Remembering famous writer’s mother

Each of us has one,

And his now has the spotlight:

Jane Lampton Clemens.

You probably know just one of the seven

John Marshall Clemens 

was the father of seven

and this one you know.

Haiku about what is coming soon to this blog

Born in Florida,

He grew up in Hannibal.

Stay tuned for much more.

What is the oldest aircraft carrier that remains in service?

‘What is the oldest aircraft carrier that remains in service?' The simple answer is the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), which was the first of the Nimitz-class carriers. The long answer delves into the ship's history, its importance to the modern design of aircraft carriers, and the many missions it's undergone since it was commissioned on May 3, 1975.

Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1575097/oldest-aircraft-carrier-still-in-service/ 

Personal Postscript: I’m partial to stories about aircraft carriers because I was stationed on three of them: Coral Sea, Ranger, and Kitty Hawk.

Highly recommended biography by H. W. Brands

Some books deserve high praise and repeated reading. The one shown below is just such a book. I’m taking a moment here to recommend it to you. 

(Amazon blurb)

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this “thorough biography of ... America’s first Renaissance man” (The Washington Post) by the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War.

"The authoritative Franklin biography for our time.” —Joseph J. Ellis, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers

Wit, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, businessman, inventor, and bon vivant, Benjamin Franklin's "life is one every American should know well, and it has not been told better than by Mr. Brands" (The Dallas Morning News). From penniless runaway to highly successful printer, from ardently loyal subject of Britain to architect of an alliance with France that ensured America’s independence, Franklin went from obscurity to become one of the world’s most admired figures, whose circle included the likes of Voltaire, Hume, Burke, and Kant.

Drawing on previously unpublished letters and a host of other sources, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands has written a thoroughly engaging biography of the eighteenth-century genius. A much needed reminder of Franklin’s greatness and humanity, The First American is a work of meticulous scholarship that provides a magnificent tour of a legendary historical figure, a vital era in American life, and the countless arenas in which the protean Franklin left his legacy.

Hmm… another part of Margaret Sanger’s legacy

9 May, 1960 — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the world's first commercially produced birth-control pill—Enovid-10, made by the G.D. Searle Company of Chicago, Illinois. Development of "the pill," as it became popularly known, was initially commissioned by birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger... read more

Son of a farmer begins journey to White House

On May 8, 1884, Harry S. Truman is born in Lamar, Missouri. The son of a farmer, Truman could not afford to go to college. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. After the war, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City. When that business went bankrupt in 1922, he entered Missouri politics. Truman went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1934 until he was chosen as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third vice president in 1945; it was during his Senate terms that he developed a reputation for honesty and integrity.

Recommended Reading:

It all began with an electric rice cooker in 1946

One of its first products: electric rice cooker

May 7, 1946 — Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo or Totsuko) was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, who started with only 20 employees and built the company into one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. In 1955, the company renamed itself Sony.

Slapstick comic suffered stroke on final day of filming

May 6, 1946 — Curly Howard, the bald member of The Three Stooges, suffered a stroke on the final day of filming of Half-Wits Holiday and retired at age 42.

Remembering the first time (it lasted 15 minutes) in 1961

On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph... read more

Altering world trade and the Central American landscape

A ceremony on May 4, 1905 marks the official beginning of the U.S. acquisition of the Panama Canal. After the French had failed in completing the canal, this second effort will succeed in bridging the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, dramatically altering world trade as well as the physical and geopolitical landscape of Central America.

Recommended Reading:

Senate begins hearings into notorious “clash of the titans”

May 3, 1951 — The Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, meeting in closed session, begin their hearings into the dismissal of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by President Harry S. Truman. The hearings served as a sounding board for MacArthur and his extremist views on how the Cold War should be fought.

Recommended Reading:

Laurie King’s confessions about Sherlock Holmes

“I write [Sherlock] Holmes as a character [in my Mary Russell novels], and it’s startling how much I’ve had to make up.”

Continue reading via this link.

“Well, I’ve just written a new Sherlock Holmes adventure!”

“Writing a new Sherlock Holmes story was daunting – but mine does something that hasn’t been done before.”

Gareth Rubin

“Smog-filled Victorian alleyways where villains lurk with glittering knives. Bleak heaths where giant devil dogs await the weary traveller. Blackmailers laughing at wide-eyed victims. All these have been my companions for half a year as I have felt my way through the landscapes of the world’s most famous detective: Sherlock Holmes. Because a few weeks ago, authorised to do so by the Conan Doyle estate, and in a haze of 4am self-doubt, I finished writing a new official Holmes novel, Holmes and Moriarty.”

Read more via this link.