8.TT.1.1

The wonderful decade: the 1930s. This decade consists of several significant events, inventions to never be forgotten, fascinating discoveries, accomplishments, tragic events, and downfalls. There also may be some references to years in the past or in the future from this era. In the year of 1930, a great discovery took place. Pluto’s discovery. In this present future, it’s addressed as a dwarf planet, due to the fact that Pluto didn’t fit the scientists’ criteria for what was considered a planet alone. It wasn’t until 2006 that it became officially declassified. One of the main reasons of its declassification was its size. After the declassification, scientists renamed Pluto, ‘134340’. Pluto was much smaller than all of the other planets, even smaller than the Earth’s moon. Scientists think the “accidental” discovery of Pluto was indeed fortunate. Even though it brought joy to the scientists, it was immediately acknowledged as being too small to account for the typical planet, another main reason being its lack of compatibility in the orbits of the other planets. Some believe that Pluto earned its name from Roman mythology. In Greek, ‘Pluto’ means ‘Hades’, whom is the god of the underworld according to the Greeks’ beliefs. Since Pluto is so far away from the sun, in complete lack of any light source, it only makes sense that some people may believe this logic. Despite its declassification and other ideas involving the planet, it has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Regarding the previous statement, in 2006, spacecraft was launched called “New Horizons”, if everything goes well, it should reach Pluto. Reverting back to Pluto’s size, there’s been asteroids in our solar system that have been spotted as being the same size as Pluto, and some that have been larger than the planet. The dwarf planet’s thin atmosphere contains traces of methane, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. Not only is Pluto a dwarf planet, but it also has its own moons; three of them. Charon, Io, and Europa are their names. It was February 18, in 1930, that Clyde W. Tombaugh became the founder of this exciting discovery. In 1931, an amazing accomplishment was made. On May 1st during this year, The Empire State building was completed. It took 410 days to finish the building. It was only 1 year and 45 days, which it took to construct this significant figure known throughout the country. That’s 7,000,000 man-hours. The Empire State building started off as a “race to the sky”, because the Eiffel tower encouraged (or taunted) Americans to build something taller, and also something to feel proud of. The building consists of 102 floors in total, 6,500 windows, and 73 elevators. It even has its own zip code, which is 10118. The builders that were contracted for this job were the Starrett Bros. and Eken. The architects that went through with the construction of it were Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon Associates. It was the world’s tallest building then, standing 1,250 feet tall, including the lightning rod, it was 1,454 feet tall in total. Between the years 1931-1972, this monumental figure held its title as “the tallest building in the world”. The structure of theEmpireState building was Art-Deco style, with several decorative geometrical designs. In the end, this building wound up to cost $40,948,900. In the year of 1932, the first tape dispenser was invented with a built-in cutting edge. It was John A. Borden’s idea to create this great establishment; he being the one to invent the tape dispenser, of course. The reason for this invention was strictly because many people complained it being difficult to separate the tape from the roll. So, with the tape dispenser idea, it made it an easier task to extract the tape from the roll, guaranteed no extra waste of time. The dispenser was made of cast iron, and because of this, it weighed about 7 pounds. At the time, John A. Borden was a 3m employee, which meant he understood the concepts of following through with his creation. Even so, he still took 18 months of experimenting with it before the whole process was carried out. The tape dispenser’s main use was for packaging. In later years, a hand-held tape dispenser was revealed to the world, made from stamped sheet metal. Other people also experimented with the tape dispenser, coming up with fresh new ideas such as various designs and structures of tape dispensers, and the varying tape itself in the dispensers that are nowadays made of cellophane, acrylic, fiberglass, silicone, foil, and other material. And as the fresh new ideas came out, so did the reasons of using the tape dispensers, aside from just using it for packaging. Even so, Borden’s basic