Browsing: Society

A Brief History On October 5, 2018, as we do each October 5th, we celebrate World Teacher’s Day, alternately referred to as International Teachers Day, a day established in 1994 in celebration of the 1966 UNESCO/ILO setting of standards and status for teachers around the world.  Originally designed to further the improvement of teachers and teaching, the day is also celebrated to honor those people who have entered the profession of education. Digging Deeper With a goal of “appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world” and to provide an opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching,”…

A Brief History On October 2, 2006, a mentally disturbed 32 year old man went to an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (often described as the “Capital” of Amish Country) and proceeded to shoot 11 people, of which six died, including himself.  His apparent reason for the massacre?  The man was upset about having sexually molested a couple of young children (3 and 5 years old) 20 years prior to the shooting and was having thoughts that he might again start molesting children.  How exactly murdering innocent people that had nothing to do with the man’s past is unclear.…

A Brief History On October 1, 1946, Dr. Lancelot Ware and Roland Berrill established an organization in Caythorpe (Lincolnshire), England called Mensa International.  Intended as a non-profit social club for people among the highest 2% intellect in the human population, the founders expected a sort of aristocratic gathering of intelligentsia and were somewhat disappointed to find members meeting the membership criteria were mostly from humble origins.  Mensa International is the umbrella organization for national chapters found in 100 countries covering 51 national groups.  With about 134,000 members world-wide, the United States has the most members at 57,000, nearly triple runner-up…

A Brief History On September 30, 1915, the aviation world achieved a milestone of sorts when the first incident of a combat airplane being shot down by ground fire took place over Serbia.  A flight of 3 German Farman 2 man airplanes attacked the Military Technical Institute in the Serbian town of Kragujevac, dropping 45 small bombs on the Serbians.  Serbia had their own surprise waiting, with one of the world’s first anti-aircraft artillery units based on the ground defending that location.  A lucky shot from a Serbian cannon achieved a direct hit on one of the Farmans and shot…

A Brief History On September 29, 1990, the prototype jet fighter plane designated YF-22 Raptor, built by a powerful consortium of American airplane manufacturers, Lockheed, Boeing, and General Dynamics, made its maiden flight.  The F-22 stealth fighter program was designed to give our Air Force the finest and stealthiest fighter jet ever built, and of course, this complexity came at a price both in time and money.  At the time of its first flight, the YF-22 was still known as the “Lightning II” in memory of the World War II workhorse, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.  Its name was officially changed…