Butiama Bed & Breakfast

Butiama Bed & Breakfast

Wednesday 15 November 2017

The League of Nations sought a world peace that remains elusive

At the end of World War I the allied victors formed the League of Nations, later to become the United Nations, as part of the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The first session of the League of Nations was held in Geneva on this day, 97 years ago.

The principal objective of the League of Nations was to maintain world peace, a quest that has remained elusive throughout.
Bell Uh-1, Helicopter, Iroquois, Huey
The Vietnam War estimated deaths: more than 2 million.
The League had 42 founding members who agreed to avoid future wars through collective security and disarmament, and settling disputes through arbitration and negotiations.
Landing Craft, Omaha Beach, Normandy
World War II casualties: more than 50 million deaths
Fast forward to today and throughout the existence of the United Nations and it would appear that humans are still grasping to learn the principles of the maintenance of peace. There have been more than 180 armed conflicts in the world between 1900 and today, claiming an estimated 80 million battle-related deaths.

As the United States flexes its muscles against North Korea, we know we still have a long way to go to grasp the painful lessons of war and find a lasting solution to the elusive nature of the peace we claim to cherish.

Sunday 12 November 2017

it is the 37th anniversary of Voyager I's Saturn approach

This day, 37 years ago, NASA's Voyager I spacecraft approached Saturn and sent back images of the outer planet.
Saturn from Voyager I. Photo: NASA
The spacecrafts' statistics are mind-boggling:
  • it has travelled through space for forty years and two months - and counting
  • it's the spacecraft that has covered the farthest distance from Earth
  • it became the first craft to enter interstellar space, having crossed the boundaries of the heliopause on 25th August 2012. That's 14.4 billion kilometres away.
  • it travels at 17 kilometres per second. It would take just over 7 minutes to cover the distance between Cairo and Cape Town
  • it will continue its trajectory for the next 40,000 years, perhaps eternally, if it does not collide with any object
YouTube video links: