Browsing: Nature

A Brief History On June 15, 1858, Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli called the Thames River in London, England, a “Stygian pool, reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors.”  The growth of London as a major industrial giant had turned the river into an open sewer that became so foul the Queen and Prince Consort were forced off the waters and Parliament could not conduct business due to the stench! Digging Deeper The summer of 1858 was a hot one, with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, grossly aggravating the stench from a river that took in human and industrial waste…

A Brief History On June 14, 1962, the European Space Research Organisation was founded in Paris, later to become the European Space Agency, now with 22 member countries.  While most focus is on the US and the Soviet/Russian space programs vis a vis the “Space Race,” other nations have joined in the endeavor to explore and exploit space. Digging Deeper As of April of 2023, only Russia, the US, and China have launched humans into space via their own vehicles, while the American private firm, SpaceX has joined the human space travel club. Along with Russia, the US, and China,…

A Brief History On June 6, 2002, high above the Mediterranean Sea, an asteroid estimated at about 10 meters in diameter exploded in the upper atmosphere with a similar effect to a 26 kiloton nuclear bomb, a larger blast than either the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.  What is really scary is that scientists failed to detect the approach of this chunk of space stuff and there would have been no warning had it hit the surface of the Earth! Digging Deeper Known as “The 2002 Eastern Mediterranean event,” another scary “what if” scenario involved the tense military stand-off happening between…

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 3, 1999, the state of Oklahoma experienced a catastrophic weather event known as the “1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak.”  A series of tornadoes that lasted from May 2nd to May 8th, the highest wind speed recorded during the twisters was an incredible 301 mph, plus or minus 20 mph. Digging Deeper But of course, that is tornadic wind speed.  Wind as measured as normal high-speed wind along the surface of the Earth has a lower record velocity.  A candidate for the highest wind speed on Earth occurred at Barrow Island, Australia in 1996, an umbrella shattering…