President Eisenhower’s message from space

© Mark Ollig

Nearly 62 years ago, a top-secret space satellite mission named Project SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) launched from Cape Canaveral, FL.

Communication equipment was housed inside the satellite onboard a US Airforce Atlas 10B rocket.

This rocket, designed for launching an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), could also achieve Earth orbit.

The satellite weighed roughly 150 pounds.

It was to become America’s first Earth-orbiting communications satellite.

The purpose of Project SCORE, according to NASA, was to demonstrate the feasibility of, and explore problems associated with the operation of a space-based satellite communication system.

The first working test of an Earth-orbiting communications satellite relay system was officially named SCORE and nicknamed the “talking atlas.”

Project SCORE also marked the first time an Atlas rocket was used as a satellite space launch vehicle.

As far as the public and those without special security clearance, the Project SCORE Atlas 10B rocket launch was just another missile test.

There was extreme secrecy throughout the project regarding the operation and the specific course planned for the satellite. Only 35 people in the entire country knew the details.

I learned the person who pushed the Atlas rocket’s lift-off firing button did not even know the exact course it would take.

At the time of the Atlas launch, it had only been 14 months since the Soviet Union placed its now-famous Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit around the world, with its continuous radio signals of “beep-beep-beep-beep” transmitted towards our planet.

With Sputnik 1 orbiting over the people on Earth, many folks here in the US were frightened the Soviets might arm their future Earth-orbiting space satellites with nuclear warheads.

You can listen to one minute of the 1957 radio signal beeps transmitted from the Sputnik 1 satellite at https://bit.ly/3pQHpHV.

Project SCORE was an attempt by the United States to put it on an even playing field with the Soviet Union in light of Sputnik’s success.

Americans wanted the US to have an Earth-orbiting space satellite as soon as possible.

The Atlas rocket, carrying the secret US satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL Dec. 18, 1958.

Four-and-a-half minutes after lift-off, the 85-foot 8,800-pound rocket with its satellite payload reached a speed of 17,000 mph as it maneuvered into Earth orbit via its internal guidance system.

The satellite had two special devices onboard.

They were a pair of tape recorders, each with a four-minute recording capacity. Both provided safeguard-redundancy: one recorder acted as the primary unit, and the other as a backup unit.

These recorders in the satellite were able to receive and record radio messages and transmit them to radio-receiving ground stations on Earth.

There was one special voice message carried by the recorders.

The satellite’s onboard backup recorder turned out to be a good thing to have installed, because the primary recorder failed while in Earth orbit.

Fortunately, the backup recorder worked and was used to transmit a special holiday greeting to the world.

Dec. 19, 1958, America learned of, and heard a surprise radio message from space, originating from the first US communications satellite in orbit over the Earth.

The message came from President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

His was the first human voice ever transmitted through space.

“This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you via a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere,” President Eisenhower said.

Using shortwave radios, people worldwide heard President Eisenhower’s audio message transmitted from the space satellite.

Television and conventional radio also shared Eisenhower’s voice from space.

In addition to Eisenhower’s message, the SCORE satellite successfully relayed real-time voice and teletype communication messages received from a location on Earth through the upper atmosphere.

After receiving the messages, the satellite would transmit them back down to a specific ground station.

The satellite continued its 115-mile-high orbit of the Earth; however, the batteries onboard would last only 12 days.

Jan. 21, 1959, the SCORE satellite’s orbit began to decay and ended with it burning up while entering the upper Earth’s atmosphere.

A crucial technological milestone had been achieved with Project SCORE and paved the way for the next generation of communication satellites.

A video of the Atlas 10B rocket satellite launch, along with the voice recording of President Eisenhower’s holiday message to the world is stored in the Internet Archive at http://tinyurl.com/bytes-score.

You can see the official Dec. 19, 1958, White House press release of President Eisenhower’s message from space at https://bit.ly/39jOwmv.

Stay safe out there.

‘Uh oh. What’s happening here?’

© Mark Ollig

At around 6 p.m., Nov. 11, I went to my YouTube TV account and clicked on a news channel.

Instead of seeing my selected broadcast, a circular, loading buffer icon appeared on the computer’s display screen – and it wasn’t going away.

“This isn’t good,” I thought.

I then opened a new browser tab, went to my YouTube Premium website, and clicked a video.

For paying $12 per month, YouTube’s “Premium” website will not interrupt your video viewing with those recurring advertisements.

I stared at the computer screen while the YouTube Premium website showed another continuous circular loading buffer icon.

“Uh oh. What’s happening here?” I said to myself.

I then realized Google, the owner of YouTube, is having a big problem.

YouTube and YouTube TV websites’ front pages loaded successfully; when I clicked on a specific video or television channel to watch, it didn’t load.

Fortunately, Twitter was working, so I went to the @TeamYouTube account, where they had posted this message: “If you’re having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you’re not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix.”

