NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System on July 14, 2015

NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System: NASA's New Horizons probe has lifted the veil on Pluto. On July 14, New Horizons performed the first-ever flyby of the faraway dwarf planet, zooming within 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of its frigid surface. The close encounter is giving researchers their first up-close looks at Pluto, which has remained mysterious since its 1930 discovery. Main Story: Pluto Flyby Success! NASA Probe Phones Home After Epic Encounter

New Horizons continued beaming flyby data home for months after the the flyby, then went into a hibernation mode to conserve resources for the January 1, 2019 flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins of the solar system.

Space.com / NASA / Wikipedia / National Geographic / Encyclopedia Britannica / NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System on July 14, 2015 (YouTube)

Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world on July 14, 1938

Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world: On his record-setting flight in 1938, the billionaire had two navigators, only one of which was human.

In 1938, Howard Hughes and his crew set a world record by circumnavigating the globe in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours). They took off from New York City in a Lockheed Super Electra, and co-pilot and navigator Thomas Thurlow wasn’t too happy with Hughes’ piloting:

When Howard first cracked the throttles, it felt to me like the ship was tied. I pushed with everything and swore at Howard for not pouring on more power in a hurry. I felt uneasy when we hit the runway and were doing only a scant twenty, if that. From then on the run lasted for an eternity. I was relieved when the ship felt light, but at the same time I knew we were about out of runway.

The aircraft was fitted with cutting-edge radio and navigational equipment, including a “navigation robot” invented by W.L. Maxon, which could calculate the user’s exact geographic location. Thurlow, then a lieutenant with the U.S. Army Air Corps, was “loaned” to Hughes for the record-setting attempt, as he understood how to use the Maxson navigator better than anyone.

It was the first time the device was used on a civilian airplane. If successful, it would be installed in Army bombers. “While the Hughes flight is a remarkable tribute to powerful and reliable motors”, noted the July 23, 1938 Science News Letter, “it is to this robot navigation computer that much of the success of the flight is credited. No matter how well a plane may fly, or how easily, it matters little if the navigators cannot, at all times, exactly fix the plane’s position and plot the proper direction over distances of thousands of miles.”

Thurlow’s granddaughter, Tamara Thurlow Field, has just published Thurlow’s diary of the attempt (Flying With Howard Hughes). While the diary isn’t very long, it provides a candid look at the billionaire pilot, and gives new details about the record-setting flight. Thurlow mentions that Hughes became uneasy as the aircraft approached Paris: “It is a natural reaction suffered by pilots who have not done a great deal of navigation flying in which the navigator has complete directional control of the airplane and the only knowledge of position”, wrote Thurlow. “I was amused, but felt guilty about it. Howard’s responsibility was a great one, and the obvious fatigue from which he was suffering was not helping matters any.”

Air & Space Smithsonian / Wingnet.org / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / This Day In Aviation / Rare Newspapers / Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world on July 14, 1938 (YouTube)

French revolutionaries storm Bastille on July 14, 1789

French revolutionaries storm Bastille: Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil and terror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the king and his wife Marie-Antoinette, were executed./p>

By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution. Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the Bastille, feared that his fortress would be a target for the revolutionaries and so requested reinforcements. On July 12, royal authorities transferred 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille, and Launay brought his men into the massive fortress and raised its two drawbridges.

At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille. Launay’s men were able to hold the mob back, but as more and more Parisians were converging on the Bastille, Launay raised a white flag of surrender over the fortress. Launay and his men were taken into custody, the Bastille’s gunpowder and cannons were seized, and the seven prisoners were freed. Upon arriving at the Hotel de Ville, where Launay was to be arrested and tried by a revolutionary council, he was instead pulled away by a mob and murdered.

The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of the ancien regime and provided the French revolutionary cause with an irresistible momentum. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for treason in 1793.

History.com / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / National Archives.gov UK / French revolutionaries storm Bastille on July 14, 1789 (YouTube)

Jerusalem captured in First Crusade on July 14, 1099

Jerusalem captured in First Crusade: During the First Crusade, Christian knights from Europe capture Jerusalem after seven weeks of siege and begin massacring the city’s Muslim and Jewish population.

