Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On February 20, 1987, one man’s hatred of modern technology led him to blow up a computer store! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the U.S. domestic terrorist known as the “Unabomber” striking for the twelfth time with a bomb disguised as a piece of wood! The bomb had been left in the parking lot of a computer store, and it severely injured the store’s owner.  The Unabomber would go on to strike four more times before he was finally caught. Professor Ted Kaczynski was a mathematical genius who had an IQ of 167 but also mental-emotional issues that perhaps…

A Brief History On February 19, 2013, management and guests at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles finally found out why their water had been getting worse and worse over the past month. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find guests complaining of low water pressure, slimy water, foul tasting water, and discolored water. It was no big surprise then when a dead body was found in the hotel’s water tank that was located on the roof of the hotel!  It was that of 21-year-old Elisa Lam.  She had been missing for about a month and presumably was in the water…

A Brief History On December 31, 192 AD, Roman Emperor Commodus was assassinated by his own inner circle, setting the stage for The Year of the Five Emperors in 193. Digging Deeper A typical Roman emperor egomaniac, Commodus saw himself as a demi-god and often had himself depicted as Hercules.  Robust physically, he often participated in gladiatorial events, and his character was played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2000 movie Gladiator (with Russell Crowe in the title role), a Best Picture Oscar winner. On December 22, 2015, we featured an article about the hazards of serving as Emperor of Rome…

A Brief History On December 30, 1999, 56 year old former Beatle George Harrison was attacked in his own home by a stranger, later identified as Michael Abram, age 36.  Harrison was stabbed more than 40 times in the head and body, and suffered a punctured lung.  All that kept Harrison from being killed was his heroic wife, Olivia, who disabled Abram by beating him with a poker and a lamp. Digging Deeper Harrison had already been diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997, and later died of lung and brain cancer in 2001, something he attributed to his long habit…

A Brief History On December 25, 1868, much maligned and embattled President of the United States Andrew Johnson issued a blanket pardon for all Confederate veterans of the US Civil War. Digging Deeper A Southerner himself, Johnson had been born in North Carolina and lived in Tennessee where he served as Governor and US Senator before becoming Abraham Lincoln’s vice-president in the 1864 election.  When Lincoln was killed and Johnson assumed the presidency in 1865, the Civil War was now over and Johnson was eager to get the South back into normal operation, allowing the former Confederate States to hold…