A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 13th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 13, 1842, the lone survivor of a British army in Afghanistan staggered into Jalalabad! On January 13, 1942, German test pilot Helmut Schenk successfully used an ejection seat in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter that was being developed for the German Luftwaffe, becoming the first pilot in history to eject from a plane in such a manner. On January 13, 1942, automobile…

A Brief History On January 13, 2022, the National Shooting Sports Foundation warned American firearms enthusiasts of an online scam targeting those looking to buy a new firearm.  Firearms are big business in the United States, with nearly 400 million guns owned by private citizens. Digging Deeper In a set of statistics that might just surprise you, the most popular single type of rifle in the US is the M-16/AR-15 family of weapons, with a total civilian ownership of between 20 million and 44 million, depending on the source.  When other military looking types of guns are included in the…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 12th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets of the AFL beat the Baltimore Colts of the NFL, a monumental upset that spurred a merger of the two major pro football leagues. On January 12, 1971, a group of conspirators dubbed by the press as “The Harrisburg Seven” were indicted on charges that they planned to blow up the steam heating tunnels to Federal…

A Brief History On January 12, 2005, the American space exploration agency known as NASA launched a mission called Deep Impact, a probe designed to violently impact the comet Tempel 1. Digging Deeper The goal of the Deep Impact project was to have an “impactor” strike the comet hard enough to dislodge material from the comet’s core for NASA scientists to study the material that makes up the core. On July 4, 2005, the impactor performed as designed and struck the comet a mighty blow, leaving a crater and dislodging core material.  Analysis of the dislodged material revealed a greater…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 11th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 11, 532, the seeds of a riot broke out in the capital of the Byzantine Empire (spawn of the Eastern Roman Empire), Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) over competing support of chariot racing teams. On January 11, 1569, the first documented example of a lottery in England took place. On January 11, 1935, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly…