Thoughts On Thursday...

Okay, I think we've had enough rain for a few days, don't you?
With luck, today will not be like the day I had yesterday, of which I said to Wifey "...I better not have ANY issues".
Goes to show you always seem to get what you don't want...
More on that in a minute, but first, let's look at the forecast.
Our Hooiserland weather will have us with clearing skies, milder temps reaching only into the mid 70s, and a lot LESS humidity.
Yes, my kind of August weather.
In the meanwhile, let's all get a heaping helping of our favorite morning drink, as we look at what's been going on elsewhere...
*** First out of the ammo box is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Most people spend more time going around problems than in trying to solve them."
This was spoken by HENRY FORD ( 30 July 1863 -7 April 1947).
He was a Civil War baby...just after Gettysburg...imagine that.
And here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

Sounds like this was written yesterday.

We can attribute a lot of technological advance in America to him and his method of operation.
Unfortunately, he was a bit of an anti-Semitic, and even published a book on it, entitled "The International Jew".
(thankfully, it was NOT a best-seller)
He once worked for Edison (what engineer didn't at that time),
Ford's story and rise to prominence in the fledgling automotive industry is the stuff of real history.
I'll leave to all of you to read up on one of the pivotal men of industry who helped shape this nation through innovation for many decades to follow.
Moving on...
*** Next, it's time for "What the hell happens today, Bob?"
August 20 -
---Today is NATIONAL LEMONADE DAY.

After life's recent "LEMONS", I think it MOST appropriate...heh.
---It's also NATIONAL RADIO DAY.

Video killed that star, if I remember the song correctly.
---And, it's CHINESE VALENTINE'S DAY/DAUGHTER DAY (7th day of the 7th lunar month). Kinda like that 7th son of a 7th son thing?

Oh, and a happy 67th birthday to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.
*** Next up, the dream of many a pre-teen, hormonally-charged boy in my day, Yvonne Craig died of complications from breast cancer. She was 78 years old.

She could SURE fill out that outfit.

Best remembered as BATGIRL from the 60s TV show, she had also appeared on Star Trek (TOS) as a green Orion woman (who happened to be a bit on the insane side).
Here is her WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Craig
And her website:
https://www.yvonnecraig.com/
Never any bad press about her...hard to find people like that in Hollywood these days.
We shall miss her.
*** Next up, I had to travel to the eye doc's to get another exam and to choose my new frames.
So, I fire up my "Batmobile", and motor out to fill the tank up.
It was then I noticed that the car didn't "feel" right...seemed a bit on the sluggish side,

Well, she is getting a wee bit "mature".

By the time I got to the gas station, it felt like I didn't have THIRD GEAR.
This meant my top speed would be around 45 MPH.
On the way to the eye doctor, this became more evident...the engine would "race" as I tried to go faster than 40.
Well, I thought, this can't be good.

"NO third gear? Have ya tried re-routing the
plasma conduit circuitry through life support?"

Had a similar experience back in the day with a service van...but in that case, it was slipping out of gear, and I tried to tell my bosses that I had to get it in the shop and have it looked over.
After years of driving, you get like "Scotty" from Star Trek - you can FEEL  and know what your vehicle is SUPPOSED to do.
Well, I got stranded halfway to Princeton, NJ one morning, and had to limp back to Philly in FIRST GEAR only. And when I got home, the trans puked fluid all over my street and my company had to have it towed.
The transmission had all but cooked itself into a "well-done" state. Cost the company $1100 to fix it...and it COULD have been prevented, if they listened to me.
Anyway, I get to the doc's, get my eyes checked, and pick out frames (titanium ones at that with polarized lens coating, anti-scratch, an progressive bifocals). Total cost was around $700!!! Luckily health insurance (thanks Anthem) kicked in, so I only have to cough up around 4 Franklins (could buy another pistol for that price AND ammo...lol).
The car was still acting up when I got home (not that far a drive, thankfully), and I called to get it in the shop for service, so Monday, bright and early, I will be doing so.
Helluva birthday gift.
I thought "I" was supposed to be the recipient, and NOT my car...whatta world.
So ends another day in the life of "Bobby G's Never-ending Excellent Adventures".
It could be as simple as old fluid, or a bad modulator, because I still have the OTHER gears...we shall see and feel the hit in the old "Hip National Bank".
*** Last back to the gun range, we take you on a journey through the next installment of the year I was born.

