9.28.2011

Thursday, September 28, 1961: Webster's Third

"Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged" or just "Webster's Third," is published by the G. & C. Merriam Company. The edition receives considerable publicity, not all of it positive:

-- The word "ain't" is included (see picture). "A dictionary's embrace of the word 'ain't' will comfort the ignorant, confer approval upon the mediocre, and subtly imply that proper English is the tool only of the snob; but it will not assist men to speak true to other men. It may, however, prepare us for that future which it could help to hasten. In the caves, no doubt, a grunt will do." (Toronto Globe and Mail)

-- "The label 'colloquial,' formerly applied to any word usage outside strict academic usage, has been dropped." (Associated Press)

-- "The new volume also clears up another tricky grammatical problem by asserting that there are some prepositions you can end a sentence with." (United Press International)

-- "The most startling innovation is the sprightly use of quotations from famous people to illustrate shades of meaning. To show how the word 'drain' can mean 'exhaust,' the dictionary borrows Ethel Merman's dictum: 'Two shows a day drain a girl.' 'Puff' in the sense of 'overrate' is defined by Willie Mays: 'Hit too many homers and people start puffing you up.' (Life magazine, September 15)

-- "Its rule of thumb seems to be: anything people say goes into the book. Thus, that most monstrous of all non-words -- irregardless -- is included." (Life magazine, October 27)

-- "We suggest to the Webster's editors that they not throw out the printing plates of the Second Edition. There is likely to be a continuing demand for it ... " (New York Times, October 12)

* Preface of dictionary: @
* Entry from "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage": @
* "Ain't That the Truth / Webster's Third: The Most Controversial Dictionary in the English Language" (Humanities magazine, 2009): @
* "The Story of Webster's Third: Philip Gove's Controversial Dictionary and Its Critics" (book by Herbert C. Morton): @
* Excerpt from "Dictionaries and the Authoritarian Tradition" (book by Walter de Gruyter): @
* Excerpt from "The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to 'South Park' " (book by Jack W. Lynch and John T. Lynch): @
* "Merriam-Webster and Webster's Third": @
* "A Non-Word Deluge" (Life magazine, October 1961): @
* "Logomarchy-Debased Verbal Currency" (editorial in American Bar Association Journal, January 1962): @
* "When a Dictionary Could Outrage" (New York Times, 2011): @
* Dictionary Society of North America: @

9.26.2011

Tuesday, September 26, 1961: Bob Dylan

Appearing on the bill with the Greenbriar Boys, Bob Dylan begins a two-week run at Gerde's Folk City in New York. Robert Shelton of The New York Times catches the show, and on Friday, September 29, his influential review appears in the Times.

Headlined "Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk-Song Stylist," Shelton describes Dylan as "resembling a cross between a choir boy and a beatnik" and "both comedian and tragedian." He concludes: "But if not for every taste, his music-making has the mark of originality and inspiration, all the more noteworthy for his youth. Mr. Dylan is vague about his antecedents and birthplace, but it matters less where he has been than where he is going, and that would seem to be straight up."

Within a month Dylan would sign a contract with Columbia Records; within two months, he would be recording his first album.

* Excerpt from "No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan" (book by Shelton): @
* "Bob Dylan's Big Break" (Entertainment Weekly, 1997): @
* Description of handbill (video by Pete Howard, www.postercentral.com): @
* www.bobdylan.com: @
* Earlier blog post about Dylan: @

9.25.2011

Monday, September 25, 1961: Green Berets

From www.military.com: During World War II, U.S. Army Special Forces personnel wore a variety of headgear during their operations as members of special operations units. Those who served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Europe often adopted whatever headgear their French or Belgian Resistance compatriots wore. This was often a beret, since many of the OSS teams served in France. The beret, worn in a variety of styles and colors, even showed up on OSS personnel in the Far East. Many of the first members of the U.S. Army 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 1952, were veterans of the OSS. Berets of various types and colors began being worn unofficially as early as 1954 on the unit's field exercises in Germany and at Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall, North Carolina. The color green was favored because it was reminiscent of the World War II British Commando-type beret that had been adopted by the Commandos on 24 October 1942. After testing in 1955, the 77th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg specified, still unofficially that its soldiers wear a beret of Canadian Army design in rifle green. Special Forces personnel in Europe in the 10th Special Forces Group (A) simultaneously adopted a green beret, even wearing it publicly with the Army Class A uniform, despite the lack of official approval. Special Forces troopers first wore the green beret publicly at Fort Bragg during a retirement parade in 1955. In 1957, however, the Fort Bragg post commander banned the wearing of the beret. This ban was reversed on 25 September 1961 by DA (Department of the Army) Message 578636, which authorized the green beret as the official Army headgear to be worn by Special Forces. The first official wearing of the newly authorized green beret was at a Special Forces demonstration staged for President John F. Kennedy at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961.


