Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On February 13, 1961, while 3 Californians were looking for geodes, they picked up a rock believed to be 500,000 years old that was later found to contain a spark plug!  Understandably, this find, now known as the “Coso artifact,” sparked a lot of mystery and controversy.  Digging Deeper Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell (love that name), were poking around the geology of Olancha, California when they came across their amazing discovery. Upon cutting open the supposed geode, they expected it to be hollow inside and containing crystals.  Instead the trio’s diamond-bladed saw blade was ruined, and rather than find…

A Brief History On February 5, 2008, a date known as “Super Tuesday,” a series of powerful tornadoes hit the Southern United States, leaving 57 people dead.  An astounding 86 twisters hovered over Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi, bringing with them terrific thunderstorms, winds peaking between 166 and 200 mph and hail that caused massive damage.  Even hail the size of softballs (4 inches) was reported! Digging Deeper The hardest hit areas were in the vicinities of Memphis, Tennessee and Jackson, Tennessee.  The 57 deaths and hundreds of injuries were the second worst human life toll from a February tornado…

A Brief History On January 31, 1930, the 3M Company (then going by the name of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) revealed Scotch Tape.  This product, consisting of clear cellophane tape with a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side, would become a household and office necessity. Digging Deeper 3M has since ridden the success of Scotch Tape to produce many products bearing the Scotch brand that have nothing to do with the original product, one example being the stain repellent Scotchguard.  3M first began advertising with the familiar tartan plaid (Wallace type) in 1945.  Today, many manufacturers produce adhesive tape, but most folks generically call these products “Scotch Tape” as…

This Just In! A couple of days ago, we reported on the mainstream media’s gloomy prediction of a potentially catastrophic snow storm striking North America on January 26-27, 2015. Yet, now such news reports as this one are slamming how Winter Storm Juno did not exactly live up to the “sky is falling” hype.  Even Wikipedia mentioned the “Forecasting controversy” in their article on the storm, with “A number of New York City residents criticized New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to shut down the city’s subway system for the first time ever due to snow.  The nor’easter dropped much less snow in…

A Brief History On January 28, 1887, Fort Keogh, Montana was the scene of what was probably the most bizarre snow storm in recorded history.  Established as an Army outpost in the wake of the Little Big Horn massacre of Lt. Col. Custer’s 7th Cavalry, the fort was named after Capt. Keogh who had died in that action. Digging Deeper On this remarkable snowy day in 1887, astonished soldiers witnessed the falling of perhaps the largest snowflake ever, measuring a massive 15 inches wide by 8 inches thick!  If you think that is impossible, then you can go argue with The Guiness Book of…