design of the tape dispenser still remains a standard use in society. It’s no doubt that Borden’s dispenser became a key element in the growing market for cellophane tape. On the 30th of January, 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor ofGermany. At the time he was chosen chancellor, he was 43 years old. He was very demanding in wanting the position. As he was declared chancellor, Hitler also became the dictator ofGermany. Hitler had various reasons on why he strongly desired to be chancellor ofGermany, one of the main reasons was that he wanted to restoreGermany’s power after the country’s downfall in the first war. Hitler had a high-ranking position, and used his power to gain power overGermany. Hitler stored deep anger about the first world war, and the treaty ofVersailles created an underlying bitterness, which gave more viciousness and expansionism to Hitler’s appeal. He took the title of ‘Führer’ and “Commander of the Third Reich”. Weakness in the constitution crippled the German nation’s government, so when the crises came, the only reasonable thing the citizens thought of was to comply with Hitler and support him. When Hitler took office, 90% of Germans were living without the basic necessities of life, and to add to that, the nation was already so low that Hitler took the chance to use his Nazi Propaganda to persuade the masses to believe that the fault of their country’s downfall lied with in the Jewish community. And with that, he promised the citizens that he would getGermany back on it feet again. He promised everyone something, which gained him plenty of support. So, its no surprise that his declaration as Chancellor was a successful event as the Germans quickly accepted Hitler’s new orders. On May 23rd, 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death by the police. Bonnie Parker was born on October 1st, 1910, and Clyde Barrow was born on the 24th of March, in 1909. Bonnie and Clyde first met in Dallas, Texas, in the month of January, 1930. Bonnie was 19 and Clyde was 21 when they first met. Before the two met, Clyde was already suspected of various crimes, such as murder, robbery, and kidnapping. Needless to say, they were both part of “The Barrow Gang”. Henry and Ivan Methvin, former members of “The Barrow Gang”, gave the police information to find Parker and Barrow. It was late at night when the killing took place, at exactly 10:19 PM, on May 23rd, in 1934, whenClyde was driving a tan ford V-8. A posse composed of police officers concealed themselves in bushes along the highway before dawn. As Bonnie andClyde hurried to drive away, the police shot at them rapidly, killing the two instantly. The killing took place near Sailes,Bienville,Louisiana. Bonnie desired to be buried withClyde once they died, but they were buried separately according to their families’ wishes. In 1935, Nylon was invented. Wallace Carothers is the founder of this invention. Nylon is long, strong, and very elastic. It’s made from chemicals amine, hexamethylenediamine, and adipic acid. Nylon first started out as a search for a synthetic fiber. It wasn’t until 1939 that it hit the markets. Each molecule of Nylon consisted of 100 or more repeating units of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, strung in a chain. There are 6 carbon atoms per molecule in nylon. This product is resistant to oil and grease, and that appealed to many people. The Dupoint Company produced nylon by combining chemicals they extracted from coal, water, air, petroleum, natural gas, and resistance to oil and grease. Nylon was a replacement for silk in hosiery. A couple of characteristics of nylon are that they are exceptionally strong, elastic, abrasion resistant, lustrous, easy to wash, resilient, and low in moisture absorbency. Industrial uses of nylon include hoses, parachutes, ropes and nets, sleeping bags, thread, and dental floss. A major fiber use of nylon is apparel. Such as dresses, blouses, lingerie, etc. Another major fiber use of nylon is home furnishings, such as bedspreads, carpets, curtains, and upholstery. Most items made from nylon can be machine washed and tumble dried at low temperatures. On January 16, 1936, Albert Fish died at Sing Sing prison, executed by the electric chair. He was known for being a serial killer, pedophile, and cannibal. Fish was born on May 19, 1870. Fish’s Family held a long history of mental illness. His parents abandoned him at a young age. At the age of 5, Albert was put into an orphanage. The orphanage is where it all started, when he started to become sexually excited from abuse. He was obsessed with sin, sacrifice, and atonement through pain. The first murder he committed was in 1910. Albert traveled across 23 states in theUSin the 