Just a Quick Red Fox

A Japanese Red Fox born in Indonesia. Top Speed 88mph. 1.21 kCal per day.

[timetravelerfox]

No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity...

Pierre Lévy (1997) in Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace

[timetravelerfox]

Monday, 8 December 1941 U.S. Enters World War II

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan left the United States shell-shocked. The attack brought over 3,000 casualties, a total of 19 ships damaged or sunk, and over 300 aircraft were destroyed or damaged by the Japanese fleet. The next day, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech calling the day of the attack, December 7, 1941 as ‘a date which will live in infamy’, and said that he had asked the Congress for declaration of war on Japan.

Not long after that, hours after declaration of war on Japan by the United Kingdom following an attack on Malaya, the President formally signed the declaration of war on Japan. Germany and Italy then responded by declaring war on the United States, making the entry of the United States in World War II.

The surprise attack brought up questions on the United States. Why didn’t they aware or prepare to response for any attack following the war in Europe? There is a conspiracy theory that the United States actually knew and only made things up to ensure their entry to World War II, but this conspiracy theory  is debunked by the officials, as the location of Pearl Harbor is too far away and unlikely to be a location for such attack. Well, whether it’s true or not, only God knows.

And then things went as we know it, as Germany and Italy surrendered in Europe, Japan is the last Axis stronghold that still wanted to hold their territories in Asia. The United States finally avenged the Pearl Harbor by dropping Little Boy and Fat Man in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, on 6 and 9 August 1945, leaving the Japanese with no choice but to surrender, ending World War II.

[timetravelerfox]

Saturday, 20 August 1977

VOYAGER 2: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Let’s go to the United States 40 years back, when they launched Voyager 2, the space probe that would become one of the furthest man-made object from Earth. Initially, the Voyager program’s mission was to study the outer planets, but NASA extended the program to study the outer Solar System, further even than Kuiper Belt, where Pluto and his friends resides.

I was watching the launch while licking my ice cream on the Public Launch Viewing near the beach. It was worthseeing, and luckily people back then didn’t have smartphones, or the beach would be stormed by silly people taking snaps or lame selfies.

40 years later, Voyager 2 have been reaching the heliosheath, the outer reach of the Sun’s radiation, where Voyager 2 must penetrate through the last barrier of Sun’s ‘wall’ before reaching the interstellar space. There, Voyager 2 with its twin will serve the extended mission to study what is outside the Solar System and expected to arrive at the interstellar region by 2019 or 2020.

Currently, Voyager 2 is at a distance of 115 AU (Astronomical Unit = the distance between the Sun and the Earth = 150 million km), the furthest man made object from Earth only surpassed by its twin Voyager 1 at 139 AU.

Sadly, there will always an end of a journey. The extended mission is expected to be terminated by 2025 for both of the probes, as they will be running out of power.

But they still have one last mission, to deliver message about our presence, as they both carry a Voyager Golden Record, the golden plated record containing about our life on Earth, music, images, and messages, to somebody out there, at the unknown.

[timetravelerfox]

Friday, 17 August 1945 THE PROCLAMATION THAT CHANGED IT ALL

Let’s start this off by traveling to my native country, Indonesia.

These three photographs are among the few official and acknowledged photographs of the proclamation of Indonesian independence, which were taken by brothers Alex and Frans Mendur. 

The proclamation (Indonesian: Proklamasi) was read at 10.00 a.m. by Sukarno, accompanied by Mohammad Hatta, which became the first President and Vice President of Indonesia, respectively. The proclamation itself was read in Sukarno’s house at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur no. 56, Jakarta, where many people gathered to witness the proclamation.

After the proclamation was read, a flag hoisting team compromised of Latief Hendraningrat, Suhud, and S.K. Trimurti began to raise the flag, Sang Saka Merah Putih (The Sacred Red and White), which was sewn by Sukarno’s wife, Fatmawati. People who gathered sang ‘Indonesia Raya’, the national anthem, as the flag was raised up to the bamboo pole.

The proclamation was followed by the retreat of Japanese forces from Indonesia, but the struggle is not over. The Dutch came back to take over their former colony with the backup from the Allies, beginning the Indonesian National Revolution, which lasted till 1949, when the Indonesian independence was acknowledged by the Dutch and the rest of the world.