From www.specialoperations.com: (Kennedy) sent word to the Special Warfare Center commander, Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear their berets for the event. President Kennedy felt that since they had a special mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the rest. Even before the presidential request, hoever, the Department of the Army had acquiesced and teletyped a message to the Center authorizing the beret as a part of the Special Forces uniform. ... Gen. Yarborough wore his green beret to greet the commander-in-chief. The president remarked, "Those are nice. How do you like the green beret?" General Yarborough replied: "They're fine, sir. We've wanted them a long time."

A message from President Kennedy to General Yarborough later that day stated: "My congratulations to you personally for your part in the presentation today ... The challenge of this old but new form of operations is a real one and I know that you and the members of your command will carry on for us and the free world in a manner which is both worthy and inspiring. I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead."

In an April 11, 1962, White House memorandum for the United States Army, President Kennedy showed his continued support for the Special Forces, calling the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."

* "A Short History of the Use of Berets in the U.S. Army" (from www.army.mil): @
* "Distinctive Beret Uniform History of U.S. Armed Services" (by retired Air Force Master Sergeant John Cassidy): @
* Special Operations Forces history (from www.soc.mil): @
* "Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia" (Department of the Army): @
* "Special Forces Qualification Course" (from www.baseops.net): @
* Airborne & Special Operations Museum (Fayetteville, North Carolina): @

9.24.2011

Sunday, September 24, 1961: 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'

The weekly series gets a new name (from "Walt Disney Presents"), a new network (from ABC to NBC) and a "new" technology (color television, which was only in about 1% of American households at the time). The first episode introduces a new character as well: Professor Ludwig von Drake, who explains light and color (and sings "The Spectrum Song").

* Entry from "Brought to You in Living Color: 75 Years of Great Moments in Television" (book by Marc Robinson: @
* TV Guide stories about Disney (from 1961): @
* Episode list (from 1954 to 1996): @
* Watch show's opening: @
* Watch Ludwig von Drake on first episode: @

9.22.2011

Friday, September 22, 1961: Freedom Rides (update)

The Interstate Commerce Commission Friday barred racial discrimination on interstate buses or in their terminal facilities. (The Associated Press)

Acting on a petition by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the Interstate Commerce Commission issues an order titled "Discrimination in Operations of Interstate Motor Carriers of Passengers," to go into effect November 1. It reads, in part:

180a (1) Discrimination prohibited. No motor common carrier of passengers subject to section 216 of the Interstate Commerce Act shall operate a motor vehicle in interstate or foreign commerce on which the seating of passengers is based upon race, color, creed, or national origin.

180a (4) Discrimination in terminal facilities. No motor common carrier of passengers subject to section 216 of the Interstate Commerce Act shall in the operations of vehicles in interstate or foreign commerce provide, maintain arrangements for, utilize, make available, adhere to any understanding for the availability of, or follow any practice which includes the availability of, any terminal facilities which are so operated, arranged or maintained as to involve any separation of any portion thereof, or in the use thereof on the basis of race, color, creed, or national origin.

Ray Arsenault, author of "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice," would describe the order this way: "This was the first unambiguous victory in the long road of the civil rights movement. It finally said that 'you know, we can do this,' and it raised expectations across the board for greater victories in the future."

Buses were also required to post signs stating: "Seating aboard this vehicle is without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin, by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission." The sign at left was removed from a Greyhound bus at the terminal in Jackson, Mississippi; the "out" in "without" had been cut away. (Photo from http://hist.us/.)

