History
Man has always been interested in the stars and planets, even before we really knew what they were. Those mysterious lights in the sky that somehow just showed up every night and disappeared every morning, only to be replaced with the bright sunlight, quickly became a part of our lives from the time we were born. The main thing that has changed over the centuries is the equipment with which we could view space for ourselves.
On September 23, 1846, Johann Gottfried Galle, a German astronomer from Radis, Germany, at the Berlin Observatory with the assistance of student Heinrich Louis d’Arrest, was the first person to view the planet Neptune and know what he was looking at. Of course, other astronomers had seen other planets, but this was the first time anyone actually saw the eighth planet in our solar system. Neptune was believed to be out there in that position, as French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier had calculated the approximate location of the planet to be. Le Verrier, by studying gravity-induced disturbances in the 
motions of Uranus guessed that another planet was there. He then told Galle of his findings on the 23rd, and the same night Galle and his assistant Heinrich Louis d’Arrest identified Neptune at their observatory in Berlin. Basically, they looked at its movement against a background of stars over 24 hours and that confirmed that it had to be a planet…seeing a place where the stars were blocked by “something” or in this case, Neptune.
Neptune is a blue gas giant, which has a diameter four times that of Earth. The astronomers named it after the Roman god of the sea…why do they always use the Greek or in this case Roman gods? Neptune has eight known moons, of which Triton is the largest. It also has a ring system containing three bright and two dim rings. It completes an orbit of the sun once every 165 years. Since Pluto was “deplanetized” in 2006, because it was demoted to dwarf planet, Neptune became the farthest known solar planet. While it may be the furthest out, it 
is not the smallest, but rather it’s the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune’s mass is 17 times the mass of Earth, and slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus. Neptune is more dense and physically smaller than Uranus, because its greater mass causes more gravitational compression of its atmosphere. It is referred to as one of the solar system’s two ice giant planets
In 1989, the US spacecraft Voyager 2 was the first human spacecraft to actually visit Neptune. Nevertheless, while much more has been learned about the eighth planet, the first person to actually find it was Johann Gottfried Galle, way back in 1846.
The year 2002 proved to be a really bad one for Hawkins and Powers Aviation of Greybull, Wyoming. Hawkins and Powers had a contract with the United States Forest Service (USFS), to drop fire retardant on wildfires across the country. That year, two large airtankers…a Lockheed C-130 Hercules and a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer…crashed about a month apart while performing aerial firefighting operations. No one saw this coming, but the crashes resulted in a review of the maintenance and use of the entire US large airtanker fleet. Once the review started, they found enough problems that it ultimately brought about the grounding of the whole fleet, which was comprised of 33 aircraft in all. The grounding dramatically reduced the resources available to fight major wildfires. These planes were a vital part of the arsenal used by the forest service to contain wildfires without loss of life and structures. Nevertheless, the planes had to be safe.
The review was prompted by the wings of these planes actually folding up and coming off mid-flight, bringing the aircraft down instantly. One of the crashes was actually caught on camera when a tourist was filming the firefighting efforts and happened to be filming at exactly the moment the wings came off. I can only imagine the shock they must have felt when they saw that. I have only seen pictures, knowing full well what is about to happen, and it still gets to me. The thought they were filming an amazing firefighting event, only to find themselves filming a tragedy.
The first accident involved a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, on June 17, 2002, near Walker, California. The plane, registration N130HP, call sign Tanker 130, was flying against the Cannon Fire, which was located south of Lake 
Tahoe and north of Yosemite National Park. The Cannon Fire crossed the California State Line and burned northward into the Walker River area in Nevada. More than 1000 people were evacuated from homes and camps in the mountains near Walker River, and at least one home was destroyed. The fire nearly tripled in size that Monday, growing from 5,000 acres to just under 15,000. The C-130 Hercules that went down fighting the fire killed 3 people that day. The aircraft, “previously United States Air Force (USAF) Serial Number 56-0538, was one of the original C-130A production series and had been built and delivered to the USAF in 1957. It was retired from military service in 1986. In May 1988, the aircraft was acquired from the General Services Administration by the USFS, which in August that year sold it and five other C-130s it had acquired to Hemet Valley Flying Service, for conversion to an airtanker. Hemet then sold the C-130 to Hawkins and Powers. At the time of the crash, the aircraft had logged 21,863 flight hours.”
