Through the looking glass

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below. I have included the question simply for your information.

First public demonstration in Annonay, 4 June 1783.
Image Wikipedia
  1. On 4 June 1783, an uncrewed hot-air balloon was launched at Annonay in southeastern France. This marked the first public demonstration of the discovery that hot air in a large, lightweight bag rises. Who made this discovery and constructed and launched the balloon? Who made this discovery and constructed and launched the balloon?
    • Montgolfier Brothers—Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, invented the hot air balloon and conducted the first untethered flights in 1783.
      Transcontinental Express.
      Image Pinterest
  2. On this day in 1876, the first Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco after travelling from New York. How long did the journey take?
    • 83 hours and 39 minutes—On 4 June 1876, the Transcontinental Express, an express train, arrived in San Francisco, California, via the first transcontinental railroad. This remarkable feat was achieved in just 83 hours and 39 minutes, leaving New York City behind. The news of the Transcontinental Express’s arrival spread rapidly across the United States, captivating newspapers and sparking widespread excitement.
      Ariane 5 flight VA-256 on the launch pad with the James Webb Space Telescope
      Image Wikipedia
  3. Today in 1996, the maiden flight of the European Space Agencies Ariane 5 rocket ended in an explosion after 37 seconds. What was the cause of this incident?
    • Software bug—Ariane flight V88, the maiden flight of Ariane 5, failed due to software errors causing the rocket to veer off course and self-destruct. The failure, costing over US$370 million, is known as one of the most infamous software bugs in history.
      Henry Ford sits in his first automobile, the Ford Quadricycle, in 1896.
      Image Wikipedia
  4. In 1896, Henry Ford completed a successful test on his first gasoline-powered automobile. What did he call it?
    • Ford Quadricycle—in 1896, Henry Ford completed his first experimental automobile, the Quadricycle, in Detroit. This success led to his founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and become one of the world’s richest men. The original Quadricycle is in The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
      Illustration of Humpty Dumpty by John Tenniel, from Through the Looking Glass, 1871.
      Image Wikipedia
  5. On 4 June 1937, an American supermarket chain introduced one of the world’s first shopping carts. What was the supermarket chain?
    • Humpty Dumpty—Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain in Oklahoma. Inspired by a night of contemplation in his office in 1936, Goldman wondered how customers could move more groceries.

Through the looking glass

Here are a few questions which are related to today’s date, June 4th.

Illustration from Through the Looking Glass.
Image Wikipedia
  1. On 4 June 1783, an uncrewed hot-air balloon was launched at Annonay in southeastern France. This marked the first public demonstration of the discovery that hot air in a large, lightweight bag rises. Who made this discovery and constructed and launched the balloon? Who made this discovery and constructed and launched the balloon?
    • Leclerc Bothers
    • Meirovitz Brothers
    • Montgolfier Brothers
  2. On this day in 1876, the first Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco after travelling from New York. How long did the journey take?
    • 67 hours and 54 minutes
    • 75 hours and 22 minutes
    • 83 hours and 39 minutes
  3. Today in 1996, the maiden flight of the European Space Agencies Ariane 5 rocket ended in an explosion after 37 seconds. What was the cause of this incident?
    • Fuel leak
    • Lightning strike
    • Software bug
  4. In 1896, Henry Ford completed a successful test on his first gasoline-powered automobile. What did he call it?
    • Ford Gasoline-Carriage
    • Ford Model A
    • Ford Quadricycle
  5. On 4 June 1937, an American supermarket chain introduced one of the world’s first shopping carts. What was the supermarket chain?
    • Humpty Dumpty
    • Daisy
    • Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Ups and Downs! | Answers

E.V. Haughwout Building, 488-492 Broadway, New York City.
Wikipedia
  1. Steam—The E.V. Haughwout Building, NYC installed the world’s first successful passenger elevator in 1857. The steam-powered hydraulic lift, designed by Elisha Graves Otis, was a novelty that attracted customers to the five storey department store.
  2. Akira Kurosawa—Akira Kurosawa, a Japanese filmmaker, directed 30 films over seven decades. His bold and dynamic style, influenced by Western cinema, earned him international acclaim. Notable works include Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Red Beard.
  3. President Ronald Reagan—The Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), introduced by President Reagan in 1983, was a missile defence system designed to protect the US from Soviet ICBMs using various platforms. Known as “Star Wars,” it faced criticism for its technical feasibility and potential to destabilise the MAD doctrine and escalate the arms race. Although the programme ended in 1993, some elements were revived in 2019 by the Space Development Agency.
  4. Ben-Hur (1959)—Films with the most awards: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) each earned 11 Academy Awards. (Wikipedia)
  5. 2001Mir, the first modular space station, was launched in 1986 and operated for 15 years. It served as a microgravity research laboratory for experiments in biology, physics, astronomy and more. Mir held records for the longest continuous human presence in space and the longest single human spaceflight until surpassed by the ISS.
Mir’s re-entry into the atmosphere over Fiji, 2001.
Satobs

Ups and Downs!

Otis free-fall safety demonstration in 1853.
Wikipedia

All of the following relate to today, 23 March.

  1. On 23 March 1857 the first commercial elevator was installed in a New York City department store, it was powered by…
    • Steam
    • Electricity
    • Water
  2. Born today in 1910, a Japanese film director who according to Encyclopædia Britannica ‘won worldwide acclaim with subtle, brilliantly composed films, such as Rashōmon (1950) and
    Seven Samurai (1954), that combined Japanese historic themes with a Western sense of action and drama”; he was…
    • Yasujirō Ozu
    • Ishirō Honda
    • Akira Kurosawa
  3. On this date a nationwide television address in the US announced a space based defence system against nuclear attacks which came to be known as “Star Wars”; the address was made by…
    • President Jimmy Carter
    • President Ronald Reagan
    • President George HW Bush
  4. On this day in 1998 Titanic won 11 Academy Awards equalling the record set by…
    • All About Eve (1950)
    • Ben-Hur (1959)
    • The Godfather (1972)
  5. The space station Mir returned to Earth on 23 March. It had been launched by the Soviet space agency in 1986 with a design life expectancy of five years. In what year did it re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere?
    • 1991
    • 1996
    • 2001
Approach view of the Mir Space Station viewed from Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-89 rendezvous. A Progress cargo ship is attached on the left, a Soyuz manned spacecraft attached on the right. Image ID: STS089-340-035
NASA/Wikipedia

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.