A Brief History On April 5, 2007, Hellenic Cruise Lines ship MS Sea Diamond struck a reef in the Aegean Sea and sank, taking the lives of two passengers. The Sea Diamond was 469 feet long, displaced 21,000 tons, and could carry 1,500 passengers. Some other recent cruise ship disasters may make you leery of taking a cruise, and include these incidents: Digging Deeper In 2010, luxury cruiser Celebrity Mercury was hit with a norovirus outbreak that left hundreds of passengers with severe vomiting and abdominal ailments. In 2012, the Costa Concordia ran aground off Italy and sank, leaving 32 people…
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A Brief History On April 4, 2023, Finland became the 31st member of the NATO alliance, a pact originally meant to counter the threat from the USSR, consisting of 12 European and North American nations. NATO continued to grow after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, and several more nations are awaiting acceptance into the alliance, including Ukraine, with more nations considering applying for membership. Digging Deeper Back when the Cold War was still a thing, the communist bloc countered NATO with the Warsaw Pact, an alliance of the USSR and seven other communist states. The Warsaw Pact dissolved…
A Brief History On April 3, 2024, Americans celebrate National Walking Day, a day celebrated only since 2007 in spite of being an activity people have been doing since proto-humans came down from the trees. Digging Deeper People seem to walk as little as possible to travel from point A to point B, and yet all sorts of walking machines, treadmills, and elliptical machines, are sold every year. In honor of those blessed with the ability to perambulate, stroll, trudge, hike, amble, plod, march, tramp, stride, and tread, here are a few facts about walking. You burn about 5 calories…
A Brief History On April 2, 2021, a 25 year old African American “Black Nationalist,” Noah Green, murdered a US Capitol police officer and injured another when Green drove his car into the officer and a vehicle barricade at the US Capitol. Digging Deeper Green then attacked the police with a knife before being fatally shot by the police. This murderer’s aggression toward law enforcement officers was and is in no way unusual, as the police face such violence every day. In fact, there are many more ways police face danger than from violent attackers. In 2023, 123 US police…
A Brief History We have some arguably serious questions today! Digging Deeper Did you know that on April 1st, 1906, the Chicago Tribune, a major American newspaper, reported that prehistoric monsters, also known as dinosaurs, allegedly invaded Chicago, wreaking havoc and destruction upon the city? Were you aware that an illustrated magazine called Het Leven published a photograph on April 1st, 1932 depicting a woman milking a cow with an elephant’s head? Finally, have you seen the photograph of a woman in California on April 1st, 2012, harvesting spaghetti from a tree? Well, I am here to tell you that,…
