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Alice M. Rivlin, Founding Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Dies at the Age of 88
Rivlin once described herself as, ” a professional critic of wishful thinking”. This critic of wishful thinking characteristic was an ideal trait for someone in charge of governmental purse strings; a perfect attribute for a budget official. Georgianna Alice Mitchell began life on March 4, 1931 in Philadelphia. She spent her childhood years primarily in Bloomington, Indiana. Her father, Allan C.G. Mitchell, was a physicist who helped develop the Atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. Her mother, Georgianna (Fales) Mitchell, was a national officer of The League of Women Voters. Alice was a Havard graduate and recipient of the Brookings fellowship. Her Ph.D dissertation was on Projecting Demographic…
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The New Deal
When Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his 1932 acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, he said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” His plan and pledge (The New Deal) was his promise for relief programs in the wake of the horrific devastation of the Great Depression; devastation made worse by President Herbert Hoover’s lack of an effective response. Source: https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal Roosevelt’s domestic programs brought immediate economic relief and dramatically expanded the scope of the Federal government’s power and involvement in the domestic sphere.
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Phineas Gage: An Accidental First in Neuroscience
On the afternoon of September 13, 1848 a foreman for the construction of the railroad in Cavendish, Vermont suffered one of the most noteworthy neurological accidents in history. Twenty six year old Phineas Gage, due to an unfortunate explosion, had an iron rod, a tamping iron used for blasting, shoot straight through his head. The odd and interesting aftermath was that Phineas showed no obvious signs of brain damage. He spoke coherently and his memory remained intact. His unusual case attracted the attention of doctors in the medical community who reported their observations and findings. Through accounts from those close to Phineas it was discovered that in fact there had…
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The Story of Cudjo Lewis
Cudjo Lewis, (ca. 1841-1935), (birth name of Oluale Kossola (Kazoola)), along with 120 others, was sold into slavery at the age of 19. The slave ship Clotilda travelled from the West African country of Benin ( Cudjo Lewis’s birth place) to Alabama in 1860 just one year prior to the Civil War (the bloodiest war in the history of the United States) that erupted on April 12, 1861. To learn about the life of Oluale Kossola you can read Zora Neale Hurston’s book Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”. Zora first attempted publication in 1931, but it took fifty-eight years after her death (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) to…
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First Known LSD Experience in History
It was in 1943 when Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann (credited with the synthesis and discovery of LSD-25) inadvertently ingested lysergic-acid-diethylamide, (easy to do since it only takes an infinitesimal amount to become activated in the human mind) , from leftover ergot fungus, which grows in rye kernels. This left over fungus, as recounted by Hoffmann, had been setting on a shelf in a jar for five years after having been tested in animals only. Below is an account of the 1943 synthesis experience with the left over fungus in Dr. Hofmann’s own words: ” In the final step of the synthesis, during the purification and crystallization of lysergic acid diethylamide in the…