The second crash, also caused by structural failure, occurred on July 18, 2002, near Estes Park, Colorado. The structure failure in this case was in the wing’s spar adjacent to the left side of the fuselage. Tanker 123, by callsign, was loaded with 2,000 US gallons of fire retardant at the time of the accident. The plane had begun a left turn to line up for its eighth drop of the day on the Big Elk Fire, and while it was still in the 15–20° left bank, the witnesses on the ground and in another tanker saw the left wing separate from the aircraft and “fold upwards”, followed almost immediately by the initiation of a fire. Without its left wing, the aircraft continued to roll left, and crashed to the ground at a 45° nose down attitude. The impact started a large fire at the wreck site. Both crewmen were killed instantly.
The aircraft, “a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer registered N7620C, was built during World War II. It had been delivered in July 1945 to the United States Navy, which used it for coastal patrol duties. In 1952, it was 
transferred to the United States Coast Guard, which operated it until it was retired in 1956. The aircraft was removed from storage and converted to an airtanker in 1958, then was flown by several different companies, the last being Hawkins and Powers. At the time of the crash, the airframe had logged 8,346.3 flight hours.” The Big Elk Fire burned approximately 4,348 acres.
Anytime a soldier goes to war, the possibility exists that they will be severely wounded or even killed in action, but I don’t think anyone expected the events of September 19, 1863. It was the middle of the Civil War, and Jacob C Miller was a private in Company K, 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment. The company was fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga near Brock Field in southeastern Tennessee. One of the fastest ways to “get dead” is to get shot in the head. There is something about a bullet hitting the skull that puts an end to life pretty quickly…most of the time, anyway.
Maybe it was the type of bullets used in the Civil War, but no matter how it happened, I don’t think anyone would disagree with me when I say that living after taking a bullet between the eyes was a miracle. Jacob C Miller was just such a miracle man. After being shot, Miller crumpled to the ground. I’m sure everyone thought it was over, but Miller said later that he could hear the words of his captain, who said, “It’s no use to remove poor Miller, for he is dead.” The company, believing he was dead, moved on. Now, just imagine the shock when Miller became conscious and found himself alone. He raised up in a sitting position. Curiosity caused him to feel his wound. Clearly there was damage done. Miller’s left eye was out of place, and he tried to 
place it back, but had to move the crushed bone back together, or as near together as he could first. Once the eye was in its proper place, he bandaged the eye the best he could with his bandana. Then he began the journey to get help. Miller struggled to follow his company, until he was finally picked up by a liter party, and taken for treatment.
When he was taken to the doctors, and they examined him, they said that they were able to see his pulsating brain quite clearly. That said, we know that the bullet wasn’t somehow stopped by his skull. It had actually entered the brain lining, or at least into the skull bone. At that point, nothing was done with the bullet, and Miller was sent home to Logansport, Indiana. Doctors there were hesitant to remove the bullet, because they thought Miller would die, and somehow, he seemed to be functioning ok with the bullet in place. In the end 
they did remove about a third of the bullet, and Miller went on to live his life. Nevertheless, more pieces of the bullet simply fell out decades later. It was as if his body just rejected the foreign pieces of lead and moved them out of his head. It was a good thing, because the pressure on the bullet fragments during times of illness caused his to become delirious. Once the fragments fell out, that stopped.