Beginning in the 11th century, Christians in Jerusalem were increasingly persecuted by the city’s Islamic rulers, especially when control of the holy city passed from the relatively tolerant Egyptians to the Seljuk Turks in 1071. Late in the century, Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comenus, also threatened by the Seljuk Turks, appealed to the West for aid. In 1095, Pope Urban II publicly called for a crusade to aid Eastern Christians and recover the holy lands. The response by Western Europeans was immediate.

The first crusaders were actually undisciplined hordes of French and German peasants who met with little success. One group, known as the “People’s Crusade,” reached as far as Constantinople before being annihilated by the Turks. In 1096, the main crusading force, featuring some 4,000 mounted knights and 25,000 infantry, began to move east. Led by Raymond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of Flanders, and Bohemond of Otranto, the army of Christian knights crossed into Asia Minor in 1097.

In June, the crusaders captured the Turkish-held city of Nicaea and then defeated a massive army of Seljuk Turks at Dorylaeum. From there, they marched on to Antioch, located on the Orontes River below Mount Silpius, and began a difficult six-month siege during which they repulsed several attacks by Turkish relief armies. Finally, early in the morning of June 3, 1098, Bohemond persuaded a Turkish traitor to open Antioch’s Bridge Gate, and the knights poured into the city. In an orgy of killing, the Christians massacred thousands of enemy soldiers and citizens, and all but the city’s fortified citadel was taken. Later in the month, a large Turkish army arrived to attempt to regain the city, but they too were defeated, and the Antioch citadel surrendered to the Europeans.

After resting and reorganizing for six months, the crusaders set off for their ultimate goal, Jerusalem. Their numbers were now reduced to some 1,200 cavalry and 12,000 foot soldiers. On June 7, 1099, the Christian army reached the holy city, and finding it heavily fortified, began building three enormous siege towers. By the night of July 13, the towers were complete, and the Christians began fighting their way across Jerusalem’s walls. On July 14, Godfrey’s men were the first to penetrate the defenses, and the Gate of Saint Stephen was opened. The rest of the knights and soldiers then poured in, the city was captured, and tens of thousands of its occupants were slaughtered.

The crusaders had achieved their aims, and Jerusalem was in Christian hands, but an Egyptian army marched on the holy city a few weeks later to challenge their claim. The Egyptians’ defeat by the outnumbered Christians in August ended Muslim resistance to the Europeans for the time being, and five small Christian states were set up in the region under the rule of the leaders of the crusade.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Ancient History Encyclopedia.eu / Jerusalem captured in First Crusade on July 14, 1099 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Named Area of Interest

(DOD) The geospatial area or systems node or link against which information that will satisfy a specific information requirement can be collected, usually to capture indications of adversary courses of action. Also called Close support; Direct support; Support. See also Area of Interest.

Joint Publications (JP 2-01.3) Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Operational Environment

The Old Salt’s Corner

“Poor Honest Men”

Your jar of Virginny

Will cost you a guinea,

Which you reckon too much by five shillings or ten;

And judge it according,

When I've told you the troubles of poor honest men.

From the Capes of the Delaware,

As you are well aware,

We sail which tobacco for England-but then,

Our own British cruisers,

They watch us come through, sirs,

And they press half a score of us poor honest men!

Or if by quick sailing

(Thick weather prevailing)

We leave them behind (as we do now and then)

We are sure of a gun from

Each frigate we run from,

Which is often destruction to poor honest men!

Broadsides the Atlantic

We tumble short-handed,

With shot-holes to plug and new canvas to bend;

And off the Azores,

Dutch, Dons and Monsieurs

Are waiting to terrify poor honest men.

Napoleon's embargo

Is laid on all cargo

Which comfort or aid to King George may intend;

And since roll, twist and leaf,

Of all comforts is chief,

They try for to steal it from poor honest men!

With no heart for fight,

We take refuge in flight,

But fire as we run, our retreat to defend;

Until our stern-chasers

Cut up her fore-braces,

And she flies off the wind from us poor honest men!

~ Rudyard Kipling (Part I)

Full Poem

“I’m Just Sayin”

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls.

The most massive characters are seared with scars.”

“If you love somebody, let them go,

for if they return,

they were always yours.

If they dont,

they never were.”

