Browsing: Society

A Brief History On August 16, 2008, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Illinois topped out and immediately became the tallest residence above ground level of any building in the world. Digging Deeper Towering, an appropriate adverb, 1,389 feet high, the skyscraper bearing the name of the future President of the United States cost about $847 million dollars in those-days dollars and would not open until January 30, 2009.  When completed with its spire in 2009, Trump International became the 7th tallest building in the world, and boasted 98 floors with 2.6 million square feet of floor space.…

A Brief History On August 15, 1914, a disgruntled 31 year old chef and servant at a Frank Lloyd Wright property known as Taliesin, in Wisconsin, went on a murderous rampage, killing seven people and burning a prestigious mansion, all without the use of a firearm… Digging Deeper Wright, the great American architect, hired Julian Carlton, a West Indian of African descent to work at the 600 acre estate.  Carlton grew increasingly paranoid over time and had run ins with other workers and contractors.  Carlton began staying up late armed with a butcher knife while staring out a window, causing…

A Brief History Because the Northeast blackout of August 14–16, 2003 came only two years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the first thought in the minds of many people was that a terrorist attack had occurred.  Of course, the US government quickly reassured the public that no such attack had taken place, even though they did not have an answer as to why the outage occurred. Digging Deeper The problem turned out to be a software bug in the portion of the electrical grid controlled by FirstEnergy, an Akron, Ohio based electrical utility.  Tree branches contacting power…

A Brief History On August 13, 2008, the military forces of Russia took over the Georgian city of Gori following a Russian war of aggression against its smaller neighbor and former Soviet Socialist Republic, during the Russo-Georgian War between August 1 and August 12 of 2008. Digging Deeper Russia had previously waged war on Georgia during another Soviet-Georgian War, this time an invasion during 1921.  We say “Soviet” because at that time Russia was the leading Republic in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  An expansionist invasion, the Soviets, or Russians if you will, sought to expand the territory of…

A Brief History On August 12, 1914, World War I was merely two weeks old and apparently the German and Belgian armies did not yet realize the futility of using mounted cavalry in an age of rapid firing repeating rifles and automatic machine guns. Digging Deeper The Battle of Halen was fought in Belgium between the invading Germans, numbering 4,000 cavalry and 200 infantry against 2400 Belgian cavalrymen backed up by 450 bicycle mounted infantry.  The Germans intended to speed their way to the Belgian capital of Brussels, led by their silver helmeted cavalry, but the Belgians were smart enough…