Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt of Hartford Connecticut made good on the “All men are created equal” theme by making sure they stayed that way.  Colt did this by patenting his famous revolving cylinder pistol. Digging Deeper The revolving pistol was not a new concept, and previous efforts using flint lock pistols were attempted with uneven results.  The loose powder in the pan of a flintlock made “chain firing” all too possible and keeping the powder in the pan as the cylinder rotated was also difficult at best.  Once the percussion cap was invented and reached…

A Brief History On February 24, 1942, the government passed a law under the “War Measures Act” allowing the government to relocate and intern citizens of Japanese origin.  The government that enacted this law was the Canadian federal government!  The sorry history of the United States treating its own Japanese citizens in such a hysterical and racist manner is far more well documented and familiar to Americans, and little attention is paid to the fact our genial neighbors to the North did the same thing. Digging Deeper On February 24, 1983, the United States Congress Special Commission passed a resolution…

A Brief History On February 23, 2017, news outlets were awash with stories and video of an incident that took place Tuesday, February 21, 2017 in Anaheim, California (home of Disneyland).  An off duty Los Angeles police officer residing in Anaheim had been having trouble with local youngsters (teens) trespassing in his yard on their way to and from school, when a confrontation broke out when the officer yelled at the kids and the kids, one in particular, made the mistake of mouthing off back at the officer. Digging Deeper Normally it is not against the law to be disrespectful,…

A Brief History On February 23, 2008, a US Air Force B-2 “Spirit” bomber crashed while attempting a take-off on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.  The stealth jet bomber was totally destroyed, but the 2 man crew safely ejected.  The B-2 bomber is far and away the most expensive airplane ever built, costing somewhere between $1 billion and $2.1 billion apiece, depending on how you account for the price per aircraft. Digging Deeper The most modern bomber in the world, and the only large “stealth” aircraft, the Northrup Grumman B-2 is not all that new, having…

A Brief (And we mean Brief!) History On February 22, 1983, the Eugene O’Neill Theater (230 West 49th St., New York, although considered a “Broadway” theater) was the scene of perhaps the biggest fiasco in the History of Broadway Plays, the opening and closing night of the Arthur Bicknell play, Moose Murders. Digging Deeper Not only did this miserable play only have the one night, its very name has become the archetype for lousy plays, those which open and close after only one show.  Moose Murders is the low standard by which crumby plays are compared.  Frank Rich, Broadway critic…