Memorial Day 2012

• The History of Memorial Day
• 
  
• The original name for the holiday was Decoration Day.
• Memorial Day is set aside to honor those who died in our Nation's service.
• Originally started to commemorate the deceased of the Civil War.
• Waterloo, NY was declared the official birthplace of Memorial Day by President Johnson in 1966.
• Over two dozen towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day.
• Southern women are said to have started the tradition of decorating the graves of Confederate. Soldiers with flags and flowers.
• Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5th, 1868.
• A General, not a President, declared Memorial Day.
• Memorial Day was first observed on May 30th, 1868.
• Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday in May.
• The first state to recognize the day was NY.
• On the first, official Memorial Day a large ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery and flowers were placed on the headstones.
• Most southern states refused to recognize the day officially until after WWI.
• After WWI the Day was adjusted to celebrate the deceased in all wars.
• A National Holiday Act was signed by Congress in 1971, ensuring a three day weekend for the Federal Holiday.
• Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Tennessee, all have separate days to honor the South's Civil War hero's.
• Red poppies are the unofficial flower of Memorial Day.
• The VFW was the first veterans' organization to sell poppies nationally.
• The "Buddy" Poppy Program sells imitation poppies made by veterans.
• Memorial Day parades were once a standard of the day.
• In 2000 the National Moment of Remembrance was initiated.
• The National Moment of remembrance asks that all Americans at 3:00 pm, pause from any action to somehow honor the deceased of our many wars.
• In 1951 the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began the placement of 150,000 flags at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. This tradition still stands.
• In 2004 Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
• Memorial Day is the, unofficial, beginning of summer activities.
• US death tolls for Memorial Weekend are higher than almost any other weekend.
• On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half staff until noon and full staff the rest of the day.
• Hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists descend on Washington D.C. each Memorial Day in a parade of appreciation for fallen soldiers, MIA's, and POW's. This tradition started in 1988 with 2,500 motorcyclists.

http://www.inthelighturns.com/history-memorial-day-infographic.html

History of National Nurses Week!

May 12th is Florence Nightingale's birthday. 

National Nurses Week is celebrated every year beginning May 6th and ending May 12th. Join us in celebrating the men and women who serve this country by caring for its citizens.

1953 Dorothy Sutherland of the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare proposed to President Eisenhower to proclaim a "Nurses Day" to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to the Crimea. However the proclamation was never made. National Nurses Week was observed, regardless, in 1954 from October 11 - 16 thanks to a bill sponsored by Representative Frances P. Bolton. A bill for a National Nurses Week was introduced in 1955 to Congress, but still, no action was taken. 1965 The International Council of Nurses (ICN) began celebrating "International Nurse Day". The House of Representatives presented a resolution in 1972 to President Nixon to proclaim "National Registered Nurse Day". Again, no action was taken. In January of 1974, ICN proclaims that May 12 (the birthday of Florence Nightingale) would be "International Nurse Day".

In February, President Nixon proclaims National Nurse Week.  After that, in 1978 New Jersey Governor Brendon Byrne declared May 6 as "National Nurses Day" for his state. Then in1981, the ANA (American Nurses Association) rallied with other nurses associations to support a resolution initiated by nurses in New Mexico, through Congressman Manuel Lujan, to have May 6, 1982, established as "National Recognition Day for Nurses".

In February 1982, the ANA Board of Directors formally acknowledges May 6, 1982 as "National Nurses Day". This action confirmed a joint resolution of the United States Congress designating May 6 as "National Recognition Day for Nurses".

On March 25th 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation officially declaring May 6, 1982 as "National Recognition Day for Nurses". In 1990 The American Nursing Association Board of Directors expanded the recognition of nurses to a week-long celebration, declaring May 6 - 12, 1991 as National Nurses Week. In 1993 the ANA Board of Directors designated May 6 - 12 as lasting dates to observe National Nurses Week.

http://www.nursesweek.org/

'Supermoon' Tonight! See Full Moon & Meteor Shower!

California ~ the moon will rise at about 7:37 p.m.

The East Coast will see it rise at 7:46 p.m. EDT.

Find your location by using the Old Farmer's Almanac.

If the full moon looks a bit bigger and brighter in tonight's sky, you're not seeing things: It's just the "supermoon" — the biggest moon of 2012.

And there's a meteor shower from Halley's comet peaking tonight, too, adding to the sky show.

The full moon of May will hit its peak overnight tonight and early Sunday (May 5 and 6) just one minute after the moon makes its closest approach to Earth. The timing means the moon, weather permitting, could appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon, an event scientists have nicknamed the "supermoon."

The moon will be at its fullest at 11:35 p.m. EDT (0335 Sunday GMT) just after hitting perigee, the point in its orbit that brings the moon closest to Earth. The technical name for the event is a "perigee moon," though NASA and other scientists have dubbed May's full moon as the supermoon of 2012.

The moon will be about 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from Earth, about 12.2 percent closer to our planet than when the moon is at apogee, its farthest point. The average Earth-moon distance is about 230,000 miles (384,400 km).

The last time a supermoon occurred was in March 2011. That supermoon was actually closer to Earth than the moon will be tonight by about 248 miles (400 km). [Amazing Supermoon Photos from 2011]

A good time to watch is during moonrise or moonset. At these times, due to reasons astronomers don't fully understand, the moon can appear much larger than when it is higher in the sky. But the view is actually an optical illusion (also known as the "moon illusion").

