Did you know that Dr. Robert Ballard is one of the world’s top oceanographers?

Dr. Robert Ballard, Photo Taken by Becky Hale, from: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/robert-ballard/

Dr. Robert Ballard, born June 30, 1942 is one the world’s leading oceanographers, and has made a name for himself in the world of marine archeology. He has made many discoveries, such as finding the shipwrecks of the Titanic and USS Yorktown, as well as leading the research on the wreckage of Lusitania and JFK’s PT-109. In 1989 Dr. Ballard founded the JASON PROJECT, which was designed as a distance education program to engage middle school students in science and technology. Dr. Ballard also served as technical consultant for the 1993-1995 TV series “SeaQuest DSV”. Today he is the president of the Sea Research Foundation's Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Connecticut, and continues to lead the way in exploring the world’s oceans.



Find out more about this “Explorer of the deep” and his discoveries below:

 Noaa.gov on Dr. Robert Ballard 

Nationalgeographic on Dr Robert Ballard
Dr. Robert Ballard Ted Talk On Exploring Oceans Link Home

On September 30th of 1966....

Spandau Prison, 1951. "US Army Public Photo Archive of The Prison"

Did you know on today’s date, September 30th of 1966, that Spandau prison, located in west Berlin Germany, released two Nazi war criminals? Albert Speer and Bladur Von Schirach severed 20 years for their crimes. When the Spandau prison was first opened, it was originally built for 600 inmates and held some of the most notorious prisoners of the war. Over time its use as a prison facility passed, and in the end it contained only one prisoner. Until his death, the sole resident was the former Nazi deputy, Fuhrer Rudolf Hess!

Read more about this prison and the inmates below:
Encyclopedia Britannica on Spandau Prison
Time Magazine on Rudolf Hess

Today, September the 27th of 1722 in Boston Massachusetts

  Portrait of Samuel Adams, by John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) / Source from: wikipedia.org article

Did you know today, September the 27th of 1722 in Boston Massachusetts American Revolutionary leader Samuel Adams was born. He was a very vocal character who helped ignite the American revolution and participated in events such as serving as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress and even was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Find out more about this inspiring American leader below:

US History.org

Foundersquotes.com

A star that should not exist

  Photo From ESO Page: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1132/

European astronomers have recently tracked down a star in the Milky Way galaxy that should not exist according to our modern, widely accepted theories of star formation. This faint star, labeled as SDSSJ102915+172927, is found in the constellation Leo (The Lion), and is estimated to be about 13 Billion years old. What makes this star’s existence so intriguing is that this stars mass is so small, and contains a very little amount of metal.

Read more about what will reset our thinking on how stars are formed, written by the European Space Observatory, from the link below:

 European Space Observatory

World War 1 Veteran

  

Photo from Discovery News Site / Photo credit: Corbis

 

Did you know that the last United States World War 1 veteran had passed away?

On the 28th of February, 2011, the United States of America lost its last living connection to World War 1 when Frank Buckles passed away at the age of 110. He died of natural causes at his home in Charles Town West Virginia. Frank had signed up for the military in 1917 after reading about the conflict in a news paper. He had spent the past few years petitioning for a national World War 1 memorial in Washington DC. Currently, the only monument of remembrance for World War 1 in DC is on the grounds of the national mall. It lists the names of locals that served in the Great War. The monument has been passed by time and has not been maintained.

Read more about Frank Buckles and the Great War monument in DC below:

CNN News Article

World War I Memorial Foundation

DC Preservation League

The most earth like planet has been discovered....

Photo from ESO / http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1134/

Were you aware that the most earth-like planet yet has been discovered?
A new Planet was found 36 light-years away. It has been named HD85512b and was discovered by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory. Planet HD85512b is believed to be 3.6 times the size of earth, and could possibly hold water on it's surface. It has also been confirmed that HD85512b is in its star's habitable zone, where temperatures are not to hot or cold for liquid water.

 

Video Animation of HD85512b

Video downloaded from ESO 

http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1134b/

Check out the links below to find out more about this fascinating planet:
Article from Space.com
Article from European Space Observatory (ESO)

Were you aware that Black beard’s pirate ship had been discovered?



Image of  Blackbeard, from wikki black beard link (list at end of article)

Black beard, the most dread dreaded pirate of the high sea's, Pirate ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" was discovered in Buford North Carolina in 1995. When this discovery was made, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources emphasized that the wreckage could have been the "Queen Anne's Revenge". It was not until recently, after more closely reviewing the evidence, that they finally concluded that this ship was indeed captained by one of the most tempestuous pirates in history.

Check out more about this discovery, and about Blackbeard from the video and links below:

“Queen Anne's Revenge,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/videos/queen-annes-revenge (accessed Sep 2, 2011).

 

National Geographic Blackbeard article

History Channel "Queens Ann Revenge" Video Site

Wikipedia.org "Blackbeard"

Did you know that Napoleon is generally depicted in paintings with his hand in his pocket?

Painting by Jacques-Louis David,  Napoleon in his study Tuileries, circa. 1812 

Over the years there have been many ideas about why Napoleon Bonaparte has often been depicted in paintings with his hand in his pocket. There have been many theories. Some say he could have been winding his watch, or that painters at the time had trouble drawing hands, or perhaps it was this way due to health issue's such as stomach ulcers. There seems to no definite answer as to why Napoleon was shown like this. However, if you click the link below it will take you to a non profit organization whose goal is to promote the study of the Napoleonic Era. This organization has been able to dig deeper than most on the possible cause of Napoleon’s depiction in these paintings.

Why Napoleans hand is in his pocket by: napoleon-series.org

napoleon-series.org (Home Page)

Did you know?



Picture shot at Chicago Feild Musem by scenicplaces.com Pic of a pterodactyl

Did you know that all dinosaurs had lived on land?  There where no dinosaurs that live in the sea or flew in the air (Until Birds).  That is right, not even the flying pterosaurs (a flying reptile) or the swimming ichthyosaurs (The fish lizard) where dinosaurs.  These creatures did appear during the time of dinosaurs and where distantly related to some species of dinosaurs, but they where no dino's.

Next time you are walking through a museum with your family or friends and looking at different dinosaurs point out that fact when you see something like a large pterodactyl suspended from the ceiling, just say "Hey guys, I bet you that is no dino!"

Check the links below to find out more about these creatures:

Pterosauria Page (Berkeley.edu)
Ichthyosauria Page (Berkeley.edu)

Rainbow Toad Photographed for First Time

,

Rainbow Toad Photograph by Indraneil Das, from Conservation International

After 87 years a never photographed Rainbow Toad has been rediscovered in Southeast Asia.This toad known as Sambas stream toad or Bornean rainbow toad, was last seen in 1924.

Read more from National Geographic about this amazing rediscovery below:

National Geographic Rainbow Toad

NASA Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto?

Two photos of Pluto, The circled is the new moon discovered "P4". Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI institute)

Using the Hubble Space Telescope Nasa has discovered a additional moon orbiting Pluto. The tiny, new satellite (temporarily named P4") was spotted in a Hubble survey while they where searching for rings around Pluto.

Click the link below to find out more about this new satellite.

Nasa Pluto Moon

Hubble Hits One Millionth!!!!

Artist's concept of that planet, HAT-P-7b  (by: NASA; ESA; G. Bacon, STScI)

History was made on July 4, 2011, as the Hubble Space Telescope hits is one millionth observation while searching for water in a Jupiter class planet's atmosphere.  The Hubble Space Telescope was commissioned on April 24, 1990, and has made multitude of fascinating discoveries since it's launch. 

Read more about this discovery and Hubble Space Telescope below:

NASA Page's "Hubble Millionth"
Hubble Archives

CSA Flags

CSA "Battle Flag" Aka "Rebel Flag", by  georgiainfo

Did you know that the CSA's (Confederate States Of America) "Rebel Flag" (shown above) was actually the CSA Battle Flag?  As commonly mistaken by people today, the "Battle Field" Flag was never meant to represent the CSA as a national flag. 

