A Brief History On July 25, 2010, the web media non-profit organization, WikiLeaks, released a trove of American secret documents regarding the War in Afghanistan, commonly referred to as “The Afghan War Diary” or “Afghan War documents leak.” Digging Deeper Although WikiLeaks somehow got their hands on 91,000 classified documents, only 71,000 have been released, allegedly out of consideration for the person or persons that leaked the documents to WikiLeaks who claimed to want to limit damage to US security. While people that leak classified information are liable for severe criminal penalties, there seems to be no shortage of leakers…

A Brief History On July 23, 1982, the set for the film, Twilight Zone: The Movie, became a real-life killing ground when actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed when a helicopter crashed into the actors.  Despite revised safety rules after the incident, movies and TV remain a dangerous enterprise. Digging Deeper A recent example in 2021 is the set of Rust, a Western being made by Alec Baldwin, who accidently shot and killed a cinematographer with a real bullet when only blanks were supposed to be on the set. The Wrap quotes the AP as saying 43…

A Brief History On July 20, 1906, Finland ratified a law guaranteeing equal rights to women to vote in political elections, the first European country to do so. Digging Deeper During the 19th Century, women in many countries mounted campaigns to gain the right to vote, a movement called “Women’s Suffrage.”  This movement gained its first success in New Zealand, which became the first self-governing colony to grant universal women’s suffrage in 1893, although women could not run for office. Other colonies, territories, and states had some sort of women’s suffrage, although usually not universal, with restrictions based on race,…

A Brief History On July 19, 1942, the era of good hunting by German U-boats known as the “Second Happy Time” ended, as American and British anti-submarine measures became effective, forcing the German subs away from American coasts and into the Central Atlantic. Digging Deeper The Battle of the Atlantic, a war of German submarines against ships carrying vital cargo to Britain, was perhaps the most critical of the campaigns to determine which side would win World War II.  Italian ships and aircraft were also involved, as were German surface vessels and aircraft, though the sub war was paramount. The…

A Brief History On July 18, 1992, internet history was made when a photograph of the parody doo wop singing group, Les Horribles Cernettes, was posted on the World Wide Web, definitely the first WWW photo of a musical group and possibly the first photograph ever posted to the Web. Digging Deeper Calling themselves “the one and only High Energy Rock Band,” this female group was made up of employees of CERN, the European physics and nuclear research concern behind the Large Hadron Collider.  The group was active from 1990 to 2012, and then resurrected for 2017 and 2020. As…