Goodbye to an era: voice of "The Right Stuff" passes

A man who lived in my state in recent years, and who was the voice of the early NASA broadcasts has died.

Paul Haney, who was known as the "voice of NASA's Mission Control" for his live televised reports during the early years of the space program, died last Thursday of cancer at a nursing home in Alamogordo. He was 80.

Haney became NASA's information officer in 1958, only three months after the agency was formed. Haney pioneered a real-time system of reporting events as they happened in the first manned flight program, Project Mercury. In 1962 he became the public affairs officer of the Office of Manned Space Flight and moved to Houston to work in what is now Johnson Space Center.

Later he went on to manage information from the Gemini and Apollo flight programs. During those early years, Haney worked in the Mission Control Center, where he broadcast live to television viewers, and the news media covering launches. If you are old enough to remember watching the Mercury flights on television in your high school cafeteria when they used to let classes out because of the importance of those events, then you have heard Paul Haney's voice.

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I have a thirst for new knowledge and am constantly searching. Not all that I come across is worthy of taking up brain-cell space. Here is some interesting (and not-so-interesting) information in my travels around the internet; things you simply MUST be aware of...

There are 200 million Blogs which are no longer being undated (3 years ago)

More than one in eight people in US shows signs of addiction to the internet (how could you know something like that?)

Fathers tend to determine the height of their child. Mother’s tend to determine the weight. (I doubt that. Unless you are talking about parental supervision and not genetics)

Panspermia is the idea that life on Earth originated on another planet (for scrabble players, no?)

The Mona Lisa used to hang on the wall of Napoleon’s bedroom (but then, Napoleon use to sleep in the Louvre, right?)

Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts (I'm trying really hard to think of something I care less about. Nope.)

Cows can have regional accents according to a Professor of phonetics. (Who wants to bet me that he got a grant from the U.S. Government to study that crap?)

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Photo credit: The New Mexico Museum of Space History, Alamogordo.

Clarity 101: a child's guide to electricity

Your attention please, class. Little A.? Sit up front please, so you won't disrupt the lesson. Ettarose? Leave little Canucklehead alone now. Canuck? Pay attention, please. No, you can't go have a drink now.

Today we are going to learn about electricity. Can you say "eee-lek-TRI-ci-tee?" Good.

What is electricity?

Electricity is the flow of electrons from one atom to another atom.

Oh, my! but you look puzzled already Chica. Just wait. No you can't go to the bathroom now, dear.

Everything in the universe is made up of tiny particles called atoms. Atoms are the building blocks of the universe. "Everything" means every tree, every star, every animal. Air and water too. Even YOU are made up of atoms. Yes, little Catherine, even you. Little teeny tiny Welsh atoms. Sit still, please.

Inside each of these tiny atoms are even smaller particles. Because they are smaller than the atom, they are called "subatomic particles." Yes, Sheila, it DOES make sense. Please don't talk though.

At the center of the atom is something called a nucleus. See this model I am holding up? No? Pretend you see a model, please. The nucleus is made up of extremely small particles called protons and neutrons. 

Revolving around the nucleus, almost like planets revolve around the sun, are other even smaller particles called electrons. Can you say eee-LECK-tron? Good! A proton is very small, but an electron is much, much smaller still. Yes. Yes. Don't shake your head little Debbie.

Each of these particles, protons and electrons, has an "electrical charge." An electrical charge is a kind of "force" within the particles. ::pops little Canucklehead on the side of the head sharply:: Do you understand "force," little Canuck? Yes, indeed. Protons have a positive "charge" and electrons have a negative "charge."

Because of their opposite electrical charges, protons and electrons are attracted to each other. Remember the old saying "opposites attract?" In the case of electricity, it is true. Neutrons have no electrical charge. Pfft. Yes, Souby. Silly useless neutrons. Thank you.

When  there is an equal number of protons and electrons, the atom is balanced, and is probably as happy as a pig in deep slop. By the way, not all atoms have the same number of protons. Nosiree. The number of protons in a particular atom tells you what kind of atom (or "element") it is. If you want to know. Chemists seem to want to know. Hardly anyone else. And you can also forget about "elements." Unless, again, you are a chemist. An American chemist, not a British chemist. Never mind, children. Electricity. That's the thing.

Not all electrons are in the same "orbit" around the nucleus either. Some are closer, like Mercury is to the sun, and some are farther away. Like Uranus, Canuck.

The electrons in close orbit around the nucleus protons are strongly attracted to the protons. What? Yes, Caroline! - because they are closer together! Good girl!

And the electrons in "orbits" farther away from the protons? Anyone? Anyone? NOT so strongly attracted. Good answer, Frostygirl! ::pops Canucklehead again. Just because::

By the way, these electron "orbits" are called "shells." That is what we will call them from now on. Inner shells and outer shells. Never mind Chica. Just keep coloring. Someday you will be an excellent designer, little Chica.

What's that, Souby? "Little" Chica is redundant? Yes. Right you are, little guy. Right you are. Like Rio Grande "river" is redundant. A fine boy. A remarkable boy. ::Scrooge gives him half a crown::

Just remember that the electrons farthest away, the ones in the "outer shells" are not so strongly attracted to the protons in the nucleus. Not always, but sometimes. No, little A. Sometimes. Not always. ::narrows eyes at her menacingly::

Sometimes these outer shell electrons are so weakly attracted to the far away protons that they can be bumped out of their orbits. I mean shells. Stand up Canucklehead. ::bumps into little Canuck hard, knocking him several feet away::

See? When an outer shell electron is bumped, it can go right into another atom next door, and become a part of that atom. And then maybe it bumps another electron in THAT atom, and so forth right on down a whole line of atoms. And that is called a "flow of electrons". Ha! And a flow of electrons is called... what? Little Debbie? YES!! Eee-lec-TRI-ci-tee!!!

Come here, Canucklehead, and we will demonstrate again. Canucklehead. Come. Come. Do as I say young man.

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[Next time: some absolutely shocking information about electricity.]