Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On May 23, 2013, the Interstate-5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed suddenly, dumping two occupied cars into the river. Incredibly, not only did the occupants survive, they did not suffer any severe injuries. Often the results are much different and much more tragic. Today we discuss some of the famous bridge collapses through History, with an eye toward ones that are particularly deadly, interesting, or unique.  (See our previous article on August 1, 2007, “10 Famous Bridge Collapses.”) Digging Deeper 1. I-5 Bridge over the Skagit River, 2013. As stated above, this harrowing incident that dumped…

A Brief History On May 21, 2011, Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping had predicted that the world as we know it would end, with the return of Jesus Christ and the advent of the “Rapture,” followed by months of fire and brimstone resulting in the destruction of Earth. If you were paying attention on that date, you will note that the end of times did not in fact begin on May 21, 2011! Many people have predicted the end of the world or the end of the world as we know it, and so far, each has been wrong. Today…

A Brief History On May 17, 1943, the British RAF conducted their famous “Dambusters” raid on dams on Germany’s rivers, a story we told in our article “May 17, 1943: 10 Most Daring, Dashing, Devastating Bombing Raids (WWII)”. Today we will discuss 10 Bombing raids of significance (historic or famous) that did not occur during World War II. Digging Deeper 1. Balloon Bombs, Venice, 1849. The first known use of aerial bombing, Austrians used unmanned balloons to carry bombs over Venice on July 15, 1849, which had revolted against Austrian rule and declared the Republic of San Marcos. The Austrians…

A Brief History On May 16, 1960, a scientist at Hughes Research Laboratories in California, Theodore Maiman, operated the world’s first optical laser, a red (ruby) coherent light beam. We have published 2 articles about lasers (“November 14, 1967: The LASER is Patented” and “March 22, 1960: When Were Lasers Invented?”) and another article titled “Things That Did Not Exist (Or Were Different) on July 1, 1957” and today we list another 10 things that were not around when this author was born. (January 1957.) Digging Deeper 1. Video Games. Although rudimentary efforts to construct some sort of electronic video…

A Brief History On May 9, 1671, Anglo-Irish Thomas Blood dressed up as a parson and attempted to steal the Crown Jewels of England.  A scoundrel in multiple ways, Blood convinced King Charles II to grant him a pardon! The nerve required to try such a bold heist is incredible, especially since death would have been the expected punishment. Today, we list 10 of the most ridiculously daring heists in history, some successful, and some not so successful. Digging Deeper 1. Theft of Crown Jewels, Tower of London, 1671. As introduced above, Mr. Blood had the audacity to try the…