Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for January 20, 2014

Ok, I’ll bite. WHY was a bear ejected from a jet traveling at supersonic speeds at 35,000 feet?

Was the bear with or without a parachute?

Harrison wasn’t the only one – neither did Harrison’s wife. They either left the lights on all night or let one of the servants turn them off if they happened to notice it.

And we’re supposed to believe this bear story?

Did the bear have a parachute?

Regarding the bear story… It’s barely possible! :)

NASCAR drivers have mirrors but use spotters which is very similar to the old mechanics in the jump seat. A spotter is a guy stationed at a high vantage point with a two way radio giving heads up to the driver. That way the driver doesn’t have to shift his eyes to know if someone is next to him or overtaking him. Much better than mirrors, although they do have them.

The bear was symbolic of mother Russia…. Isn’t that why the Russians used dogs?

yes, the first rear view mirror was in the first Indy 500, but after that race, it was ruled that it was mandatory that there be riding mechanics (not sure why—-when there was a bad crash, there were TWO casualties instead of one) .that rule stayed in place until 1938

Bear? I call “Believe it NOT!” Next thing you know BION’ll be wanting me to believe after his discharge (ooohhh, punny) from the Air Force Smokey had a long career with the Forest Service.

When the U.S. Air Force was designing its first supersonic jet bomber in the 1950s, it turns out bears were an essential part of the process, helping to test the plane’s new ejection seats during the Cold War, according to i09.com.

The website has put together a summary of the role bears played in testing the supersonic Convair B-58 Hustler. Apparently, because Himalayan and American black bears are reasonably close in size to humans, they were deemed acceptable substitutes, after a team of humans died in an early ejection test.

So, while Chief Warrant Officer E.J. Murray became the first human to successfully eject from a B-58 at nonsupersonic speeds on Feb. 28, 1962, it was a 2-year-old, female black bear that made it into the history books for the first successful supersonic ejection from the aircraft. That occurred about a month later, on March 21.

The bear was ejected from the plane at 35,000 feet above Edwards Air Force Base at a speed of Mach 1.3. It took nearly eight minutes for the capsule containing the bear to reach the ground safely.http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/bears-were-used-test-flights-world-first-supersonic-225331539.html

Check the true bear story out at http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/bears-were-used-test-flights-world-first-supersonic-225331539.html

http://airpigz.com/blog/2010/4/2/b-58-proves-supersonic-ejection-to-be-bear-able-in-1962.html

Found that info at an aviation website.

Bet they never got that ber on a plane again!!

Just read about the bear and now I believe it. Interesting read. Google it.

I can believe the Harrison story..In the 1970’s a certain nylon fiber was used in carpets..I visited a friend at his apartment one day when the humidity outside was less then 10%..I had just bought one of those fancy square LED wristwatches..I walked in the front door..walked across the carpet to the kitchen door. I reached down and a static electricity spark lept 5 inches from the knob to my LED wristwatch.Needless to say I had to go buy another watch(wind-up Timex) To this day I still am wary of light switches and metal door nobs..

1911 WAS the first indy 500.They had mechanics to make repairs when/where needed.

Electric lighting was installed in the White House in 1891. Few people at the time had enough faith in electric lighting to use it exclusively-its use was barely a decade old. The electrical work at the White House was planned as part of a well-funded project for wiring the State, War & Navy building next door. The Edison company installed a generator for both buildings that was put in the State,War & Navy’s basement, with the wires strung across the lawn and introduced into the White House under the conservatory. The relatively new method of illumination was initially intended to be only a supplement to gaslight. Wires were buried in the plaster, with round switches installed in each room for turning the current on and off. President and Mrs. Harrison refused to operate the switches because they feared being shocked and left the operation of the electric lights to the domestic staff.Source: William Seale, The President’s House, 594.http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_timelines/timelines_technology-02.htmlHarrison likely had heard of people injured due to improper grounding. Thomas Edison didn’t demonstrate the “safety” of his own DC electrical generating system by electrocuting an elephant with the Westinghouse/Tesla AC until some two years after Harrison’s death.http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104

I remember that about Benjamin Harrison and electric lights from a trivia book about presidents in school I was a nut about presidents could tell you anything about them still can at 44