Miller was born on August 4, 1840, in Bellevue, Ohio. He was shot on September 19, 1863, at the age of 23 years. Private Jacob C Miller lived an amazing 54 years with an open wound in his head. The wound never fully healed, but did not fully penetrate his skull, and apparently the brain area did close over, and caused no damage to his brain. He died January 13, 1917, in Omaha, Nebraska at the age of 76 years. No cause of death is mentioned, but I guess we know it wasn’t a gunshot wound to the head.
James Kent “Jimmy” Leeward was an American air racer and owner of the Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala, Florida. He was also the owner and pilot of the heavily modified North American P-51 Mustang racing aircraft known as The Galloping Ghost. Leeward loved his plane, loved flying, and especially loved air racing. He loved the thrill of the air shows and putting his plane through its paces. The Galloping Ghost was an amazing aircraft that held various airspeed records. It was also the plane whose fatal crash in 2011 led to several changes to make air shows safer.
The Galloping Ghost was built in 1944 by North American Aviation for the Army Air Force. Following its successful service during World War II, the plane was sold as postwar surplus. It was modified and raced by a series of owner over the next half-century, including finally, Aero Trans Corporation in Ocala, Florida. Jimmy Leeward was born on October 21, 1936, in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania to parents Albert and Mary Leeward. He grew up around airplanes, sitting first in the cockpit with his dad as just a toddler. The age of 11 or 12 found him often flying a Piper Cub with his father. At age 14, his father allowed him to fly solo in a North American T-6 Texan trainer aircraft. By age 18, he was 
flying charters in a Beechcraft Model 18. While still in college, he flew a Formula One racer in the Fort Wayne air races. He was hooked on air racing from that moment on. In 1964, he was part of the crew on an airplane at the very first Reno Air Races. By 1976, being part of the crew would no longer do, and he first flew his P-51D Mustang “Cloud Dancer” in the Unlimited Class at Reno. In 1983, he purchased the P-51D racer “Jeannie” from Wiley Sanders. He never looked back, later becoming a movie stunt pilot. He was featured in such movies as Cloud Dancer, Smokey and the Bandit 3, Tuskegee Airmen, Thirteen Days, Dragonfly, Thunder Over Reno, Lonely Hearts, and Amelia.
I suppose that with any type of stunt performance, the very real possibility of an accident exists. Many people might assume that it is just a matter of time, but there is no real proof to that statement, just speculation. Nevertheless, on September 16, 2011, Leeward’s “luck” ran out. While he was in the middle of a race over Reno, Nevada, where it all started, Leeward’s racing days came to a tragic end. In the middle of the race, The Galloping Ghost suddenly veered off course. Leeward tried to regain control, but in the end, it was determined that the cause of the crash was “flutter.” Flutter is when the plane is flown faster than it is designed to go. 
Leeward exceeded by nearly 40 miles per hour, the aircraft’s previous top speed without any previous testing to determine if the aircraft would be able to resist flutter at the new speeds. It couldn’t. When Leeward was unable to regain control, The Galloping Ghost crashed into the crowd at the National Championship Air Races at Reno Stead Airport, in a crash that killed him and 10 others. Additionally, 75 people were injured. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed Leeward for “‘operating at the edge of the envelope’ without fully reporting and testing modifications to his plane.” Safety standards for air shows were significantly changed because of this crash. When he died, Jimmy Leeward was 74 years old.
Acts of terrorism somehow seem to be a normal possibility in the times we live in, but are they just a phenomenon that exists in our current era? Not really. While they may have been to a lesser degree, these kinds of things have been around fora long time. On September 16, 1920, during a busy day on Wall Street, New York was hit by an unforeseen event. Bankers and stockbrokers were bustling around with an average day in the financial world. Then, as the church bells struck 12 noon, 100 pounds of dynamite detonated in front of the Assay Office.
Concealed in a horse-drawn wagon that had been parked for some time in front of the Assay Office, the bomb suddenly exploded. An employee of J.P. Morgan, Andrew Dunn said, “That was the loudest noise I ever heard in my life. It was enough to knock you out by itself.” The normally businesslike street was instantly transformed into what looked more like a battlefield than a financial district. There was debris, blood, and charred bodies everywhere. Thirty men and women lost their lives instantly. Eight more would die of their injuries later on. Hundreds of people were injured with many of them getting serious burns.
At the site of the 1920 Wall Street bombing, pock marks from the bomb are still visible to this day. Apparently, there was some warning of the impending attack, because a day after the attack, postal workers uncovered flyers that have been dropped into the mailboxes in Wall Street. The flyers read, “Remember, we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners, or it will be sure death for all of you.” It was signed the American Anarchist Fighters. Authorities immediately suspected the Galleanists, a gang of anti-government Italian anarchists led by Luigi Galleani, but unfortunately, they could not uncover any evidence to charge them with the crime. While the FBI had numerous leads, they couldn’t come close to any significant evidence. The investigation went on for years and was finally delegated a cold cast with the last known investigation taking 
place in 1944. Finally, the FBI concluded that the explosion was most likely caused by “Italian anarchists or Italian terrorists.” Nevertheless, they could not prove anything, and no one was ever charged with the crime. Mario Buda, a Galleanist, was considered as a likely suspect, but with no proof, he was never charged. No one has ever claimed responsibility for the attack even after 102 years.
When a couple gets married, the most common tradition is that the woman takes her husband’s last name. There are exceptions, of course, and the woman isn’t obligated to take her husband’s last name, but when she does, she should have a reasonable expectation that she will no longer be known by her maiden name. With that in mind, I wonder if the media shouldn’t consider that they are being rude and disrespectful when they refer to Princess Catherine of Wales, as Kate Middleton.
If they think they are clarifying exactly who they are talking about, I hate to tell them that after eleven years of marriage and near constant public appearances and charity work, we all know who she is. Now is the time to stop the disrespect they have been showing her for all these years and start showing her the respect she has certainly earned. I know that many people in the United States 
don’t really care about the royal family, but since Prince William is my twelfth cousin thrice removed, it does interest me. Princess Catherine, in her own right, has endeared herself to many people around the world, so I really don’t understand why some people think it is okay to continue to call her by her maiden name, minus her titles. No one ever considered calling Princess Diana, Diana Spencer, so why is it okay to call Princess Catherine, Kate Middleton? It just isn’t!! In fact, no one even considered calling the now, Queen Consort, Camilla, by her name. She immediately became Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. And in fact, it was her choice that she not be called Camilla, Princess of Wales. Why were her wishes honored and not those of Princess Catherine, who surely doesn’t still want to go by her maiden name eleven years after her marriage.
A few of the Facebook groups I am a member of have discussed this at length, so I know that many people out there agree with me on this. Princess Catherine has never expressed a desire to be called Kate Middleton either. Usually when a woman chooses to keep her maiden name, it is made public knowledge to…at the very least, avoid confusion. That was never said of Princess Catherine, so why does the media, and some in the public sector, insist on using her maiden name. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that it is a show of disrespect for her title, and in my opinion, that is as wrong as it can be. So, I say start using her correct name, with her title…and I say, it’s high time!!
Looking back to September 10, 2001, it seemed that all was right with the world, but in fact, it was not, as we would all find out the very next morning. There were warning signs that terrorists were plotting something, but then weren’t they always. That’s what terrorists do…plot evil, plan to kill as many people as possible, and plan to bring a greater measure of fear into the world. September 11, 2001 would be no different. When 19 al Qaeda militants, hijacked 4 US airliners that morning, the terror had begun. In years past, a hijacked plane was used to take the hijackers to some other country, preferably one without extradition. The passengers were told that this was going to be a hijacking like that, but when the terrorists began slashing people with box cutters, and took over the cockpit, the people knew that this was not a normal hijacking. We all know far too well what the end result of this horrific act of brutal terrorism was.
