by Marc Aronson
27) William H. Taft
(1909-1913) Biggest of the big presidents, he seemed dull and disappointing after T.R. He was much happier later in life as a Supreme Court judge. Ohio VII.
28) Woodrow Wilson
(1913-1921) People elected him to keep America out of World War I, but he ultimately led the country to fight in it. He tried to speak on the radio, but was too far from the microphone to be heard—and no one told him. With Wilson, Virginia either ties Ohio at 7, or takes a lead. (For a very short time; guess where Harding was from?)
29) Warren G. Harding
(1921-1923) An official he appointed took bribes and was caught. Harding was not corrupt, but the Teapot Dome scandal defined his presidency. Harding was the first president who people actually heard speak on radio. Ohio VIII.
30) Calvin Coolidge
(1923-1929) While the country was in the lively Jazz Age of music, movies, and cars, it elected its dullest president ever.
31) Herbert C. Hoover
(1929-1933) Despite being a smart, hardworking man, he had no answer to the Great Depression that began just as he took office.
32) Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1933-1945) Faced with economic crisis and then World War II, he was the leader the country needed, declaring that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In 1939, he became the first president to appear on television.
33) Harry S. Truman
(1945-1953) “The buck stops here,” said the sign on his desk, and it did; he made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan.
34) Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) In a time when people who had experienced the horrors of World War II wanted suburban homes, TVs, and new cars, he was a reassuring presence. A UNIVAC computer predicted he would be elected, the first time a machine accomplished that.
35) John F. Kennedy
(1961-1963) Youngest president ever, which suited a time of rock ‘n’ roll, and young people joining the fight for civil rights. He and his opponent Richard Nixon were the first presidential candidates to debate on television.
36) Lyndon B. Johnson
(1963-1969) Took over when Kennedy was killed and passed many reform bills, but could neither win nor end the war in Vietnam.
37) Richard M. Nixon
(1969-1974) Famously “tricky,” he was forced to resign when he tried to cover up his role in illegal acts against his political enemies.
38) Gerald Ford
(1974-1977) Nice guy, great football player, calmed the country after the Nixon years.
39) Jimmy Carter
(1977-1981) Better known today for his continuing work for world peace as an ex-president than for his term in office.
40) Ronald Reagan
(1981-1989) Former movie star who mastered the use of the media.
41) George Bush
(1989-1993) Father of namesake, who became 43rd President, and of Jeb Bush, who was the governor of Florida.
42) Bill Clinton
(1993-2001) The first White House Web site was set up during his term—which is appropriate since he was known for his communication skills.
43) George W. Bush
(2001-2008) The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, defined his presidency. In 2004, bloggers first began reporting from presidential nominating conventions as they were taking place.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th president, his brother Robert F. Kennedy was a senator from New York who ran for president, and their brother Edward Kennedy is a senator from Massachusetts who also ran for president.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
SATELLITES
THERE ARE MORE THAN 3,000 satellites currently orbiting the Earth, although more than 5,000 have been launched since the Russians launched the first one, Sputnik, in 1957. Several thousand have already done their jobs and either crashed back to Earth or have broken up in space.
So how exactly do these thousands of satellites work? It’s simple, really. They are designed to receive signals from the Earth (much like TVs and radios do) and then they transmit these signals to other parts of the Earth. Some satellites are as small as a basketball while others are more than 30 feet wide and weigh as much as a truck. Once built, they are loaded into rockets and launched to a specific point in space, typically around 22,500 miles over the equator, because at that point Earth’s gravity is strong enough to keep it in place but not strong enough to yank it back to the ground Once released from the rocket, many of them use batteries or solar panels for their power. Then their work begins.
Satellites receive information from a specific place and then send it back to the ground. Ground stations on portable transmitters (like those used by TV crews) find the position of an individual satellite and send electrical signals directly up to it. The satellite contains thousands of electronic components that receive the signals, add power to them, and send them back to Earth. Receivers on the ground get the signals and then convert them back to their original form (TV shows, radio broadcasts, or spy photographs of places in other countries). You’ve probably seen little round satellite dishes on the outside of people’s homes: These are satellite receivers for TV shows and Internet connections.
Of the satellites up above us (about 2,000 have already broken up or crashed back to Earth in the last 50 years), it’s possible that as many as half are no longer functioning, making them nothing more than lifeless machines. Many of these will fall out of orbit and burn up in the atmosphere, while others just keep floating around.
NASA is tracking nearly 11,000 detectable pieces of space debris floating above Earth. These are satellites, as well as pieces of junk over four inches in size, including everything from nuts, bolts, and hand tools dropped by space-walking astronauts, to actual bags of garbage left by space missions, to pieces of exploded satellites and rockets.
LIQUID RAINBOWS
LIKE A MAGIC TRICK,
this project suddenly produces swirling colors with no apparent reason. It’s incredibly easy to do.
1. Take a pie plate or soup dish and pour 3/4 cup of whole milk into it (2% is OK, but not skim or nonfat). Let it sit for about 15 minutes to get warm.
