Elizabeth Woodworth: We're leading up to 50th anniversary of first man on the moon
Throughout the South, sap should start to run in maples as the moon waxes. (It's spring somewhere!) Scatter grass seed over bare spots on the lawn. The sun enters the late winter sign of Aquarius on the 20th. It's likely a warm-up and precipitation will occur before Full Moon on the 21st. The supermoon will delay any other thaw until the last week of the month. The supermoon brings deep cold and stress to livestock and homesteaders, but it also stimulates a quickening of bird and small animal activity. (Countryside)
A total lunar eclipse will be seen in our area on Jan. 20-21. It will start at 8:36 p.m. and last until 1:45 a.m., with maximum eclipse at 11:12 p.m. The supermoon on the 21st coincides with perigee, when the moon is closest to the earth during its monthly orbit. Measured center to center, a supermoon only comes when the distance is less than 224,975 miles. On the 21st, the distance will be 222,274 miles.
Jan. 23: Harrisburg called upon to make preparations to care for Shawneetown and Gallatin County flood refugees, 1937.
The uncrewed missions of Apollo. AS-201: Feb. 26, 1966 11:12:01 a.m. EST. The mission lasted 37 minutes and was recovered 2½ hours after splashdown, in the Atlantic Ocean. Altitude: 303 miles, suborbital orbits. There were several malfunctions, mostly minor, but three were serious. Objectives included achieving structural integrity, demonstrating rocket separation stages and verifying system operations.
AS-202: Aug. 25, 1966, 1:15:32 p.m., EDT. This second flight made another test of major spacecraft systems and made performance checks. It was the first use of a spacecraft fuel cell power system. Duration, 93 minutes, altitude 710 miles, suborbital orbits, splashdown, Pacific Ocean.
AS-203: July 5, 1966, 10:53:17 a.m. EDT (don't know why this is listed out of order, but is the same in the other source I checked.) Mission objectives included evaluating performances on instruments under orbital condition, and obtaining flight information and gathered information heating and cooling systems. Altitude 185 km by 189 km, four orbits, no recovery.
I am working my way to the 50th anniversary of the first man on the moon. Since most of my readers are children of the Space Age, the lead-up is a big part of our lives.
Up and coming: 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27 at SIC's performance art center, Cody Sandusky will give a piano concert.
I have gotten hooked on some of the cooking shows, all kinds of championships, worst cooks in America and kids who can bake better than I ever thought of. Lots of cupcakes, with piped icing, not slathered on like I do. I want the whole thing covered in frosting. Apparently that is not the modern way to do it.
One of the judges reminded me of the perfect way to eat a cupcake. Break it in half horizontally, put the bottom on the top making a cupcake sandwich and eat without getting icing on your nose.
One of my friend's sons recently received his MBA from LSU. Very proud of him for doing so while working full-time. I remember when my dad got his Master's from SIU. I was 7 or 8, don't remember exactly. I was his test subject - better than being called a guinea pig. I really don't know the title of his thesis, but it had to do with standardized tests.
All summer, I took tests, IQ and personality, and probably other kinds too. Some days I didn't mind, took my time and did well. If I wanted to go swimming, or was in the middle of a book, marked anything so I could get back to what I wanted to do, so did not do so well. Now that I think of it, Mom had to put up with a lot too. She was the one who called me to come, administered the test and probably graded it. Later she told me that sometimes I had an IQ off the charts, others I was barely educable, all depending on my mood that day.
Strange thing, on all the personality tests, I only answered two questions the same: Who did I most want to be like, and who did I most not want to be like. For my summer of testing, I got to go to dad's graduation. Not many kids get to do that, though my friend's 6-month old granddaughter attended her dad's.
<i>"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have made some difference that you lived and lived well." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)</i>