Browsing: May 6

A Brief History On May 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church became the first pope to ever set foot in a mosque when he entered the Great Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, during a visit to that predominantly Muslim country. Digging Deeper Born in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, Karol Józef Wojtyła was the first Catholic pope to hail from Poland and the first non-Italian pope since 1523.  In fact, John Paul II was the first pope ever of any Slavic origin.  John Paul II headed the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005, the third longest…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on May 6th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On May 6, 1882, the United States Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning any further immigration of Chinese workers to the United States for the next 10 years. On May 6, 1941, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt made its first flight, a maiden flight that would eventually see over 16,000 of the mighty fighter aircraft built, more than any other…

A Brief History On May 6, 2014, Canadian author Farley Mowat died only a week before turning 93 years old. Digging Deeper A World War II veteran, Mowat saw combat in Sicily and Italy with the infantry and later served as an intelligence officer, including working with a German general to allow the Allies to drop food and supplies to Dutch civilians behind German lines. Promoted to the rank of Captain, Mowat would have been promoted to major had he stayed in the Army.  After the war, he began a career in writing and environmental causes and was known as…

A Brief History On May 6, 1941, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt made its first flight, a maiden flight that would eventually see over 16,000 of the mighty fighter aircraft built, more than any other fighter aircraft produced by the United States in all of aviation history.  (In fact, among American warplanes, only the Consolidated B-24 Liberator (a bomber) was built in greater numbers, over 18,000 produced.)  We have previously discussed great airplanes, including great fighter planes, and the P-47 has a rather large contingent of supporters as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) when it comes to fighter aircraft, especially…

A Brief History On May 6, 2018, we ponder the premise of the incredibly popular movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Avengers: Infinity War. Specifically, the plan that super villain Thanos has for life in the Universe, which is to randomly eliminate half of all living beings as a solution to overpopulation. We turn to our creative and intelligent readers to help us make sense of such an apocalyptic scenario.  (Note: See our article on May 7, 2018 for a discussion of real life attempts to limit human population.) Digging Deeper In the case of half of all the…