A Brief History On May 10, 2013, almost 12 years after the tragic terrorist events of September 11, 2001, a new One World Trade Center skyscraper under construction on the site of the former twin towers became once again, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Digging Deeper When Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked airliners and flew them into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City, sending the formerly tallest buildings in the world crashing to the ground, it was resolved nearly immediately that New York and the United States would rebuild…
Browsing: September 11
A Brief History On September 11, 2007, the Russian military tested the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in history, a weapon they called “The Father of All Bombs.” Actually designated “Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power,” or ATBIP, this 15,650 lb bomb has the explosive equivalence of around 44 tons of TNT. Digging Deeper Trumping the US “Massive Ordnance Air Blast” also known as “The Mother of All Bombs,” the FOAB was designed to take the place of smaller nuclear weapons, thus giving the Russian military an alternative to nuclear escalation. Consisting of a mixture of high explosives and powdered aluminum…
A Brief History On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William “Braveheart” Wallace defeated the English at Stirling Bridge. Amazingly, in the 1995 Mel Gibson movie, the battle of Stirling Bridge is depicted without a bridge! Hollywood movies regularly get history wrong, and here 10 such movies containing inaccuracies are listed. Digging Deeper 10. One million Years B.C., 1967. A remake of a 1940 film, this one stars Raquel Welch (the leading sex symbol of the time) as a member of remarkably modern-looking cave people who interact with dinosaurs, although these died out at least 60 million years before cavemen actually…
A Brief History On September 11, 1792, in the midst of the confusion of the French Revolution, the crown jewels, which included the fabulous Hope Diamond (Le Bleu de France), were stolen. Digging Deeper Mined in India in the 17th century, it came to the attention of a Frenchman by the name of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier who brought it back to France with him where he sold it to the Sun King, Louis XIV. Known first as the “Tavernier Blue” and then “Le Bijou du Roi” (the King’s jewel), the Hope Diamond was originally a blue, 112-carat diamond. For the next 124 years, it remained the property of the French royal family…
