A tour of various
websites . . .
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The Killings at
Kent State University:
Fifty years ago,
on May 4 1970, students at Kent Street University protested against the Vietnam
War, 5 days after President Richard Nixon had advised that the war had expanded
into Cambodia. Protestors broke windows,
threw bottles at police cars and set alight the ROTC building on campus. Ohio Governor James Rhodes, running in a
contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate, called in the National Guard
which fired tear gas at the crowd and fired a total of 67 shots from M-1 rifles
at the students. Some of the students were simply on their way to class. Four
students were killed and nine more were injured.
Ten days later
at Jackson State College (now University) in Mississippi, National Guard troops
and local law enforcement fired more than 150 shots into a dormitory, responding,
they said, to sniper fire. No evidence of sniper fire was ever found. Two students were killed in the barrage.
The Kent State
shooting remains a watershed moment in American history. It sparked a
nationwide student strike shortly thereafter and reverberated throughout the
final years of the Vietnam War and the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971,
which lowered the voting age to 18.
The article,
link below, looks at the university’s attempts to come to grips with the
shooting, originally trying to make it go away but then recognising and commemorating
it, including an on-campus museum, as well as the event becoming a part of
history.
Mary Ann Vecchio
screams as she kneels over the body of fellow student Jeffrey Miller at Kent
State University, Ohio, 4 May 1970.
The students
killed at Kent State
Smithsonian Magazine
May 1, 2020
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Media Manipulation:
Two Danish photographers
have taken photographs of the same scene from different perspective using different
lenses - a wide angle and a telephoto lens – to show how images can be
manipulated, especially important in this time of social distancing. Following are some of the images, telephoto first
and wide angle following:
Bored Panda
May 2, 2020
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The Nuke that
Fell from Space:
Between 1961 and
1978 the US launched 8 nuclear powered satellites to provide navigation services
to its navy. There were also numerous non-nuclear
satellites, eventually a total of 41 orbiting satellites. Russia did not start launching nuclear
satellites until 1965 and between then and 1987 launched over 30 satellites,
each carrying a small nuclear reactor on board to power the various
instruments. These satellites were mostly of reconnaissance type meant to spy
upon the US Navy’s vessels and submarines.
Because of space
and weight constraints, the fuel was highly enriched to weapons-grade level so
that the reactors were fast, efficient. Small and extremely powerful. The
reactor was mounted inside a separate unit that could be jettisoned further up
into space into a higher orbit once the satellite reached the end of its
operational life. This way the dead satellite could safely re-enter earth’s
atmosphere without the risk of radioactive contamination.
Cosmos 954 was
launched by Russia on 18 September 1977 but within weeks of launch its orbit
became erratic and the system which was intended to dispose the spent reactor
core into a safe orbit wasn’t working.
The Soviets
warned the US, which warned NATO, that the nuke was about to fall with
radioactive nuclear U-235 and that there could be contamination.
On 24 January
1978 Cosmos 954 entered the Earth's
atmosphere and broke up over Canada. Debris from the satellite fell along a
600-kilometer path from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake, including portions of
the Northwest Territories, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The subsequent search and
clean-up operation cost Canada nearly CA$14 million, while the US spent some
USD 2.5 million. Canada later billed the Soviet Union CA$6 million, of which
only half the amount was paid.
Search was
unable to locate the all-important core and it was concluded that it had
completely disintegrated.
It was considered
that the contamination was of a leser degree and that exposure would be no
higher than from an X-ray.
There have been
2 other instances of nukes falling, both from trhe Russians and both
disintegrating and/or falling into oceans.
The following
paragraph from the article linked below is of concern:
There is a possibility that such an event could occur again in future. There are many nuclear-powered satellites launched during the Cold War period that are still orbiting the earth. Although their orbits are high and currently stable, collision with space debris and meteorites could knock them out of their designated orbits and towards earth.
Using hand-held
radiation survey meters to find the debris
Amusing Planet
May 1, 2020
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Sightseeing on
Siteseeing:
There is a
Facebook site called “View From My Window” which asks people to post photos of
views from their windows whilst they are socially isolating and stuck at
home. The link to the Facebook site is:
Here are some of
the pics showing the variety of worldwide views and emphasizing that despite differences,
we are all still one, that we are in this together . . .
Source:
Bored Panda
May 1. 2020
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