Browsing: Society

A Brief History On September 29, 1982, the first of seven victims of intentionally-contaminated Tylenol died.  The deadly Tylenol capsules had had their normal acetaminophen switched and replaced with cyanide, meaning that anyone who took them would die a quick and unexpected death. Digging Deeper When the first victim died suddenly, his family and friends gathered to mourn his passing, and then the victim’s brother and widow took Tylenol from the same contaminated bottle and became fatalities numbers 2 and 3.  Another 4 bottles resulted in another 4 deaths, and the nationwide alarm was raised.  Only 3 more tampered-with bottles were found, but the…

A Brief History On September 28, 1066, a warrior leader known as “William the Bastard” invaded England from Normandy in what is now France.  You probably know him better as William the Conqueror, a much catchier name.  William the Bastard was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy.  His status as a bastard posed some difficulties for him as he succeeded his father; however, after he had consolidated his power and established control over his duchy, he also set his sites on England and set the invasion of the island country in motion.  That move was the best thing he…

A Brief History On September 24, 2009, the first use of a long range acoustic device (LRAD) for crowd control in the United States took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the G-20 summit that was being held there.  The first use had been in Georgia (the country, not the state) in 2007.  Digging Deeper Although it is also known as a sound cannon, its manufacturer, the LRAD Corporation, does not call it a weapon but rather a “directed sound communications system.”  It is a device that looks like a loudspeaker, however instead of projecting beautiful music, it generates deterring sounds that are pain inducing, and it can send those sounds…

A Brief History On September 22, 1692, eight people convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials were executed by hanging.  The trials took place between February 1692 and May 1693 and resulted in the execution of twenty people, most of them women.  Contrary to the common belief that witches were typically burned, most of those condemned in Salem and the surrounding areas died by hanging. Digging Deeper As in our previous article on 10 Things History Got Wrong about Women, this article explores 10 more common misconceptions involving women in history.  These misconceptions may be due to legend, malicious gossip,…

A Brief History On September 21, 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin triggered the Russian Constitutional Crisis of 1993 by throwing out the constitution and dissolving Parliament.  The resulting chaos included the worst riots and fighting seen in Moscow since the 1917 revolution. Digging Deeper Relations between Yeltsin and Parliament had been deteriorating for some time when Yeltsin decided to dissolve Parliament, although he did not have the power to do so according to the constitution.  In turn, Parliament declared Yeltsin’s decision null and void, impeached him and barricaded themselves within the parliament building known as the White House.  Both sides made…