2/23/2007
posted by zaky at 11:05 PM

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Strongest man in the world.
Jouko Ahola of Finland was named the strongest man in the world in 1997 and 1999. He holds the record for lifting the heaviest stone in the World Strongman competition. The stone weighed 215 kg (414 lb). The 1,85 m (6 ft) tall Jouko also is the world's car-carrying champion.The Strongest Man in the World Competition claims that 1,67 m (5'8"), 159 kg (350 lb) Anthony Clark of the Philippines is the strongest. He bench pressed a massive 363 kg (800 lb).

The legends
On Tuesday 13 February 1923, in a strong man contest held before a packed house in City Hall in Augusta, Maine, John B Gagnon beat Warren L Travis of Brooklyn, NY - holder of the official title of World's Strongest Man. In 10 lifts, taking only 25 minutes, Gagnon lifted a total of 7,552 kg (16,650 pounds). Because it was not an "officially sanctioned" match, Travis was able to retain the title; he also would not schedule a return match against Gagnon.

John B Gagnon's recorded lifts that evening, all accomplished in 25 minutes:

Finger lift.................................................794 pounds
One-hand lift............................................1,111 pounds
Two-hand lift............................................1,575 pounds
Two-hand & knees lift...............................2,195 pounds
Neck lift..................................................1,317 pounds
Harness lift..............................................2,689 pounds
Teeth lift..................................................627 pounds
One-arm lift.............................................924 pounds
Two-arm lift.............................................1,248 pounds
Back lift (persons on platform)..................4,170 pounds

TOTAL WEIGHT LIFTED..............16,650 lbs. . .in 25 minutes.

The Strongest Man organisers believe the strongman title should go to John Wooten of Massachusetts. At 51 years old, he had towed a Mississippi river boat against the current, piggybacked an elephant, stopped two jet planes from taking off by holding them down, and pulled a 280-ton train along a track. John Wooten is 1,86 m (6'1") tall and weighs 132 kg (290 lb). He got his start in the strongman business in 1969 when he happened to meet a 79 kg (175 lb) man in his 70s who could bend 60-penny railroad spikes in his bare hands and taught him how to back-lift elephants.

Jouko Ahola:of Finland - strongest man in the world 1997 and 1999.



 
posted by zaky at 11:01 PM

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The quest to become the first to fly around the earth
In 1924 four Douglas World Cruisers and eight American crewmen set out from Seattle, Washington, to attempt the first around-the-world airplane flight. One hundred seventy-five days later three of the aircraft and crews became the first to circumnavigate earthThe Douglas World Cruiser biplane was a variant of the Navy's DT-2 torpedo bomber that could be operated either with wheels or floats. The prototype was delivered 45 days after the contract was let in summer 1923. Tests were successful, and four more aircraft were ordered. Each of the aircraft was named after a US city representing a compass point: Seattle, crewed by Maj. Frederick Martin (pilot and flight commander) and SSgt. Alva Harvey (flight mechanic); Chicago, crewed by Lt. Lowell H. Smith (pilot) and 1st Lt. Leslie Arnold; Boston, with 1st Lt. Leigh P. Wade (pilot) and SSgt. Henry H. Ogden aboard; and New Orleans, with Lt. Erik Nelson (pilot) and Lt. Jack Harding in the cockpits.

The success was largely a result of extensive planning; 30 spare engines were dispatched all over the world prior to the flight; with co-operation of the Royal Air Force and the US Navy, 28 nations supplied thousands of gallons of fuel and oil along the flight path.

The airplanes left Seattle, Washington, on 6 April 1924 and headed west, equipped with the latest navigational aids. Even so, fog, blizzards, thunderstorms and sand storms took a toll. On April 30, Seattle crashed in dense fog on a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula. Major Martin and Sergeant Harvey hiked out of the wilderness. The remaining crews continued, flying on to Japan, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Europe, England, and Ireland. On 3 August Boston was forced down in the North Atlantic, sinking in rough seas while being towed. A prototype was dispatched to Nova Scotia, where Lieutenant Wade and Sergeant Ogden renamed the aircraft Boston II and rejoined the flight. The crews stopped in several US cities and returned triumphantly to Seattle on 28 September.

The trip had totalled 175 days, covering 44 360 km (27,553 miles), with stops in 61 cities, the total flying time being 371 hours, 11 minutes.

Nine years later, in 1933, it took another American, Wiley Post, only 7 days to be the first to fly solo around the world. Between July 15 and 22, Post covered 25 110 km (15,596 miles) in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes in one of the most remarkable displays of flying endurance of the century. Post's single engine Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae was equipped with a Sperry automatic pilot, a radio direction finder, and other new devices.

Earlier, in 1931, ex-barnstormer Post and navigator Harold Gatty had thrilled the nation by dashing around the world in the Winnie Mae. The flight was not only a great technical achievement, but one which demanded extraordinary fortitude. For over 106 hours, neither Post nor Gatty had an opportunity to sleep. The flight's elapsed time of 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes far surpassed the previous record of 21 days set in 1929 by the airship Graf Zeppelin.

The first non-stop flight around the world was made by, again, a team of the US Air Force flyers in 1949. Taking off from Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth, Texas on 26 February, Captain James Gallagher and a crew of 14 headed east in a B-50 Superfortress, called Lucky Lady II. They were refuelled four times in air by KB-29 tanker planes of the 43rd Air Refuelling Squadron, over the Azores, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Hawaii. The circumnavigation was completed on 2 March, having traveled 94 hours and 1 minute, covering 37 743 km (23,452 miles) at an average 398 km/h (249 mph).

The next quest was to fly around the world, nonstop, non-refuelling.

By 1986 designer Burt Rutan and pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager had devoted over five years to building and flight-testing the Voyager. The canard wing design, or forward elevator, similar to that successfully used by the Wright brothers in 1903, provided additional lift and improved the plane's efficiency and range. A preliminary sketch of the 1903 Wright Flyer was drawn on a brown paper bag in the Wrights' living quarters in 1902. Coincidentally, the first sketch of the Voyager was made on a paper lunch napkin in 1980.

Constructed of graphite composites, Voyager's total weight was 4 050 kg (9 000 pounds), including an unprecedented 3150 kg (7 000 pounds) of fuel. On 14 December 1986 Richard Rutan and Jeana Yeager took off from Edwards, California, piloting the Voyager from a cramped 2,3 m (7.5 ft) long, 1,1 m (3.3 ft) wide and 1m (3 ft) tall cockpit. Voyager's takeoff weight was more than 10 times the structural weight, but its drag was lower than almost any other powered aircraft. Voyager's wingtips sustained minor damage during its takeoff roll because of the massive amount of fuel. Approximately 75 cm (2.5 ft) of graphite skin was missing from the left wing's foam core.

