A Brief History On September 22, 1995, a United States Air Force Boeing E-3B Sentry (AWACS, early warning spy in the sky type aircraft) flew into a flock of birds immediately after taking off from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, putting two of the four jet engines out of commission and causing a crash of the big plane, killing all 24 crewmen aboard. Developed from the Boeing 707 jetliner, the E-3 is a large airplane, but not so large it could not be downed by birds. Birds pose a danger to airplanes of all sizes and types and can…
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A Brief History On September 21, 1921, as many as 600 Germans learned of a new way to die when a silo in Oppau, Germany (part of modern-day Ludwigshafen, Germany), exploded with great force, injuring another 2,000 unfortunate workers. As you probably know, silos are tower like cylindrical structures usually used to store foodstuffs such as grain and corn. In this case, the silo in question was at a BASF plant and was used to store ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate. Digging Deeper You may also be aware that ammonium nitrate can be used as a mixture with fuel oil…
A Brief History On September 29, 2018, the 2018 Australian Football League finals series culminates with the 2018 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The AFL Finals are now down to four teams, all now competing to end the season lifting the trophy. While Collingwood battled to a ten-point win over Greater Western Sydney to book their place in the preliminary finals against Richmond, Melbourne will now face West Coast after an impressive win over Hawthorn to subject the Hawks to a second defeat in these finals. While Melbourne, Collingwood and West Coast will all be backing themselves to now go all the way, if…
A Brief History On September 20, 1187, the Islamic forces of the famous Kurdish Muslim leader Saladin laid siege to the capital of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, the holiest city in the Christian world and likewise in the Jewish world, and the third holiest city in Islam. By October 2, 1187, the siege came to an unusually quick conclusion when the Christians surrendered the city, never to regain the main object of the Crusades again. Saladin, an historical character praised for his humanity during a time of terrible excesses allowed generous terms for the Christians, including continued access to…
A Brief History On September 19, 2018, we once again celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day by, wait for this…. talking like a pirate! And do not think you can get away with failing to comply if you have nobody to “talk” to. You must also employ “pirate talk” in your written and electronic correspondence in order to meet the demands of NTLAPD. Why is this day important? Because talking like a pirate makes EVERYTHING FUNNIER! Especially jokes. Believe us or not, just try it. Your jokes will become immensely more amusing. Image if the newscasters talked like pirates. …