Wondering how wide-spread the outage problem was, I opened a new tab and went to the Downdetector website, which shows the current status of popular web and social media sites.

Downdetector reported users began to experience problems with YouTube starting just before 6 p.m.

The outage was mostly affecting users in the United States.

The United Kingdom, South America, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia also reported problems.

By 6:30 p.m., nearly 300,000 reports had come into Downdetector, saying they could not access YouTube or YouTube TV.

I assume many more thousands without service had not reported it, based on the number of posting complaints to YouTube via Twitter.

The Twitter hashtag “#YouTubeDOWN” was now trending and being used to post complaints and stress-relieving humor about YouTube being down.

Some of the Twitter messages included:

“Did I really just search up how to fix YouTube in YouTube?” tweeted (@TubeEditz).

One post by (@sarcasm_world_) showed a photo of a person lifting their laptop cover a few inches and then peeking in at the screen, saying, “Me waiting for YouTube to fix itself.”

One Twitter video shows a girl shaking their head and anxiously moving both hands in a circular motion saying, “YouTube watching me restart my phone 15 times knowing damn well it’s their problem,” posted (@xplodeddiper).

One photo, posted by (@TinaDevixxx), showed a person looking in a mirror with a painted clown face saying, “me deleting and reinstalling YouTube five times just to find out it’s down.”

“I kept turning off and on my router, refreshed the browser, reinstalled the app and what not ... Then, I googled and realized that it’s not my problem,” tweeted (@vaishnoraj).

The following tweet on #YouTubeDOWN seemed to sum up how many felt, “So, 2020 killed YouTube now,” posted (@Swaee8).

Many folks tweeted they switched from their smartphone’s cellular data network to a Wi-Fi connection in an attempt to resolve the issue, without success.

Others were turning their smartphones off and on, while some uninstalled and reinstalled their YouTube app.

After nearly two hours, my YouTube Premium and YouTube TV websites began working again.

The @TeamYouTube Twitter account reported: “And we’re back – we’re so sorry for the interruption. This is fixed across all devices & YouTube services, thanks for being patient with us.”

As of this writing, YouTube has yet to reveal the cause for the outages.

Once YouTube began working, I started seeing Twitter messages expressing relief, appreciation, and thanks.

YouTube is reportedly the most-visited website in the world, second only to Google’s search engine.

In 2006, Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Today, YouTube’s valued at $160 billion, which turns out to be a pretty good return on Google’s initial investment.

The Downdetector website is at https://downdetector.com; its Twitter account is @downdetector.

Stay safe out there.

The brightly shining warning light

© Mark Ollig

After starting my car recently, I was surprised by the sudden appearance of an illuminated yellow alert indicator above the speedometer gauge.

I stared at this unfamiliar symbol, wondering what it meant.

“It’s yellow, not red so it can’t be a critical alert condition,” I thought while remembering an episode of Star Trek with the flashing “Red Alert” symbol filling the television screen.

A bright yellow exclamation point was in the middle of what looked like two slightly swelled, yellow parentheses connected to a flat, linear baseline. This baseline had four black parallel rectangular squares etched half-way through.

“Could this symbol mean I need more oil?” I wondered.

I opened the glove compartment, found, and briefly flipped through the bulky car owner’s manual that may have equaled the page count of “War and Peace.”

Becoming somewhat impatient, I decided to call the dealership where I purchased the car.

Speaking with the service department, I described this mysterious yellow icon symbol and asked if I could stop in to have them look at it.

“No problem, someone will help you when you arrive,” they confidently reassured me.

I can hear some of my readers chuckling out there – you know what this yellow icon symbol means, don’t you?

Remember, folks; this is my first new car of the 21st century.

I had been previously driving a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with the powerful V8 engine, and, as Elwood in the “Blues Brothers” movie said, “it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, and cop shocks.”

The Interceptor used analog gauges and icons, which, when illuminated, had a name associated with them, not symbols requiring a degree in deciphering automotive hieroglyphs.

Driving my car into the dealership, I steered towards the service garage.

As I approached the service bay door, it suddenly opened, and a smiling service person inside appeared and waved me in.

“So, let’s take a look,” he said while checking the instrumentation cluster panel with the yellow symbol still brightly shining.

“You have low air pressure on one of your tires,” he knowledgeably said to me.

“Ah. So, that’s what it is,” I sheepishly said.

It seems the yellow icon I saw symbolized the cross-section of an under-inflated tire; the exclamation point emphasized the low tire pressure.

My car model has an air-pressure monitoring sensor in all four tires, but determining which tire has the low pressure requires measuring each tire’s air pressure individually.

Some car models have an icon symbol displaying all four tires with their current air pressure reading.

The next car I own will definitely have this.

After the service attendant measured the air in all four tires, he discovered the front-right tire with the low air pressure.

This tire was taken off and inspected; a nail caused the air leak. I had the tire patched.

The yellow low tire air pressure symbol is called the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) alert indicator.

