Browsing: January 4

A Brief History On January 4, 1989, two Libyan pilots made the massive blunder of attempting to engage a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters over the Gulf of Sidra off the Libyan coast, with the entirely predictable result of both MiG-23 “Flogger” fighters being promptly shot down. Digging Deeper The Libyan fighter pilots would have done well to remember the previous incident over the Gulf of Sidra back in 1981, when two Libyan Su-22 “Fitter” fighters were shot down by a pair of USN Tomcats, another time enemy pilots made the mistake of attacking US naval aviators. As…

Read More

A Brief History On January 4, 2023, the United States House of Representatives is struggling to elect a new Speaker of the House to succeed Nancy Pelosi.  With a slight Republican majority, the assumption is that a leading Republican congressman would routinely be elected, but this is NOT the case!  At least 4 votes so far on January 3 and January 4 have failed to produce a new speaker.  Who should get the job? Update:  As of January 6 at 3 pm, at least 13 votes have been held without a Speaker being selected.  Also, former President Donald Trump, previously…

Read More

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 4th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 4, 1847, inventor of the modern revolving pistol, Sam Colt, first sold his 1847 Walker .44 caliber revolver to the US Army, and the pistol promptly made its mark in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) where the revolver gave the Americans a decided advantage. On January 4, 1903, Thomas Edison’s company filmed the execution of Topsy the Elephant, the largest purported casualty…

Read More

A Brief History On January 4, 2010, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened in the United Arab Emirates, taking top honors as the World’s Tallest Building, an honor it still holds.  Today, we take a look at some of the tallest man-made structures on the Earth. Digging Deeper Burj Khalifa skyscraper, United Arab Emirates, 2717 feet high Petronius Oil Platform, United States, 2100 feet high Tokyo Skytree broadcast tower, Japan, 2080 feet high KVLY-TV antenna mast, United States, 2063 feet high Canton Tower observational tower, China, 1982 feet high Abraj Al Bait skyscraper, Saudi Arabia, 1972 feet high Bullwinkle oil…

Read More

A Brief History On January 4, 2013, the Philippines were the scene of mass shooting carnage when a 41 year old man went on a rampage that left 20 people and a dog shot, with 7 of those people dying of their wounds and sadly, also the dog.  The locale of the shootings was Kawit, a city of over 83,000 people on the shores of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. Digging Deeper As we have pointed out on several occasions, mass shootings are not a strictly American occurrence, as such tragedies happen in other countries as well as…

Read More