A Brief History Because the Northeast blackout of August 14–16, 2003 came only two years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the first thought in the minds of many people was that a terrorist attack had occurred.  Of course, the US government quickly reassured the public that no such attack had taken place, even though they did not have an answer as to why the outage occurred. Digging Deeper The problem turned out to be a software bug in the portion of the electrical grid controlled by FirstEnergy, an Akron, Ohio based electrical utility.  Tree branches contacting power…

A Brief History On August 13, 2008, the military forces of Russia took over the Georgian city of Gori following a Russian war of aggression against its smaller neighbor and former Soviet Socialist Republic, during the Russo-Georgian War between August 1 and August 12 of 2008. Digging Deeper Russia had previously waged war on Georgia during another Soviet-Georgian War, this time an invasion during 1921.  We say “Soviet” because at that time Russia was the leading Republic in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  An expansionist invasion, the Soviets, or Russians if you will, sought to expand the territory of…

A Brief History On August 12, 1914, World War I was merely two weeks old and apparently the German and Belgian armies did not yet realize the futility of using mounted cavalry in an age of rapid firing repeating rifles and automatic machine guns. Digging Deeper The Battle of Halen was fought in Belgium between the invading Germans, numbering 4,000 cavalry and 200 infantry against 2400 Belgian cavalrymen backed up by 450 bicycle mounted infantry.  The Germans intended to speed their way to the Belgian capital of Brussels, led by their silver helmeted cavalry, but the Belgians were smart enough…

A Brief History On August 10th or 11th, 991, a Viking invasion of England resulted in The Battle of Maldon, fought in Essex near the River Blackwater. Digging Deeper English King Aethelred, called Aethelred the Unready, was represented in the battle by Earl Byrhtnoth leading the English fighters against between 2000 and 4000 Vikings led by a man named Olaf, perhaps Olaf Tryggvason. English reaction to incursions of Vikings varied at the time from submitting to the invaders and paying tribute to military resistance.  In this case, fighting the Vikings did not go well for the English and victory was…

A Brief History On August 10, 1933, baseball legendary slugger Rocco Domenico “Rocky” Colavito Jr was born in New York.  An all-time fan favorite in Cleveland and popular in the other cities he played in, Colavito seems like a perfect match to be in the Hall of Fame, so why is he not enshrined? Digging Deeper Here are some of his credentials: 11 consecutive 20 home run seasons (5th AL player to do so), 3 times 40 home run seasons, led the league in RBI’s, home runs, and slugging once each, retired as 3rd highest AL homer hitting outfielder (371…