Pens In Space

Gotten from Tumblr. Source hidden to protect the guilty.

This is one that seems to be making the internet rounds lately. 

American astronauts actually started off using pencils when they first went into space. But they quickly realized that the higher oxygen content in the capsule make the highly flammable carbon in the graphite of the pencil even more... flammable. Which isn't really a good thing.

The tip of the pencils would also break off and float though the cabin. This was more than just a small hazard from potentially inhaling a small piece of sharp graphite -- the bits of pencil got into the equipment and caused shorts. 

NASA didn't actually invest any money into the Space Pen -- it was done by Paul C. Fisher, with his own money.* He was successful, creating the Fisher Space Pen used today by both the Americans and the Russians. ** He sold his pens to the Space Agencies for $2.95 apiece. 

The Midnight Fear of Paul Revere

Ah, Independence Day. A time for all USians to come together and remember the heroes of our country’s founding, and the heroic acts they performed heroically.

Today I’m tackling the ride of Paul Revere. If you’re from the US, you’ve probably heard the poem about him. It starts off like this:

Listen my children and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.

This was written in 1860, 85 years after the actual ride. I’m pretty sure it was safe to say that “no man who is now alive.” A couple of women might have remembered it though.

Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley, c. 1768–70 

Did you know Revere's day job was being a silversmith AND a dentist?

Few people know all 13 verses of “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”, but most people raised in the US school system know the basics:

1) Paul Revere warned everyone that the British were coming by bravely riding through the night warning everyone singlehandedly.

2) He knew if they were coming by land or by sea because lamps in a lighthouse told him so.

3) He yelled “"The British are Coming!" as he rode along, to warn all of the Americans.

4) He completed his ride Revere rode triumphantly into Concord, having safely completed his journey.

Sounds about like I was taught, and my school couldn't have gotten it that wrong, right?

Ha.

Tasty Lady

Chocolate candies are always the most reliable historical sources.

Incidentally, you have no idea how hard it is to find pictures of this that are safe for work.

Everyone knows about Lady Godiva’s famous ride. Her evil husband’s challenge that if she cared about the people of the city so much, he’d lower the taxes – if she’d ride though the city naked at high noon. Of course, never being one to turn down a dare, she did just so, and the one person who peeked during her au natural ride (Peeping Tom) was struck blind. And then her evil husband was forced to lower taxes, and Lady Godiva went on to found a great chocolate empire with Godiva Chocolates.

Ok, most people don’t actually believe that last part. But I have heard people say it. Frankly, it sounds pretty awesome.

So, what’s to not get right? Evil husband, brave woman, struck blind man, chocolate… Just how much of it is history and how much of it is mythtory?