A Brief History On April 30, 2018, we look back not so fondly on a new crop of jerks, people that make life harder for the rest of us or demonstrate some other highly questionable behavior, whether through stupidity or just plain evil nature. As always, you are welcome to defend anyone we list, and are likewise welcome to nominate any of your “favorite” jerks for mention. Digging Deeper 1. President Donald Trump. Okay, perhaps not the worst thing he could do, but they guy did not buy his wife a birthday present on April 26th! He claims he sent…
Browsing: April
A Brief History On April 29, 1945, the British Royal Air Force aided by units of the Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and Polish Air Forces began Operation Manna over the occupied part of the Netherlands (Holland) with the acquiescence of the German occupiers. The United States Army Air Forces started their own, similar, operation 2 days later called Operation Chowhound. As you may guess from the code names given the operations, the military action was feeding the starving civilian population of occupied Netherlands, dropping food from bomber aircraft. Digging Deeper In all, more than 11,0000 tons of food were dropped…
A Brief History On April 28, 1192, the Christian King of Jerusalem, Conrad of Montferrat (aka Conrad I) was murdered by an Islamic organization called the Order of Assassins, or the Hashshashins. A nobleman from Northern Italy, Conrad was one of the chief architects of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and had only served as King in Jerusalem for mere days before being assassinated. Digging Deeper Conrad was murdered while walking back to his home from a visit to Bishop Phillip of Dreux, Bishop of Beauvais, stabbed in the back and side by 2 assassins even though Conrad was accompanied by…
A Brief History On April 28, 1503, the armies of Spain and France fought in Southern Italy at a place called Cerignola (near Bari), a battle decided by the small arms fire of muskets and arquebuses, one of the first European battles where small arms fire from firearms decided the battle. Although hand held firearms using black powder had been around for nearly 200 years, such weapons had usually not been decisive in battles fought mainly with edged weapons and later with a combination of edged weapons and cannons. Digging Deeper Gunpowder is an invention normally credited to the Chinese…
A Brief History On April 27, 2011, a mind boggling 216 tornadoes ravaged the United States, from the Midwest to the South to the Northeast, all part of a larger weather phenomenon called the 2011 Super Outbreak that resulted in 306 tornadoes from April 25th to April 28th, 2011. Sadly, 348 people across the US died in the Outbreak, 324 of them from tornado activity and an additional 24 due to related thunderstorm, flash flood and lightning events. Digging Deeper The human carnage was the worst tornado related death toll since 1925, when a stunning 747 Americans were killed on…
