A Brief History On January 21, 1981, the DeLorean sports car started being produced in Northern Ireland, with production ending in December of 1982. Only about 9,000 of the futuristic cars were built. Digging Deeper Featuring gull-wing doors and a rear mounted V-6 engine that produced a paltry 130 horsepower, the DeLorean boasted stainless steel outer panels and struggled to reach 60 mph in a reported 8.8 to 10.5 seconds. For a purported “sports” car, the DMC loafed its way to a quarter mile in 17.9 seconds at a final speed of only 76.5 mph. For comparison, the two-door, two…
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A Brief History On January 20, 1921, the crew of the Royal Navy submarine K5 found out the hard way just how dangerous being a submariner is, even in peacetime, when they suffered a fatal “Naval Oops Moment” and the sub was lost with all hands. Digging Deeper K5 had been part of naval maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay when she dived and never resurfaced. Debris from the sub told the sad tale that the boat had been lost with all hands. Why the sub sank is not entirely known, with speculation that perhaps she exceeded her designed maximum…
A Brief History On January 19, 1983, a space traveling chimpanzee named Ham died at the age of 25 at the North Carolina Zoo. Born in Africa and sent to The Miami Rare Bird Farm in Florida, Ham was then acquired by the US Air Force in 1959. Digging Deeper The Air Force obtained 40 chimps to prepare for use as test ape-ronauts prior to sending humans into space aboard Mercury space capsules. After whittling down the candidates, #65 was chosen for the January 1961 flight aboard the Mercury capsule launched by a Redstone Rocket. You may have noticed that…
A Brief History On January 13, 1964, a 14-year-old Pamela Mason was murdered in New Hampshire, her alleged murderer later having his conviction overturned on the basis of 4th Amendment rights regarding police searches in a Supreme Court case called Coolidge v. New Hampshire in 1971. Digging Deeper The murder conviction was overturned over the concept of when and when not the police are allowed to search a person’s car, truck, or other vehicle. The times it is perfectly legal for the cops to search your car starts with a properly issued search warrant, signed by an unbiased authority. Thus,…
A Brief History On January 11, 1962, the Soviet Navy suffered an embarrassing loss of a submarine when their Foxtrot Class sub, B-37, caught fire while tied up at dock at Polarny naval base, resulting in the total loss of the sub. Digging Deeper B-37 had been undergoing routine maintenance when the fire broke out, possibly due to hydrogen gas set off by an electrical spark. With all the watertight doors open, the fire spread and reached the torpedoes, setting off the explosives contained within those weapons and destroying the submarine. Sadly, 59 of the 61 crewmen aboard B-37 were…
