A Brief History On July 18, 1806, a powder magazine exploded accidentally at Birgu, Malta, creating massive damage to the military and civilian infrastructure nearby and killing at least 200 people. Such accidental explosions have often taken place throughout the history of gunpowder and other explosives, and today we take a look at 10 of those memorable events. (“Gunpowder” includes black powder, the original explosive and propellant, as well as modern “smokeless” nitro based powders and modern explosives.) Digging Deeper USS Maine, 1898 We list this disaster first, because of the battle cry, “Remember the Maine!” How could we forget? …
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A Brief History On July 11, 2016, we ran an article we called Scumbag of the Year Awards (First Half) 2016. Today, we take another look at this sordid subject with an eye on the first half of 2022. Sadly, three is no lack of subjects for this article, though for brevity reasons we limit our list to only a few particularly egregious offenders. Feel free to tell us those other scumbags you think belong on this list. Digging Deeper Vladimir Putin, Dictator of Russia and War Criminal Vladimir Putin, narcissistic megalomaniac dictator of Russia, ordered the invasion of neighboring…
A Brief History On June 27, 1985, US Route 66, known as “The Main Street of America,” was officially taken off the list of US highways. Established in 1926, it was the main road from Chicago to Los Angeles (Santa Monica). Spawning a hit song (by Nat “King” Cole) and a hit television series, this route was the American highway, at least until superseded by the Interstate Highway System. It survives (barely) today in pieces as “State Route 66” in some states and as stretches of a “National Scenic Byway.” We previously discussed “10 Iconic American Things You Do Not…
A Brief History On June 13, 2010, country music singer and actor, as well as sausage impresario, Jimmy Dean, died at the age of 81 while watching television in his Virginia home. Dean sang some notable hit songs, including “Big Bad John,” but he also recorded a not-so-great hit song in 1972, “Who Put the Leaving in Your Eyes.” Over the many decades since people have been recording songs, many of those songs have been about eyes, or had the word “eyes” in the title or prominently featured that particular body part(s) in the lyrics. Today we take a look…
A Brief History On May 30, 1883, panicked public people pushed, prodded, poked, and pummeled each other in a mad dash to get away from the Brooklyn Bridge when an unfounded rumor circulated that collapse was imminent. This ridiculous rumor was not true, and the incident provided the impetus for our previous article about Stupid Rumors. Today we take a look at more of these persistent beliefs that people have that get passed around to the point that vast numbers of people actually believe them to be fact, which of course they are not. Digging Deeper Covid vaccine has some…