2. Put two drops of different colored food coloring in three separate areas of the milk (like two reds, two blues, and two yellows).
3. Add about four drops of dishwashing liquid into the center of the milk.
That’s it. In a few moments, the milk will start churning and swirl the colors around. This happens because soap molecules attract the fat molecules in milk (which is why low or nonfat milk doesn’t work well). As it pulls ever more molecules into itself, it causes the swirling in the plate, eventually pulling the food color in with it.
SECRET FOR DRAWING IN 3-D
YOU DON’T NEED TO TAKE ART CLASSES to learn how to draw things in 3-D. All you need is this trick:
Draw a shape (square, circle, triangle, almost anything) and then draw it again an inch or two away. Then connect the same points on each shape with a straight line. That’s all it takes.
HOW TO WIN AT ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
LOOK AT THE GUY YOU ARE PLAYING. Is he the kind of person who thinks rocks are strong and paper is weak? Try to guess what he is going to lead with. Confuse your enemy: He is looking at you, wondering if you like rocks. So, pick a strategy that you will follow no matter what. You could go:
Rock, Rock, Rock
Paper, Paper, Paper,
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Scissors, Rock, Paper
Not hard to figure out the rest. But if you program yourself ahead of time and read your enemy, you’ll have the best chance to win.
TOP ELEVEN
GREATEST MOMENTS IN SPORTS HISTORY
BASEBALL
IT’S EVERY BASEBALL player’s dream: In one swing, with the pressure on, you win the World Series. Two series have ended with home runs, one with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game: In 1960, Bill Mazerowski—the great second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates—hit a 1-
0 pitch from Yankee Ralph Terry over the wall to win the game and the series.
In 1993, Joe Carter of Toronto hit a three-run homer to beat Philadelphia and win the World Series. It was again the bottom of the ninth, but this was the sixth game. Carter took a 2-2 pitch over the fence, ending the series.
The fifth game of the 1956 World Series was the greatest game ever pitched. Don Larson of the Yankees took a perfect game into the ninth inning, retired the first two batters, and had a 1-2 count on the third. With the 97th pitch of the game, he caught Dale Mitchell looking, the 27th Dodger in a row. To this day, Dodger fans claim the pitch was high. So what? It would have been 2-2.
But then again, no one can or will ever make a greater play than Willie Mays of the New York Giants did in game one of the 1954 World Series. The Giants played in the Polo Grounds, a stadium whose outfield went on forever—today, dead center is usually about 410 feet from home; in the Polo Grounds it was 475. Running at full speed, his back to the plate, Mays caught a line drive hit by Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians that had gone more than 400 feet. That was amazing, but the superhuman part was the throw—even as he caught the ball, he began turning, spinning back so that he could get enough power on his throw to hold Al Rosen on first base. The catch was dazzling, the throw superhuman. The Giants went on to sweep the series.
HOCKEY
THE 1980 U.S. OLYMPIC Hockey team had no chance against the Soviet Union. The Soviet team had beaten the best players in the NHL 6-0, and the American Olympians themselves 10-3 in exhibition matches. But battling back after trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, the Americans finally took a 4-3 lead in the third period on Mike Eruzione’s slap shot. Unbelievably, against any logic, the lead held, until announcer Al Michaels counted down the last seconds, “Five seconds to go in the game … . Do you believe in miracles? YES!” To this day, if you watch the tape, it really does seem miraculous.
HPN: I’ll admit, this is the sentimental favorite. But the real greatest moment in hockey—maybe in any sport—came during the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues on May 10, 1970. The Bruins’ Bobby Orr, number 4, scored the fourth goal in the fourth period (overtime) of the fourth game to win the championship—while flying through the air after being tripped by Noel Picard. Oh, Picard’s number? 4. Still gives me the chills.
MA: That is the sad fate of hockey fans—you love this wonderful sport with a great history, but no one else knows about it.
BASKETBALL
THE SHOT THAT Christian Laettner made to give Duke the eastern regional final victory in the 1992 NCAA tournament simply was not possible. Duke was down to Kentucky 103-102 with 2.1 seconds left in overtime. They had the ball under their own basket, so first, Grant Hill had to throw a perfect, 80-foot pass over all of the waving Kentucky hands. Then Laettner had to catch it, fake to get free, and shoot a sweet 17-footer as time expired—capping a day in which he shot 11-11 from the field, and 10-10 from the line. Duke won, Kentucky cried.
Good for Christian, but how about Michael Jordan’s play in the last 41 seconds of the sixth game of the 1998 NBA Finals? Chicago was up three games to two over Utah. Win this and they’d have their sixth title in eight years. But the Bulls were down 86-83. First, Jordan hit a shot—86-85. Then he circled back to strip the ball from Utah’s star, Karl “the Mailman” Malone. With seconds ticking off, Jordan faced one of the best defenders on the Jazz, faked him (or, some say, pushed him), got free, and hit the winning basket. Chicago reigned again.
