A Brief History On February 16, 1937, Wallace Carothers, chemist for DuPont, patented the synthetic polymer based plastic known to us as Nylon. Used as a fiber in clothing, tents, parachutes, stockings and every conceivable application, it is also used as a solid plastic as in bristles for toothbrushes (the original product), hairbrushes, car parts, household items, musical instrument strings, bullet jackets, flak jacket armor cloth, small and large gears, tire cord, Velcro tape, carpet, rope, gun stocks, fishing line and on ad infinitum! Nylon fiber is also often used to reinforce natural fibers in cloth. Digging Deeper Ranking with…
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A Brief History On February 15, 1898, at 9:40 p.m., the US Navy had one of its darkest and yet most memorable days when the armored cruiser USS Maine ACR-1 blew up and sank while docked in Havana Harbor, Cuba. Digging Deeper Sent to Cuba to protect American interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, the Maine blew up and sank quickly, having experienced over 5 tons of gunpowder exploding in the forward part of the ship. The giant explosion and quick sinking cost 266 of the 374 man crew their lives. The Navy and the US in general was…
A Brief History On February 14, 2005, a trio of former PayPal employees gave the world a great Valentine’s Day gift when they launched YouTube, the foremost video sharing website on the internet. Less than 2 years later they sold the site to Google for $1.65 billion! Digging Deeper Originally a way for individuals to share videos on the net, the site now hosts video posted by large corporations as well as individuals, including BBC, Vevo, Hulu and CBS, et al. Currently the second most popular website on the internet (Google is #1), you can find self-made videos by individuals…
A Brief History On February 13, 1954, Franklin Delano Selvy, shooting guard/small forward for the Furman University (South Carolina) basketball team scored an NCAA Division I record 100 points in a game against Newberry College (South Carolina), a feat never matched in Division I play. Digging Deeper The 6’ 3” Selvy, known as Frank, hailed from Corbin, Kentucky and was born in 1932, presumably the reason he was so named. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the 1932 US Presidential election the same month Selvy was born.) In a story right out of a book of Fairy Tales, Selvy was being honored…
A Brief History On February 12, 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a coalition of White Americans and African Americans. The idea of this organization was conceived originally by 3 White civil rights activists, Mary White Ovington (Unitarian), William English Walling (wealthy, married Jewish woman), and Henry Moskowitz (Romanian Jewish immigrant to US) while meeting in New York. The Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois was the impetus for forming the NAACP. Digging Deeper (Note: February is Black History Month.) These Caucasian activists were convinced that White people would have to…