Traveling at an average speed of 185 km/h (115.8 mph), it took the Voyager 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds to become the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe nonstop, non-refuelling. They triumphantly landed again at the Edwards Air Force Base at 8:06 a.m. PST 23 December 1987.
 
posted by zaky at 10:58 PM

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Were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly?
Wilbur and Orville Wright weren't just lucky to make the first flight. They played with flying paper models in their youth, and by 1901 they had made hundreds of wind tunnel tests. In 1902, their glider was the biggest flying machine ever built. Orville Wright wrote, "We now hold all the records! The largest machine...the longest time in the air, the smallest angle of descent, and the highest wind!"They called on the machine making skills of Charles E. Taylor, and by February 1903 they had an engine. By June, they had built a propeller. They headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in September to build their Flyer.

On Monday 13 December 1903, a toss of a coin gave Wilbur the honour of making the first flight. The engine and propeller powered the plane, the Flyer lifted off but immediately sank down, slightly damaged.

First flight?
By Friday 17 December 1903, the Flyer was fixed, and at 10h35, Orville made the first powered flight. It lasted 12 seconds. Wilbur made the second flight, which lasted less than a second longer than the first. Orville took the 3rd flight, covering 60 metres (200 ft) in 15 seconds. At noon, Wilbur made the fourth flight on that blustery day. The Flyer covered 255,6 metres (852 ft) in 59 seconds. He landed safely, but a sudden gust of wind sent the plane tumbling, breaking the wings and damaging the motor. There would be no more flights in 1903.

There were 5 men to witness the Wright Brothers' flights. Orville even set up a camera so that a Mr Daniels could take photographs. But there were no newspaper men. In the Spring of 1904, they built a new plane and invited the press. The weather was not quite right, but since the reporters were there, they tried anyway. The plane failed to lift off. The Wright Brothers didn't make the papers. They did fly again but spent the rest of their lives fighting about their patent and died without knowing the world finally recognised their work. In 1914, the Franklin Institute became the first scientific institution to recognise the Wright Brothers' achievement.

But were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly?
By the time the Wright brothers got their flyer up in the air, flying was a hobby for New Zealand farmer Richard Pearse. Working single-handedly in his barn, he designed and built his own engine and flying machine. Datings suggest that Pearse made his first flight in March 1902. His remarkable success remained unknown until fairly recently.

But there is an account of an even earlier flight...

"Two years, four months and three days before the successful flights of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, a birdlike monoplane took to the air at early dawn on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, carrying its inventor and builder, Gustave Whitehead, a distance of approximately a half mile." - Megan Adam, descendant of Gustave A. Whitehead.

Although there are no blueprints of Whitehead's craft, evidence is mounting that Whitehead might indeed have been the first to have taken to the sky in a machine-powered aircraft.
 
posted by zaky at 10:52 PM

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Abad Penemuan

Abad penemuan ditandai oleh para petulang samudera dengan tujuan untuk menemukan jalur baru menuju pasar rempah-rempah di Timur Jauh saat daerah bagian timur Mediterania dikuasai oleh musuh. Saat Vasco da Gama berlayar melalui Tanjung Harapan untuk mencapai India di tahun 1488, Portugis mengarahkan usaha mereka ke selatan dan timur. Spanyol, yang sepakat membagi dua dunia ini dengan Portugis dalam Perjanjian Tordesillas pada tanggal 7 Juni 1494, berlayar ke arah barat. Saat itu mereka tidak menyadari akan adanya Benua Amerika dan tidak seorang pun tahu tentang Samudera PasifikChristhopher Columbus (1451-1506), seorang Italia yang hijrah ke Spanyol, berteori bahwa karena bumi bulat, sebuah kapal laut dapat mencapai Timur Jauh dari arah yang berbeda. Dia meyakinkan kerajaan untuk membiayai pencariannya lalu berangkat berlayar pada Agustus 1492. Setelah sepuluh minggu, dia melihat sebuah pulau di Bahamas, yang dinamainya San Salvador. Karena berpikir telah menemukan pulau dekat Jepang, dia berlayar terus sampai mencapai Kuba (yang disangka Cina) dan Haiti. Dia bertemu dengan penduduk berkulit gelap yang dia sebut "Indian" karena dia berpikir dia sedang berlayar di Lautan Hindia.

Columbus melakukan tiga perjalanan lagi ke Dunia Baru yang dia pikir adalah Timur, di tahun 1493, 1497 dan 1502, melalui Puerto Roko, Kepulauan Virgin, Jamaika dan Trinidad. Dia tidak pernah mencapai Amerika Utara, dan sampai saat wafatnya, tetap berpikir bahwa dia telah mencapai Asia.

Amerika Utara telah ditemukan
Kapal-kapal Bangsa Viking telah mencapai Amerika Utara hampir 500 tahun sebelum Columbus berlayar. Berlayar dari Pulau Es pada pertengahan tahun 990, Biarni Heriolfsson merubah haluan arah semula dan terdampar di daerah tak bertuan. Dia tidak menjelajahi ataupun menamai daerah daratan tersebut. Pada tahun 1002, Leifr Eiriksson menelusuri jalur yang sama tapi dengan arah berlawanan dan mencapai pantai yang sekarang kita sebut Canada. Kemudian dia berlayar lagi ke arah selatan dan menemukan sebuah pulau yang dinamai Vinland (Newfoundland-sekarang) di mana dia membangun pemukiman dan berdagang selama 3 tahun dengan penduduk asli yang dikenal sebagai Bangsa Skraeling. Pada akhirnya Bangsa Skraeling memaksa mereka untuk pergi, tetapi Bangsa Viking tetap berlayar menuju Kanada untuk mencari hasil hutan.

"New Found Land" Di tahun 1497, Raja Henry ke VII menyetujui penjelajahan John Cabot (1450-1498). Pada tanggal 2 Mei, Cabot dengan 18 awaknya meninggalkan Bristol, Inggris dengan menggunakan sebuah kapal kecil dengan nama Matthew. Dia berlayar lebih jauh ke Utara dari pada yang dilakukan oleh Columbus, jauh diluar wilayah kekuasaan Spanyol. Pada tanggal 24 Juni, para awak melihat daratan. Cabot diyakinkan telah menemukan sebuah pulau di lepas pantai Asia and menamakannya "new found land". Itu adalah pendaratan pertama di Newfoundland yang didokumentasikan sejak penjelajahan Bangsa Viking. Cabot kembali ke Inggris pada tanggal 6 Agustus 1497, dan meskipun dia tidak membawa rempah-rempah maupun harta karun, dia adalah orang pertama yang memetakan Pantai Amerika Utara.

Penamaan "Amerika" Garis pembagi dunia milik Portugis dan Spanyol membelah Samudera Atlantik dengan Spanyol menguasai daerah sebelah barat, termasuk Amerika. Brasil diberikan kepada Portugal, yang menguasai Afrika dan India. Tetapi karena tanpa penghitungan yang teliti, timbul pertanyaan tentang kejelasan garis pembagi tersebut. Di tahun 1501, Raja Manuel ke 1 dari Portugal mengirim satu armada ke Brasil, salah satu awak kapal tersebut adalah Amerigo Vespucci. Dia termasuk dalam kelompok penjelajah pertama yang melaporkan bahwa Amerika Selatan adalah sebuah benua, bukan sebuah pulau, dam menyebutnya "Dunia Baru". Sebagai seorang ahli pembuat peta, Vespucci menjual duplikat peta yang dibuatnya kepada seorang German pelukis peta, Martin Waldseemuller, yang saat membuatnya di tahun 1507, memberikan penghargaan kepada Vespucci dengan menulis nama depan Vespucci pada gambar Benua Amerika Selatan. Sejak saat itu benua bagian selatan dinamai "Amerika".
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Pelayaran pertama mengelilingi bumi
Pelayaran pertama mengelilingi bumi dipimpin oleh Ferdinand Magellan, lahir di Oporto, Portugal tahun 1480. di tahun 1505, dia terdaftar di angkatan laut di mana dia belajar tentang keahlian kelautan dan peralatan perang di bawah bimbingan seorang purnawirawan Portugis di India. Di tahun 1509, dia ambil bagian dalam Perang Kematian, yang memberikan kekuasaan penuh bagi Portugal di Laut India. Selama 7 tahun, dia berdagang di Kocin, Cina dan Malaka.