In all, 2996 people, including the 19 terrorists, lost their lives at four locations that day. Of those 2996 people, only 291 bodies were found intact. A total of 21,906 body parts were found, and 1717 families got no remains at all. In addition, 25,000 more people were injured, and a large number of them have died of 9-11 related illnesses since then. The smoke and debris that came out of the burning jet fuel and buildings was so toxic, and 
those who helped with the searches and cleanup were exposed. It was a deadly combination. No one knew, or if they did, they disregarded the danger, in an effort to save lives. A few lives were saved. A few people were pulled out of the buildings alive. Theirs was a miracle, and they knew that for the rest of their lives, they would be a walking miracle. Of course, they would also most likely feel some degree of survivor’s guilt, although they shouldn’t. Nevertheless, it is a natural phenomenon, that people tend to struggle with for years, if not the rest of their lives. It never leaves.
For those who lost loved ones on that horrible day, it goes without saying that they will never forget, but the reality is that no one should ever forget. How could we forget, when we see that pictures of the planes going into the towers, or the walls of the Pentagon destroyed, or the massive hole in the Pennsylvania earth. Those aren’t just pictures…they are lives. They are lives lost, and families forever changed. They are children who will grow up without parents, people who with grow old without the spouse they had planned to have with them. 
They are sons and daughters, whose lives were stolen from them…whose promise was snuffed out before it could be fulfilled. For all of those people…it is our duty to “never forget!!” Our nation lost the feeling of safety that we had before. We don’t trust those we don’t know as much as we used to. We will always be forever changed. Never forget that!! Ever!!
Like it or not, people are put into classes based on their income, and as we know, the elite are the very rich ones. Most people fall into the middle class, with a large group of people being in the poverty level. Many of the people in these classes spend their time working hard and sometimes living paycheck to paycheck, just trying to make ends meet. While those people are doing their best to survive, the very wealthy, also known as the Elite Class spend their time doing their very best to outdo each other. What a headache that must be.
During the Gilded Age, the Elite Class was in a particularly fierce fight for supremacy, not in politics or world economy issues, but rather in extravagancy. The Gilded Age took place from the 1870s to about the 1900s. During that time the Elite Class was building great estates with elegantly designed homes…trying to outdo each other while most Americans and Europeans struggled just to make basic ends meet. The Gilded Age elite struggled with one another, competing over who had the biggest, the most, the best…of any and everything. Anything that was outlandish, wild, shocking, or just plain spendy, was fair game in their “struggle.” The biggest source of extravagance was in their homes. Newport, Rhode Island, was prime real estate for the 19th-century one-percenters. Cornelius Vanderbilt constructed his famous 
home, The Breakers, it was an attempt to one-up his brother, William K Vanderbilt’s latest showplace, Marble House, designed and planned by William K Vanderbilt to “outstaff, outdress, and outparty” his brother and other Gilded Age gents.
The whole production among the elites grew so fierce that home construction was covered in the local newspapers…on a daily basis!! The Newport Mercury reported that Marble House had 500,000 cubic feet of imported marble, as well as paneled walls portraying gods from the Classical age. Some walls were even coated in 22-carat gold leaf, all of it painstakingly applied by hand…not William K’s hand mind you. The latter Vanderbilt couldn’t sully his hands with the work of the common man. That was what his money was for…to underpay the common worker to build the elaborate house.
Yes, the whole age really was ridiculously extreme, but there was actually an ancient precedent that the Gilded Age families simply followed. Just take a look at the surviving Roman villas, the Versailles palace in France, and 
the Catherine Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The rich and powerful have always felt compelled to put their wealth on display. They did it to show other powerful people that they could keep up with the rest, and to challenge them to take the game to the next level…a challenge they happily accepted. It was a wild time, and in many places around the world, the game continues.