A TPMS sensor is mounted inside each tire rim and includes a battery.

Upon reaching a tire’s low air pressure setting, a sensor activates the yellow dashboard TPMS symbol light, using a low-frequency radio signal.

The TPMS battery is encased inside each tire pressure sensor device and has a life expectancy of approximately five years.

When this battery becomes low, the yellow tire pressure indicator symbol will flash, and the dealership will replace the entire sensor unit and reset its threshold settings.

I assume when one TPMS battery sensor is low, the other three probably are too and would be replaced.

The TPMS alert, no doubt, saved me from ending up with a flat tire, or worse, a tire blow out while driving.

So, I am therefore thankful for having the TPMS installed.

Correct tire pressure improves fuel economy, lengthens a tire’s road life, and, most importantly, increases safety by avoiding accidents caused by under-inflated tires.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration enacted a TPMS mandatory compliance date for all new light-motor vehicles sold after Sept. 1, 2007.

The Reader’s Digest has an informative article showing and explaining many of our car’s dashboard symbols at https://bit.ly/3n6lSsv.

Incidentally, after I returned from the dealership, I found the tire low-pressure warning icon symbol and its description on page four of my car owner’s “Quick Start Guide.”

Stay safe out there.

TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) alert indicator

Save some history at the Internet Archive

© Mark Ollig

This column, initially written Feb. 26, 2007, is edited for today’s publication.

In December 1971, Democratic presidential candidate and former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy was on the upper Midwest campaign trail in his second of five presidential attempts.

McCarthy placed second during the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary March 12, 1968, against the sitting president, Lyndon Johnson.

Johnson received 48 percent of the vote, while McCarthy captured 42 percent.

Johnson announced March 31, 1968, he would “neither seek nor accept” the Democratic nomination.

The New Hampshire presidential primary gave McCarthy’s campaign national momentum.

Still, in the end, Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota became the Democratic nominee to face Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1968.

While searching for column ideas, I discovered the Vanderbilt Television News Archives at http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu.

The Vanderbilt Television News Archives, located in Nashville, TN, is inside the Heard Library of Vanderbilt University.

They have a vast collection of nightly news programs broadcast by ABC, CBS, and NBC’s national television networks since Aug. 5, 1968.

The Vanderbilt News Archives also includes most major speeches given by US presidents and each Republican and Democratic political convention beginning in 1968.

Individuals may request to loan out broadcasts on VHS tapes for study, classroom instruction, and research – for a modest fee.

While I was browsing through the archives, looking at some of the news footage they had available, I suddenly remembered something about one of my siblings that directly linked Eugene McCarthy and the place he was campaigning in Minnesota Dec. 2, 1971.

Using Vanderbilt’s search engine, I was surprised when one result displayed a CBS Evening News broadcast featuring one of my siblings.

My family had known about the news broadcast, but never saw it.

Vanderbilt’s website did not allow online viewing; a person needed to rent a specific news segment on VHS tape.

“I have to order the tape for this segment,” I thought to myself with my eyes still fixed on the search result.

I did send for the VHS tape – all 5 minutes’ worth. Two weeks later, it arrived.

After putting the tape into my VHS player, I sat down and began to watch the Dec. 2, 1971, CBS News segment.

The picture and sound quality were excellent, although the film was in black-and-white.

After 2 minutes and 23 seconds, the newscast switched from Walter Cronkite to a CBS News reporter describing what is happening at a Minnesota college.

Eugene McCarthy is speaking from behind a podium in front of college students inside an auditorium in Mankato.

McCarthy was campaigning Dec. 2, 1971, at Mankato State College, which my brother attended.

After McCarthy’s speech, the television camera switched outside the auditorium, where many college students gathered.

CBS News reporter Jeff Williams is interviewing a young college student by the name of Tom Ollig.

My mother and father usually watched the CBS Evening News, but as fate would have it, that evening, they were watching the NBC News.

We did not learn until Tom called home later that evening of his interview on the CBS Evening News.

After watching the video, I drove to Winsted and played the VHS tape for Tom (who watched it twice), and my mother (my father had passed away in 1981).

I later made DVD copies of the CBS video before mailing the VHS tape back to the Vanderbilt Television News Archives, with a note of appreciation telling them its significance.

I then saved the DVD video as a file on my computer.

I decided to upload the video to the Google Video website (operating in 2007) to share with other family members.

To upload my video file to Google Video, I needed to convert it to an AVI, MPEG, or QuickTime file.

I chose the MPEG file format.

After agreeing to Google’s terms and conditions, I began the video file upload.

After about 8 minutes (I used a dial-up modem), the video file was inside Google’s database.

I emailed the file link to my other siblings, who watched the Dec. 2, 1971, CBS News broadcast for the first time.

I uploaded the video July 19, 2008, to the non-profit Internet Archive website, where it can be seen at this shortened link: https://bit.ly/35RpVSu.

Save some of your family’s history at https://archive.org.

Stay safe out there.