Seperti Columbus, Magellan yakin dapat mencapai Timur Jauh dengan berlayar ke barat. Karena dihina oleh penguasa Portugis, Magellan meyakinkan penguasa Spanyol, Charles ke 1 bahwa sebagian pulau rempah-rempah berada di wilayah kekuasaan Spanyol yang belum pernah di jelajahi. Pada September 1519, Magellan mulai berlayar bersama 280 awak dengan menggunakan 5 kapal (San Antonio, Santiago, Trinidad, Victoria, dan Concepcion) dalam sebuah perjalanan penuh dengan penderitaan dan pemberontakan. Seorang bangsawan Italia yang juga ikut, Antonio Pigaffeta, mencatat semua kejadian dalam perjalanan tersebut.

Mereka melintasi ekuator pada tanggal 20 Nopember 1519, dan melihat Brasil pada 6 Desember. Magellan berpendapat bahwa tidak bijaksana untuk mendekati daerah kekuasaan Portugis sedangkan dia berlayar menggunakan bendera Spanyol, lalu membuang sauh di dekat yang sekarang disebut Rio de Janiero pada hari ke 13 bulan Desember. Mereka disambut oleh Suku Indian Guarani yang percaya bahwa orang kulti putih adalah dewa dan akan mendatangkan kebaikan bagi mereka. Setelah mengumpulkan perbekalan, mereka berlayar ke selatan, mencapai Patagonia (Argentina) pada Maret 1520. Santiago dikirim untuk menjelajahi lebih jauh ke selatan tapi kemudian hilang ditelan badai.

Pada bulan Agustus, Magellan memutuskan untuk bergerak lebih jauh ke selatan untuk mencari jalan menuju ke timur. Di bulan Oktober mereka menemukan sebuah selat. Dalam perjalanan melewati selat tersebut, kapten kapal San Antonio berputar arah kembali ke Spanyol, membawa sebagian besar perbekalan.

Memasuki Pasifik yang luas
Ketiga kapal yang tersisa muncul di Pasifik dari selat tersebut pada akhir November. Magellan berpikir bahwa pulau rempah-rempah tidak lama lagi akan ditemukan, tapi ternyata mereka berlayar selama 96 hari tanpa melihat daratan. Keadaan di atas kapal buruk sekali. Para awak bertahan hidup dengan memakan serbuk kayu, potongan kulit dan tikus. Akhirnya pada Januari 1521, mereka berlabuh di sebuah pulau untuk merayakannya. Di bulan Maret, mereka mencapai Guam. Mereka terus berlayar menuju Pilipina, dan tiba di sana pada tanggal 28 Maret

Setelah berteman dengan seorang raja pulau, Magellan dengan tololnya terlibat dalam sebuah perang suku dan terbunuh dalam pertempuran pada tanggal 27 April 1521. Sebastian del Cano mengambil alih kepemimpinan kapal dan 115 orang yang selamat. Karena tidak cukup awak untuk tiga kapal, dia membakar Concepcion.

Mereka berlayar menuju Maluku (Kepulauan Rempah-rempah) pada November, mengangkut rempah-rempah yang berharga tinggi. Untuk memastikan bahwa paling tidak ada satu kapal dapat kembali ke Spanyol, Trinidad berlayar ke timur melalui Pasifik, sedangkan Victoria terus ke arah barat. Trinidad tertangkap oleh armada Portugis dan sebagian besar awaknya dibunuh. Victoria berusaha untuk menghindari Portugis di Laut Hindia dan mengambil jalur melalui Tanjung Harapan. Pada tanggal 6 September 1522, hampir tiga tahun setelah mereka memulai perjalan bersejarah mereka, Victoria beserta ke 18 awaknya (Pigaffeta terdapat diantara mereka) tiba di Spanyol. Mereka adalah yang pertama mengelilingi dunia.

Pelayaran berkeliling yang ke dua
Perjalanan ke dua mengelilingi bumi dilakukan oleh seorang Inggris mantan bajak laut yang menjadi penjelajah Francis Drake (1540-1596). Saat melihat Kerajaan Spanyol menjadi lebih luas, Ratu Elisabeth ke 1 secara diam-diam mengutus Drake ke barat, dengan maksud terselubung untuk mengusik orang Spanyol. Pada tanggal 13 Desember 1577, Drake berlayar dari Plymouth, Inggris dengan dengan membawa 6 buah kapal.

Pada bulan September 1578, lima buah kapal pulang kembali saat mencapai Selat Magellan, sedangkan Drake terus berlayar menggunakan Kapal Golden Hind. Di bulan Juni 1579, dia mencapai yang sekarang disebut California dan berlayar terus ke arah utara ke perbatasan yang sekarang dikenal sebagai perbatasan Amerika Serikat-Kanada. Kemudian dia berbelok ke arah barat daya dan melintasi Samudera Pasifik dalam 2 bulan. Dia melintasi India, Laut India, dan Tanjung Harapan. Bersama dengan Golden Hind yang dimuati dengan emas dan rempah-rempah, dia berlayar kembali dan mencapai Plymouth pada 26 September 1580, kapten pertama yang berlayar mengelilingi bumi.

Kapten Cook
Pengeliling dunia lainnya yang terkenal adalah James Cook. Dia berlayar dari Inggris pada tanggal 25 Agustus 1768 dengan menggunakan Kapal Endeavor bersama dengan 94 awak dan peneliti. Pada tanggal 11 April 1769, mereka mencapai Tahiti. Atas perintah dari pemerintah Inggris, mereka berlayar ke selatan, mencapai Selandia Baru pada tanggal 6 Oktober. Pada bulan April 1770, Cook menjelajahi dan mendokumentasikan Australia. Kemudian endeavor meneruskan perjalanannya melalui ke Jawa, lalu melintasi Tanjung harpan. Pada tanggal 30 Juli 1771, Cook berlayar memasuki dover. Karena perjalanan selama 3 tahun yang bersejarah itu, dia diangkat menjadi Panglima Angkatan Laut oleh Raja George ke III.


Pelayaran berkeliling yang pertama tunggal
Joshua Slocum,lahir di Nova Scotia pada tahun 1844, menjadi warga negara Amerika dan seorang Kapten pada usai 25 tahun. Pada tanggal 24 April 1895, saat berusia 51 tahun, Slocum berlayar meninggalkan Boston dengan menggunakan sekoci miliknya, Spray dengan panjang 11 m (37 kaki), sebuah kapal tua untuk mencari kerang yang dia buat sendiri.