Sad news has surfaced today out of Scottland, as Queen Elizabeth of England has passed away at the age of 96 years. She became the Queen of England in 1952 at the very young age of 25, when her father, King George VI passed away on February 6, 1952, at just 56 years old. Queen Elizabeth would later become the longest reigning British monarch in history, reigning for 7 decades. The queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee (70 years as reigning monarch) on February 5, 2022. She knew that her time was short, and she spoke of her wishes for the time following her death. Now that time has come.
The family will not have to make any arrangements for her funeral, because everything has already been planned from the service to the grave, and even the timeframe. The only unknown, until now, was the date of the service, which will be held eleven days after her passing…on September 19, 2022. I think it is comforting when the deceased has already planned their own funeral. It is to their tastes and preferences, and there is no question 
as to their wishes. Queen Elizabeth’s funeral will be televised across the world, with the only restriction being that the royal family is not to be filmed. That makes sense. They need to be able to grieve privately.
The royal line of succession now changes, with Prince Charles becoming King Charles III (it was announced earlier). He has the right to change his name, but it appears that he won’t. Prince William is now first in line to the throne and takes on his father’s title of Prince of Wales. Duchess Camilla becomes Queen Consort, and Duchess Catherine becomes Princess of Wales. Prince George is second in line to the throne, followed by Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. It is so strange to think of so many changes happening all at once, but that is how things work in the world of the monarchy. How people feel personally about any part of the changes really doesn’t matter, because they are what they are.
For the world, this is a sad day. It is the end of an era. Many people, including me, have never known a time when Queen Elizabeth II was not the queen. She began her reign four years before I was born. Queen Elizabeth II was much loved and well respected. She had a way of making people feel at ease. She had a very human type of nature, and really never presented herself as anything so special. She went out and shook the hands of the people, in what was deemed a “walkabout” like the Australians do. She considered her office one of service to the people, rather than a ruler over them. I’m sure that is why she was so loved by all. The end of her reign has brought much sadness to the world. Rest in peace Queen Elizabeth. You will be missed by so many people.
I don’t personally believe in luck, but some people have an uncanny knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frane Selak, a native Croatian, was one of those people. In 1962, he was traveling from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik by train, when the train derailed in a canyon. The night was rainy and cold, and when the train derailed, it plummeted into the Neretva River. When Selak came to himself, he found that he was surrounded by water. Selak was pulled to safety by an unknown passenger, but 17 people died in the accident.
Selak recovered from his injuries on the train and a year later, Selak took a trip from Zagreb to Rijeka, by plane to visit his ailing mother. The trip was last minute, and the flight was full. He talked the flight attendant into letting him sit in the back by her. Suddenly, one of the doors flew open. The flight attendant was immediately sucked out of the aircraft, followed 
a second later by Selak who somehow landed in a haystack on the ground. The plane crashed moments later. Stories vary, but it is said that the crash killed 19 or 20 people.
You would think that somehow, that would be the end of Selak’s close calls, but you would be wrong. Things were going pretty well for about 22 accident-free years, but then in 1995, came Selak’s story of survival after being hit by a bus while walking in Zagreb. The following year, Selak claimed that while driving in the Croatian mountains an oncoming truck caused him to swerve off a 300-foot cliff. However, he said that he was “able to jump out at the last second and watch from a tree at the cliff’s edge as his car plummeted downward.” Are the tales outrageous? Yes, but they have not been disputed by doctors, hospitals, or police, so who knows. If they 
were true stories, it seems amazing to me that he didn’t become a recluse!! Still, there is no guarantee that he would have been any safer in his case. A man who had been in so many crashes, even though he survived, is at much greater risk of dying in the next one…right?
Finally, after years of close calls, when Selak was 74 years old…something changed. Selak won the lottery!! It seemed that his bad streak had turned to a good streak. The year was 2002, and Selak won more than six million Croatian Kuna, which amounted to just under 1.2 million US dollars.