~ Kahlil Gibran

“Thought for the Day”

“Find the place inside where there's joy,

and the joy will burn out the pain.”

“I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life

as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

“What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.

It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,

something that never has been

and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”

~ Joseph Campbell

“What I Learned”

“Stupidity is permanent;

ignorance can be fixed.”

“Talent does what it can;

genius does what it must.”

“Talk is cheap when the story's good.”

~ Anonymous

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: How do scientists measure distance in light years?

First, a dirty little secret: scientists don't actually measure astronomical distances in light years. Rather, they measure them in a unit called the Parsec, and only convert to light years when they're talking to the general public.

This was presumably originally in the hope that light year would be a bit more meaningful (a parsec is about 3.26 light years), but now it's just become expected. (And when they're not talking in parsecs, astronomers use centimeters and grams and related units like ergs, much to the annoyance of other scientists, who use meters and kilograms and joules.)

All that is a nice intro to the fact that the name of the unit “parsec” hints at what is still the most fundamental technique: exploiting the parallax from the fact that the earth revolves in an approximate circle around the sun, so it repeatedly moves to a position 2 “astronomical units” (earth orbit radii) away and returns. That means that some very close stars are in detectably different positions in the sky over the course of 12 months. A star that moves by one arc second (1/3600 degree) is one parsec away.

However that only works for the very closest stars, all well within our galaxy. From there it's a matter of comparing brightnesses of stars whose distances can be measured directly with apparently similar stars at greater distances.

Because there's a lot of uncertainty in whether an “apparently” similar star really is similar in intrinsic brightness, you have to use a lot of different types of stars and do a lot of cross checks. This results in the Cosmic distance ladder. One particularly useful reference is the Cepheid variable class of star which turns out to have a precise and exploitable relationship between brightness and frequency of pulsing.

Mark Barton, PhD in Physics, The University of Queensland, physicist with National Astronomical Observatory of Japan - Quora • EarthSky.org • Live Science • ScienceMeetsReligion.org • Wikipedia / How do scientists measure distance in light years? (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Eagle Shits (noun + verb): “The eagle shits” = “The military pays (me) today”, “Today is payday”.

EAOS: Expiration of Active Obligated Service.

Easter Egg Hunt:

An especially rigorous investigation or inspection in which the inspecting officer seems unduly motivated to find everything wrong he possibly can, even if it ridiculous - “The XO held an Easter Egg Hunt at Messing and Berthing today.”

Sometimes used as a threat of punishment or retribution - “Do what I told you to do or I may have to hold an Easter Egg Hunt in your locker.”

EAWS: Enlisted Aviation Warfare Specialist. (Often pronounced “A-wis”.)

EB Green: Green duct tape acquired from Electric Boat in Groton, CT; can be used to fix almost anything, temporarily.

EB Red: Extreme, nuclear grade version of EB Green. Conforms to MIL-STD-2041D to prevent corrosion to nuclear components.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

EAS: End of Active Service, the date of discharge from active duty.

EGA: Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the emblem of the Marine Corps. The usage of the term discouraged by older Marines.

Eight Ball: A Marine who lacks an aggressive spirit.

Eighth & I or Eighth & Eye: Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., located at 8th and I Streets SE. See also 8th & I.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VT-2 Training Squadron Two (VT-2) - nicknamed the “Doerbirds”

United States Navy - Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Florida - Corpus Christi, Texas - Established May 1, 1960.

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Birds of a feather flock together:”

 Meaning: Those of similar taste congregate in groups.

People like to spend time with others who are similar to them.

History: This proverb has been in use since at least the mid 16th century.

In 1545 William Turner used a version of it in his papist satire The Rescuing of Romish Fox:

“Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.”

The first known citation in print of the currently used English version of the phrase appeared in 1599, in The Dictionarie in Spanish and English, which was compiled by the English lexicographer John Minsheu:

“Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.”

The phrase also appears in Benjamin Jowett's 1856 translation of Plato's Republic. Clearly, if it were present in the original Greek text then, at around 380BC, Plato's work would be a much earlier reference to it. What appears in Jowett's version is:

“Men of my age flock together; we are birds of a feather, as the old proverb says.”

