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 This is pretty cool -- it's the Great Pyramid of Giza from the top


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 Was George Washington sterile? Today marks the 1731 birth of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, our first "First Lady", although the term was not in use at the time.  She married for the first time at age 19 to Daniel Parke Custis who was almost 20 years her senior.  During their seven year marriage which ended with his death, Martha gave birth to four children, two survived to adulthood. Custis' death left Martha a very wealthy widow.  On her own she managed five plantations that were left to her, with 300 slaves and the equivalent of $4,000,000 in today's money.  And she apparently negotiated with her British factors in an able manner. Unlike the matronly, frumpish image we have of Lady Washington today, contemporary accounts demonstrate the 28 year old whom Washington (and others) courted to be attractive and lively.  Since early colonial days, in New England love was considered to be a necessary prerequisite for marriage.  Not so in Virginia wher...
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  Professor Thaddeus Lowe was born August 20 in 1832. During the Civil War, Lowe became "Chief Aeronaut" for the U.S. Army after he ascended into the air above Washington to demonstrate for President Lincoln the usefulness of tethered observational balloons for map making, artillery spotting, and observing enemy movements. Lowe was just one of many accomplished balloonists to demonstrate the technology's usefulness, but by the end of the summer he took over the position from John Wise. Under Lowe, the Balloon Corps made over 3,000 ascensions and supported numerous campaigns. It disbanded in 1863 due to financial and personnel problems, but left its legacy as the first U.S. air force.
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