Browsing: June 15

A Brief History Today, June 15, 2017, we raise a mug and wish all of our British readers a happy Beer Day Britain, Britain’s National Beer Day. Digging Deeper The date of this relatively new holiday has been celebrated annually on 15 June since only 2015.  The founders of the holiday chose the date because 15 June is also the date that the Magna Carta, one of Britain’s most important legal documents in the island’s entire history, was sealed in 1215.  If you are wondering what the heck does the Magna Carta, a peace treaty between an unpopular king and his…

Read More

A Brief History On June 15, 1667, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, personal physician to King Louis XIV, performed the first human blood transfusion.  The patient was a 15 year old boy who had been treated by using leeches to suck out “the bad blood.” Digging Deeper Denys used about 12 oz. of Sheep’s blood and the boy lived, probably the first ever transfusion that did not kill the patient.  Trying this technique on other patients, using small quantities of sheep or cow blood so as not to overload the allergic response was not so successful and some of his patients died.…

Read More

A Brief History On June 15, 1785, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier (say that 10 times fast!) and his companion, Pierre Romain became the first people to die in an aircraft accident when the  hot air balloon they were flying crashed in an attempt to cross the English Channel.  Every so often someone finds a new way to die.  After all, somebody had to be the first to die from auto erotic asphyxiation, or from drowning in a bucket.  Here we list 10 of those pioneers that invented new ways die (at least the first known person to die that way).…

Read More

A Brief History On June 15, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo on the Philippine island of Luzon erupted with a massive blow.  This eruption would be the second biggest land-based eruption of the 20th century after a 1912 eruption in Alaska. Digging Deeper The massive eruption cost at least 847 people their lives and would reduce the size of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere and affect global temperature for the next 2 years as evidenced by a 1 degree Fahrenheit drop. Although unassuming and covered in trees, Pinatubo was a sleeping monster, its last eruption having been in 1500 A.D. …

Read More