A Brief History On September 21, 1809, the British government was rocked by a duel fought between Secretary of War Lord Castlereagh and Foreign Secretary George Canning. Neither aggrieved party was killed, although Canning was shot in the thigh. Digging Deeper Epic cases of one-on-one combat are found throughout history, sometimes formal affairs and sometimes matters of chance. Some of those epic battles include: A London duel between women, in 1782, pitted Lady Almeria Braddock against Mrs. Elphinstone who claimed the former was 30 years older than Braddock stated. When pistol shots proved errant, a sword fight ensued, with Elphinstone…
Browsing: September
Read More
A Brief History On September 20, 1946, the French Riviera city of Cannes hosted the first of its iconic film festivals, seven years later than planned due to the interruption of World War II. Digging Deeper Called simply “The International Film Festival” before 2003, the festival features new films of all types, including short and documentary films from all over the world, holding the event in their convention center complex, the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. The most coveted award at Cannes is the Palme d’Or, awarded to the director of the winning feature film, and the other top…
A Brief History On September 19, 1982, Professor Scott Fahlman at Carnegie Mellon University, posted on the school’s bulletin board the first documented emoticons, the simple use of a colon, a dash and either a right or left facing curved bracket, indicating a “Happy Face” or a “Sad Face.” Digging Deeper Born in Medina, Ohio back in 1948, Fahlman is now a Professor Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon and has a long career in academia and in the private sector developing computer languages and software. His studies at MIT included Artificial Intelligence, pioneering work in the field. The idea of “emoticons”…
A Brief History On September 18, 1928, Spanish engineer and pilot Juan de la Cierva made a bit of obscure aviation history by becoming the first person to fly an autogyro successfully across the English Channel. Digging Deeper The humble autogyro is one of the oddest flying machines still being used, with an unpowered rotating rotor on top making it look deceptively like a helicopter and a pusher propeller located in the back to provide forward thrust. As the autogiro moves forward, the top rotor turns and supplies lift. Not surprisingly, de la Cierva was the inventor of this wild…
A Brief History On September 17, 2018, Syrian air defense units accidentally shot down an allied Russian IL-20, a big turbo-prop airplane used as an airliner for civilian use and for electronic reconnaissance by the military. Digging Deeper Syria had suffered a series of missile and fighter plane attacks by Israel, and when the Russian plane appeared on their radar scopes, they promptly shot down the big plane, killing all 15 on board. Instead of blaming Syria, Russia claimed the Israeli fighter planes had hidden behind the larger Russian plane, resulting in the tragedy. Sometimes military operations result in what…