A Brief History On November 18, 1993, the US House of Representatives passed the North American Free Trade Agreement that had been negotiated by President George HW Bush in 1992. President Clinton, assuming office in January of 1993, negotiated a couple small amendments to the agreement at the behest of congressmen. Digging Deeper Negotiated by Mexico, the United States and Canada, the measure replaced the previous trade agreement between the US and Canada known as the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. In Canada, most political representatives were against the NAFTA pact, but since the opposition was split between 2 groups…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
Read More
A Brief History On November 17, 1894, the murderous career of HH Holmes, one of the first modern documented serial killers, came to an end when he was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. A thoroughly evil man, Holmes not only was a killer, he was also a bigamist, kidnapper, and con artist. In fact, he actually had a “house of horrors” hotel built specifically so he could murder people and dispose of the bodies covertly! His actual death toll is unknown, but estimates as high as 200 seem possible. Digging Deeper The World’s Fair Hotel located in Chicago, Illinois, was built…
A Brief History On November 16, 1974, a radio signal was sent from Earth to the star cluster known as M13 in an attempt to communicate with whatever intelligent life forms may exist in that area of the Universe. The single message was sent from the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico (USA), via FM (frequency modulated) radio waves. Incredibly optimistic of the (questionable intelligence) people that arranged this message, the target stars are 25,000 light years away! Digging Deeper A message of just under 3 minutes duration consisting of 1679 binary digits (210 bytes) at a power of 1000…
A Brief History On November 15, 1971, a History changing event took place when Intel Corporation released their 4004 microchip processor for sale, allowing the manufacture of small computers. (Happy 45th Birthday, Intel 4004!) A Santa Clara, California (“Silicon Valley”) company, Intel is the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of semi-conductor chips for use in computers. Digging Deeper Back in 1971 great strides were being made in the development of electronic processors and the miniaturization of them, allowing the first hand held calculators and increasingly smaller computers, including a mini-computer in the (then) high technology F-14 Tomcat fighter plane. Other…
A Brief History On November 14, 1941, British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sunk after being torpedoed by a German U-boat (submarine) the day before. The Aircraft carrier would replace the battleship as the capital ship of each fleet during World War II, but the little submarine, with a crew of only a few dozen compared to the 1500-2500 men on a battleship or aircraft carrier could sink either of those monstrous and monstrously expensive ships. Digging Deeper When we think of World War II submarine warfare, we usually think in terms of German U-boats sweeping the Atlantic…