Browsing: Society

A Brief History As you may have read earlier on our site today, on February 14, 269, Saint Valentine reportedly experienced martyrdom.   He is but one of numerous saints whose lives and/or deaths can be considered unusual or “cracked”.  Traditionally, Christians commemorate the saints with what is generally known as a Calendar of Saints, marking the various feast days of saints.  We shall do similarly by providing our own Calendar of Saints featured on History and Headlines.  Whether you are a Christian or not, the stories of these individuals are nevertheless quite fascinating!  And yes, we are posting two Saint…

A Brief History On February 14th, many of our readers celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, a day associated with the martyrdom of the famous saint who was allegedly sentenced by a Roman emperor to be beaten with clubs and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christianity.  The execution possibly occurred on February 14, 269.  Valentine’s brutal demise is but one of numerous unusual deaths that are covered on History and Headlines.  This article will be unlike most every other article on our site, because it will be periodically updated to provide a comprehensive, albeit not exhaustive, list of history’s more unusual deaths.…

A Brief History On February 13, 1945, bombers from the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the American Air Force (USAAF) struck the eastern German city of Dresden, a city so beautiful it was once known as the “Florence on the Elbe,” incinerating tens of thousands of people. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Allies decisively beating the military forces of Nazi Germany on all fronts, including in the air. The British were particularly bitter about the destruction and death caused to British cities and civilians at the hands of Germany’s Luftwaffe (air force) early in the war and then again…

A Brief History On February 11, 1968, African-American garbage collection and sewer workers in Memphis, Tennessee went on strike, prompted by the horrible death of two garbage men crushed in the back of a garbage truck. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a racially divided city during an era of civil rights protests, riots, laws being changed and important court decisions.  The status quo was under assault! The two garbage men crushed in the garbage-compacting truck had taken shelter there from the rain when the compactor was activated, the operator not knowing the men were back there.  Incredibly, city rules allowed garbage…

A Brief History February 9, 1959 opened a new and scary chapter in the atomic age when the U.S.S.R. fielded the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) armed with a nuclear warhead, the R-7 Semyorka. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the United States (and allies) and the U.S.S.R. (and its allies) engaged in a scary Cold War from the end of World War II until 1991 when the U.S.S.R. finally disintegrated. The reason for the scariness can be summed up in one word: Nukes!  The prospect of total nuclear war was sobering, since mutual nuclear destruction could actually have ended…