A Brief History On February 21, 1947, a new era in photography began with the demonstration of the first “instant” photos! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find inventor Edwin Land showing off his new Polaroid Land Camera to an adoring public. Able to take a picture and develop it right there in your hand in a minute or so was a great advance over having to send exposed film to a photo lab or laboriously developing the film in your own darkroom. The privacy of taking photos that could be developed away from the prying eyes of lab techs was another buyers’…

A Brief History On February 20, 1987, one man’s hatred of modern technology led him to blow up a computer store! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the U.S. domestic terrorist known as the “Unabomber” striking for the twelfth time with a bomb disguised as a piece of wood! The bomb had been left in the parking lot of a computer store, and it severely injured the store’s owner.  The Unabomber would go on to strike four more times before he was finally caught. Professor Ted Kaczynski was a mathematical genius who had an IQ of 167 but also mental-emotional issues that perhaps…

A Brief History On February 19, 2013, management and guests at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles finally found out why their water had been getting worse and worse over the past month. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find guests complaining of low water pressure, slimy water, foul tasting water, and discolored water. It was no big surprise then when a dead body was found in the hotel’s water tank that was located on the roof of the hotel!  It was that of 21-year-old Elisa Lam.  She had been missing for about a month and presumably was in the water…

A Brief History On February 19, 1945, the most cracked battle in history of the United States Marine Corp (USMC) began with 30,000 Marines hitting a beach. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, and we mean digging deeper, we find the small Pacific Island of Iwo Jima fortified by about 22,000 Japanese soldiers who had spent the previous year creating an amazing array of tunnels and fortifications to prepare for the inevitable American assault. The battle that would follow would result in the only time in USMC history where Marine casualties would outnumber those of the enemy!  Although only 216 Japanese would survive the battle as…

A Brief History On February 18, 1954, Los Angeles, California hosted the establishment of a new religion, a controversial organization some refer to as a cult. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find The Church of Scientology founded in December of 1953 and its first church opened two months later in Los Angeles. Founder L. Ron Hubbard (more formally, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard) was a science-fiction writer and a self-help proponent of his system he called Dianetics.  Hubbard’s best known science-fiction story is Battlefield Earth which was also made into a movie by the same name in 2000, starring church member John…