Category:
Government
Government
Nuking the Moon
Project A119, also known as A Study of Lunar Research Flights, was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon, which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy and astrogeology. If the explosive device detonated on the surface, not in a lunar crater, the flash of explosive light would have been faintly visible to people on Earth with their naked eye, a show of force resulting in a possible boosting of domestic morale in the capabilities of the United States, a boost that was needed after the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race and was also working on a similar project.
The project was never carried out, being cancelled primarily out of a fear of a negative public reaction, with the potential militarization of space that it would also have signified, and because a Moon landing would undoubtedly be a more popular achievement in the eyes of the American and international public alike. A similar project by the Soviet Union also never came to fruition.
Wikipedia page here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 10, 2019 -
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Category: Antisocial Activites, Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Explosives, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Government, Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, 1950s, North America, Russia
Strange Canadian Custom
Source. (Scroll down)
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 30, 2019 -
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Category: Government, Hygiene, Foreign Customs, 1960s, North America
Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2019
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 17, 2019 -
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Category: Government, Foreign Customs, 1960s, Europe, Fictional Monsters
Prince Leonard Casley, RIP
Full article here.
Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 14, 2019 -
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Category: Eccentrics, Curmudgeons and Contrarianism, Government, Unauthorized Dwellings, Outsider Art, Performance Art, Foreign Customs, Obituaries, 1970s
Canadian Prime Minister Consults Ghost Dogs
Article:
William Lyon MacKenzie King (1874-1950), Canada’s 10th and longest serving Prime Minister was a devoted dog owner in life and in death.While active in politics King had an achingly dull public image, which was certainly at odds with the goings-on in his private life. What the Canadian populace wasn’t aware of was his séances, his consultations with spiritual mediums, table-rapping sessions, tea-leaf readings and communing with the spirits of the likes of former PM Wilfrid Laurier, his long-deceased mother, and of course his dear ghost dog, Pat. That he owned and frequently used both a Ouija board and a crystal ball was published in Time Magazine in 1953, news that shocked the nation. Rampant rumours circulated about King’s oddities, some true, most false. That King had Pat stuffed by a taxidermist so that the little dog would always be by his side turned out to be untrue. King’s detailed diary entries, published after his death in 1950 revealed that King consulted the dead Pats during these séance sessions in manners of international political policy, conscription, and Liberal Party Leadership.
King, obsessed with death and the afterlife, often expressed his wish to communicate with the living after he died, just as he hoped to be reunited forever in the spirit world with his three Pats; “we shall all be together in the Beyond,” he wrote, “of that I am perfectly sure”.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 30, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Communications, Eccentrics, Government, Officials, New Age, Paranormal, Dogs, Twentieth Century
The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
An honest mistaken memory, or a deliberate hoax to cash in on the early glamour of the American Revolution? You decide!
The Wikipedia page.
History Channel account.
The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is a text published in 1819 with the claim that it was the first declaration of independence made in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. It was supposedly signed on May 20, 1775, in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a committee of citizens of Mecklenburg County, who declared independence from Great Britain after hearing of the battle of Lexington. If the story is true, the Mecklenburg Declaration preceded the United States Declaration of Independence by more than a year. The authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration has been disputed since it was published, forty-four years after it was reputedly written. There is no verifiable evidence to confirm the original document's existence and no reference to it has been found in extant newspapers from 1775.[citation needed]
Professional historians have maintained that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is an inaccurate rendering of an authentic document known as the Mecklenburg Resolves. The Mecklenburg Resolves were a set of radical resolutions passed on May 31, 1775, that fell short of an actual declaration of independence. Although published in newspapers in 1775, the text of the Mecklenburg Resolves was lost after the American Revolution and not rediscovered until 1838. Historians believe that the Mecklenburg Declaration was written in 1800 in an attempt to recreate the Mecklenburg Resolves from memory. According to this theory, the author of the Mecklenburg Declaration mistakenly believed that the Resolves had been a declaration of independence, and so he recreated the Resolves with language borrowed from the United States Declaration of Independence. Defenders of the Mecklenburg Declaration have argued that both the Mecklenburg Declaration and the Mecklenburg Resolves are authentic.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 12, 2019 -
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Category: Antiques, Anachronisms and Throwbacks, Confusion, Misunderstanding, and Incomprehension, Government, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Politics, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century
President Truman and the Albino Kangaroo
Source.
The animal was spoken of at a press conference.
Source.
But according to LIFE, it came with a name.
Source.
BTW: what was meant by Truman being good at naming dinosaurs? I think this is the answer:
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 20, 2018 -
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Category: Animals, Government, Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, 1950s, Australia, North America
Eisenhower on Modern Art
Apparently, Nikita K. wasn't the only critic of modern art outraged by the 1959 exhibition, as you can see from the article below. Eisenhower and Harry Truman weighed in at times.But Eisenhower, like George W. Bush today, also painted as well, presumably showing us what he regarded as good art.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 12, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, Government, 1950s, Russia
New Frontier Board Game
"New Frontier" board game, "THE GAME NOBODY CAN WIN", designed by Colorful Products, Inc. The game is an anti-John F. Kennedy, anti-socialist "twist" on the MONOPOLY board game published by Parker Brothers. The front of the package reads "The Funniest Political / Game of the Century!" over the silhouette of rocking chair labeled "J.F.K.". The game board contains references to Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, Edward Murrow, et al. The game was packaged by the Occupational and Training Center of Help for Retarded Children, Inc.
More pix at this link.
A few others here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 07, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Games, Government, 1960s, Satire
The Presidential Comedy Albums of Earle Doud
Everyone knows the famous JFK-Vaughn Meader album. But how many realize the producer Earle Doud went on with that theme, to much less acclaim?I can't seem to find any clips on YouTube of the later ones.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 08, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Government, Humor, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s
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