Slocum melintasi Atlantik menuju Terusan Suez. Di Gibraltar, dia diberitahu mengenai bajak laut di Mediterania. Jadi dia berlayar kembali melintasi Atlantik dan menuju ke pantai Brasil, melalui selat neraka Selat Magellan. Dia menghadapi arus yang mematikan, pantai berkarang dan laut yang ganas saat dia berlayar mengitari Australi, Tanjung Harapan dan saat melintasi Atlantik.


Pada tanggal 27 Juni 1898, lebih dari 3 tahun dan 74.000km (46,000 mil) kemudian, Joshua Slocum memasuki Newport, Rhode Island, sebagai orang pertama tunggal yang mengelilingi bumi. Dia menceritakan perjalanannya yang luar biasa dalam bukunya "Sailing Around the World".

Pengelilingan pertama dengan satu kali berhenti
Kehormatan sebagai pengeliling dunia pertama tunggal diberikan kepada Francis Chichester (1902-1972). Di tahun 1966, Chicester yang berusia 64 tahun berlayar menggunakan Gipsy Moth IV dengan panjang 16 m (53 kaki) dari Inggris. Sistem kemudinya rusak saat berada 3700 km (2,300 mil) dari Australia. Segera setelah meninggalkan Sydney, Gipsy terbalik tapi berhasil memperbaiki keadaannya. Di sekitar Tanjung Tanduk, Chichester menghadapi gelombang setinggi 15 m (50 kaki). Tetapi dia bukan tipe orang yang cepat menyerah. Di tahun 1960 dia adalah pemenang perlombaan melintasi atlantik dengan hanya menggunakan satu tangan. Dia juga adalah orang pertama yang melakukan penerbangan tunggal jarak jauh dengan menggunakan pesawat terbang air (dari Inggris ke Australia). Pada tanggal 28 Mei 1967, setelah 226 hari di laut, dia disambut oleh setengah juta orang di Plymouth , Inggris.

Pengelilingan Tunggal
Saat ini, pelayaran berkeliling dunia dengan satu tangan tanpa berhenti masih merupakan khayalan semata. Chay Blyth, dengan julukan "manusia besi" menjadi salah satu diantaranya saat dia berlayar melawan angin dari arah timur ke barat dengan menggunakan British Steel di tahun 1971, dan menyelesaikan perjalanannya dalam 302 hari. Dua tahun kemudian seorang Perancis Alain Colas dengan menggunakan berlambung tiga Manureva berlayar mengelilingi 3 tanjung utama, dan hanya menghabiskan 129 hari untuk menyelesaikan perjalanannya.


Wanita pertama yang berlayar mengelilingi bumi adalah orang Inggris Lisa Clatyon. Dia menggunakan sebuah kapal yang panjangnya 11 m (38 kaki) dengan lambung terbuat dari besi, Spirit of Birmingham, dari Dartmouth, Inggris pada tanggal 17 September 1994, dan menyelesaikan perjalanan yang sangat meletihkan dalam 285 hari kemudian.

Jonathan Sanders mengelilingi dunia dengan satu tangan sebanyak lima kali sejak bulan Mei 1986 sampai Maret 1988, menempuh 128.000 km (80.000 mil). Pelayaran berkeliling telah menjadi kegemaran, as with the Whitbread race??. Kemudian seorang Perancis Philippe Jeantot mengemukakan gagasannya tentang suatu perlombaan pelayaran mengelilingi bumi dengan satu tangan tanpa berhenti.

Pertandingan-pertandingan
Pada tahun 1982, sebuah perusahaan Inggris meluncurkan balapan satu tangan BOC Challenge mengelilingi dunia. Sekarang pertandingan itu dinamakan AroundAlone, yang artinya : "Satu orang, Satu Kapal, Mengelilingi Dunia". Merupakan pertandingan yang terpanjang yang pernah ada di bumi untuk perseorangan dalam kategori olahraga apapun, menempuh jarak 43.000 km (27.000 mil) melalui samudra yang ganas dan tak bertepi. Garis akhirnya sama dengan sepanjang bumi itu sendiri. (Perlombaan berikutnya akan dimulai 26 Sept 2000.)

Dan kemudian muncullah "The Race" - suatu perlombaan tanpa aturan, tanpa batas, dan tanpa perhentian, mengelilingi dunia yang dimulai dari Selat Gibraltar pada tengah malam 31 Desember 2000. Tanpa aturan maksudnya adalah - hanya dibatasi oleh imaginasi dan teknologi.





 
posted by zaky at 10:38 PM

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Tahukah anda bahwa semua jenis kucing yang ada berasal dari satu nenek moyang?

Apakah kucing itu mengeong atau mengaum, dia tetap saja turunan dari spesies Felis silvestris , yang dapat dikategorikan sebagai kucing liar Afrika, kucing liar Eropa dan kucing liar SteppeJenis yang paling kecil adalah kucing berbulu bintik-bintik yang ditemukan di Sri Lanka. Ukurannya setengah ukuran kucing kampung. Sedangkan kucing yang terbesar adalah seekor harimau. Harimau jantan Siberia atau harimau Amur mempunyai panjang badan keseluruhan lebih dari 3m (10 ft) dan berat badan hingga 300kg (660 lb).

Singa adalah rajanya para kucing. Berbeda dari jenis kucing lainnya, tidak hanya dalam penampilannya saja, tetapi juga dari sifat hidupnya yang berkelompok. Seekor singa jantan berat badannya mencapai 225kg (500 lb) dan panjang badannya dapat mencapai hingga 3m (10 ft).

Kucing yang tercepat, cheetah, juga merupakan binatang daratan yang paling cepat larinya.
Dapat mencapai kecepatan 95 km/jam (60 mph) dalam waktu singkat. Tidak seperti kucing lainnya, dia tidak mengaum melainkan bersuara melengking. Dan seperti kucing rumahan, dia juga mendengkur.

Meong!
Kucing kampung mendengkur setiap 26 kali per detik, sama dengan frekwensi mesin disel dalam keadaan idle. Kucing kampung dapat mendengar frekswensi suara hingga 65 kHz, sedangkan manusia hingga 20 kHz. Kemampuan indera penciumannya 14 kali lebih kuat daripada penciuman manusia.

Pada mata kucing ada lapisan pemantul cahaya yang dinamakan tapetum lucidum, yang menyebabkan mata kucing berpendar di malam hari. Lapisan pemantul ini dapat menyerap cahaya 6 kali lebih kuat daripada mata manusia, yang memungkinkan kucing untuk dapat melihat di kegelapan.

Ada lebih dari 3.000 jenis kucing kampung, tetapi hanya 8% diantaranya yang mempunyai silsilah. Dan tidak seperti kucing biasanya, jenis ini ditemukan diseluruh dunia dengan jenis yang berlimpah. Di Amerika Serikat sendiri, jumlah kucing lebih banyak daripada jumlah anjing, dan masyarakat lebih banyak berbelanja makanan kucing daripada makanan bayi.

