A Brief History On October 29, 2014, the island nation of Sri Lanka experienced a fatal natural disaster known as the Badulla landslide. Monsoon rains loosened hillside soil which cascaded downhill on an incredible three kilometer path into the village of Koslanda, leaving at least 16 dead and hundreds missing, and about 150 homes destroyed. Digging Deeper Mudslides are an ever-present danger to people living on or below hills, and can be triggered by excessive rain, poorly engineered slopes, lack of adequate vegetation, heavy snow cover, earthquakes and tsunamis. Of course, mud has tormented people in many other ways, making…
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A Brief History On October 28, 2006, former heavyweight champ, Trevor Berbick, was beaten to death with a metal pipe while in a church in Jamaica. Berbick lost his first defense of his boxing title to Mike Tyson, by TKO, but apparently his murderer hit even harder than Iron Mike! Digging Deeper Many boxers have come to a premature end, about 500 due to injuries from boxing, others for various reasons. We list a few of those notably unlucky pugilists: Champion Sugar Ray Robinson killed Jimmy Doyle in a welterweight title match in 1947, In 1933, Primo Carnera pummeled Ernie…
A Brief History On October 25, 1854, the gallant but foolish Battle of Balaclava took place during the Crimean War, propelling the Light Brigade into immortality when Alfred, Lord Tennyson, penned his great poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. Digging Deeper As horrible as war is, human combat has also inspired writers to create epic poems, books and even music to remember those that fought and died. Just a a few of these great works include: In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, who was lamenting the loss of life at the Second Battle of Ypres…
A Brief History On October 18, 2024, we trucked off to our local cinema to watch a re-release of a cult classic stop-motion animated film that has delighted adults and children since 1993. This time around, the clarity and visual treat of RealD 3D made the movie even better. Digging Deeper Featuring the iconic music of Danny Elfman, the soundtrack complements the story line and action rather well. Things move along quickly enough that the audience does not have time to drift off and the relatively short running time of 76 minutes goes by quickly. Voice acting is spot on…
A Brief History On October 15, 1930, Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical Company died. A graduate of Cleveland’s Case School of Applied Science, the brilliant chemist and inventor turned his company into an international chemical powerhouse. Digging Deeper This iconic “American” scientist and businessman was born in Canada back in 1866. Many other famous people considered “American” were also born in Canada, including: Senator Ted Cruz, actors Jim Carrey, Pamela Anderson, Michael J. Fox, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Phil Hartman, Martin Short, Eliot Page, Seth Rogan, Howie Mandel, Christopher Plummer, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, Donald Sutherland and…