Browsing: December 21

A Brief History On December 21, 1936,  the Nazi German concept of a “schnellbomber” (fast bomber) that could outrun most fighter planes took to the air when the prototype Junkers Ju-88 made its first flight, achieving a remarkable (for the time) speed of 360 mph. Digging Deeper Modifications to the requirement for the Ju-88 centered on the insistence of the Nazi regime that the plane be capable of dive bombing instead of merely acting as a level bomber, thereby necessitating greatly strengthening the wings and structure, adding weight to the plane.  The crew was increased to 4, further increasing weight…

A Brief History On December 21, 1965, the United Nations, often accused of being a useless organization, outlawed racism by passing The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.  This agreement went into effect in 1969 and to date has been signed by 87 nations (somewhat less than half of nations in the United Nations). Digging Deeper This convention called upon all member nations to “outlaw hate speech and to criminalize membership in racist organizations.”  Some of the nifty articles cover: methods to prevent discrimination, also in regard to immigration policies; definitions of appropriate terms; ways of resolving disputes and…

A Brief History On December 21, 1898, the chemical element radium (Ra) was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie who had isolated it from uranium. Digging Deeper When radium decays, it produces ionizing radiation that causes radioluminescence, in other words, it glows in the dark.  This characteristic led to the use of radium-laced paint for measuring devices such as watches, clocks, aircraft switches and instrument dials, so that they could be used at night.  Due to their smaller hands being able to do extra fine craftsmanship, women were employed by factories to apply the self-luminous paint to the aforementioned products.  The women would routinely…

A Brief History On December 21, 2012, people across the globe waited for the end of the world!  Of course, we know the world did not end then, but why did so many people think it would? Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the roots of this “prophecy” in the Mayan calendar. The Mayan civilization not only made impressive pyramids and other buildings, but also was observant of astronomical phenomena and based a long term calendar cycle on those observations.  In the cycle that was computed, the last date was December 21, 2012.  Many people since then have taken that…