Browsing: August

A Brief History On August 4, 2020, one of the largest explosions of something not meant to be an explosive occurred in a warehouse in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate went up in an explosion that rivaled a small nuclear weapon. Digging Deeper A fire resulting from welding at the warehouse was the cause, and over 200 people died with an additional 7,000 injured, leaving a crater over 400 feet across and over 140 feet deep!  Incredibly, 300,000 people were made homeless by the double blasts 30 seconds apart and homes 6 miles aways…

A Brief History On August 3, 1900, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded in Akron, Ohio, joining Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron as the two preeminent tire makers in the US for the next 75 years.  In 1988, Japanese tire maker, Bridgestone, bought Firestone. Digging Deeper While Goodyear is still an American company, other US tire companies have been acquired by foreign firms, including General Tire now owned by Continental AG of Germany, and BF Goodrich tire division is now part of Michelin based in France. Once one of the “Big Three” US car companies, Chrysler Corporation is…

A Brief History On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein co-authored a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, warning that the Germans were working to develop atomic weapons and that the Allies should proceed immediately to develop such weapons first. Digging Deeper Einstein is often cited as the smartest human ever, and yet, Americans often use his name to ridicule the intelligence of others, such as calling someone “Einstein” instead of using another slur such as “idiot.”  Kind of like calling your grossly overweight buddy “Slim.” Why is it that “Fat Chance” means the same thing as “Slim Chance?”  When we say,…

A Brief History On August 1, 2004, about 400 people died and another nearly 500 were injured when a supermarket in Asunción, Paraguay, caught fire.  Managers had fire exits blocked to prevent theft, which resulted in the mass casualties. Digging Deeper Something as mundane as grocery shopping can be deadly, and here are some ways incidents prove the point: In 1967, an F-4 fighter jet crashed into an Arizona grocery, with 15 feared dead and 12 injured. In 2013, a store in Riga, Latvia, suffered a roof collapse, burying people under tons of debris, leaving 54 dead and 41 injured.…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 31st.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 31, 1535, King Henry VIII of England was kicked out of the Catholic Church by Pope Paul III, although a more official excommunication would come three years later. On August 31, 1854, a seminal moment in the history of illness and scientific application of anti-disease efforts struck the Broad Street area of Soho, London, England, when a severe cholera outbreak…