Today, we look at some of the stuff that made our lives more interesting, as opposed to better.

 1952 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

=========================

--BOAC debuts the world's first jet-powered airliner - The Comet

(later troubles with stress cracks which cause several crashes ground the entire fleet)
--The first autocode and its compiler are developed by Alick Glennie for the Manchester Mark 1 computer, considered as the first working high-level compiled programming language.
--John Forbes Nash, Jr. produces groundbreaking work in the area of real algebraic geometry.
The Bradley–Terry model in probability theory is presented.
--February 6 – A mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient, in the United States.

Not exactly "portable", is it?

--September 30 – The Cinerama widescreen film system, developed by Fred Waller, debuts with the movie THIS IS CINERAMA at the Broadway Theater in New York City.

Now THAT was movie-going.

--October 7 – The bar-code is patented in the United States by Norman J. Woodland and Bernard Silver, though it does not make its first appearance in an American shop until 1974.
--November 1 – Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy – The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen device, code-named "Ivy Mike" ("m" for megaton), at Eniwetok island in the Bikini Atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.

The elements einsteinium and fermium are discovered in the fallout.
--Geoffrey Dummer proposes the integrated circuit.
( and THAT changed everything!)
--November 20 – The first successful sex reassignment surgery was performed in Copenhagen, making George Jorgensen Jr. become Christine Jorgensen.

============================

--Teflon is invented
(And people like John Gotti and Hillary Clinton were SO grateful)
--The first automatic PIN-SPOTTER is used in bowling alleys.

Sorry, Billy, you're out of a job.

--The first filter-tipped cigarette is introduced.
--The first PEZ DISPENSER is created 

They have CHANGED a lot since.

(PEZ had been out since 1927)
--GM perfects an air-conditioning system for automobiles - the cost is $500!
(and it was NOT standard equipment)
--Chrysler produces the most powerful auto engine to date - 310 BHP!

The Chrysler "Special" concept car - 1952

--B.F. Goodrich makes a tire that can sustain speeds of 100 MPH!
--Pocket "radio-pagers" make their debut for doctors.
--Sonotone introduces the first transistor hearing aid in the I.S.

say what?

--The keel is laid for the FIRST nuclear submarine - U.S.S.  Nautilus.

--A portable dictating and transcribing machine is developed by Edison, Inc.
--The first video recorder is demonstrated in Los Angeles.
--The Boeing B-52 bomber makes her maiden flight.

And they'er STILL flying.

--Maiden voyage of the luxury liner S.S. United States 

(built in the USA and held several speed records, she now resides docked in Philly)

Trying to avoid the scrapyard.

===================================
---And speaking of technology...the ONLY flying B-29 in existence is in Fort Wayne (didn't hear it fly over...damn).
Named "FIFI", she will be here through August 26. Rides cost $595 - which goes for upkeep to this aircraft.

Tours can be had for $10.
Here's a related story by Frank Gray:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/frank-gray/B-29-stirs-memories-for-Ossian-veteran-8320895

I will say that I've seen the B-29 named BOCKSCAR in Dayton's museum...that's a pretty big ship, and a great piece of history.
We need such reminders from the past in order to keep us grounded in the present, lest we all become too haughty a society as we enter the future.
We need to be mindful of that, because the future is where ALL of us will spend the MOST time.
Tomorrow, I'll finish up the retrospect at 1952 with some "odds and ends" that were chronicled, so stay tuned.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.