A Brief History On January 3, 1961, a steam explosion occurred at the SL-1 US Army experimental nuclear reactor located outside Idaho Falls, Idaho, leaving three technicians dead, the only immediately fatal US nuclear reactor accident so far. Digging Deeper The explosion was caused by the too rapid withdrawal of a control rod, causing the reactor pile to go critical and creating a burst of intense heat that instantly vaporized the cooling water and causing the explosion. Incredibly, one of the nuclear techs was hit by a high-speed piece of the reactor and pinned to the ceiling, the shield plug…
Browsing: January 3
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A Brief History On January 3, 2002, an Israeli operation called “Noah’s Ark” resulted in the seizure of a ship load of munitions bound for Gaza to arm Palestinian militants. Digging Deeper The freighter, Karine A, had been purchased by the Palestinian Authority and renamed and crewed with Palestinian sailors, loaded with 50 tons of weapons, and sailed to the coast of the Gaza strip between Israel and Egypt, a territory set aside as a Palestinian homeland and home to over 2 million people. The purchase of the weapons had been arranged and facilitated by Iran and the Iran allied…
A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 3rd. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 3, 1521, Roman Catholic (Augustinian) priest and reformer Martin Luther was ex-communicated from the church by Pope Leo X. On January 3, 1933, history was made in North Dakota when Minnie D. Craig became the Speaker of the State House of Representatives. On January 3, 1944, the top American air combat ace, Pappy Boyington, was shot down. On January 3, 1944, America’s…
A Brief History On January 3, 1944, America’s leading fighter Ace of that time, Marine Major Pappy Boyington, was shot down and taken captive by the Japanese. Today, we take a look at some of the leading fighter pilot aces of World War II by their country. Digging Deeper Top Aces of World War II: Johnnie Johnson, Britain, 38 kills Mato Dukovac, Croatia, 44 kills Ilmari Juutilainen, Finland, 94 kills Pierre Clostermann, France, 33 kills Erich Hartmann, Germany, 352 kills György Debrődy and Lajos Tóth, Hungary, 26 kills Teresio Martinoli, Italy, 22 + 14 shared kills Tetsuzō Iwamoto, Japan, 80…
A Brief History On January 3, 2022, we take a look at the latest movie in the Matrix movie franchise, The Matrix Resurrections that we screened shortly after its release (December 22, 2021). Having watched all 3 of the previous Matrix movies (all starring Keanu Reeves as Neo), and even going so far as to re-watch them all in succession prior to screening the latest edition, we felt prepared to make an appropriate analysis of the new edition in the film franchise. Digging Deeper Several things jump right out at you when you see this new film. First, “Neo,” aka…