* "Discrimination in Interstate Bus Transportation" (The Crisis magazine, November 1961; includes entire text of ICC order): @
* "Waiting for the ICC" (from Federal Highway Administration): @
* "The ICC Ruling" (also from Federal Highway Administration): @
* Earlier blog post about Freedom Rides: @
* Freedom Rides resources: @

9.19.2011

Tuesday-Wednesday, September 19-20, 1961: Betty and Barney Hill

While driving home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after a vacation in Canada, Betty and Barney Hill claim they were taken aboard an alien spacecraft. Their account was not made public until the 1966 book "The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a Flying Saucer" by John G. Fuller; excerpts appeared in Look magazine.

* Overview (from www.ufocasebook.com): @
* Website of Kathleen Marden, the Hills' niece: @
* "Captured! The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction" (book by Stanton T. Friedman and Kathleen Marden): @
* "Talks With Betty Hill: 1 - Aftermath of Encounter" (article by Berthold Eric Schwartz; consultant, Brain Wave Laboratory, Essex County Hospital Center, Cedar Grove, N.J.): @
* The Betty and Barney Hill collection (items at the University of New Hampshire Library): @
* "New Hampshire commemorates Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience" (from www.openminds.tv): @
* "The White Mountain Abduction" (documentary): @ and @
* "They Know Us Better Than We Know Ourselves: The History and Politics of Alien Abduction" (book by Bridget Brown): @
*"Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us" (book by Jim Marrs): @

Betty and Barney underwent hypnosis in 1964 in an effort to re-create their experience. During the sessions, Betty drew a "star map" that she said the aliens had shown her. The map is similar to a star system 39 light years from Earth.

* "The Zeta Reticuli Incident," article in Astronomy magazine, December 1974 (from National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena website): @
* Article positing that the map is actually of our own solar system: @



9.18.2011

Monday, September 18, 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld dies


A plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) kills the secretary-general of the United Nations. He was on a mission to work out a cease-fire between U.N. forces and insurgents in the Katanga region of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Speculation quickly surfaces that his death was no accident.

* Short biography (from United Nations website): @
* Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation: @
* Website about Hammarskjöld: @
* President Kennedy's speech to General Assembly (September 25, text and audio): @
* Newsreel of Kennedy's speech: @
* Newsreel of Hammarskjöld's death: @
* Newsreel of funeral: @
* United Nations report on plane crash (April 24 1962; click on "English"): @
* "Evidence suggests UN chief's plane was shot down" (The Guardian, August 17, 2011): @
* More about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including history (from Library of Congress): @

Monday, September 18, 1961: Pork belly futures

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange begins trading pork belly futures.

From a 1991 article by The Associated Press: "A pork belly futures contract is an obligation to deliver or take delivery of 40,000 pounds of frozen bellies on a future date at a specified price."

From a 2010 article in The Wall Street Journal: "The pork belly, a slab of frozen meat from which bacon is cut ... earned the exchange the nickname 'The House That Bellies Built.' ... The contract started ... as a way for meat packers and food companies to manage their price risk of bacon. Pork bellies were frozen and stored away in winter, and then thawed out in the summer to accommodate the annual summer increase in demand for bacon as the nation munched through millions of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. The seasonal pattern gave rise to the need for producers to hedge against price fluctuations."

Photo from Chicago Tribune, 1967.

* "History of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange" (from 1970): @
* Timeline: @
* "The Ode: Pork Belly Futures (1961-2011)" (from canadianbusiness.com): @
* Trade in Pork Bellies Comes to an End, but the Lore Lives" (New York Times, July 2011): @
* "End of an Era: R.I.P. Pork Belly Futures" (July 2011): @
* CNBC video (2010): @

9.17.2011

Sunday, September 17, 1961: 'Car 54, Where Are You?'

Starring Joe E. Ross (left) as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, the comedy about New York City policemen debuts on NBC. The theme song proved as memorable as the show itself:

There's a holdup in the Bronx
Brooklyn's broken out in fights
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Brooklyn Heights
There's a scout troop short a child
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild ...
Car 54, where are you?

