Lately I’ve been reading a lot about the development of the atomic bomb, the Soviet and American bomber and missile programs, and nuclear national security. I’ve also been listening to John Le Carre novels from the 60s and 70s some of which I read over 20 years ago.
Yesterday I say this mention while reviewing this day in history:
1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.
1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo.
So I looked a little more into it and realized that nowhere in the standard body of Cold War literature is there mention of the 15-year-long near complete run of failure in the Soviet Mars program. We hear a lot of the CIA’s failure to forsee the collapse of the communist system. And it is obvious now that the United States was always miles ahead in weapons and delivery systems research and production. That we knew from U-2 overflights and other means that the Soviets simply did not have the capabilities that the hysterical “bomber-gap” and “missile-gap” Dr. Strangeloves gave as reason for defense expenditures.
The only thing you ever hear about the Soviet Space program was how Sputnik in 1957 scared the hell out of the United States. And yet Sputnik was a joke technologically and we were far ahead before during and after with actual guidance, miniaturization, computer-technology, and production capabilities.
So I am curious how we could have ever thought Russian rocket/missile technology in the form of an ICBM/SLBM threat could have been taken seriously in light of their Mars program record. In many ways it looked similar to what North Korea’s “threat” looks like today. Maybe much less so, sure, but by the time of Reagan’s SDI/”Star Wars” initiative it wasn’t even clear that Russian rockets could hit a barn, so to speak.
Sunday, July 26th, 2020
A record high temperature of 21.7°C (71.1°F) is recorded on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. (Global News)
The World Health Organization reports a record increase in global COVID-19 cases with 284,196 new cases in last 24 hours. United States and Brazil account for almost half the total. (France 24)
Florida surpasses New York in total confirmed coronavirus cases Florida on Saturday reported more than 12,000 new coronavirus infections within the previous 24-hour period, bringing the state’s total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to 414,511. That figure means Florida has surpassed New York as the state with the second highest number of confirmed infections behind California, which, like Florida, has seen cases surge over the last several weeks. New York, meanwhile, has yet to see another uptick since it mostly contained the virus earlier this year after a significant epidemic in March, April, and May. Florida also reported 124 new resident deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,777. As of Saturday morning, nearly 9,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state. Source: CNN
Supreme Court rejects Nevada church’s petition against attendance limit The Supreme Court on Friday denied a petition from Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in Dayton, Nevada, claiming a state policy limiting in-person church attendance to 50 during the coronavirus violated the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts was the swing vote in the 5-4 decision, joining the court’s liberal justices. As is typical in such cases, the majority did not provide a reason for the rejection. The bench’s conservative wing, meanwhile, dissented, emphasizing the church’s argument that houses of worship were treated differently from other places where large gatherings take place, including casinos, gyms, and restaurants. “The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote. “But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.” Source: CNN
The headquarters of the Arizona Democratic Party are burnt down in the early hours of 24 July in an apparent arson attack, according to Phoenix Police Department. Nobody was hurt in the attack. The attack comes in the wake of several opinion polls showing Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden as leading against his opponent, Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump in the state. (USA Today)
Eighteen protestors were charged in Portland, Oregon, after the Trump administration sent in federal police forces into the city last week. The protesters were charged with crimes such as assaulting police, arson, and trespassing. (Reuters)
An LGBT group gathers at the Democracy Monument, Bangkok, to call for legalization of same-sex marriage in addition to the three demands stated by Free Youths. (Prachatai)
The End
This Day in History
1703 – During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.
1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.
1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War begins.
1822 – First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner‘s opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.
1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.
1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
1936 – Spanish Civil War: Germany and Italy decide to intervene in the war in support for Francisco Franco and the Nationalist faction.
1941 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments.
1944 – World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.
1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States.
1956 – Following the World Bank‘s refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.
1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.
1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
1963 – Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission“, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.
1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.
artificial stupid 