A Brief History On February 26, 2013, a sightseeing hot air balloon over Luxor, Egypt, was carrying 20 passengers and the pilot when something went horribly wrong. A leaking fuel line caused a fire to break out on the balloon when it was only a few meters off the ground, and the ensuing flames caused the balloon to rise dramatically. Engulfed in flames, some passengers jumped out of the gondola to their deaths, while others stayed in the passenger compartment until the balloon exploded, killing 19 of the 21 people that had been aboard, the worst death toll in hot…
Browsing: February 26
A Brief History On February 26, 1991, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN of Switzerland) introduced his invention of the WorldWideWeb to the public, the first publicly available internet browser. Berners-Lee is now a professor at Oxford University in England and has authored several books about computers and the internet. Digging Deeper In 1989 Berners-Lee had implemented the first successful communication between a server and an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) user via the internet, and also invented the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) to support his invention of the WorldWideWeb, developments that made browsing…
A Brief History The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. Perhaps his main goal in exposing the meat industry and working conditions was to advance Socialism in the United States; however, most readers were more concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, greatly contributing to a public outcry which led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act. Sinclair famously said of the public…
A Brief History On February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, aka Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, escaped from his forced exile on the island of Elba and made his way back to France, seeking to regain his throne. Digging Deeper Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Corsica, had parlayed his spectacular military successes during and immediately after the French Revolution to becoming a General by the age of 24, and seizing the opportunity to mount a coup and take virtual control of France in 1799. Never bashful, Napoleon crowned himself L’ Empereur in 1804 and led his Empire in a series of…
A Brief History On February 26, 1993, New Yorkers were shaken during their lunch break by the explosion of a giant bomb! Digging Deeper Digging deeper (through the rubble) we find the same Arab-Muslim gang of terrorists who would later perpetrate the September 11, 2001 attacks plotting to take down the World Trade Center, a target they saw as the heart of American capitalism in a city known for having a large Jewish population. The plan was to place a giant 1,300-pound bomb in a rental van which would then be parked in the basement parking garage where the explosion was expected to cause one tower to topple into the…
