Browsing: June 22

A Brief History On June 22, 1893, the British battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally collided with the British battleship HMS Victoria off the coast of Lebanon. Digging Deeper Victoria was the flagship of the British Mediterranean fleet, the most powerful fleet in that sea and as such carried Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. These 2 ships were 2 of the most powerful ships in the world, launched in 1885 and 1887 respectively.  They were engaged in maneuvers and using the tactics of using an absolute minimum amount of signaling between ships.  Remember, back then there was no radio, so ships used signal flags, semaphore or blinking…

A Brief History My home state of Ohio has a surprising history.  This article presents a chronology of some of the key events! Digging Deeper On April 4, 1841, a stunned nation learned that for the first time in American history a serving president died while in office! On January 7, 1894, Ohio born uber-inventor Thomas Edison made and demonstrated a kinetoscope, a sort of device using multiple photos or drawings to show the illusion of movement, in this case of a man sneezing. On August 3, 1900, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded in Akron, Ohio, joining Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron…

A Brief History On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River near downtown Cleveland, Ohio caught fire, sparking a story in Time Magazine and becoming the symbol for the ecology movement.  Nature and mankind have worked separately or together throughout history to create environmental disasters.  Here we list 10 of the more spectacular ones, the order of which is the ones we find most entertaining. Digging Deeper 10. Leaded Fuel, 1920’s-1970’s. Discovered to be an effective anti-knock compound for gasoline by Charles Kettering and Tom Midgely in 1921, the compound tetraethyl lead made by Dupont was necessary for engines to operate at higher compression, thus…

A Brief History On June 22, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law HR 218, known as the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act.  This law gave police officers in good standing and properly retired officers the legal right to carry concealed weapons (guns) in any jurisdiction in the United States.  That means an officer from Los Angeles can go on vacation to New York City and be allowed to carry his gun. Digging Deeper The logic behind this legislation was to provide law enforcement personnel with the ability to defend themselves against vengeful criminals while off duty or when retired. …

A Brief History On June 22, 1990, Checkpoint Charlie, the best known crossing point between Soviet-occupied East Germany to Western-occupied West Germany was torn down, a sign that the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation since 1947 was drawing to an end.  Here we list 10 prominent symbols or icons that are closely associated with this time period.  (Honorable mention to the AK-47 and the M-16 assault rifles.) Digging Deeper 10. MiG-15 and F-86.  These are the best of the early jets from both sides that faced off during the Korean War; the fierce debate over which was the…