A Brief History On December 19, 1912, US President William H. Taft pardoned the skipper of the ill-fated cruise ship, the PS General Slocum, which had burned and sunk on June 15, 1904, costing over 1000 people their lives. Captain William Van Schaick had been convicted of negligence in the incident and had served 3 ½ years in prison at Sing Sing prior to his pardon. Digging Deeper The General Slocum was a cruise steamship built in 1891 that had made a career of taking sightseers around the waters of New York City. Unfortunately, her owners and operators, including Captain…
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A Brief History The summer of July 1969 was unlike any other summer. It was a historic summer; and actually, this past summer of 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the iconic moon landing. The world was watching in awe as the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. Us earthlings were about 3.5 billion, then; 600 million of us watching the Apollo landing on the moon on TV. Back then, not every home had a TV, and people flocked to any place where a TV was available to watch the mission. Others gathered and camped outside in front of…
A Brief History It was in the 40s and 50s that computers started emerging, and they were used for a lot of different functions, including doing calculations. The famous Abacus was then turned into a physical, handheld devices with buttons and a screen to perform operations, which is now the traditional calculator that we all know. And with the steady advancement of modern technology, the next step in the evolution of calculators was using software-based ones that can perform all the usual operations, plus a host of other functions. People can be quite intelligent, but a human would never be…
A Brief History Nowadays, besides the make and model of the car, you want to insure there are many other factors that insurance companies consider to arrive at the premium that you must pay for the desired coverage. It is only normal for people to look for cheaper car insurance, but then it can affect the coverage because everything comes for a price. Looking it from another angle, you get what you pay for but knowing the factors that influence premium should help to have some idea about the kind of budget you must have for your car insurance. Even…
A Brief History On December 15, 1973, with a vote of 13-0, the American Psychiatric Association agreed to remove homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders. We marked this historical event with our article, “Is Homosexuality a Mental Disorder?” Today we take a look at some of the many famous or important historical figures that are known or believed to have been homosexual or something other than straight heterosexual. Some on the list you may be familiar with, while others may come as a surprise. Some on the list may only be the subject of conjecture, with no definitive historical…