This traction on the retina, which is painless, sends a sensation of light to the brain that we see as flashers. People typically describe these as non-colored sparkles of light in one corner of the field of vision, usually affecting one eye.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond celebrated his 100th birthday in the U.S. Senate in December 2002; New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg is the oldest current U.S. senator; he is to turn 89 next month.
There have been 50 total women in the United States Senate since its establishment in 1789. The first woman senator, Rebecca Felton, served in 1922 (for a single day), but the first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway in 1932.