Jackie DeShannon is one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock “n”roll
era with a long list of hit song credits from the 1960s on. Jackie’s signature song
is “What the World Needs Now is Love” (1965). Her highest-charting hit was “Put
a Little Love in Your Heart” which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in
1969. In 2010, Jackie DeShannon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of
Fame and was also inducted the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901)
President Harrison, In office from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893, was
born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where he
eventually became a prominent politician. Harrison served as a Brigadier
General during the Civil War. After the war he unsuccessfully ran for
governor of Indiana, and was later appointed to the U.S. Senate. Harrison,
a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating Democratic
incumbent Grover Cleveland.
Grave of President Harrison and his two wives in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 1,592 lb. space probe launched by NASA on August
20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating
for 33 years, 11 months and 31 days as of today (20 August 2011), the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network.
Each Voyager space probe carries a gold-plated audio-visual disc (shown below) in
the event that either spacecraft is ever found by intelligent life-forms from other
planetary systems. The discs carry photos of the Earth and its life forms, a range
of scientific information, spoken greetings from the people (e.g. the Secretary-
General of the United Nations and the President of the United States, and the
children of the Planet Earth) and a medley, "Sounds of Earth", that includes the
sounds of whales, a baby crying, waves breaking on a shore, and a variety
of music.
Voyager’s 12 inch gold plated disc
Diagram of the main components of the Voyager spacecraft. (click to enlarge)