From the book "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present": "One unusual aspect of this series was the partners' patrol car, which looked identical to those used by real-life New York City police -- but only because the show was filmed in black and white. The car was actually painted red and white to distinguish it from real police cars during the shooting (all of which was done on location). On the home screen the red and white car looked identical to the dark green and white of genuine New York City police cars."
* Show summary (from "St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture"): @
* Watch show's opening: @
* Fred Gwynne biography (from biography.com): @
* Joe E. Ross biography (from wfmu.org): @

9.16.2011

Undated: Muscle Shoals, Alabama


Music producer Rick Hall moves his recording studio from Florence, Alabama, to nearby Muscle Shoals in 1961. (The studio's name, FAME, stands for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises.) The phrase "The Muscle Shoals Sound" would be used to describe the soulful sounds of FAME records. Its signature songs include "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin, "I'd Rather Go Blind" by Etta James and "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett.
* Official website: @
* "Muscle Shoals -- The legendary studio where soul was born" (2011, from The Independent newspaper): @
* "The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound" (NPR, 2003): @
* "A Studio on the Road to 'Fame' " (NPR, 2012): @
* "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" (from Encyclopedia of Alabama): @
* "Music Fell on Alabama" (Christopher S. Fuqua, 2006): @
* "Muscle Shoals" (Laura Flynn Tapia and Yoshie Lewis, 2007): @ 

9.15.2011

September 1961: Fallout shelters

Against a tense backdrop -- the construction of the Berlin Wall and the resumption of nuclear testing by both the Soviet Union and the United States -- Americans are taking a heightened interest in shelters that would (presumably) protect them from a nuclear attack and its radioactive aftermath.


May 9: "New York's Nelson Rockefeller went to Washington last week, with several other governors, to huddle with John Kennedy and urge a more vigorous federal building program for fallout shelters. Rocky seized the occasion to enjoy his first post-election meal with the President. On the menu: Rocky's own New York State Civil Defense "fallout biscuits," vitaminized crackers that can sustain life for weeks on end. Rockefeller has stockpiled seven tons of them -- and coffee, sugar, powdered milk, water -- in a 1,000 person fallout shelter under the New York State Capitol at Albany, first shelter built at any state capitol. (He has also built shelters under the Governor's mansion and his family estate at Pocantico Hills.) At last week's meeting, Rocky proudly presented Kennedy with a package of the biscuits, urged him to eat. The President just nibbled." (Time magazine, May 19) Photo at left shows Rockefeller inside a shelter model set up in The New York Savings Bank; photo by Walter Sanders.
* "Rockefeller's Civil Defense Program" (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 1960): @
* Excerpt from "Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked" (book by Dee Garrison): @

May 25: In his "man to the moon" speech, President Kennedy assigns civil defense oversight to the Secretary of Defense and seeks increased funding.
* Earlier blog post (May 25): @

July 25: In his speech on the Berlin Crisis, President Kennedy says: "Tomorrow, I am requesting of the Congress new funds for the following immediate objectives: to identify and mark space in existing structures -- public and private -- that could be used for fallout shelters in case of attack; to stock those shelters with food, water, first-aid kits and other minimum essentials for survival; to increase their capacity; to improve our air-raid warning and fall-out detection systems, including a new household warning system which is now under development; and to take other measures that will be effective at an early date to save millions of lives if needed. In the event of an attack, the lives of those families which are not hit in a nuclear blast and fire can still be saved -- if they can be warned to take shelter and if that shelter is available. We owe that kind of insurance to our families -- and to our country. In contrast to our friends in Europe, the need for this kind of protection is new to our shores. But the time to start is now. In the coming months, I hope to let every citizen know what steps he can take without delay to protect his family in case of attack. I know that you will to do no less."
* Earlier blog post (July 25): @


September: The National Fallout Shelter Program begins. From the Civil Defense Museum: "The purpose ... was to locate, mark and stock as many fallout shelter spaces as possible. The local governments (city, state) did the work as far as delivering and placing the supplies in the shelters, while the federal government supplied the actual shelter supplies. The local government civil defense was the owner of the fallout shelter supplies in its municipality. These fallout shelters were for radiation protection only, although some of the shelters would have offered some blast protection depending on the structure's design and construction that the shelter space was located in. 70% of shelter space surveyed across the U.S. was located in the upper floors of high-rise buildings. These shelter spaces would have obviously afforded no blast protection. It was never intended for fallout shelters to be "bomb shelters" as some believe.