Kucing kampung - atau jenis kucing apapun juga - tidak mempunyai 9 nyawa cadangan. Mereka juga tidak selalu mendarat dengan ujung kakiknya. Dikatakan bahwa seekor kucing yang jatuh dari tingkat 20 mempunyai kemungkinan selamat lebih besar dibanding dengan yang jatuh dari tingkat 7, karena seekor kucing membutuhkan ketinggian sekurangnya 7 lantai untuk dapat mengatur tubuhnya agar dapat mendarat dengan kakinya.

Kucing melangkah dengan kedua kaki kirinya, sedangkan pada saat berlari menggunakan kedua kaki kanannya. Satu-satunya binatang yang melakukan hal ini adalah jerapah dan onta.

Kucing langka
Memang jenis kucing kampung adalah yang paling banyak, tetapi ada juga jenis kucing yang sangat langka bahkan terancam kepunahan di muka bumi. Hanya terdapat sekitar 250 ekor kucing mirip musang di Malabar, Asia yang berjuang dari kepunahan. Kucing Iriomote, ditemukan di kepulauan Jepang Iriomotejima, dengan jumlah kurang dari 100 ekor.

Kucing kampung - sebenarnya bukan kampung asli, lebih populer daripada anjing.
 
2/09/2007
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Peristiwa: Apa dan Kapan
World Wide Web diperkenalkan pada tahun 1989, Beatles dibentuk pada tahun 1959, Nestlè memperkenalkan produk kopi instan pada tahun 1938. Apa yang terjadi dan kapan?

1900 - 1932

1900 Escalator ditemukan oleh Charles Seeberger. Jepitan kertas dipatenkan oleh seorang Norwegia bernama Johann Vaaler. Loudspeaker ditemukan oleh Horace Short. Charlotte Cooper menjadi wanita pertama yang memperoleh medali emas Olimpiade untuk cabang olahraga tenis.

1901 Christmas tree lights are introduced by Edison General Electric Co. The first facelift is performed by Eugene Hollander in Berlin on a Polish aristocrat. First time getaway car is used by 3 bank robbers in Paris.

1902 Boneka Teddy bear diciptakan oleh seorang imigran Rusia yang datang ke Amerika Serikat setelah dia melihat sebuah karton di koran yang menggambarkan presiden Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. Penemuan mesin penjual otomatis. Willis Carrier menemukan mesin pengatur suhu (air conditioner).

1903 Orville Wright menerbangkan pesawat terbang bermesin pertama dalam sejarah, Kitty Hawk, selama 12 detik - 4 penerbangan dilakukan pada tanggal 17 Desember. Diawal tahun itu pula, seorang fisikawan Rusia bernama Konstantin Tsiolkovsky menyatakan bahwa dengan teori matematika kompleks suatu hari manusia akan mengarungi ruang angkasa dan menjelajahi planet. Tour de France pertama. William Harley and Arthur Davidson launch the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company.

1904 Teh celup ditemukan oleh Thomas Suillivan. Perjalanan bawah air pertama dengan menggunakan kapal selam - dari Portsmouth ke Isle of Wight. Henry Royce dan Charles Rolls merintis Rolls-Royce.

1905 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen discovers the magnetic north pole. Albert Einstein publishes "theory of relativity." Sinn Fein founded by printer Arthur Griffith.

1906 William Kellogg menemukan makanan cornflakes. Lewis Nixon menemukan sonar. Kopi instan ditemukan oleh Mr G Washington, seorang Inggris yang hidup di Guatemala. Grand Prix pertama diadakan di Le Mans, Perancis -dan dimenangkan oleh seorang supir Romania bernama Ferenc Szisz dengan menggunaka sebuah Renault. Picasso menemukan aliran kubisme.

1907 Frenchman Paul Cornu designs first helicopter, flying it for a few seconds. First blood transfusion. Leo Baekeland discovers plastic. Colour photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.

1908 Paper cups launched by the International Paper Co New York. Ford Model T rolls out. Einstein proposes quantum theory. Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger invents cellophane. Gideon Bible Company started.

1909 American Robert Peary reaches North Pole. French aviator Louis Bleriot flies across the English Channel in a wooden monoplane tied together with piano strings. Briton George Smith launches the first commercially made colour film.

1910 French physicist George Claude invents neon light. Thomas Edison demonstrates the talking motion picture. Artificial silk stockings made in Germany. Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker found Black & Decker in Baltimore. Mrs John B Dodd starts Father's Day. The Dalai Lama is forced to flee Tibet as Chinese invade Lhasa.

1911 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who discovered the magnetic north pole, reaches the South Pole. First airmail is carried from London to Berkshire. Republic of China founded. Chevrolet Motor Co founded. First Hollywood studios built. Word "Vitamin" used to describe chemicals necessary to diets.

1912 First crossword puzzle published in New York Journal. Dr Gaston Odin discovers the cancer microbe. Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from an airplane. First neon advertising sign is displayed in Paris, for Cinzano. First self-service food store opens in California. The Titanic sinks on April, 15. Turkey surrenders to Serbia and Bulgaria, ending the Ottoman period.

1913 Briton Henry Brearly invents stainless steel. Thomas Edison invents the telephone recorder. Georgia Broadwick becomes the first woman to make a parachute jump.

1914 World War I breaks out on 4 August. First aerial dogfight, when Joseph Frantz and Louis Quenault in a Voisin shoot down a German Aviatik. Colour photographic process invented by Eastman Kodak. First traffic lights, installed in front of British House of Commons. Gideon Sundback designs the zip fastener. First commercial airline flies from Tampa to St Petersburg, Florida. First passenger meal served on airplane in flight, from Russia to Ukraine. US President Woodrow Wilson proclaims Mother's Day, a revival of a practice that dates back to the Greek empire.

1915 James Lewis Kraft launches process cheese in Canada. Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor invents Pyrex in New York. Poison gas is used as a weapon in Ypres, Belgium by German forces.

1916 George Jung produces the first fortune cookies, in Los Angeles. Coca-Cola launches its curvaceous bottle, modelled on the cola nut. William Boeing found his aircraft construction company. John D Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire.

1917 BMW founded. Charlie Chaplin signs the first million dollar movie contract. Lenin leads the Russian revolution. British royal family changes name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. The war tank is introduced, at the Battle of Cambrai. The airplane is used to drop bombs, in Belgium.

1918 US astronomer Harlow Shapley discovers the size and shape of the milky way. Electric food mixer is manufactured by Universal Co. Robert Ripley's strip "Believe it or not!" is published in the New York Globe. Germany surrenders to the Allies on 11 November at Compiegne, France.

1919 The Treaty of Versailles signed 28 June, concluding WWI. Wireless telephone is invented, allowing pilots to talk in-flight. First non-stop flight across the Atlantic made by Briton John Alcock and American Arthur Whitten Brown, from Newfoundland to Ireland. KLM of the Netherlands is the world's first airline company. Physicist Ernest Rutherford discovers a means of splitting the atom.

1920 Electric hand iron goes on sale in London. The tommy-gun is patented by John T Thompson. First ice cream on a stick is sold by Harry Burt at his Good Humour Bar. Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach devises "inkblot test."

