A Brief History On December 30, 1970, former heavyweight boxing champion Charles L. “Sonny” Liston lay dead on the bedroom floor of his Las Vegas home.  There he would stay until his wife found his dead body on January 5, 1971, almost a week later.  Officially, the Coroner said heart failure (your heart always fails when you die, just sayin’) and lung congestion.  The body was already somewhat decomposed, making definitive analysis of cause of death difficult, and rumors started almost immediately. Digging Deeper Liston had won the heavyweight championship by beating Floyd Patterson in 1962 at the age of…

A Brief History On December 29, 1939, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber made its first flight.  Although largely eclipsed by its fellow US heavy bomber, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, in myth, literature, and cultural references, the fact is that the B-24 was more numerous (most produced heavy bomber in history, most produced US military airplane in history) and could fly farther and faster than the more famous B-17.  The B-24 also could carry more bombs than a B-17, and each plane had a normal crew of 10 men. Digging Deeper Powered by 4 Pratt and Whitney turbo-supercharged radial…

A Brief History On December 28, 1795, construction began on Yonge Street in York, Upper Canada (modern day Toronto).  Yonge Street went on to fame as “The longest street in the world” according to The Guinness Book of World Records at 1178 miles long, running from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and on to the Minnesota-Ontario border at Rainy River.  Many other streets and roads across the world have achieved a measure of fame, and here we list 10 of those famous roadways.  Is the list a little US of A centric?  Yes, but that is to be expected with…

A Brief History On December 27, 2001, the People’s Republic of China, aka “Red” China, or just plain old “China,” was granted status as Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the United States, a label formerly known as “Most Favored Nation” status.  (Note: this date is somewhat confusing vis a vis some of the other dates referred to within because of differing sources.) Digging Deeper Due to the history of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1948) which became the World Trade Organization (WTO, 1994) the US did not have normal trade relations with Communist China due to Cold War…

A Brief History On December 26, 2004, former NFL defensive end and perennial All Pro Reggie White was rushed to the hospital where he died from cardiac arrhythmia.  He was only 43 years old. Digging Deeper White played college football at the University of Tennessee (All-American there) and  then 2 years in the USFL before being selected by the Eagles of the NFL.  White also played for the Packers and the Panthers before retiring after 15 years in the NFL.  After 17 years of professional football, an extremely long stretch for a defensive lineman, the celebrated player finally retired in…