History of All Kinds

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Apr 23, 1962

Ranger 4, 1st US satellite to reach the Moon, launched from Cape Canaveral.

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I remember the Weekly Reader. One of my few fond memories of grade school. looked forward to it every week as we got to
take a break from actual school work. we had time to read it and then we would discuss some of the topics. Burned close to
an hour total.
Yep the weekly reader was a big thing at school for us too.
 
Today is Thursday, April 23, 2026

The History of Today

1789 - U.S. President George Washington moved into Franklin House, New York. It was the first executive mansion.

1872 - Charlotte E. Ray became the first black woman lawyer.

1985 - The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.

1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his last regular season game in the NBA.

1997 - The Four Tops received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Daily Quote

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.
- W. Somerset Maugham
 


Yeah, agree that they made a mistake. I believe they were trying to get the flavor closer to pepsi. I like coke zero when it came out and was drinking one of those plastic bottles a day for a while. But the only time I ever drink soda nowadays, is if we go out to eat and there isn't anything else.
 
Sports, and a Colorado gal: Emma Coburn, Steeplechase runner, and formidable indeed in her time.

First, the surprise, almost out of nowhere:

Emma ran a bit under 9:20.

And then the sledgehammer:

Just over 9:02. Seventeen seconds faster between the first one and the last.

Never met her, but she seems like a genuinely nice kid. From Crested Butte, CO.

Watching her run vs. most of rest shows a difference in coaching, and her coach is her husband. Most of the African contingent run "formally," with the upper body in particular held firmly in a what I would call a "forced posture." Emma, by contrast just rolls around, particularly her head on her neck. Large ponytail, and her head just lolls back and forth.

And that conserves energy, IMO. Very little wasted trying to hold a particular form compared to almost all the others.
 
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Mom always loved watching skaters, and, because she always wanted company I've seen my share. But its mostly something of a "quiet yawn" thing from where I sat. Usually.

But then I stumbled across THIS girl, and I know enough about it that my jaw just dropped.

Russian, and just twelve here:

And then this:

In the run up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine (most of us knew it was coming), I remember thinking "I hope Putin holds off long enough to let her shine before he destroys the image of his people."

Unfortunately, she was caught up in a doping scandal before the 2022 Olympics and she just fell apart under the pressure.

Do I think she knowingly cheated? No, and never will. She was a teenager, FFS. Moreover, in the US anyway, teenagers are often given a mere slap on the wrist for committing murder, on the theory that their brains are still forming and they aren't yet fully cognizant as they will be as adults.
But they held this kid to a ridiculous standard then, as though she somehow orchestrated the whole thing. At worst she got bad advice (I do believe that) or they just went ahead and did it to her without even telling her, let alone asking her (and I do believe that too. Russians have always been willing to cheat in sports the same way Chinese are willing to copy in almost any kind of manufacturing. It's almost expected).

But what she was able to do, no matter how, and for just a short time in her life...was spectacular.
 


And then there's Franz:

Wish there was a high-res version of this one.

But there is this:
 
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Today is Friday, April 24, 2026

The History of Today

1889 - The Edison General Electric Company was organized.

1934 - The pipeless organ was patented by Laurens Hammond.

1959 - "Your Hit Parade" aired for the last time. The show had been on since 1935.

1990 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL. It was carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

2000 - ABC-TV aired the TV movie "The Three Stooges."

Daily Quote

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?
- Fanny Brice, American actress and singer (1891-1951).
 
Today is Saturday, April 25, 2026

The History of Today

1684 - A patent was granted for the thimble.

1859 - Work began on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

1901 - New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. The fee was $1.

1979 - The film "Rock & Roll High School" starring the Ramones premiered.

1988 - Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, CA.
 
Apr 25, 1959

The St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Great lakes. It remains one of the largest civil engineering feats ever undertaken.

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Some of my cousins moved from one of the Finger Lakes of NY (that particular lake above the Corning Glassworks and Watkins Glen-Seneca, I think) to their new home in Key West FL back in the 70's. On the lake they owned a large twin diesel yacht, which slept the entire family of ten and I gather the canal system allowed them to get the boat off the lake and all the way down. That must have been an experience--the cousin I'm closest to has always loved "adventure."
 
Apr 26, 1962

First Lockheed A-12 flight

View attachment 264226
Lockheed built 15 A12 spy planes

May 8, 1968 was the last official use of the A12 and it was over North Vietnam. One did crash on 6/5/1968 but was a training or “check” mission. It may have been heading out for a spy mission but it’s still classified. The SR71a Blackbird was by then operational and Congress in a rare moment of clarity had decided 2 different departments (CIA and the Air Force) flying spy missions with very similar planes was redundant. They wouldn’t fund the CIA program but it is believed the CIA kept a couple but there are no de-classified records after 6/5/68. I never found any documentation that the A12 was flown over Cuba in 10/1962 but I’d bet since they were already flying over Groom Lake a diversion over Cuba was done. Though official Cuban Missle Crisis doucuments only show pictures from the U2 spy plane

Spy planes are very interesting to me…
 



Today is Sunday, April 26, 2026

The History of Today

1514 - Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn.

1929 - The first non-stop flight from England to India was completed.

1964 - The Boston Celtics won their sixth consecutive NBA title. They won two more before the streak came to an end.

1975 - B.J. Thomas had the longest title of a number one song at the top of the "Billboard" popular music chart. The song was "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."

1983 - Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 1,200 for first time

Daily Quote
Don't be so humble - you are not that great.
- Golda Meir
 




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