1921 Johnson & Johnson launches the band-aid bandage. Avus Autobahn in Berlin is the first motorway. Californian medical student John Larson invents the polygraph (lie detector). Philo Farnsworth realized an idea for TV.

1922 Husband-and-wife team De witt Wallace and Lila Acheson launch Reader's Digest. British Egyptologist Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankamun, pharaoh 1316-1322BC. The snowmobile is built by 15-year old Joseph Bombardier in Quebec. The police car, called a bandit-chaser, is launched in Denver, Colorado, using a Cadilac engine.

1923 Swiss John Harwood invents the self-winding watch. Jacob Schick patents the electric shaver. 16mm home movie camera is launched by Kodak. Frank Epperson invents the popsicle when he leaves his lemonade mix on a windowsill overnight.

1924 First round-the-world flight. First Winter Olympics at Chamonix, Switzerland. Columbia Pictures and MGM founded. Spindryer launched by Kleenex. Caesar Cardini, owner of "Caesar's Palace" in New York invents Caesar salad.

1925 Red double-decker busses enter service in London. In-flight movie offered by German airline. Walter P Chrysler founded vehicle company. Frisbee is invented - by Yale students, using empty plates used to hold pies from the Frisbie Baking Company.

1926 Marion B Skaggs founded Safeway food stores. Scottish engineer John Logie Baird demonstrates a machine that transmits movie pictures using radio technology, calling it a "televisor", based on a 1884 idea by German Paul Nipkow. (But the mechanical TV system is beaten to general use by Philo Farnsworth's design of 1928.)

1927 25-year old Charles Lindbergh flies non-stop from New York to Paris in Spirit of St Louis. The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, is the first talkie movie. The first words were: "Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothing' yet!" First transatlantic phone call - at $75 for 3 minutes, half the cost of a car.

1928 Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. Philo Fransworth has a working model for TV. TV sets go on sales in the US for $75. Harry Ramsden opens the first chip shop in Bradford, England. First Bubble Gum, Fleer's Dubble Bubble, goes on sale in the US. JW Horton and WA Morrison invent the quartz crystal clock.

1929 US engineer Paul Galvin invents the car radio. Enzo Ferrari launches his company. Colour television pictures is transmitted in New York. Kelloggs launches Rice Krispies. Popey debuts in the Thimble Theatre strip by Elzie Segar. New York Stock Exchange crash on "Black Thursday" 24 October.

1930 The "differential analyzer", or analog computer, is invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT in Boston. General Electric launches the electric kettle with automatic cut-out. First football World Cup, won by host Uruguay.

1931 Harold Edgerton menemukan lampu blitz untuk kamera. Orang Jerrnan yang bernama Max Knott dan Ernst Ruska menemukan mikroskop elektron. Chevrolet meluncurkan jenis mobil truk bak terbuka. The American anthem "land of the free and the home of the brave" is adopted.

1932 Depresi dunia mencapai puncaknya. Pemantik api Zippo diperkenalkan. Britons John Cockroft dan Ernest Walton memperkenalkan energi nuklir dengan cara demontrasi pemisahan atom. Fisikawan Inggris yang bernama James Chadwick menemukan neutron. Carrier Corp menemukan mesin pengatur suhu (AC). Edwin Land mengembangkan kacamata hitam Polaroid


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1933 - 1964

1933 Kue coklat chip ditemukan oleh Ruth Wakefield. Pelarangan minuman keras dihapus pada tanggal 5 February - ada 1,5 juta barel bir yang diminum pada malam itu. Adolf Hitler menjadi pemimpin Jerman.

1934 Binatu pertama yang bernama "washeteria" dibuka di Texas. Seorang insiyur Inggris menemukan "mata kucing" untuk rambu jalan. Charles Darrow menemukan permainan monopoli. Carl Kaelen memperkenalkan cheeseburger pada restoran burger miliknya di Louisville, Kentucky.

1935 Wallace Carother memimpin ilmuwan DuPont untuk menemukan nilon, dan menyebutnya "polymer 6.6." Penguin Books diluncurkan oleh percetakan The Bodley Head. Alat bantu pendengaran diluncurkan. Kreugers meluncurkan produk bir dalam kemasan kaleng.

1936 Volkswagen Beetle diluncurkan. Majalah Billboard memuat "hit parade" yang pertama. Seorang Jerman yang bernama Heinrich Focke membuat helikopter pertama yang suksesdapat terbang, yaitu FA61. Raja Edward VIII mengumukan secara resmi untuk menikahi janda cerai dua kali berkebangsaan Amerika yang bernama Wallis Simpson.

1937
Nomor panggilan darurat untuk bantuan polisi - 999 -diluncurkan di London. Humphrey Bogart membintangi 8 filmtahun ini. Jembatan Golden Gate dibuka untuk umum. Hormel meluncurkan produk daging babi dan ham dalam kaleng, yang dinamakan Spam.

1938 Perusahaan Swiss yang bernama Nestle memperkenalkan produk kopi instan, Nescafe (baca tentang kopi). Keranjang belanja pasar swalayan diperkenalkan di Oklahoma. Maiden menerbangkan pesawat terbang bertekanan, Boeing Stratoliner. Roy Plunkett menemukan Teflon. Chester Carlson menemukan proses mesin fotokopi, "xerography." Debut tokoh Superman debuts dalam sebuah komik laga.

1939 Pecahnya Perang Dunia II. Frank J Whittle menemukan mesin. Robert Watson-Watt menemukan sistem radar. Nash memperkenalkan mobil yang dilengkapi sistem pendingin udara (AC). General Electric meluncurkan produk kulkas dengan ruangan pembeku es. Igor Sikorsky memenangkan perkelahian di dalam helikopter VS300-nya. "Gone with the wind" difilmkan.

1940 Kebang gula M&M diluncurkan sebagai komsumsi militer. Resep makanan Kolonel Sanders' diluncurkan oleh Kentucky Fried Chicken. Stoking Nilon diperkenalkan. Proses pepbekuan kering ditemukan. CBS membuat film berwarna untuk televisi yang pertamakalinya di dunia. Debut Bugs Bunny dalam judul "A wild hare."

1941 Jepang menyerang pelabuhan Pearl Harbour yang menyeret Amerika Serikat untuk turut dalam kancah Perang Dunia II. Kendaraan Willys General Purpose , atau GP (kemudian dikenal sebaga "jeep") diperkenalkan oleh perusahaan Bantam Car Co. Di New York, WNBT menjadi stasiun radio komersial yang pertama. Obat serangga aerosol muali dipasarkan di Amerika Serikat.

1942 Tony the Tiger debuts as mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. Earl Tupper uses polyethylene to create Tupperware. A sell-by-date is first used - on Lyons Coffee in Britain. Glenn Miller receives the first gold disc for selling a million copies of Chattanooga Choo Choo. Italian physicist Enrico Fermi launches the first controlled nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.

1943 Irish chef Joe Sheridan introduces Irish Coffee at Shannon Airport, Ireland. Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic properties of LSD. In Britain, a 1,500-valve electronic machine, called Colossus, becomes the first programmable or digital computer, used to decode German messages.

