A Brief History On July 22, 1992, Drug Lord Pablo Escobar of Columbia escaped from his (luxury) prison. Escobar, probably the richest criminal of all time, had a net wealth of around a staggering $30 billion. Digging Deeper This kind of money can certainly buy a criminal his own special brand of justice, and it was after negotiations with the government in 1991 that Escobar agreed to surrender in return for a light sentence and special prison accommodations. While living in luxury in “prison” Escobar continued to run his criminal drug empire, which caused authorities to make the decision to…
Browsing: July
Read More
A Brief History On July 21, 1973, Israeli agents of the Mossad killed a waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, seeking revenge for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes. The hapless victim was innocent and had nothing to do with the terrorist event, and the murder was just another blunder by a country attempting to conduct spy games. Over the years there have been some egregious errors by secret agencies, and here we list 10 of those “oops” moments. Digging Deeper 10. Soviet Gift to US Found to be Bugged, 1952. The Soviet organization, Young Pioneers, gave the US ambassador…
A Brief History On July 21, 1865, a real life showdown resulting in face to face gunplay happened for the first time, the first of the classic duels we have come to know as a Wild West gunfight. Digging Deeper Wild Bill Hickock, later one of the West’s most famous characters, was gambling in Springfield, Missouri, but not well. Hickock lost his money playing poker, and owed his friend Davis Tutt, also a Civil War veteran but from the opposite side. (Hickock was a Union veteran, Tutt a Confederate) money to repay loans. As collateral, Tutt seized Hickock’s pocket watch,…
A Brief History On July 21, 1904, Frenchman Louis Rigolly became the first person to speed past the 100 mph “barrier” when he accomplished the feat in his Gobron-Brillie race car at Ostende in Belgium. Digging Deeper Although the car would seem clunky and slow by our standards, the 13.5 liter beast of an engine (over-bored to 15 liters!) had 2 pistons per cylinder, each opposing each other from opposite directions. The engine probably produced a mere 25-50 horsepower (hp) despite its size. (I could not find the exact horsepower rating, but earlier engines had less than 25-50 hp and…
A Brief History On July 20, 1807, the government of Napoleon Bonaparte granted a patent to Nicephore Niepce for a device he called the Pyreolophore, the first internal combustion engine (ICE). Demonstrated by powering a small boat up a river, this event began a long and star crossed relationship between humans and ICE‘s. Powering cars, generators, airplanes, farm equipment, pumps, compressors, boats, lawn mowers and just about anything you can think of that needs power of some sort, the loud, smoke belching engines have been a constant companion of mankind for over 200 years now, slow to catch on, but…