September 1: The Soviet Union ends a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing.
* Earlier blog post (August 31-September 1): @

September 15: In response, the United States begins a series of underground nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site.
* "Operation Nougat" (from nuclearweaponarchive.org): @
* "Operation Nougat: Final Report" (from U.S. Public Health Service): @
* "United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992" (from U.S. Department of Energy): @
* "Vela Uniform Participation in Operation Nougat and Gnome" (Department of Defense film): @


September 15: Life magazine's cover story, "How You Can Survive Fallout," includes a letter dated September from President Kennedy that says, in part: "The security of our country and the peace of the world are the objectives of our policy. But in these dangerous days when both these objectives are threatened we must prepare for all eventualities. The ability to survive coupled with the will to do so are therefore essential to our country."
* Sept. 15 edition: (cover story begins on Page 95): @
















September 29: "The Twilight Zone" airs an episode called "The Shelter," in which neighbors turn against one another after a report that nuclear weapons have been launched.
* Watch the episode: @
* Episode summary (from TV.com): @

September 30: "Ethics at the Shelter Doorway" appears in the magazine America, aka the National Catholic Weekly Review. The author, Father Laurence C. McHugh, in talking about the need to protect one's self even at the expense of others, writes: "I doubt that any Catholic moralist would condemn the man who used available violence to repel panicky plying crowbars at the shelter door."
* Excerpts from article: @
* CBS footage of McHugh: @
* Excerpt from "One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture": @
* "Public Shelter Living: The Story of Shelter 104" (1964 educational film, Office of Civil Defense): @


December: Following up on Kennedy's July 25 speech, the Office of Civil Defense begins distributing the booklet "
Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do About Nuclear Attack."

* Booklet (from archive.org): @
* Events leading up to publication (from conelrad.com): @








Other resources
* "Fallout Shelters" (from www.u-s-history.com): @
* Civil Defense Museum: @
* www.undergroundbombshelter.com: @
* www.conelrad.com (Cold War history, culture and propaganda): @
* www.atomictheater.com: @
* "Radiological Defense" (film by Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization): @
* "About Fallout" (1963 film by Office of Civil Defense): @
* "Nuclear War Survival Skills" (book by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1979): @
* "One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture" (book by Kenneth D. Rose): @
* "Fallout Shelter: Designing for Defense in the Cold War" (book by David Monteyne): @
* "Dr. Strangelove's America" (book by Margot Henriksen): @

9.13.2011

Wednesday, September 13, 1961: SIOP-62

President Kennedy is briefed by the U.S. military on how a nuclear war might be carried out.

From "JFK's First-Strike Plan" (The Atlantic magazine, October 2001): "U.S. military policy at the time called for 'massive retaliation' in the event of general war -- shooting off all our nuclear weapons against every target in the Soviet Union, China and parts of Eastern Europe, no matter how limited the cause of the war might be. This single integrated operational plan -- or SIOP, as the military called it -- was so tightly woven into the logistics and training of the U.S. Strategic Air Command that it would be impossible to launch a smaller-scale nuclear attack even if the President wanted to. The problem with this SIOP, in the view of many defense analysts, was that if the United States unleashed the full attack against the USSR, the Soviets would initiate a retaliatory strike once they saw the attack coming, ultimately killing tens of millions of Americans. ... SIOP-62, as the plan was known, called for sending in the full arsenal of the Strategic Air Command, -- 2,258 missiles and bombers carrying a total of 3,423 nuclear weapons -- against 1,077 'military and urban-industrial targets' throughout the 'Sino-Soviet Bloc.' "

Kennedy was not satisifed with the plan, preferring more options than just all-out war. That would be reflected in SIOP-63.

* "New Evidence on the Origins of Overkill" (from National Security Archive): @
* "The Creation of SIOP-62: More Evidence on the Origins of Overkill (from National Security Archive): @
* "History of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff: Preparation of SIOP-62" (from National Security Archive): @
* "History of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff: Preparation of SIOP-63" (from National Security Archive): @
* Excerpt from "President Kennedy: Profile of Power" (book by Richard Reeves): @
* "JFK's First-Strike Option" (The Atlantic magazine, October 2001): @
* "Constraining Overkill: Contending Approaches to Nuclear Strategy, 1955-1965" (from Naval Historical Center): @
* "Strategic Air Planning and Berlin" (memo to Gen. Maxwell Taylor): @
* "Doomsday Delayed: USAF Strategic Weapons Doctrine and SIOP-62" (book by John H. Rubel): @

9.12.2011

Tuesday, September 12, 1961: The Mercury 13 (updated)

Five days before they were to begin flight simulation training in Pensacola, Florida, the 13 members of the privately funded Woman in Space program received the following telegram, effectively ending their hopes of joining the U.S. space effort.

