer mark faster than anyone had before. He did it in his 5,487th at-bat. Babe Ruth had held the previous record, having reached #500 in 5,801 at-bats. In case you are wondering, the others in the top five were Jimmie Foxx (7,074), Mickey Mantle (7,300) and Mike Schmidt (7,331). McGwire connected for his historic homer(s) in St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, the same ballpark where he had broken Roger Maris’ 37-year-old single-season home-run record Sept. 8, 1998, when he hit homer #62. McGwire went on to hit 70 home runs that season, finishing just ahead of Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa, who hit 66.


Music For The Day~



Click on the picture! The Beatles-A Hard Day's Night


Quote For The Day~

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
William J. H. Boetcker





Chuckle For The Day~





Picture For The Day~



Capr Canaveral, Florida from space


Trivia For The Day~

Cottonmouths, or Water Moccasins are the only semi-aquatic venomous snakes in the world.

I did not know that a snake could float. Must be the lily pads?

Morning all! I hope everyone is having a good day so far. Hot one here. We're expecting record breaking to occur this pm - somewhere in the mid-90's.

Good morning, Steve and all. Yes, many snakes can float quite well...this Northern Watersnake is an excellent swimmer. Shortly after I snapped this photo, he slithered off into the water in search of a meal.

Well, it's not that hot here in Los Angeles but I do live in a valley so today it's gonna be around 95 degrees with 85% humidity which makes it feel a lot worse.

In June we had a heat wave for a couple of weeks where we had over 100 degrees but it was dry heat. This wet heat is far worse.

Well have another SoCal'er amoung us Ranters?!

Phil and Scout will be so pleased!

Which 'valley' do you reside in in kap 17?

Rick,

I live and work in Simi Valley. It is technically Ventura County so I get to pay the lower sales tax

Welcome to the SoCal Ranters club, kap17!. You pay lower sales tax unless the Governor gets his way

Los Angeles Times

... well, I guess you will still pay less than us in LA County.

We need the sales tax increase. Plus all of the non-Californians get to pay too when they visit us!

ATTENTION: Ranters & Lurkers

If you're from NorCal, please let yourselves be known - I'm feeling outnumbered here at Reader Rant.

Kind Regards.

Welcome to The Round Table - it's a cool place to hang...