During the US Civil War at the battle of Bull Run near Manassas Junction, Virginia, Confederate generals had fond the CSA National Flag of 1861-1863 "The Stars and Bars" (shown below) hard to distinguish from the United States National Flag and urged for a new flag to be made for battle field. 

"The Stars and Bars" 1861-1863 CSA National Flag, by scv674.org 

Read More about CSA flags below:
GeorgiaInfo
CSA FLAGS

Apatosaurus And Tyrannosaurus

How many Apatosaurus (AKA Brontosaurus) fell victim to the T-rex? Well, If you answered none, then you are correct. They were actually separated by quite some time. Apatosaurus lived 57 to146 million years ago (During the late Jurassic period), and the T-Rex lived around 85 to 65 million years ago (During the late Cretaceous period). A T-Rex would have never even seen an Apatosaurus, let alone attacked one. 

Time line extract from www.felidmuseum.org

Why is there such a misconception of this, you say? Hollywood movies have most of the blame. A lot of this misconception was derived from old, stop motion, animation films from the early 1900's that showed many scenes of a T-rex attacking an Apatosaurus. We now have this image buried in the back of our minds.

Check out these related links below to read more about this:

www.FeildMuseum.org

enchantedlearning.com

200 new species have been discovered

A pink-eyed Caedicia, photo from AFP/Conservation International

Did you know recently in the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea over 200 new species have been discovered. This includes such as Montane mouse, Pink-eyed Caedicia, and two new species of Spiny ants. Such a large diversity of life discovered for one area makes us wounder how much more is there to discover about life on our planet.

Check out these links to discover more about this:

Cosmos Magazine

News.com.au

Conservation International

On July 3rd 1754, George Washington surrendered.......

 Braddock Road Trace at Braddock's Grave (Ft. Necessity park), Photo from National park service

Did you know on this day in the year 1754, George Washington surrendered his troops to the French at Ft. Necessity (7 Years' War). This area is remembered today by a 903 acre national park in western Pennsylvania. Read more about this historical event and national park from the links below:

About.com Ft. Necessity

National Park Service Ft. Necessity

Apatosaurus, AKA Brontosaurus... Huh?

Image by  Mike Souza, Click here for link

Did you know that the Brontosaurus's actual name is Apatosaurus? Back in 1879, paleontologist Othniel Marsh mistakenly placed a Camarasaurus head on an Apatosaurus and called it a Brontosaurus.  This mistake was eventually discovered and the correct head was placed on the body, which lead to renaming the dinosaur Apatosaurus.

Read more about this here:

Discovery Dinosaurs

About.com Apatosaurus

Water on the Moon?

(Image from Nasa LCROSS mission page.) 

Did you know on 11/09/09 Nasa discovered water on the moon? On that date Nasa had slammed down the LCROSS sensing satellite (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) on the lunar surface to have at first only revealed debris, but when the dust cleared a significant amount of water was found.  Nasa reported that 25 gallons of water was found on the lunar surface in a creator named Cabeus.

Read more about this From the links below:

Nasa's Main LCROSS Mission Page

CNN article on the moons water discovery

How to tell the difference between a Mammoth and Mastodon!

(Photo shot at Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal by Project FeFe.)

If you walked into a museum and was asked "Is this a Mammoth or a Mastodon skeleton?" Would you know the answer to this question?  Can you tell the difference?  For our first random fact we made a quick amateur video to show you how to tell the different between these prehistoric mammals skeletons. 

(Video shot at Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal by Project FeFe.)

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting Project FeFe's "Random Fact Of The Day" blog.  Here you will discover fact's about science, history, or the world daily.  Our first fact will be posted as soon as we work out some technical difficulties on photos needed for the post.  So please check back shortly, thanks.