Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On August 10, 1978, 3 members of a family died in a fiery crash when their Ford Pinto was rear-ended.  The bolts on the differential were positioned in such a manner that in the case of a rear-end collision, the bolts would pierce the gas tank.  Ford had known about the problem but chose not to correct it, electing to pay off lawsuits instead.  This goof is just one of the many really bad design features on of cars over the years.  The following article lists the 10 worst features, as based on the author’s opinion.  Digging…

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A Brief History On August 8, 2000, 136 years after she sank with all hands, the Confederate submarine, the Hunley, was raised to the surface.  Throughout history, men have built famous ships, and many of those ships have found their way to the bottom of the sea.  Some of the shipwrecks have been found and either raised, salvaged, explored, or made into shrines.  Here we list 10 of the most famous ones.   Digging Deeper 10. Sultana, 1865. About 1,800 lives were lost when this Mississippi side-wheel steamboat’s boiler blew up in 1865.  Her wreck lay undiscovered until 1982, when it was found in a…

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A Brief History On August 7, 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey and 3 other women completed a 59-day road trip from New York to San Francisco, the first women to drive across the continent in a car.  Other women have also been famous or notorious for what they did in or on cars; some may have already been famous and others achieved fame because of their association with a car.  Here we list 10 such women.  (Dishonorable Mention to Britney Spears for not knowing how to get in or out of a car and to Lindsay Lohan for not knowing how to drive.)…

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A Brief History On August 6, 1964, a University of North Carolina graduate student studying climate cut down the oldest known tree in the world, the 5,000-year-old “Prometheus,” a Bristlecone Pine located on Wheeler Peak in Nevada.  The icing on the cake?  The U.S. Forest Service allowed it! Digging Deeper Why would anyone cut down the oldest tree on Earth while it was still healthy and sound?  There are quite a few answers to that question, and conflicting ones at that.  Various stories have circulated as to why the tree was cut down instead of just a core sample taken.  These range from: 1) broken…

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 A Brief History On August 4th, 1761, the first veterinary school of medicine was founded by Claude Bourgelat in Lyon, France. Digging Deeper Claude Bourgelat did not study veterinary medicine himself; he had studied law but later directed an academy for horseback riding. He soon became an authority figure on horse management, and he wrote books on the morphology and anatomy of horses. His reputation brought him to the king’s attention, and the royal horse breeding program in the French province of Lyonnais was put under his supervision. In addition to founding the first veterinary school of medicine in Lyon,…

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