Plato's text can be translated in other ways and it is safe to say it was Jowett in 1856, not Plato in 380BC, that considered the phrase to be old. The lack of any citation of it in English prior to the 16th century does tend to suggest that its literal translation wasn't present in The Republic - a text that was widely read by English scholars of the classics well before the 16th century.

In nature, birds of a single species do in fact frequently form flocks. Ornithologists explain this behaviour as a 'safety in numbers' tactic to reduce the risk of predation. In language terms, it was previously more common to refer to birds flying together than flocking together and many early citations use that form, for example Philemon Holland's translation of Livy's Romane historie, 1600:

“As commonly birds of a feather will flye together.”

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

There’s an arms race going on in this bird nest. Scientists are uncovering how each side fights back • These falling drops don’t splash - they spin • Corn and other important crops can now be gene edited by pollen carrying CRISPR • Vaccine opponents attack U.S. science panel • Has a second person with HIV been cured?

Science AAAS

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Poppy farmers in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India have reportedly run into some trouble while cultivating this season's crops. In addition to inconsistent rainfall putting a damper on things, flocks of persistent parrots - presumed to be addicted to opium - are rampaging through the poppy farms, sometimes making 40 visits a day to get their fix.

“One poppy flower gives around 20 to 25 grams of opium. But a large group of parrots feed on these plants around 30 to 40 times a day”, one poppy cultivator in the Neemuch district of central India told Indian news site NDTV.com. “This affects the produce. These opium-addicted parrots are wreaking havoc.”

According to NDTV, bird raids have become a daily menace in the poppy fields, and farmers claim to be sustaining significant crop losses thanks to these poppy-seeking parrots. Some birds have been filmed tearing into unripe poppy pods (where opium-rich milk resides), while others use their beaks and claws to snip off the plants at their stalks and fly away with entire intact pods. The Daily Mail reported that some birds have even trained themselves not to squawk when descending on the fields, swooping in and out like silent ninjas. [9 Weird Ways You Can Test Positive for Drugs]

District officials have ignored requests to help keep the feathered menace in check, the farmer told NDTV, leaving poppy purveyors to fend for themselves. Some cultivators have been forced to guard their fields day and night. Others have reportedly turned to sonic warfare, shouting at the birds through loudspeakers or detonating firecrackers in their vicinity. Unfortunately, the farmer said, these attempts have failed to mitigate crop losses.

Poppy-thieving birds are not a new occurrence in India, which is one of the few places in the world where licensed opium cultivation is allowed, according to India Today magazine. Bird raids have been reported several years in a row in multiple poppy-cultivating districts, sometimes leaving the pilfering parrots visibly intoxicated. According to a 2018 article in DNA India, the opium-munching birds were observed crashing into tree branches and "lying in the fields in a daze," only to fly off again when the narcotic effects wore off.

• America's Opioid Epidemic: 5 Startling Facts

• 7 Bizarre Drug Side Effects

• 15 Amazing Animal Recruits in War

Live Science (03/05/2019)

Second Hand News (Links to Articles from Week 28 - July 08, 2019 - July 14, 2019)

Trump says he'll invite the press to see migrant detention centers • 'You know that woman is lying, don't you?': Melania Trump reportedly did not believe Blasey Ford • Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli says 1M illegal immigrants have court orders to leave the U.S. • Women's World Cup watchers chant 'F--- Trump' during Fox News segment from France • USA soccer team wins Women’s World Cup after Trump antagonist Rapinoe opens scoring

Nancy Pelosi daughter: 'Quite likely some of our faves are implicated' in Epstein sex trafficking of minors case • Rep. Rashida Tlaib 'absolutely' agrees with AOC concentration camp comparison • Biden laughs at being accused of dropping Obama’s name - then name-drops Obama • Biden says his apology 17 days after segregationist comments was ‘first opportunity’ he had • Biden on China threat: ‘Only thing that can defeat America is America itself’

Editor's Picks: Biden warns Democratic rivals he's got 'all this information about other people’s pasts' • Democratic congresswoman secretly sending staff into Mexico to coach asylum-seekers • Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein arrested for sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York • Justice Department inspector general's investigation of potential abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is complete, Republican congressman said, though a report on its findings might not be released for a month • Trump: Mike Pence's opioid event canceled because of 'very interesting problem' in New Hampshire

