Browsing: July

A Brief History On July 11, 1914, the major league career of George Herman Ruth began, with Ruth pitching for the victory of the Red Sox over the Cleveland Naps.  On that same day, it is said Ruth met his first wife, a 16 year old waitress.  Of course Ruth is better known as “Babe” Ruth, but he was also often referred to as “The Sultan of Swat” or “The Bambino.”  What you might not know is that his Yankee teammates usually called him “Jidge.” Digging Deeper Great athletes and minor ones alike often have colorful nicknames, and baseball is…

A Brief History On July 11, 1987, the human population of the Earth hit 5 billion, known appropriately as “5 Billion Day.”  Since then, July 11 each year is celebrated as “World Population Day” in an effort to raise awareness about global population issues.  Today, there are about 7.2 billion people alive on Earth.  Estimates for 2050 vary, but are in the area of 10 billion or so.  That is too many people!  Here we list 10 reasons we think there are too many people in the world.  Update, July 11, 2019:  In the summer of 2019, Weather.Com and other sources reported…

A Brief History On July 10, 1997, British scientists in London conducted DNA tests on a Neanderthal skeleton which showed the likelihood of a common ancestor for all men having originated in Africa, perhaps 200,000 years ago. Digging Deeper Neanderthal man is the stereotypical cave man of cultural reference, powerfully built and immensely strong, with males average height about 5’6” and females about 5’1”.  Their brains were actually larger than modern human brains, 1600 cc versus 1400 cc.  The theory of human evolution has modern man and Neanderthal both evolving from a common ancestor 200,000 or so years ago in…

A Brief History On July 10, 1942, an American pilot spotted an intact Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter downed on Akutan island.  The Zero was recovered and restored to flying condition by the Americans and provided information needed to develop American fighters and tactics to cope with the Zero’s great performance.  Here we list 10 of the most formidable fighter planes American pilots have had to face in combat.  Digging Deeper 10.  Mikoyan and Gurevich MiG-29. Inflicting (disputed by allies) rare air to air kills on a British Tornado and an American B-52 during the 1991 Gulf War, the MiG-29…

A Brief History On July 10, 1942, a US pilot spotted a downed Japanese A6M Zero fighter plane on Akutan Island, Alaska.  The relatively intact fighter was recovered by US forces, made airworthy, and extensively tested, providing valuable intelligence about the Zero that had been terrorizing American pilots.  Last year we used this incident to list 10 of the greatest “enemy” fighter planes, and this time we list 10 of the greatest (sometimes more interesting or famous than important) intelligence coups of World War II.  Some of these coups can be times when preventing the enemy from learning something is…