Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On July 12, 1918, the Japanese battleship, Kawachi, suffered a giant explosion in a main powder magazine and sank.  The unlucky ship was only 6 years old and her combat career had consisted of bombarding German fortifications at Tsingtao in 1914.  Maritime disasters are part of the history of men going to sea, and the military part of maritime adventure is loaded with incidents where the commanders just had to say, “Oops!”  In this case, the Japanese Navy had their turn at naval embarrassment and disaster.  Please see these below listed links for more great History and…

A Brief History On July 11, 1893, Mikimoto Kokochi of Japan invented a way to make cultured pearls, making pearl jewelry available to millions of women.  Many inventions over the years have been targeted toward women, sometimes welcomed with a sigh of relief and sometimes scorned.  Here we list 10 inventions oriented toward a female clientele.   Digging Deeper 10. Botox, 2002. Botulinum toxin is one of nature’s most deadly toxins, and yet people have it injected into their face to relax wrinkles.  At first a mostly female cosmetic application, many television and movie stars, newscasters, politicians, and people that can…

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…

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…