A Brief History On July 11, 1893, after 5 years of work and nearly broke, Mikimoto Kokichi finally produced cultured pearls, starting a new industry and providing high quality pearls to the masses. Digging Deeper Prior to the cultured pearl industry, divers would recover pearls from just a few species of oyster, hard work and a hit or miss proposition since not all of these oysters had jewelry quality pearls, and of course, there was much variation in size, shape, and color. Mikimoto’s first pearls were what are known as “mabes,” a dome shaped pearl of high quality, but not…
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.
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A Brief History On July 11, 2015, the man called “El Chapo” (Shorty), Joaquin Guzman, escaped from Mexican prison via a mile long 30 foot deep tunnel equipped with ventilation, rail tracks, and a motorcycle. Obviously such an elaborate engineering feat could not have been constructed without the collusion of authorities, and many prison officials were arrested in the wake of the escape. Digging Deeper Guzman is considered the most powerful drug kingpin in the world today, said by some to be more powerful than Pablo Escobar at Escobar’s peak. Guzman has a fortune estimated at around a billion dollars. …
A Brief History On July 11, 1914, the major league career of George Herman Ruth began, with Ruth pitching for the victory of the Red Sox over the Cleveland Naps. On that same day, it is said Ruth met his first wife, a 16 year old waitress. Of course Ruth is better known as “Babe” Ruth, but he was also often referred to as “The Sultan of Swat” or “The Bambino.” What you might not know is that his Yankee teammates usually called him “Jidge.” Digging Deeper Great athletes and minor ones alike often have colorful nicknames, and baseball is…
A Brief History On July 11, 1987, the human population of the Earth hit 5 billion, known appropriately as “5 Billion Day.” Since then, July 11 each year is celebrated as “World Population Day” in an effort to raise awareness about global population issues. Today, there are about 7.2 billion people alive on Earth. Estimates for 2050 vary, but are in the area of 10 billion or so. That is too many people! Here we list 10 reasons we think there are too many people in the world. Update, July 11, 2019: In the summer of 2019, Weather.Com and other sources reported…
A Brief History On July 10, 1997, British scientists in London conducted DNA tests on a Neanderthal skeleton which showed the likelihood of a common ancestor for all men having originated in Africa, perhaps 200,000 years ago. Digging Deeper Neanderthal man is the stereotypical cave man of cultural reference, powerfully built and immensely strong, with males average height about 5’6” and females about 5’1”. Their brains were actually larger than modern human brains, 1600 cc versus 1400 cc. The theory of human evolution has modern man and Neanderthal both evolving from a common ancestor 200,000 or so years ago in…