1944 Allied D-Day landings at Normandy, France break German defences. "The Three Caballeros" by Walt Disney becomes the first film to combine live action and animation. Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro invents ballpoint pens. Elizabeth Taylor stars in "National Velvet", filmed in California where Taylor was living as a war evacuee.

1945 German forces finally surrender in May. The US drops atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan's surrender. 35 million people were killed in WWII, 18 million were from Russia. UN is founded, as is the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Percy LeBaron Spencer invents the microwave oven. "Coke" is registered as a trademark by the Coca-Cola company.

1946 Enrico Piaggio launches the Vespa scooter in Italy. Louis Reard introduces the bikini swimsuit in Paris, modelled by Micheline Bernardini. Proctor & Gamble launches Tide. Cannes Film Festival is launched. The Electronic Numerial Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) at the University of Pennsylvania, with 18,000 electronic valves, performs 5,000 additions or subtractions per second. The world's first nuclear reactor is opened in the USSR.

1947 Edwin H Land invents the Polaroid instant camera, which prints black-and-white photos in 60 seconds. First solid-body electric guitar is built by Les Paul. AT&T invents cell phone (became commercial only 1983). Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. The Edinburgh Festival is launched. Mikhail Kalashnikov invents the AK-47. The Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered by a Bedouin shepherd in Jordan - dating from the 1st century, they are in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and Hebrew. The 400 scrolls contain fragments of every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther.

1948 Israel established. Kenneth Wood launches the Kenwood Chef food mixer, and Daimler introduces electric windows in cars. Robert Hope-Jones invents the Wurlitzer jukebox. Columbia Records introduces long-playing record, LP. Bell laboratories displays the first transistor.

1949 In Britain, Robinson's launches the world's first disposable nappies, "Paddipads". De Havilland Comet is the first jet airliner. Israel's capital move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Birth of the People's Republic of China. NATO founded. Republic of Ireland founded.The first Emmy is awarded.

1950 Otis invents the passenger lift. Charles Schultz launches "Peanuts". Mr Potato Head debuts. Diners Club issues the first credit card. Korean war erupts. Danish doctor Christian Hamburger performs the first sex change operation on New Yorker George Jargensen, who becomes Christine Jargensen.

1951 First Miss World contest is held at the Lyceum theatre in London, won by Miss Sweden. John Paul Getty becomes the richest man. Zenith Radio Corp introduces cable television. Chrysler introduces power steering. First space flight by living creatures when US sends 4 monkeys into the stratosphere. Remington Rand launches the first commercially available computer, the Univac 1.

1952 M&R Labs introduce the first coffee creamer, "Pream". Kirsch launches the first diet soft drink, "No-Cal Ginger Ale". Car safety belts introduced. BOAC starts first jet passenger service. Sony invents pocket-sized transistor radio. Ian Fleming's James Bond debuts in novel "Casino Royale".

1953 US physiologist Ancel Keys suggests link between heart disease and high fat diet. Dr James Watson discovers the structure of DNA. Playboy magazine is launched. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach summit of Mount Everest. Baron Bich launches Bic ballpoint in France. Queen Elizabeth II crowned.

1954 Oxford student Roger Bannister breaks the 4-minute mile. Elvis Presley debuts with "That's all right, Mamma." Racial segregation in US schools banned. Nuclear power station begins production in Obninsk, USSR. First mass-produced computer by IBM, installing 120 "650's". Ray Kroc start McDonalds.

1955 Guinness Book of Records is published. Clean Air Act is passed in Britain. Walt Disney opens Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

1956 CIA launches the U-2 spy plane. Swiss Georges de Metral perfects Velcro. John Bachus and his IBM team invent FORTRAN, the first high-level programming language.

1957 USSR launches the Sputnik satellite into space. The EEC, European Economic Community, founded. The Medical Research Council links lung cancer with smoking.

1958 Yves Saint Laurent holds his first fashion show in Paris. Danish toymakers Ole and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen launches Lego. Bill and Mark Richards of California invents the skateboard. Australian David Warren invents the black box flight recorder. NASA founded. Jack Kilby from Texas and Robert Noyce from California invents the integrated circuit at the same time! However, their idea is not new - Briton GW Dummer had suggested such a design in 1952.

1959 First pictures of dark side of the moon by Luna III. Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba. Alec Issigonis's Morris Mini is launched. Haloid launches the first copier, the "Xerox 914," able to reproduce documents at the press of a button. Briton Christopher Cockerell launches the hovercraft. Ermal Cleon Fraze invents the easy-open can. First Daytona 500 takes place, won by Lee Petty in an Oldsmobile. The Beatles form. Barbie doll debuts, after she started life years earlier as Lilli.

1960 US submarine Triton makes the first round the world undersea voyage. Two hackers from MIT create the first computer video game, Spacewar. "Ben Hur" is awarded 10 Oscars. Largest earthquake recorded in Chili.

1961 Yuri Gagarin the first man in space. A coup, backed by the CIA and President John F Kennedy, fails at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Russia starts building the Berlin Wall. Bob Dylan plays his first gig, in New York. World Wildlife Fund founded. Weight Watchers founded by 97kg (214 lb) Jean Nidetch.

1962 The Beatles debut with "Love me do". John Glenn becomes first American in space. Dow Corp invent silicone breast implants. Ivan Sutherland demonstrates Sketchpad, the first programme to use windows, icons, and a light pen. In "the Cuban crisis," Khrushchev removes Russian nuclear missiles from Cuba, but only after Kennedy agrees to remove US missiles from Turkey.

1963 President John F Kennedy tewas dibunuh. Ursula Andress terpilih dalam uji bintang 'panas' untuk berperan dalam film "Four for Texas". Velentina Rereshlova menjadi wanita pertama di luar angkasa dalam pesawat Vostok 6. Telepon dengan tombol pencet diperkenalkan pertama kalinya. First TV instant replay is shown in the US during a football game between the Army and the Navy.

1964 GI Joe doll debuts. The Beatles occupy the Billboard Top Five. Verbands Molkerei introduces long-life milk in Switzerland. John Kemeny dan Thomas Kurtz mengembangkan bahasa di Dartmouth College.

selanjutnya.....
 
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1965 - 1999

1965 US troops deployed in Vietnam - anti-war protests start at the university of Michigen. Soviet astronaut Alexei Leonov makes the first space walk. Ray Dolby invents the Dolby sound recording system. Stephanie Kwolek discovers kevlar. Biggest power failure in history causes 9-hour blackout in eastern Canada and US, leading to surge in national birthrates 9 months later.

1966 Star Trek debuts on NBC. 64-year old Englishman Francis Chichester becomes the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a boat. Neil Armstrong and David Scott makes the first space docking in Gemini 8. Twiggy, at 17, becomes the world's most famous model.

1967 Che Guevara is shot dead by Bolivian troops. First staging of the Superbowl. Rolling Stone magazine goes on sale. Bee Gees debut. Dr Christiaan Barnard performs the first heart transplant. Biologists in the US successfully synthesises DNA in a test tube. Seiko launches the quartz wristwatch.

