A Brief History On May 9, 1926, Richard E. Byrd claimed to have made a flight over the North Pole, making him (the navigator) and his pilot the first men to have achieved that distinction. Doubters surfaced soon afterwards, and the 1996 release of Byrd’s diary clearly showed how he had falsified data to claim he had made the trip when in reality he had turned back without achieving his goal. People lie. Not all the time, but often enough and about big enough subjects that we have compiled a list of 10 big whoppers for you. Digging Deeper 10.…
Browsing: May 9
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A Brief History On May 9, 1961, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minow, shocked Americans by declaring commercial television programming to be a “vast wasteland.” And you thought TV today was lousy! Digging Deeper Appointed as Chairman of the FCC by President Kennedy, Newton was giving his first speech in office to the National Association of Broadcasters, not exactly the audience likely to agree with him. Minow went on to rail against all the game shows, slapstick comedies, phony portrayals of family life and the violence, which though tame by our modern standards, must have been shocking…
A Brief History On May 9, 1980, in a scene out of horror movie the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a support pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that spanned 4.1 miles across Tampa Bay in Florida. Digging Deeper The bridge roadway soared 165 feet above the water built in 1954. In 1971 a parallel span was built to carry southbound traffic only and the older span became northbound only. In a heavy thunderstorm that reduced visibility to near zero, the 580 foot long 19,000 ton Summit Venture bulk carrier blundered into a support pier in the middle of…
A Brief History On May 9, 1980, the Security Pacific Bank of Norco, California was held up by 5 robbers, leading to chases and shootouts resulting in 2 robbers and a deputy sheriff being killed and a whopping 33 vehicles being destroyed. Digging Deeper The 5 bank robbers armed with shotguns, assault rifles (AK-47, HK91, HK93), and handguns, as well as home made bombs robbed the bank then stole a car and fought a running gun battle with two sheriff’s departments (Riverside and San Bernardino) Two suspects were killed, one deputy was killed, nine other cops wounded, and 30 police…
A Brief History On May 9, 1986, Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay died, the first man to climb Mt. Everest. Sir Edmund Hilary is usually given that distinction, but it was Norgay that guided him up the tallest mountain in the world and was probably the first to the summit. History is full of sidekicks, a person close to another that gets most of the fame, fame that would be less likely without the presence of the sidekick. Kind of like bacon and eggs, or beer and pretzels, the primary and the sidekick just belong together. Here we list 10 of…