A Brief History On May 30, 1883, panicked public people pushed, prodded, poked, and pummeled each other in a mad dash to get away from the Brooklyn Bridge when an unfounded rumor circulated that collapse was imminent. This ridiculous rumor was not true, and the incident provided the impetus for our previous article about Stupid Rumors. Today we take a look at more of these persistent beliefs that people have that get passed around to the point that vast numbers of people actually believe them to be fact, which of course they are not. Digging Deeper Covid vaccine has some…
Browsing: Vehicles
A Brief History On February 7, 1981, a Soviet airliner carrying 6 crewmen and 44 passengers crashed immediately after takeoff from Pushkin Airport near Leningrad, killing all 50 people aboard the jetliner. Among the passengers killed, were 16 senior Soviet officers, Admirals and Generals of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, effectively decapitating one of the most powerful military units in the world. As we have repeatedly in the past, we take another look at what we call a “Naval Oops Moment.” Digging Deeper Unlike other naval disasters we have reported on, this incident did not entail ships or even the ocean,…
A Brief History On October 9, 2012, just 8 years ago, 15 year old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani Muslim girl, was shot in the face by Taliban Islamic extremist terrorists for the “crime” of being a girl that wanted to go to school to learn to read and write. This intrepid young lady went on to become a major player in the battle for women’s rights in the Islamic world, and has served as an inspiration for people across the globe. At the age of 16, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize! We have previously cited this brave…
A Brief History On August 2, 1943, the US Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy would go on to become President of the United States, partially based on his status as a war hero for his exploits concerning his command of PT-109 for which he achieved national hero status. Was that status deserved? (See our many articles about Naval “Oops” moments) Digging Deeper John F. Kennedy was born into a relatively wealthy Irish Catholic family in Massachusetts, his forbears having dabbled in…
A Brief History On July 12, 1776, famous explorer English Captain James Cook set sail from Plymouth on what was to be his final voyage. The premier English explorer of the Pacific, Cook had taken voyages from 1768-1771 and 1772-1775, greatly expanding British knowledge of the Pacific, its islands, aits people. Cook’s third voyage would take the route around Africa to the Indian Ocean and on to the Pacific. Digging Deeper Captain Cook was given the task of returning a young man named Omai (Mai in his native language) to his homeland of the island of Raiatea, one of the…