1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant in Northern Virginia, ending the American Civil War.

1959: NASA announces the first Mercury 7 astronauts.

2003: Baghdad falls under control of U.S. led armed forces; Saddam Hussein goes into hiding.

2005: Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles in Guildhall, Windsor.

Source: Associated Press YouTube Channel

#1 @WholeFoods Fresh organic tweets from Whole Foods Market HQ in Austin, TX. 1107463 Followers www.wholefoodsmarket.com/twitter

#2 @SouthwestAir The LUV Airline! Airplanes can’t type so @Christi5321 is responding/chatting with you! 389286 Followers www.southwest.com

#3 @sxsw Official user of the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals. 40455 Followers sxsw.com

#4 @DallasMarketing Free marketing ideas, social media marketing and marketing resources from the hub of the marketing universe, Dallas, TX.
30762 Followers dallasmarketingservices.com

#5 @PokerReview An Income Bonanza. Earn $125 Today.
26661 Followers bit.ly/LhmYv

#6 @dallas_news The official Dallas Morning News Twitter account with daily news, updates and headlines from Dallasnews.com Editor/Producer Travis Hudson. 13393 Followers www.dallasnews.com

#7 @OfficialRockets The Official Twitter Page of the Houston Rockets.
13439 Followers www.nba.com/rockets

#8 @spurs The official Twitter feed of the San Antonio Spurs, mostly tweeted by Ben Hunt of spurs.com. Follow for real-time Spurs updates and info.
Go Spurs Go! 12744 Followers spurs.com

#9 @AP11_CAPCOM A Capsule Communicator is a person who communicates with the space crew. Usually located within Mission Control and usually another astronaut. 12498 Followers www.wechoosethemoon.org

#10 @statesman Austin news and entertainment, brought to you by Social Media Editor @robquig. Follow link for a local Twitter directory. 11743 Followers www.statesman.com/news/content/standing/twitterdirectory.html

This Texas on Twitter list is a Directory of people who are Twittering in the State of Texas. If you or someone you know should be listed here, please drop me a Tweet @MikieSoft

A Big Ol’ Thanks to @cybercoder for putting this Texas list together!
Find him at www.cybercoded.net

There’s a dozen different channels already linked to a growing list of government agencies posting video on a variety of subjects.

The White House, NASA, CDC, Library of Congress, FEMA, NOAA, the Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs, Department of Education and Social Security all have YouTube Channels, and the list is growing.

We’ve been watching the trend explode in the past couple of years, after companies and corporations starting getting wise to the fact that they can connect directly with customers or prospects online, especially through video.

www.youtube.com/usgovernment

Check out whitehouse.gov/newmedia/ to see how new media is being embraced by the new administration.

The Library of Congress has a Flickr photo stream www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress

JPL Earth Scientists Reflect on Earth Day

In commemoration of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, we asked JPL Earth scientists to reflect on the event and what it means to them. Here are some of their responses:

“My father was a biologist who brought his family from Cuba to the United States. I still remember as a boy long walks with him on the beach as he pointed out the different organisms and the beauty of our planet. Those long walks instilled in me a love for understanding our planet, and more importantly, the desire to make sure we are good stewards of the precious gift we call planet Earth.”
- Jorge Vazquez, Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center task scientist

“At NASA, every day is Earth Day. After all our explorations of the universe, we are still awed by our own miracle planet and reminded daily that we have only one Earth. But we also see warning signs posted all over our home. Oceans are warming and rising, glaciers are retreating, our atmosphere carries pollution to all nations, forests are disappearing and our out-of-control population growth is crushing the environment. Yet Earth is a tough old gal, and we still control our collective future. Earth Day is a time for us to pause and consider how each of us, all of us, can work together as trustees of our home, Earth, to benefit our collective future.”
- Bill Patzert, climatologist

“At the moment I am working with a number of JPL colleagues on the topic of global change and the role that JPL and NASA can play in this process. The considerable talent and expertise of the people I have the opportunity to work with in conjunction with their and JPL’s sincere intentions to contribute to this very important global problem make Earth Day particularly meaningful and going to ‘work’ extremely fun!”
- Duane Waliser, senior research scientist

“I study Earth science because I want to know: ‘What will the future bring?’”
- Tony Mannucci, Ionospheric and Atmospheric Remote Sensing Group

“NASA and international space agencies are collaborating to study the polar regions of Earth in ways that have never been done in the past. Observations gathered by satellites as well as field parties on the ground have shown that the vast expanses of ice in Greenland and Antarctica are melting away in response to climate warming. We are now putting all our efforts to be able to predict how ice will melt in the coming century because ice melt raises global sea level and the impact this will have on coastal populations will be significant–some populations will have to leave their homes and move inland.”
- Eric Rignot, senior research scientist

“I have been working at JPL for 10 years, mainly on developing and using radar satellites to study vegetation all over the world. Radars allow us to measure vegetation changes and some characteristics of its structure, such as height and biomass (the amount of material in the forest). This enables measurement of the impact of climate change on vegetation. How do they contribute to the atmosphere (example: oxygen, carbon dioxide) and other life forms (human and animals) on Earth? Are forests destroyed? Can they survive climate change?”
- Marc Simard, senior scientist, radar systems

Earth Day Links:
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration noaa.gov

EarthDayNetwork ww2.earthday.net

EarthDay US Government Portal earthday.gov

US Environmental Protection Agency epa.gov/earthday