Daily Pic 06/17/18 (Happy Father’s Day)

Leave a Comment
Richard Du Toit/Minden Pictures

Papa was a flightless bird

Why ostriches on Father’s Day? Because male ostriches are more involved in the care and rearing of their young than many other wild animals. At night, the expectant ostrich dad sits on the eggs in the nest, his black plumage camouflaging him from predators. When the chicks hatch, papa ostrich teaches them how to forage for food and is their primary protector. Way to go, ostrich dad! We hope at least one of those baby ostriches remembers to call you today.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day 2016

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March since the middle ages. This celebration was brought by the Spanish and Portuguese to Latin America, where 19 March is often still used for it, though a number of countries in Europe and the Americas have adopted the US date which is the third Sunday of June. In the US, Father's Day has been celebrated since the early twentieth century.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day 2015

Happy Father's Day 2015


Today in History 06/17 (Watergate)

Leave a Comment
The Watergate office complex in Washington, DC, in 1972, the year a break-in occurred at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the building (© Archive Photos/Getty Images)(1972) Break-in at the Watergate Hotel ends in arrests
Five men, including US President Richard Nixon’s security chief, are arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, DC. What Nixon’s press secretary later dubs a ‘third-rate burglary’ will be the undoing of a presidency.
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s, following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972, and President Richard Nixon’s administration’s subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement. After the five burglars were caught and the conspiracy was discovered, Watergate was investigated by the United States Congress. Meanwhile, Nixon’s administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis.
Date: Jun 17, 1972

Government Exhibit 133, Chapstick Tubes with Hidden Microphones
E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who led the Watergate break-in team, were stationed in a Watergate Hotel room while the burglary was underway. A lookout was posted across the street at the Howard Johnson Hotel. Bruce Givner was a 21-year old intern working at the DNC’s 6th floor offices in the Watergate Hotel Complex when his prolonged stay on that floor precluded the burglars from entering the offices to correct their earlier wiretap work. During the break-in, Hunt and Liddy would remain in contact with each other and with the burglars by radio. These Chapstick tubes outfitted with tiny microphones were later discovered in Hunt’s White House office safe.
Address Book of Watergate Burglar Bernard Barker, Discovered in a Room at the Watergate Hotel
Address book of Watergate burglar Bernard Barker, discovered in a room at the Watergate Hotel, June 18, 1972
wiki/Watergate_scandal
4.12.j18

(1972) Break-in at the Watergate Hotel ends in arrests.
Also on this day,
1462 | The Night Attack unleashes Vlad the Impaler’s fury
A conflict over Prince Vlad III’s refusal to pay taxes to Sultan Mehmed II results in a bloody nighttime raid by the Wallachian prince and his forces on the Ottoman sultan’s armed camp. The Night Attack ends in victory for the Wallachians, but Vlad Dracula’s goal of assassinating the sultan goes unmet.
1631 | Taj Mahal’s inspiration Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal dies
Empress Mumtaz Mahal, beloved wife of India’s Mughal emperor, dies while giving birth to the couple’s fourteenth child. Her husband’s grief will lead to 21 years of construction on the Taj Mahal, a domed marble mausoleum for his wife’s tomb and one of the architectural wonders of the world.
1673 | Two mapmakers, Marquette and Joliet, meet the mighty Mississippi
Frenchman Jacques Marquette and French-Canadian Louis Jolliet set their canoes down on the river Native Americans called the “Mesipi,” near what will be Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. These early European explorers will map the huge waterway’s course to within 435 miles of the Gulf of Mexico.

Daily Pic 06/16/18 (International Surfing Day)

Leave a Comment
Sergio Villalba/Aurora Photos

Drop in on International Surfing Day

For International Surfing Day we’re in Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands, to catch some waves. Look on the left side of our photo and you’ll see a surfer jockeying for the right spot on that wave. If you can’t get out and celebrate this day by riding a swell, perhaps it’s time for a surf movie or some surf music? There’s a whole culture around the sport that doesn’t even require your getting wet.

Today in History 06/16 (First Woman in Space)

Leave a Comment
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, in front of the Vostok 6 capsule, June 1963 (© Sovfoto/UIG/Getty Images)(1963) Soviet cosmonaut is the first woman in space
Born into a decidedly earthbound proletariat family in rural Russia, Valentina Tereshkova has been chosen from over 400 applicants to become the world’s first woman in space. She will orbit Earth 48 times on a flight lasting almost three days, and parachute into re-entry at 20,000 feet.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Russian cosmonaut, engineer, and politician. She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.
Born: Mar 06, 1937 (age 81) · Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Spouse: Yuli Shaposhnikov · Andriyan Nikolayev (m. 1963 – 1982)
Children: Elena Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova (Daughter)
Space missions: Vostok 6
Movies: Mercury 13
Highlights
  • 1962: On 16 February 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was selected to join the female cosmonaut corps.

  • 1963: She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.

  • 1963: In September 1963, Tereshkova donated a silver cup at the women’s 1963 European Rowing Championships held in Khimki near Moscow for the most successful nation, which went to the team from the Soviet Union as they won gold in all five boat classes.

  • 1963: Valentina Tereshkova married Andriyan Nikolayev on November 03, 1963; their marriage lasted 19 years till 1982.

  • 1997: In 1997, London-based electronic pop group Komputer released a song entitled “Valentina” which gives a more-or-less direct account of her career as a cosmonaut.

  • 1997: In 1997, she was retired from the Russian Air Force and the cosmonaut corps by presidential order.

Nikita Khrushchev, Valentina Tereshkova, Pavel Popovich and Yury Gagarin at Lenin Mausoleum
From left to right: Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Popovich, Valentina Tereshkova, and Nikita Khrushchev at the Lenin Mausoleum, during a celebration honoring the Soviet cosmonauts, 1963
wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova
4.12.j18

(1963) Soviet cosmonaut is the first woman in space.
Also on this day,
1884 | A new thrill ride debuts at Coney Island
A nickel gets you on Coney Island’s Switchback Railway, a new amusement park ride carrying passengers on an undulating railroad track at up to 6 mph, running a length of 600 feet and an overall drop of 43 feet. America’s first roller coaster will be a hit, spawning ever-bigger thrills.
1911 | Early computing companies merge to form a tech powerhouse
Charles Flint founds the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) after merging smaller specialized firms, some of which got their start inventing new computing technology to tabulate the 1890 US Census. C-T-R will be renamed International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.
1967 | The counterculture comes together for music at Monterey
Kicking off the Summer of Love, the Monterey Pop Festival will blow everyone’s minds with a roster of new rock stars including The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and soul superstar Otis Redding. A young guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, will literally be the show’s hottest act.

Daily Pic 06/15/18 (Ladybug Takes Flight)

Leave a Comment
Misja Smits/Minden Pictures

Ready for takeoff

Anybody with a camera can celebrate Nature Photography Day with us today. That element of inclusion is one of the main points of this observance. Chances are your mobile device has a camera, so you’re already equipped to participate. And even if you live in the deepest reaches of the urban jungle, somewhere near you is a place where you can get a dose of nature—a park, for example, or even the planter box on your fire escape. Go to that spot with your camera, and start snapping photos. They don’t have to be works of art. It can be an exercise in paying attention to the natural world, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll end up with something like this shot of a seven-spot ladybug, wings unleashed and about to take flight. Have fun!