A Brief History On August 21, 1986, a volcano in Cameroon hidden beneath Lake Nyos erupted and released a mass quantity of carbon dioxide gas, suffocating and killing nearly 1800 and 3500 of their farm animals.  (When we say “mass quantity,” we mean 100,000 to 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide, or maybe as much as well over a million tons!) Although unusual, this horrible disaster is not unique, as 2 other lakes in Africa have a similar situation where volcanic carbon dioxide exists in enormous quantities, potentially causing a similar disaster.  Those other 2 lakes are Lake Kivu on the…

A Brief History On August 19, 1940, the B-25 Mitchell was flown for the first time.  Although its service life did not extend as long as many other airplanes, this medium bomber was adapted for a huge variety of uses and configurations, making it one of the most versatile aircraft ever.  We started a previous article about versatile aircraft with the first flight of the B-25, and today we take a look at another group of incredibly versatile aircraft that have made their mark in aviation history.  As always, we invite you to nominate those aircraft you believe belong on…

A Brief History On August 17, 2017, the great Catalonian city of Barcelona, Spain was the scene of a mass murder perpetrated by Islamic extremist terrorists, and firearms were not the primary weapon that killed 16 innocent victims.  The primary weapon used in the terror attacks was the motor vehicle as driven into pedestrians, a deadly weapon in the wrong hands. Digging Deeper This outrage was committed by a terrorist group of 8 Islamic extremists and conducted in Barcelona, a major city of 1.6 million people, with a metropolitan area population of over 5 million.  (Note: The author has been…

A Brief History This article presents a video timeline for students of American History through the Civil War (History 212) at Ashland University.  You can click on any of the dates below to be taken to a video covering that date’s event to learn more.  Please feel welcome to post a comment using YouTube’s commenting system on any video you click on to let us know your thoughts about that historic event.  To my students, commenting on these videos is entirely optional and doing so is not worth any points toward your course grade. Digging Deeper I. Course Introduction On…

A Brief History This article presents a timeline of American history through the Civil War for History 212 at Ashland University.  You can click on any of the dates below to be taken to an article covering that date’s event to learn more.  Please feel welcome to post a comment using the Disqus commenting system on any article you click on to let us know your thoughts about that historic event.  To my students, commenting on these articles is entirely optional and doing so is not worth any points toward your course grade. Digging Deeper I. Course Introduction II. The…