A Brief History On August 10, 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War history observed the first battle between modern steel battleships in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. (A minor battle had taken place a few months prior that lasted only 20 minutes that trapped the Russians at Port Arthur.) Digging Deeper The Battle of the Yellow Sea took place between what is referred to as Pre-Dreadnought type battleships, which were being built during this time. Still, the all steel Pre-Dreadnoughts were heavily armed with a main battery of 12 inch guns that could shoot to an unprecedented range of 8…
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A Brief History On August 9, 1974, the Watergate presidential corruption scandal reached its climax when Richard M. Nixon became the first US president to resign, leaving Vice President Gerald R. Ford to become President after not having been elected as President or as Vice President. Digging Deeper The Watergate scandal started during the 1972 presidential campaign when operatives of the Nixon campaign broke into Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. and the five men were arrested on June 17, 1972. An investigation revealed the ties to the Nixon campaign, and the President sadly saw…
A Brief History On August 8, 1946, the Convair B-36 Peacemaker nuclear bomber made its first flight. Later referred to as the “Billion Dollar Boondoggle” by the program’s opponents, the B-36 competed with the US Navy’s super carrier program for limited tax dollars. Digging Deeper The first bomber in the world able to carry a nuclear payload right from the start, the massive bomber also had the widest wingspan (230 feet) of any bomber in history and the most (10) engines of any mass produced airplane. When the 6 mighty 3800 horsepower (apiece!) piston powered radial engines proved inadequate for…
A Brief History On August 7th, 1908, the Venus of Willendorf, one of the earliest depictions of female nudity, was discovered in Austria. In our previous article in this series, we had listed the top ten women famous for being naked, or who, at one point in their lives, had famously been naked. Of course there are many more prominent ladies who have disrobed in a public setting or who have been artistically represented in a state of undress. In this article, we examine eleven more such women. For the latest installment in this series, the “Top 10 Black Women Famous…
A Brief History The US brokered multi-country deal with Iran in July of 2015 to limit Iran’s nuclear research and delay Iranian development of a nuclear weapon has generated heated rhetoric by Israel condemning the pact, and strident criticism (mostly by Republicans) in the United States, with the US Senate poised to debate the merits of the agreement after the summer Congressional recess. Digging Deeper Question for students (and subscribers): Will the US and other countries honor the agreement if Congress fails to ratify the pact? What will happen if the hard fought for agreement falls apart? Please let us know…
