Ed's heading to Kennedy Space Center this week in hopes of watching Space Shuttle Atlantis on its last launch. Ed is Ed Reynolds, a writer for Black and White magazine, with whom I share earth space. He's been writing about outer space and NASA for several years now, long before I got to know him, so I had to go back into the B&W archives to see what he's written about shuttle flights and NASA before today (see below).
Spaceflight is a big deal to him -- for reasons that keep threatening, like the changeable weather in Florida, to become clear -- and he has been looking forward to this final big event at least since his last trip down in April ended in a disappointing delayed lift off that he had to miss.
Rain is predicted for launch day, Friday the 8th, and also for Saturday, an alternate day, but there is always a chance the weather will clear just enough for the launch. If it doesn't go off this week, NASA will postpone it until July 16. My main hope, beyond my wish for success - for everyone - for this last shuttle mission, is that Ed'll be able to catch a few winks while he's down there, even if this is a mind-blowing event during which no one in his or her right mind would sleep.
If you want to read about Ed's previous shuttle launch experiences, here are links to his articles in past B&W issues:
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2006-08-10-170164.112112-Rocket-Man.html
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2005-07-28-133474.112112-Liftoff-Letdown.html
And more articles on space here:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/edreynoldswriting
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
PRATT CITY JOURNAL | Fraternal Cemetery
This post is a collection of links to information, and also opinion, on the area that is generally known as the Fraternal Cemetery in the Pratt City area of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. It will be the first, I hope, of several posts about the Fraternal Cemetery and related cemeteries, their condition, history, and the part of my family who is buried there.
DATA on location and contents
Birmingham Historical Society has designated the area part of their Historic Cemeteries, and does not use the name "Fraternal Cemetery." Here is their description and a link to their page:
"Crest of Sheridan Road, Irish Hill, Pratt City
Includes graves of English, Scottish and German immigrants who worked in the Pratt coal mines and other early 20th century industrial operations in this area" http://www.bhistorical.org/things_to_do/destinations.html#HC
Maps and USGS survey info found of the Fraternal Cemetery via the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (USGS GNIS):
GNIS in Google Maps: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gazpublic/getgooglemap?p_lat=33.5426057&p_longi=-86.8861034&fid=118608
Terra Fly: http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?referer=usgsgnis&latitude=33.5426057&longitude=-86.8861034&tfaction=fly
and regular Google Maps.
A link on this USGenweb Archives Project page for Jefferson County cemeteries will take you to a very incomplete survey of a few graves, and some photos.
There are 138 entries at Find-a-Grave.com's entry for Fraternal Cemetery.
Photos on Flickr.com of the cemetery grounds and some of my family's graves.
EVIDENCE OF CLEANING AND CARE
Photos of a clean-up day YEAR UNKNOWN by the Knights of Columbus Council 10567 of Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Adamsville. The next year they cleaned up some more.
2004 Resolution by the state legislature commending Pratt City residents for cleaning up the Historic Fraternal Cemetery, including "long-term plans for the Fraternal Cemetery include installing an iron gate to limit after-hours access and re-roofing a storage shed."
OPINION
More discussion on Ancestry's discussion boards: Jefferson County
And, of course, you can "like" Pratt City Fraternal Cemetery on Facebook.
DATA on location and contents
Birmingham Historical Society has designated the area part of their Historic Cemeteries, and does not use the name "Fraternal Cemetery." Here is their description and a link to their page:
"Crest of Sheridan Road, Irish Hill, Pratt City
Includes graves of English, Scottish and German immigrants who worked in the Pratt coal mines and other early 20th century industrial operations in this area" http://www.bhistorical.org/things_to_do/destinations.html#HC
Maps and USGS survey info found of the Fraternal Cemetery via the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (USGS GNIS):
GNIS in Google Maps: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gazpublic/getgooglemap?p_lat=33.5426057&p_longi=-86.8861034&fid=118608
Terra Fly: http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?referer=usgsgnis&latitude=33.5426057&longitude=-86.8861034&tfaction=fly
and regular Google Maps.
A link on this USGenweb Archives Project page for Jefferson County cemeteries will take you to a very incomplete survey of a few graves, and some photos.
There are 138 entries at Find-a-Grave.com's entry for Fraternal Cemetery.
Photos on Flickr.com of the cemetery grounds and some of my family's graves.
EVIDENCE OF CLEANING AND CARE
Photos of a clean-up day YEAR UNKNOWN by the Knights of Columbus Council 10567 of Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Adamsville. The next year they cleaned up some more.
2004 Resolution by the state legislature commending Pratt City residents for cleaning up the Historic Fraternal Cemetery, including "long-term plans for the Fraternal Cemetery include installing an iron gate to limit after-hours access and re-roofing a storage shed."
OPINION
A recent (Jan 9, 2011) letter to the editor at al.com from Virginia Whitlock of Pelham describes a little bit of the condition of much of the cemetery grounds.
More discussion on Ancestry's discussion boards: Jefferson County
And, of course, you can "like" Pratt City Fraternal Cemetery on Facebook.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
