A Brief History On February 6, 2023, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit Turkey in the area of Gaziantep in the South-Central part of the country.  Major aftershocks ensued, and then, 9 hours later, a second quake measuring 7.5 struck the already devastated region at Kahramanmaraş. Update: As of February 13, 2023, the death count has sadly reached over 36,000 people.  Some remarkable stories of survival have also emerged, such as a lady well into her 80s that was pulled alive from the rubble after more than 5 days being buried. Update #2:  As of February 15,…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 6th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 6, 60 AD, in the Roman city of Pompeii, an unknown graffiti artist noted that the day was “dies Solis” (Sunday), the first known instance of being able to attach a date to a day of the week. On February 6, 1820, The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America (better known as the American Colonization…

A Brief History On February 6, 1959, an engineer at Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby, filed for the first patent for the “integrated circuit,” a small piece of silicon with many circuits called MOSFETs integrated on it, a device we know as the “microchip.” Digging Deeper Incredibly smaller, faster, and cheaper than the circuits that came before the microchip, these little devices have become the backbone of the electronics industry and are found in all sorts of computers, mobile phones, automobiles, industrial machines, and home appliances. The Metal-Oxide-Silicon that makes up the base material for the microchip is a semi-conductor and…

A Brief History This article, published on February 5, 2023, presents a compilation of our three recent videos that in some way mention the 2023 China balloon incident. Digging Deeper Our first video asks some questions about some top news stories of the first week of February 2023. Our second video answers the question posed at the end of the first video. Finally, our third video explores a bit more about the US political controversy concerning the balloon incident. Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What are your thoughts about the 2023 China balloon incident? If you liked this…

A Brief History On February 5, 2023, America is abuzz with partisan bickering over the way President Biden handled the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down on February 4th. Digging Deeper Despite Republican criticism that President Biden “waited” to decide to take action, the White House reports that Biden had ordered the balloon to be shot down back on February 1st, and that the military waited until the spy in the sky was over water for the safety of those on the ground.  The balloon is reportedly the size of “three buses,” and presumably would weigh hundreds or even thousands…