A Brief History On October 21, 1983, the standard metric unit of length, the meter, was redefined as “the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.” The meter had been defined originally in 1791 by the French National Assembly as one 10 millionth the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. Digging Deeper This calculation means the circumference of the Earth via the polar route was exactly 40,000 kilometers. Other units of length were based on a decimal system of the meter, such as “millimeter” or 1/1000 of a meter or a “kilometer,” or 1000…
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A Brief History On October 18, 2019, a recent hike in subway fares served as the tipping point for disaffected citizens of Santiago, Chile, upset about a variety of social issues they had been protesting for the previous couple weeks turning into a full-scale set of riots and battles with authorities that claimed 36 lives, 11,564 injuries, and 28,000 people arrested. Digging Deeper We have previously discussed many riots over all sorts of seemingly minor causes, although few such social battles have matched the scale of the Chile Riots of 2019 to 2020. The massive protests caused Chileans to vote…
A Brief History On October 15, 1930, Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical Company died. A graduate of Cleveland’s Case School of Applied Science, the brilliant chemist and inventor turned his company into an international chemical powerhouse. Digging Deeper This iconic “American” scientist and businessman was born in Canada back in 1866. Many other famous people considered “American” were also born in Canada, including: Senator Ted Cruz, actors Jim Carrey, Pamela Anderson, Michael J. Fox, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Phil Hartman, Martin Short, Eliot Page, Seth Rogan, Howie Mandel, Christopher Plummer, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, Donald Sutherland and…
A Brief History On October 14, 2021, John Deere & Company was hit by a labor strike, with 10,000 American employees walking off the job. The UAW agreed to a new contract a month later. The John Deere strike pales in comparison to the biggest strikes by American workers. Digging Deeper The US does not even make the top 10 countries with the most days lost to strike in recent years, but certainly has seen some major labor strikes, including: The 1959 Steel Workers Strike with 500,000 workers off work for four months, The 1922 Railroad Shop Workers Strike with…
A Brief History On October 13, 1307, King Philip the Fair of France had hundreds of the Knights Templar arrested on trumped up charges of heresy, even though Pope Clement knew the charges were false! Digging Deeper King Phillip IV of France was known as “Phillip the Fair,” but the nickname was based on his good looks, not his equitableness . His critics called him “The Iron King” and perhaps less flattering epithets. Reigning from 1284 to 1305, Phillip engaged in wars with England and with Flanders as well. Driving the country and the throne into financial straits, Phillip found…