1968 Dr Martin Luther King assassinated. Scientist devise the epidural anaesthetic to ease pain of childbirth. Boeing 747 introduced. Roy Jacuzzi invent the whirlpool bath. Kodak launches the Instamatic. Bill Gates and Paul Allen use their first computer, an ASR-33 Teletype.

1969 Neil Armstrong is the first man on the moon. The "Aquarian Exposition" takes place in Woodstock, New York, (Woodstock Festival). Yasser Arafat becomes leader of PLO. The first test-tube fertilisation of human eggs, in England. US Department of Defense starts ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet.

1970 The Beatles split up. IBM introduces the floppy disk (invented by Yoshuito Nakamats in 1950). New English Bible launched, sells 1 million copies in first week.

1971 Philips launches the VCR. Intel launch the microprocessor. Bruce Lee receives international acclaim with "Fist of fury". Britain conforms to the decimal currency. Greenpeace founded in Canada.

1972 Polaroid introduces the instant colour camera. Texas Instruments launches the pocket calculator. Nolan Bushnell of Atari introduces Pong, the first major coin-operated electronic video game. Nike running shoes launched. World War II ends for Shoichi Yokoi of Japan, who give himself up on Guam Island where he has hidden for 27 years.

1973 Watergate scandal breaks. US pulls out of Vietnam. Arab oil embargo brings Europe to its knees. Bic invents the disposable lighter. Members of the Marin County Canyon in California invents the mountain bike.

1974 Lt Hiroo Onoda surrenders on the island of Lubang, finally convinced that WWII is over, 29 years after it ended. Art Fry invents Post-It. GM introduces the catalytic converter. Gillette introduces the disposable razor.

1975 South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnamese Communists troops. Junko Tabei of Japan becomes first woman to reach Everest summit. Soviet Soyuz 19 docks with Apollo 18. IBM launches the laser printer. Popular Electronics announces Altair, the first "personal computer".

1976 Viking I lands on Mars. 14-year old Romanian Nadia Comaneci scores 5 perfect 10's at Montreal Olympics. Konica introduces automatic focus camera. Apple computers founded by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak. The Eagles become the first group to go platinum, with a million sales of their Greatest Hits LP.

1977 Apple II becomes the first mass-produced home computer. Star Wars debuts. Rings around Uranus discovered.

1978 Karol Wojtyla of Poland becomes Pope John Paul II. Taito Corp launches first arcade video game, Space Invaders. In England, Louise Brown is the first test-tube baby. Superman the movie debuts, starring Christopher Reeve.

1979 Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Russia invades Afghanistan. Nobel prize awarded to Mother Teresa. Sony launches the Walkman. Frank Rudy designs first air-cushioned running shoe, the Nike Tailwind.

1980 Philips invents the CD. US ice hockey player Scott Olson develops roller blades. Italian Reinhold Messner makes the first solo ascent of Mount Everest. World Health Organisation declares end of smallpox. John Lennon is shot by Mark Chapman.

1981 IBM launches their PC. BMW develops the first in-car computer. PacMan hits the arcades. Shuttle Columbia launched. Prince Charles and Lady Di wedded.

1982 Barney Clark receives artificial heart - operation by Dr William de Vries. European doctors offer liposuction. Rings around Neptune discovered. First papal visit to Britain since 1531. PacMan is Time Magazine's "Man of the Year."

1983 HIV virus identified. Cabbage Patch Kids debuts, as does Madonna. Sally Ride is first US woman in space. Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to travel beyond the solar system. Grandson of Alexander Graham Bell answers first commerical cell phone call. Computer hackers break into US defence computers. Programmer Jaron Lanier coins the term "virtual reality".

1984 Apple Computers launch the Macintosh. Canadian writer invents the word "cyberspace". Dr William Clewall perform the first operation on an unborn foetus. Bruce McCandless becomes the first man to fly in space without a safety line.

1985 British scientist Joe Farman discovers the hole in the ozone. Dr Alec Jeffreys discovers genetic fingerprint, using DNA, at Leicester University. Lasers are first used in surgery. Clive Sinclair introduces the battery-operated car. Commercial whaling banned.

1986 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeagar makes the first non-stop non-refuelling flight around the world. Nuclear reactor explodes in Chernobyl, Ukraine. Soviet Union launches Mir space station. Fuji introduces disposable camera. Tom Cruise stars in Top Gun.

1987 World population reaches 5 billion. World stock exchanges collapse on Black Monday, 20 Oct. First optic cable is laid across Atlantic Ocean. Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand make first transatlantic hot air balloon crossing. GM invents active suspension, on Lotus F1 car.

1988 US introduces the F-117 stealth fighter. Prozac launched, as is RV486, an abortion-inducing drug. Bombs set by Lybian terrorists explodes on Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" is published.

1989 One of the last unspoiled areas on earth threatened when the tanker Exxon Valdes runs aground in Alaska. CFC gases banned. Russia quits Afghanistan. Tiananmen Square protests by students. Berlin Wall comes down. Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web.

1990 Gulf War erupts as NATO defends Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. Germany reunites. Breakthrough in the Channel Tunnel. Hubble space telescope launched.

1991 End of the Soviet Union. Iraqi forces expelled from Kuwait. Helen Sharman becomes the first British astronaut, on Soyuz TM-12. 5,000 year old frozen body is discovered in Alps, named "Otzi", with tattoos on his back, knees and ankles.

1992 World's first damages award made for illness causes by passive smoking, in Sydney. Fighting breaks out in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

1993 World Wide Web goes graphic with the launch of the Mosaic browser. Plan to map the entire genetic structure of humans, Human Genome Project, launched in San Diego. Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to pay income tax.

1994 An asteroid passes earth at only 160 000km (100,00 miles). Channel Tunnel opens for business.

1995 Lisa Clayton becomes the first woman to sail around the world. Microsoft launches Windows95. A national computer data base of DNA records opens in UK. 26-year old trader Nick Leeson single-handedly brings down Britain's oldest bank, Barings, by running up losses of 620 million Pounds.

1996 Same-sex marriages in the US is prohibited under the Defence of Marriage Act. NASA scientist announce the discovery of proof of living organisms on a Mars meteorite in Antarctica.

1997 First ever space funeral when Timothy Leary's ashes is launched into space. US space probe pathfinder lands on Mars. Scientists at Roslin Institute in Scotland clones a sheep, "Dolly". Lady Di killed in car crash. World's first university, where Aristotle and Socrates taught, is discovered in Athens.

1998 Microsoft meluncurkan Windows98. Hukum tentang anti perkawinan antar ras dicabut di Carolina Selatan, Amerika Serikat. Seorang Perancis bernama Benoit Lecomte berenang melintasi Samudera Atlantic.

1999 NATO melakukan serangan udara terhadap Serbia. Penduduk Alabama, Amerika Serikat mengadakan pemungutan suara untuk Undang-undang anti Perkawinan antar ras. Para ilmuwan mencatat kecepatan angin tornado yang melanda kota Oklahoma merupakan rekor yang paling tinggi di dunia, yaitu 509 km/jam (318 mph) . Populasi dunia telah mencapai 6 milyar manusia.