A Brief History Despite being known for their formidable military, Sparta has actually suffered as many if not more famous defeats as they have won victories in battle. Therefore, we ask, “Is Sparta’s much celebrated military actually overrated?” Please examine the list of their battle record below and let us know your thoughts in the comments using Disqus! Digging Deeper: 22 Spartan Defeats In 669/8 BC, the Argives defeated Sparta in the First Battle of Hysiae. In c. 550 BC, the Arcadians defeated Sparta in the Battle of the Fetters. On either August 20 or September 8-10, 480 BC, the Persians…
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A Brief History Morgan, an upcoming 2016 American science fiction thriller film directed by Luke Scott and written by Seth Owen, is scheduled to be released on September 2, 2016 by 20th Century Fox. Digging Deeper Viewed on August 24, 2016 with only minimal knowledge of the movie (provided by the trailer), we expected a science fiction/horror type film and that is what we got. Excellent casting in every role and quality acting and directing, we enjoyed the movie quite a bit. The build up to action was slightly slow, as is to be expected with character development, but once the…
A Brief History On August 31, 1943, the Buckley Class destroyer, USS Harmon (DE-678) was commissioned, the first American Navy ship named after an African-American person. The Harmon got its name from the heroic Leonard Roy Harmon, a Mess Attendant aboard the USS San Francisco in 1942. Digging Deeper Back in World War II there were limited specialties available to African-American sailors in the segregated armed forces of the United States, and for the most part African-American sailors were limited to service type positions. Of course, on board a warship sailors have to have emergency duties assigned for combat, and…
A Brief History On August 30, 1898, American actress Shirley Booth was born. Booth would go on to play television maid, Hazel, in the title role of the TV show. She was famous enough in that role to make a television commercial for the new 1964 Mustang, an indication of her pop-culture standing. Despite winning a Best Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe for 1952’s film Come Back Little Sheba, after winning the Tony award for that role on Broadway in 1950 (and 2 other Tony awards), it is the couple of television Emmys she won as Hazel we seem…
A Brief History On August 29, 1949, nuclear scientists in the Soviet Union (USSR) successfully tested their first atomic bomb, an implosion type device they called “First Lightning.” Although the Soviet atom bomb program had started during World War II, the United States in coordination with scientists from Canada and the United Kingdom was the first nuclear power, testing the first atom bombs and dropping 2 of them on Japan in 1945. Digging Deeper The implosion type device is the type used in the Nagasaki bomb called “Fat Man.” Greatly simplified, it consists of a hollow sphere of Plutonium surrounded…