Browsing: May

A Brief History On May 3, 1945, five squadrons of Hawker Typhoon fighter aircraft attacked three ships in Lubeck Bay, Northern Germany and sunk all three.  The ships were prisoner ships carrying thousands of inmates from concentration camps. Digging Deeper The ocean liners Cap Arcona and Deutschland and a smaller companion ship, Thielbeck attempted to leave Lubeck. The destination for the 3 ships is a contended point, with some claiming the ships were headed for Sweden, while other claim they were to be sunk after the crews and SS guards got off the ships. Either way, several other passenger carrying…

A Brief History On May 2, 1863, the Confederate States of America lost their best or second best general, because they shot him! Digging Deeper The not so United States engaged in a titanic Civil War between the Federal Government (Union) and the secessionist Confederate (Southern) states. At the battle of Chancellorsville General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was reentering his own lines when pickets (sentries) mistook him for a “yankee” and shot him in the arm. Jackson’s arm had to be amputated, and as so often in those days, pneumonia set in and Jackson died 8 days later, robbing Robert E.…

A Brief History The end of April 2016 saw the campaign of Rafael Eduardo “Ted” Cruz sink to new lows, some of the wounds self inflicted and some from his own fellow Republicans. Digging Deeper Considered the “Most Hated Man in The Senate,” In February 2016 Cruz was said by Senator Lindsey Graham to be so hated that if “you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.” As much as politicians publicly “hate” each other, this remark was a rare step into a dark place even for…

A Brief History On May 2, 2012, one of the 4 versions of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream (Skrik in Norwegian) sold at auction in New York for an American record $120 million.  Munch painted 4 versions of his famous painting between 1893 and 1910, with this version (1895) referred to as pastel on cardboard being the most colorful one.  Some of the truly great works of art are non-traditional, with no attempt to copy every natural detail like a photograph or replicate styles that came before.  Here are 10 examples of great works of art that the artist obviously…

A Brief History On May 1, 1960, CIA employee Gary Powers was flying a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union when his high flying top secret U-2 spyplane was shot down by an SA-2 surface to air missile. Digging Deeper In the days before satellite imagery the only way for the US to know what the Soviets were up to was by flying U-2’s over their country. The Lockheed U-2 was designed by legendary airplane designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Johnson had designed the World War II fighter, the P-38 Lightning and later designed America’s first practical jet fighter, the Lockheed…