A Brief History On July 9, 1922, Johnny Weissmuller became the first man to break 60 seconds in the 100 meter freestyle swim, posting a world record time of 58.6 seconds.  Weissmuller rode his fame as a swimmer to become the Tarzan of the movies that we think of as the definitive Tarzan.  He was the greatest swimmer of his day, but girls routinely beat his best times today.  Here we list 10 of the greatest swimmers in the world and in history, some of which may not be what you are thinking of.  (Maybe next time we can list the worst swimmers!)…

A Brief History On July 9, 1958, an earthquake (7.9 to 8.3 on the Richter scale) struck Alaska, shaking off a 90 million (long) ton block of rock and ice into Lituya Bay in southern Alaska, resulting in the biggest wave ever recorded. Digging Deeper A megatsunami is created when an impact event occurs, such as a meteor striking the water, a landslide causing large amounts of material to fall into the water, or violent  volcanic activity.  This differs from normal tsunamis that originate from volcanic or tectonic activity on the sea floor, while megatsunamis events are created by impact…

A Brief History On July 9, 1903, the future leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, was exiled to Siberia for 3 years.  Financing the Communist movement in Russia by robbery, extortion and kidnappings, it is no surprise that Stalin (born Ioseb Jugashvili) was arrested several times and sent to Siberia, where he invariably escaped to return to fomenting revolution.  Vladimir Lenin likewise served 3 years of exile in Siberia for sedition.  (If punitive exile was supposed to erase revolutionary zeal, it appears not to have worked.) Digging Deeper Many future leaders of countries had found themselves in jail prior…

A Brief History In the past few days the United States has been rocked by two incidents of police shooting black men portrayed by the media as unnecessary shootings, and by the families and friends of those two men as cold blooded murders of innocent and hard working citizens that did nothing wrong.  This outrage was culminated (for now?) in a horrific attack on Dallas, Texas police who were maintaining order at a Black Lives Matter protest march last night, resulting in 11 police officers shot, 5 of which have already died, as well as a civilian wounded and at…

A Brief History On July 8, 1994, Kim Jong-Il assumed control of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-Sung.  For the people of North Korea, it was like going from the frying pan into the fire, from one goof to an even jerkier goof.  Despite what Americans may think of their presidents, other countries have given history a parade of crackpots that have led countries as dictators, whether through color of office, military coup, or royal lineage.  Here we list 10 of the biggest crackpot dictators in modern history.  (Hint: If your leader wears a military uniform and…