Commentary - Washington Secrets - Red Alert: How Britain just inched closer to the U.S. on Iran • Biden claims Russian election interference wouldn’t have happened on his and Obama's watch, but it did • 'You just witnessed history': Tears, rage, and the fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh Washington Examiner

Melania Trump 'told husband Donald that Christine Blasey Ford was lying when she accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault'

ICE officers are ready to round up and deport a million illegal immigrants with 'final removal orders' from a judge, Trump official says • Trump blames overcrowding at migrant holding facilities on Democrats refusing to change loopholes in immigration laws and says poor conditions are 'exaggerated'

• UK ambassador was 'just doing his job' despite Trump's fury over messages branding him 'clumsy and inept' - as No10 dismisses Russian involvement and vows to catch leaker • Trump berates Biden after the former vice president finally apologized for praising his relationship with pro-segregationist lawmakers but claimed he was already 'vetted' by Obama • Revealed: Donald Trump is secretly 'enamored' and 'starstruck' by AOC and has nicknamed her 'Eva Peron' after Argentina's legendary feisty feminist First Lady

Victorious women's soccer team let their hair down at post match victory bash in defiance of those who STILL call them 'smug' and 'arrogant' • Soccer fans chant 'F*** Trump!' during live Fox News segment at a bar in France after Team USA wins the FIFA Women's World Cup final • 'Equal pay, equal pay!' Megan Rapinoe praises fans for booing FIFA's president and demanding gender equality in soccer after USWNT's historic fourth World Cup win • President Trump and Melania congratulate U.S. women for World Cup win - despite players saying they would snub an invitation to the White House

Jeffrey Epstein is being detained in the same prison as El Chapo and facing 45 years behind bars for allegedly paying dozens of underage girls for massages and then sexually assaulting the teens • Nancy Pelosi's daughter says 'some of our faves' could be implicated in Jeffrey Epstein case after financier was arrested on sex trafficking charges involving dozens of underage victims • Antifa supporters clash with police and far-right backers of the Proud Boys 'chauvinist' group during a 'defend free speech' rally in Washington

Felt-tip pen that re-wrote history: A broken circuit in the lunar lander meant the first men on the moon were stranded and facing death, but salvation came in an unlikely form • 'I wasn't going to let my niece die': Heroic uncle, 20, runs back into burning home to save his sister's eight-year-old daughter after rescuing his two young nephews from the flames • Moment a boy scoops up a little girl and flees a laundromat in Ridgecrest moments after the earthquake hits as authorities warn people to prepare for more tremors • Dramatic video shows a huge bolt of lightning strike a sailboat - causing it to burst into flames in South Boston Daily Mail UK

North Korea, Iran and China work closely together mil-to-mil.

Plan B in Hong Kong. Andrew Collier, Orient Capital Research.

The peaceful, protected, prosperous Hong Kong is gone.

#TheScalaReport: China elbows out French retailer Carrefour and what this means for the future of retail in China.

The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau 2 of 4. 3 of 4. 4 of 4. John Batchelor (07/08/2019)

CORRUPTION CHRONICLES: JUDICIAL WATCH: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT GRANTED IMMUNITY TO HILLARY CLINTON’S LAWYER WHO DESTROYED 33,000 EMAILS • ‘Investigating the Investigators’ - NEW CLINTON EMAIL SCANDAL TESTIMONY! • Obama State Department Warned about Clinton Email Issues, Questions for Mueller, Left Attacks Rule of Law on Border • Judicial Watch: Former State Official Testifies He Warned State Department Officials about Clinton Email Issues; Concerned about Interference on Classified Clinton Benghazi Email Documents

Hillary Clinton’s lawyer who destroyed emails and got immunity, the judicial harassment of President Trump in the Supreme Court’s census case, and Judicial Watch suing the FBI for Anti-Trumper Andrew McCabe’s records • New York Mayor’s Communist Roots Shine in Florida. Presidential Campaign Rally - Judicial Watch Exposed Sandinista Ties in 2013 • Nicaraguan Military Arrests Four ISIS Terrorists Planning to Enter U.S. Via Mexico • Half of Nation's Border Patrol Workforce Reassigned to Humanitarian Support Duty, 100,000 Migrants Slip into U.S. • Deep State Secrets: Declassify the Sater Files Judicial Watch