Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On August 11, 1984, President Reagan caused the Soviet Union to raise their security and defense levels by joking about bombing Russia.  Whether meant to go public or said in private conversation, politicians throughout history have been known to say incredibly stupid things.  Here we list 10 such misstatements made by politicians.  (Note: Due to the volume of stupid utterances, we do not claim these are the most stupid, but they are pretty stupid.)  Obviously, this list cries out for a sequel.   10.  “Read my lips, no new taxes.” George H.W. Bush, 1988. Campaign pledges are usually not considered…

A Brief History On August 10, 1978, 3 members of a family died in a fiery crash when their Ford Pinto was rear-ended.  The bolts on the differential were positioned in such a manner that in the case of a rear-end collision, the bolts would pierce the gas tank.  Ford had known about the problem but chose not to correct it, electing to pay off lawsuits instead.  This goof is just one of the many really bad design features on of cars over the years.  The following article lists the 10 worst features, as based on the author’s opinion.  Digging…

A Brief History On August 9th, 1965, Tom Jones’s rendition of “What’s New Pussycat?”, the title song of the movie with the same name, was released in the UK. It was hugely successful in the music charts, having reached no. 3 in the US and no. 11 in the UK and was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Digging Deeper Two famous German-speaking actresses of the post-war years starred in the film adaptation: Romy Schneider and Ursula Andress. For more on them, please refer to Part 2 of the series. In this article we present German-speaking actresses…

A Brief History On August 9, 1969, members of the Manson Family, followers of cult leader Charles Manson, murdered actress Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and three other people.  Manson would later stand trial for orchestrating the murders but was never found to be insane, though to the layman he certainly appears to be.  Many historical figures seem to be  insane but are never ruled as such by a court or by psychiatric professionals (except maybe after they are dead).  Here we nominate 9 such people for History and Headlines’s loony bin.   Digging Deeper 9. Insane Clown…

A Brief History On August 8, 2000, 136 years after she sank with all hands, the Confederate submarine, the Hunley, was raised to the surface.  Throughout history, men have built famous ships, and many of those ships have found their way to the bottom of the sea.  Some of the shipwrecks have been found and either raised, salvaged, explored, or made into shrines.  Here we list 10 of the most famous ones.   Digging Deeper 10. Sultana, 1865. About 1,800 lives were lost when this Mississippi side-wheel steamboat’s boiler blew up in 1865.  Her wreck lay undiscovered until 1982, when it was found in a…