Robert Panara - First Deaf To Be On US Stamp

Robert Panara, became the first National Institute for the Deaf faculty member to be featured on a United States postage stamp.

ROCHESTER, New York -- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Robert Panara, who was the first Deaf faculty member at Rochester Institute of Technology's National Institute for the Deaf, knew no limits for what a Deaf person could accomplish.

As a tribute to his achievements, Panara will be honored on a new U.S. postage stamp showing him signing the word "respect."

Robert Panara, A Profile. Video Credit: DCMP.

Panara, who died in 2014 at age 94, joined the NTID faculty in 1967 and for two decades was an inspirational and innovative educator, as he had been previously at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

"During his 40-year teaching career, Panara inspired generations of students with his powerful use of American Sign Language," said the Postal Service, in its announcement Tuesday that the new stamp featuring Panara will be part of the Distinguished Americans series.

The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler, art director for the Postal Service, and based on an image taken by RIT/NTID photographer Mark Benjamin.

Panara's son, John, who is an English instructor at NTID, sent an email to the NTID community Tuesday saying that the "picture on the stamp is one that you certainly are familiar with, for it has been seen often around campus the last few years, in offices and on hallway walls."

Benjamin's photograph of his father signing the word "respect," John Panara added, is a "theme that will 'ring out loud and free' (to borrow a line from my dad's famous poem) every time the stamp is placed on an envelope!"

John Panara said that when he received an email a year ago telling him that the Postal Service's Stamp Advisory Committee had recommended the issuance of a stamp of his father, he read the email over and over again to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Harry Lang, a professor emeritus at NTID and author of Teaching from the Heart and Soul: The Robert F. Panara Story, posted on Facebook: "What a nice Thanksgiving present! Bob is certainly looking down with his famous smile right now."

Lang, who was an adviser to the Postal Service on the stamp, noted in the foreword to his biography that the senior Panara was a poet, author, lecturer and theater aficionado.

Panara, Lang wrote, was largely self-educated at a time accommodations were not available for Deaf children.

"He was also among the first wave of Deaf scholars in the twentieth century, and a pioneer in the field of Deaf Studies," Lang noted.

Panara's poem "On His Deafness," written in 1946, has been reprinted many times and won first prize in the World of Poetry contest in 1988. Lang, in his biography of Panara, said the poem is about "how Deaf people can 'hear' with an 'inner ear' of imagination." ... Read The Full Story - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Mysterious Ancient 'Pyramid' Found In Antarctica

Google Earth images of Antarctica have revealed what look like pyramids, lost civilisations to aliens?

Heavy com share an article: Tonight, Ancient Aliens’ premiere episode for the new season is scheduled to be about “Pyramids of Antarctica.” But are there really any pyramids in this snowy, icy world? Unfortunately, rumors that circulated several years ago were later debunked. Will Ancient Aliens add any new information to the mix?

Here’s what you need to know.

Several years ago, the Internet was filled with stories about explorers who found pyramids in Antarctica. The most frequently repeated story was tracked down as originating from a website called Voice of Russia, later renamed Sputnik News. You can read one of the first stories, from 2013, here.

According to the rumors, a team of European and American scientists had found three ancient pyramids, two which were 16 kilometers inland and one near the coast. But the details in the stories were always very sparse. Websites included pictures, such as this article, and a link to an article on ScienceRay, which purportedly included photos, was often posted (which no longer works.) The story traveled across the Internet, but it wasn’t verifiable. The names of the explorers weren’t shared and more details were never available.

Back in 2012, a discussion about the articles appeared on a Google message board here, where one poster noticed something interesting. He said the story had circulated for a very long time, but someone had recently “republished” the story with three images. He noted that the sources of the images, which appeared with the story, were not of pyramids in Antarctica. One photo was from International Mountain Guides and one was from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The third, according to another submitter, may have been of the Schatz Ridge near Sentinel Range.

Some theorize that the photos used are likely of “glacial horns,” such as the Matterhorn which is on the border between Switzerland and Italy in Europe.

Is An Ancient City hidden under Antarctica? - Could Antarctica have actually been home to an ancient civilization?

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Those who want to believe in the pyramid theory point to the idea that Antarctica may not have always been covered in ice. They sometimes mention the ancient Piri Reis map and the theory that it shows the coastline without ice. The Piri Reis map is a world map made in 1513 based on military intelligence from the Ottoman admiral Piri Reis. About 1/3 of the map still survives. Some claim that it shows prehistoric exploration of Antarctica, along with notes that the climate was warm. But other experts dispute this claim and say that it either depicts a South American coast in that region or is just a guess and not based on genuine knowledge. Bad Archaeology addressed the idea of ancient civilizations in Antarctica back in 2007.

Most scientists disagree with the idea that Antarctica has pyramids or lost civilizations. But you’ll likely still find romantics who point to the Piri Reis map and other findings and insist that what is deemed impossible might not be.

SOURCE - Heavy

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