Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 9, 2001, the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS Greeneville (SSN 772) accidentally sank the Japanese training fishing vessel Ehime Maru on board which were some high school students. Digging Deeper The Greeneville had been conducting maneuvers of the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii with guests aboard, mostly big-money donors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial at Pearl Harbor.  In the course of conducting an emergency main ballast tank blow and ascent, the nuclear sub came up underneath the Ehime Maru in a terrific collision that smashed the hapless fishing boat and sank it within 10 minutes.  Japanese losses were 9…

A Brief History This past week has been a doozy for controversial remarks by high-profile world leaders! Digging Deeper First, on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Pope Francis said, “One time, I heard a father say, ‘At times I have to hit my children a bit, but never in the face so as not to humiliate them.’ That’s great. He had a sense of dignity. He should punish, do the right thing, and then move on.”  This comment has been taken as an endorsement by the Head of the Catholic Church of parental spanking within reason.  Most Americans seem to agree with his…

A Brief History In the night of February 8-9, 1855, the fresh snow of Devon, England was marked with mysterious, bipedal, cloven-hoofed tracks often referred to as “The Devil’s Footprints.” (Please click on the link for an informative video.) Digging Deeper The tracks were especially unusual in nature in that they were said to have stretched for 40 to 100 miles over the south-western tip of England and to have gone right over tall objects such as buildings and haystacks rather than going around them.  Mostly in a straight line, the prints were about 4 inches long by 3 inches wide, with a stride…

A Brief History February 7, 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the “British Invasion,” a period in which British rock and roll musicians flooded the United States, starting with the greatest of them all, The Beatles. Digging Deeper Arriving to throngs of adoring, screaming and crying girls and young women, the “Fab Four” made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show 2 days later. “Beatlemania” was born and America officially conquered!  From 1964 to 1970, the “mop tops” ruled the air waves and record stores like no other group before or since.  Even songs about The Beatles were played on…

A Brief History On February 6, 2014, one year ago today, Jay Leno ended his run as host of The Tonight Show for the second time. The affable comedian who had made “Headlines” a treasured feature of the show first made headlines himself when he retired for the first time in 2009 after having hosted the show since 1992 upon Johnny Carson’s retirement. Digger Deeper When The Tonight Show’s rating began to suffer under Lenos’ successor Conan O’Brien, Leno asked to come back, and NBC shocked O’Brien and the public by granting Leno his wish.  Unfortunately, Leno’s reputation suffered terribly as a result of the perception…