Browsing: July

A Brief History On July 2, 1937, the last radio transmission from Amelia Earhart and her radio operator Fred Noonan was heard.  After that, they were never seen or heard again, lost over the vast Pacific.  Earhart was an aviation pioneer and perhaps the world’s best known aviatrix.  Other famous or important people have also died in aircraft mishaps, and here we list 10 of them, hopefully among the most interesting if not the most famous.  (Quite a few entertainers have died in airplane crashes so we cannot list all of them, and famous air to air combat aces that…

A Brief History On July 1, 1863, the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania began, perhaps the most important battle of the US Civil War.  Many historians have considered it the battle that the war hinged on, especially as it was the “high water mark” of the Confederate invasion of the North.  We list here some of the most important, most critical battles in our nation’s history, battles that the very existence of the country depended on.  Since the only wars that our existence hinged on were the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II, by our definition only those…

A Brief History On July 1, 1957, the International Geophysical Year began.  The IGY was a cooperative scientific effort by 67 countries (there were under 100 countries in the world then, 200 now).  In an effort to minimize Cold War tensions, scientists from these countries would work in harmony for the advancement of mankind.  The IGY would last until December 31, 1958 (which you may notice is more than 1 year).  Things were different then, and here we point out 20 things that did not yet exist or were different then as opposed to now.   Digging Deeper 20. Mobile Phones. No satellites,…

A Brief History Between January and July 332 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedon, perhaps the greatest general in the history of warfare, besieged the Phoenician island city of Tyre, a jewel in the war between the Macedonians and the Persian Empire.  Located in what is now Lebanon, Tyre had defensive walls right up to the sea, making a forced landing almost impossible, especially on the landward side (East) where the wall soared 200 feet above the sea. Digging Deeper Alexander tried to negotiate a surrender of the city, to no avail, and settled in for a long blockade and…

A Brief History On at least four separate occasions electronic book burners known as “deletionists” tried to rid Wikipedia of its coverage of the internet phenomenon known as “creepypastas”.  Deletionists are a group of bullies who focus their efforts on trying to remove anything and everything they merely do not like from Wikipedia.  They typically, out of ignorance, refer to articles concerning topics they are unfamiliar with as “not notable”. Digging Deeper: A Timeline 26 March 2008: Allen3 nominated the article titled “Creepypasta” for deletion from Wikipedia.  After a brief discussion in which only five random user accounts voted to delete the article,…