| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 |
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| Flying Saucers |
SpotlightThe term "flying saucer" was coined on this date in 1947 when an American pilot reported seeing strange objects near Mt. Rainier, WA, describing them as "saucers skipping across the water." In early July of that year, some suspicious items were collected in the vicinity of Roswell, NM. The US military identified it as debris from a weather balloon that had crashed, but some thirty years later, a witness to the event told a ufologist that he believed an alien spacecraft had been found and that the US military had covered the incident up. On this date in 1997, the U.S. Air Force released its report on the Roswell Incident, stating that the UFOs that were reportedly seen in the area were, in fact, the pieces of the damaged weather balloon and the so-called aliens were actually life-sized dummies.
Quote"After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'"
Question of the DayWhom can you contact about UFO sightings?
There are a number of organizations that collect UFO reports, but the government no longer gathers them. The U.S. Air Force ran a program called "Project Blue Book" for about 30 years that investigated many UFO sightings, on the possibility that UFOs might represent a threat to the United States.
The Air Force finally concluded that they were wasting their time, and closed the books on the project. Their only announcement was that they had found no indication that UFOs posed any threat to the U.S. No definitive proof of alien life, martians, flying saucers or anything else was found. In about 95% of the cases, either there was a simple explanation or it was found to be a hoax. In the remaining 5% of investigations, they were unable to find any explanation, and the "U" in UFO has remained "Unidentified".
Word of the dayterpsichorean
A person who dances, especially professionally: dancer. Slang hoofer.
The job market is nothing to write home about, but nevertheless this week we'll take a look at some words relating to professions.
Today's History
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John Cabot With His Son Sebastian |
- dancing mania: first major outbreak of this phenomenon — wild, uncontrollable dancing, accompanied by hallucinations, to the point of exhaustion — occurred in Aachen, Germany (1374)
- John Cabot: explorer became the first European to sight the continent of North America (1497)
- Henry VIII: crowned king of England (1509)
- FTC: required that a message be placed on all cigarette packages to warn consumers that cigarette smoking is dangerous to their health (1964)
Today's Birthdays
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| Mick Fleetwood |
- Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591): Carmelite friar, mystic and poet
- Jack Dempsey (1895-1983): heavyweight boxing champ
- Pete Hamill (74): journalist and short-story author; writers Ambrose Bierce (1842-c.1914), Norman Cousins (1915-1990), John Ciardi (1916-1986), Claude Chabrol (79) and Anita Desai (72) share this birth date
- Mick Fleetwood (62): drummer with Fleetwood Mac; also, musicians John Illsley (60), Danielle Spencer (44), Glenn Medeiros (39) and Solange Knowles (23)
- Minka Kelly (29): actor, Friday Night Lights; also, actors Al Molinaro (90), Michele Lee (67), Georg Stanford Brown (66), Peter Weller (62), Sherry Stringfield (42) and Mindy Kaling (30)
- Lionel Messi (22): FC Barcelona soccer star