Regret to advise arrangements at Pensacola cancelled Probably will not be possible to carry out this part of program. You may return expense advance allotment to Lovelace Foundation c/o me Letter will advise of additional developments when matter cleared further= W Randolph Lovelace II MD

* Earlier blog post (from 1960): @

9.11.2011

Monday, September 11, 1961: Hurricane Carla

With top winds estimated at 150 miles per hour, the eye of Hurricane Carla makes landfall between Port O'Connor and Port Lavaca, Texas. Half a million people had evacuated the Texas coastline; as a result, the death toll was a relatively low 46. The hurricane was also noteworthy in that it marked the first time a television reporter -- Dan Rather, working for CBS's Houston affiliate, KHOU-TV -- provided continuous live reports from Galveston Island while riding out the storm.

Photo by Flip Schulke

* Summary (from National Weather Service, Corpus Christi, Texas): @
* U.S. Weather Bureau advisories and bulletins (PDF): @
* "In the Eye of a Mighty Storm" (Life magazine, September 22): @
* Weather Bureau film: @
* Newsreel: @
* "Hurricane Carla Aftermath" (silent footage): @ and @
* "Rather in the Eye of the Storm" (CBS video): @

9.06.2011

Wednesday, September 6, 1961: National Reconnaisance Office

From The Washington Post's "Top Secret America" series:

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was established in September 1961 as a classified agency of the Department of Defense. The existence of the NRO and its mission of overhead (satellite) reconnaissance were declassified in September 1992. Headquartered in Chantilly, Va., the NRO designs, builds and, with the Air Force, operates the nation's reconnaisance satellites, which are the main collection assets for geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) source data. The satellites also provide significant signals intelligence (SIGINT) data.

* More from Washington Post series: @
* Background and relevant documents (from National Security Archive): @
*"Out of the Black: The Declassification of the NRO" (from National Security Archive): @
*"The 16 Members of the U.S. Intelligence Community" (from www.mentalfloss.com): @
* "Space-Based Reconnaissance" (from Army Space Journal): @
* NRO website: @
* More links (from Federation of American Scientists): @
* Post from August 18, 1960: Spy pictures from space: @

9.04.2011

Monday, September 4, 1961: Nixon's hole-in-one

The former vice president, who narrowly lost the 1960 presidential race, hits a hole-in-one on No. 3 (155 yards) at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. "It's the greatest thrill of my life -- even better than being elected," Nixon says. His playing partners that Labor Day were the actor Randolph Scott, former California Rep. Donald Jackson and longtime friend Bebe Rebozo. (Photo by Corbis Images)

* Excerpt from "First Off The Tee" (book by Don Van Natta Jr.): @
* Hole-in-one facts (from www.nationalholeinoneregistry.com): @

9.02.2011

Undated: 'Boredom at Work'

Produced by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, "Boredom at Work: Part 1, The Empty Life" is an educational film that (in the words of an Amazon.com review) "is ostensibly about psychological 'boredom,' which resembles modern depression. The film depicts several dramatizations of different people who are bored with their lives and have developed some neurotic compensating behavior or other problem." It would be followed by "The Search for Zest," which according to an audiovisual guide, "shows the successful outcome when such (psychiatric) consultation finally follows."

* Watch "The Empty Life" (from Prelinger Archives): @

9.01.2011

September 1961: Stax Records

Satellite Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee, changes its name to Stax Records, the word "Stax" combining the first two letters of the last names of company owners Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. The first single released on the soul label was the Mar-Keys' "The Morning After," a follow-up to their earlier Satellite hit, "Last Night."

Note: I couldn't pinpoint the exact date of the name change. The earliest mention I could find is in the September 11 issue of Billboard magazine.

* Short history (from www.bluescentric.com): @
* Timeline (from www.staxmuseum.com): @
* "Birth of Stax": (by Robert Gordon): @
* Jim Stewart biography and timeline (from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame): @ and @
* "Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records" (book by Rob Bowman): @
* Lesson plan for teachers (from www.pbs.org; includes links to artists' websites): @
* Listen to "Morning After": @