HPN: Hey, don’t forget football. I see Doug Flutie’s pass on page 69, but how could you leave out Stanford versus California on November 20, 1982? Stanford kicked a field goal with eight seconds left to play and took the lead by one point, 20-19. They were sure they’d won the game, and so was everyone else. With four seconds on the clock, Cal took the final kick- off, and returned the ball downfield by lateraling five times and running right through the Stanford band, which had taken the field thinking their team had already won. Cal scored a touchdown with no time left, and beat Stanford 25-20. They don’t call this one “The Play” for nothing.
MA: The Play is like the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal basketball game (see page 67). Stanford fans still don’t agree that it was legal, and spend endless time going over tape to prove that one of those tosses was an illegal forward lateral, or someone had his knee down and was touched … . I like having instant replay and all, but sometimes that just leads to more arguments that go on and on, and on into the next century.
SOCCER
ENGLAND AND ARGENTINA fought a strange war in 1982 over a group of islands. Four years later, they met in a World Cup quarterfinal. Argentina’s Diego Maradona scored the first goal—actually his hand did; it was an illegal play. But the second and deciding goal was voted the greatest goal in World Cup history. Maradona held the ball for ten seconds, weaving through five English defenders before shooting it past the goalie. Argentina won 2-1. They’d lost the Falkland Islands, but went on to take the World Cup.
ATHLETES
WHO CHANGED THE WORLD—LITERALLY
TWO ATHLETES AND ONE TEAM CHANGED HISTORY WITH THEIR VICTORIES.
In 1936, Germany hosted the Summer Olympics—a great chance to display what they believed was the superiority of Germans. But they didn’t reckon on American Jesse Owens. Born poor in Alabama, he made himself into the world’s greatest runner. Owens won the gold in four events, setting Olympic records in the 100 meters, the long jump, and the 200 meters. He also led off the U.S. gold-medal-winning 4 X 100 relay team. The Nazis were free to go home and sulk.
SONNY LISTON HAD lived a hard life—born the 24th of 25 kids, he grew up extremely poor. He made his way with his fists, always on the edge of crime. Liston was the boxer as a bully, the man you would never want to meet in a dark alley. On February 25, 1964, he went into the ring a 7-1 favorite over the challenger, a young boxer named Cassius Clay. Clay wove, danced, taunted, and spun around Liston, until in the seventh round, when the heavyweight champion gave up. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali, and to millions of people around the country and the world who watched and listened, his fight showed that times were changing—youth, brains, and confidence could beat any odds.
IT WAS REALLY EASY TO tell apart the two teams in the 1966 NCAA Final: Kentucky’s players were all white, and they were the proud inheritors of a tradition of great white basketball teams at the school. The five starters for Texas Western were all black—the first all-black starting five in NCAA Finals history. Kentucky was favored—for all the reasons prejudice dictated—supposedly, they were more disciplined, whereas TW was going to be too flashy and fall apart under pressure.
Just the opposite happened: TW did a better job of passing, controlling the ball, and playing defense, and won 72-65. From then on, the days of segregation in basketball were numbered. A movie about that year and that game is called Glory Road.
AMAZING
COMEBACK-UPSET-REFUSE-TO-LOSE
DUE TO WORLD WAR II, the 1950 World Cup was the first international tournament to be held in 12 years. Brazil was the host country, and it built a stadium that could hold 200,000 fans just for the occasion. Brazil was cruising along, crushing one country after another, until it met its teeny, tiny neighbor Uruguay. And on July 16, Uruguay won 2-1, an upset so devastating that every one of the players on the Brazilian team was tainted with it for the rest of his sporting life.
WE CAN’T SEE WHY the story of Michael Chang’s match against Ivan Lendl in the 1989 French Open is not printed on cereal boxes, or made into a movie. The match showed one thing, pure courage, and maybe another, brains. Lendl was the number one player in the world, and entered the fourth set leading 2-1. Now, 17-year-old Chang’s legs began to cramp, and the pain grew worse, and worse, and worse. He could barely move on the court, so he would hit the ball high in the air to give himself a moment’s rest.
He began screaming in pain as he played, he even served underhand, and finally, he stood completely out of position
when Lendl served to break his concentration. Amazingly, Chang, who could hardly stand, won the fourth and fifth sets and the match, then collapsed into tears.
IN 1954, TINY MILAN High School in rural Indiana had only 75 male students. But it had a very determined basketball coach. Marvin Wood molded the team into a unit that had reached the state semifinals the year before. Then came the real run. First, Milan beat an Indianapolis school whose star, Oscar Robertson, was one of the greatest players of all time. Then in a close, low-scoring game for the state title, Milan held the ball with just seconds left. Bobby Plump, who had just missed another big shot, made it with time running out, and the school from nowhere ruled the state. Sports fans voting online called the movie Hoosiers, which is loosely based on the story of Milan, the greatest sports movie of all time.