1920s, painting houses, and he saw that as the perfect opportunity to commit his horrid acts on children. Fish believed he was “ordered by God” to castrate young children. Aside from his horrible acts, he was also known to be a man with an obscene mind. He wrote equally obscene letters to strangers with their addresses obtained from matrimonial agencies or “lonely-hearts” columns in newspapers. At one point, he even inserted numerous needles into his groin. Over the years, he was arrested 8 times. The Japanese invadedChinain July, 1937. The invasion lasted from 1937-1945.The reasoning for this, is because the Japanese claimed that the Chinese troops fired them on at theMarcoPoloBridgenearBeijing. So,Japanseized control of most of Eastern China and the major ports, and usedManchuriaas a base for their troops. At the time, Fumimaro Konoe was chosen to become prime minister ofJapan, and sought to curb the military’s power. Konoe permitted strength for the Japanese inChina. Within 5 months of the invasion, 1 million people were already under Japanese control. Chinese forces weren’t able to immediately and effectively resist the Japanese, that is until some citizens started a group called “The Guomintang” that put up resistance against the hostile troops. But then again, the Japanese military was not only armed and prepared, they were also extremely brutal to the Chinese. The soldiers went around murdering, looting, and raping the population ofChina-this event is otherwise known as the Rape of Nanking. InNanking, the Japanese killed nearly 300,000 citizens. The Guomintang and the Chinese Communist Party joined together in an uneasy alliance to stop the invasion of the Japanese. They were finally able to succeed in their longing achievement to drive the opposing forces away for a while, in the mid-1938. Albert Hoffman, a Swiss Chemist, invented LSD in 1938. He is also more commonly known as the father of LSD. LSD is an abbreviation for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. LSD is a purely synthetic drug that allows you to experience distortions and hallucinations. This drug can effectively affect the brains of those who use it. LSD was synthesized from ergot, a fungus that attacks rye. It doesn’t seem to have any useful medical properties. In 1943, Hoffman repeated the synthesis of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, after it not have been given much thought to for 5 years. The drug is taken by mouth. It’s odorless and has a slightly bitter taste. Users of LSD have gone through “bad trips”, which means they’ve experienced obscene hallucinations, and profound distortions. Effects of LSD include rapid mood changing, crossover senses, feeling several different emotions at once, and many other sensations. It can be sold in tablets or capsules, and sometimes in liquid form. Other names that people may call LSD is Acid, blotters, window pane, dots, Lucy, mellow yellow, battery acid, boomers, and yellow sunshine. In the 1960s, LSD began to be abused as a drug. Users of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide have had fatal injuries, and death, while under the influence of the drug, such as jumping off of tall buildings believing they could fly, peeling of parts of skin on their faces, etc. It’s been estimated that about 20.2 million US residents aged 12 and older have used LSD at least once in their lifetime. World War II started on the 1st of September, 1939. The devastation of the the first world war, and the “downfall of Germany” lead Adolf Hitler to rise to power and his Nazi Party, as well. To add to this, Hitler already wanted to destroy all “subhuman” races, and announced himself as “Führer” of Germany. Hitler believed the war was only to gain more living space for Germany. But, it seems that wasn’t the only answer to the questioning of his doings. So, he started the war by ordering Germany to invade Poland. Two days after the invasion of Poland, on the 3rd of September in that year,Britain andFrance declared war onGermany. InCzechoslovakia, World War II started in March of 1939, when they were attacked by German Nazis. Others believe that the two world wars are one conflict separated only by a “ceasefire”. The United Sates of America joined World War II after the bombing by the Japanese inPearl Harbor. There was an estimated 45-60 million people killed during the war. Among those 45-60 million, an estimate of 6 million Jews were murdered during that time. World War II was fought between two large alliances; The Axis Powers and The Allies. The Axis Powers consisted ofGermany,Italy, andJapan. The Allied Powers consisted ofFrance,Britain, The United States, andUSSR.Germany surrendered to the Allies on May, 1945, ending WWII inEurope.