The moon is no larger than it is when it's overhead in the night sky and you can prove it yourself. Here's how, when the moon is low on the horizon measure its size with a ruler or your thumb and forefinger. When it's higher up in the sky, try again. The distances will be the same.

The extra big full moon of May can mean higher tides on Earth, an effect called "perigean tides," but there is no chance of the supermoon posing a threat to Earth.

"In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual," astronomer Tony Phillips wrote in a NASA supermoon alert. "Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (6 inches) — not exactly a great flood."

Meteors from Halley's comet!

The supermoon is not the only celestial sight in the skies this weekend. The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower will hit its peak with up to 60 meteors per hour.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is one of two "shooting star" displays created by dust left over by the famed Halley's comet as it makes its 76-year trip around the sun. The Orionid meteor shower in October is the other meteor show from the comet.

While the supermoon is expected to outshine the fainter Eta Aquarid meteors, NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke predicts that some bright fireballs may be visible. Cooke and his observing team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have already recorded several bright fireballs from the Eta Aquarids and are looking forward to seeing more tonight using the agency's network of all-sky meteor cameras.

"Ideal viewing conditions are clear skies away from city lights, especially just before dawn," NASA officials wrote in an Eta Aquarid meteor observing guide. " Find an area well away from city or street lights. Lie flat on your back on a blanket, lawn chair or sleeping bag and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient — the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse."

Source: http://www.space.com/15558-supermoon-observing-tips-meteor-shower.html

Meteorites In My Backyard, El Dorado County, California!

Meteorites are said to be worth 3 times more than gold!

I live in El Dorado County California just a few miles from Sutter's Mill where gold was first discovered in California in 1848. Now in 2012 meteorites are being discovered by some and sparking a "meteorite rush" in many. My own daughter and her husband went meteorite hunting this last weekend and I am hearing about more people who are planning on trips to the area in the next few days. So I felt like I should post this story in honor of El Dorado County's latest discovery and help spread the word in the hopes that more families will take an afternoon and head for the NEW gold in our own backyards.

There’s been lots of excitement about the meteorites that fell from the California fireball. Hunters have converged around the town of Coloma, home of the famed Sutter’s Mill where the California gold rush started. Is there a more fitting place for the start of a “meteorite gold rush”?

According to meteorite hunter Mike Farmer of Arizona, as of Thursday morning only about 15 grams or about half an ounce of material has been found. Rattlesnakes and tough terrain have made looking for space rocks no easy task.

Sunday’s fall is only the 3rd witnessed fall of a meteorite in California. The other two were Red Canyon Lake on August 11, 2007 and San Juan Capistrano on March 15, 1973. The first was a single stone weighing picked up by a hiker that weighed just 18.4 grams; the second fall dropped two small stones. One of them penetrated the roof of a carport in a mobile-home park and was picked up on the floor several hours later. Both falls were much more common stony meteorites compared to the rare carbonaceous or carbon-rich variety from the current fall.

A slice of the carbonaceous chondrite NWA 3118 from the Sahara Desert. The round dots are chondrules (KON-drools). They were formed from the original dust of the solar nebula that evolved into the planets. Early on, the dust was flash-heated and congealed into tiny spheres. The white mineral, called a calcium-aluminum-inclusion, is slightly older than the chondrules. Photo: Bob King

You may have heard the new meteorites called by several names: Sutter’s Mill, Lotus, Coloma. While one of these may ultimately be chosen by the Meteoritical Society as the formal name, for now they’re best guesses and convenient handles.

In 2009, a widely witnessed meteorite fall happened near West, Texas. For a long time it was referred to as the West meteorite until receiving its official name Ash Creek. I hunted the April 2010 fall in southern Wisconsin near the town of Livingston. Many of us referred to the fragments by that name until the Society designated it as Mifflin after another nearby town where specimens were found.

Here are the Society’s basic guidelines for naming a new meteorite whether from a fresh fall or one that’s been there a long time and just recently discovered. Most are named after the nearest town or feature of the landscape:

* A new meteorite shall be named after a nearby geographical locality. Every effort should be made to avoid unnecessary duplication or ambiguity, and to select a permanent feature such as a town, village, river, bay, cape, mountain or island which appears on widely used maps and is sufficiently close to the recovery site to convey meaningful locality information. In sparsely populated areas with few place names, less permanent features such as ranches or stations or, in extreme cases, local unofficial names of distinctive quality may be used, provided the latitude and longitude of the recovery site are well determined.

The rules go into much more depth to cover other circumstances like the glut of meteorites from the Sahara Desert that appear in marketplaces in Morocco and other North African countries or were sold to dealers in Europe and the U.S.

Specific locations for these orphan meteorites were often not recorded, so they’re all classed as NWA (Northwest Africa) followed by a number. One of the best known Saharan meteorites is NWA 869, classified as an L4-6 chondrite. There’s been a tremendous number of meteorites coming out of the Sahara since around the year 2000. Numbered NWAs are currently approaching 8000!

Often when there’s high interest in a particular meteorite fall like the one in California, the space rock gets named and classified more quickly. As you might guess, I’m rooting for Sutter’s Mill.

It was there that carpenter James W. Marshall, while working on the construction of the mill, found several gold nuggets in January 1848 that would lead to the gold rush so many of us remember from our grade school history books.

One last point. I’m often asked where a person can send a suspected meteorite to have it tested. You’ll find a list of testing services at Found A Meteorite? The site reminds readers that real meteorites are found in less than 1% of submitted samples.

Source: Bob King, Duluth News Tribune in Duluth, Minn.: http://astrobob.areavoices.com/