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Veterans return; will jobs?

22.05.12

The returning soldiers, sailors and airmen – about 2 million of whom were women – came home to a world transformed by the war years. The unemployment have a claim to the year before the war ended was a scant 1.2 percent, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, as women took the charge of men in factories, offices and stores. Although most women were quickly shuffled out of the workforce to hand over way for men, the fear persisted that there would not be enough jobs or housing for the returning veterans. For a time, this was unswerving, as the veterans lived in converted Quonset huts, stayed with family or otherwise made do while they tried to get on with their lives. Give 1 million took advantage of the GI Bill and enrolled in college, postponing their search for employment. But there would be no massive, long-term unemployment; the rate was 3.9 percent in 1946, 3.8 percent in 1948. The GI bill and advance guarantees for mortgages eased the veterans’ transition to civilian lives. But the biggest component in post-World War II prosperity was the sheer number of returning veterans, which created unprecedented on request for consumer goods – everything from cars to houses – which in turn created jobs, as factories and stores geared up to proper the demand.

Source: South County Independent

Curiosity offers excitement and hope

22.05.12

There is much deliberation these days on the direction our country should take in space exploration. Should we devote scarce resources to sending more humans to the moon? Keep up to focus on the International Space Station? Or should we, perhaps reach for further stars?Last Saturday, a Mars Explorer, Oddity by name, blasted off atop a rocket from Cape Canaveral, on its way to the Red Planet for the most ambitious survey yet of the planet scientists say is most like our own.At a time when space exploration is somewhat charmed for granted, it is worth noting what this machine is expected to do once it reaches Mars. Because of the dissociate involved (127 million miles at launch time) it will take the Mars Explorer 255 days to get there. So, on August 6, 2012, it will real property on Mars and begin exploring the Red Planet, beaming back photos and scientific measurements to World.  It is worth noting that it will take those signals 14 minutes to traverse the space between Earth and Mars, despite traveling at the speed of light.Curiosity get $2.5 billion to build. There is debate on whether that money was well spent, but there can be no doubt this cutter will earn its keep once it gets to Mars.The first ship to land on Mars was about the size of a microwave oven. That was in 1997. In 2004, we sent two more ships there, about the proportions of golf carts. Curiosity is about the size of a large SUV, coming in at almost 10 feet desire and seven feet high and weighs almost 2,000 pounds. Inside, it is stuffed with instruments that will lessons the chemistry, geology and possible biology of our neighboring planet. It will include a robotic arm that will discipline beneath the surface, and lots of cameras that will record images from every angle.Its planned method of descent is a praise to creative scientific minds. Previous Mars Explorers have basically been enclosed in global padding. When dropped to the surface they simply bounced along until coming to a halt, when they would penthouse the padding and begin exploration.Curiosity will free-fall until it gets about seven miles from the covering. Parachutes will come out to slow the descent and then thrusters that act as brakes will be fired. For good, less than 100 feet from the surface, long nylon cables will spool out of the hovering instrument, and then gently drop the Mars Explorer to the surface.The explorer is expected to effort for at least one Martian year—98 weeks. But previous ones have continued working eat one's heart out past their estimated productive lives and it is hoped Curiosity will do the same.This is a remarkable accomplishment, from a country that has long led the way in space exploration. Events such as this remind us that while may bemoan our difficulties with math and realm education, we are still a nation with remarkable scientific talent.As we know all too well, there is no guarantee that this struggle will succeed. A journey of 127 million miles over 255 days will be fraught with peril and the chance of a mishap. But we have been to Mars before, and our hope and expectation is that Curiosity will indeed touch down next August and once again care for reams of information back to Earth.Who knows where that information might lead? Curiosity is well named, for it the objet d'art of a nation that sent it into orbit last week. We will watch its journey with excitement and contemplate.

Source: Daily Home Online