A Brief History On November 28, 1895, the first American auto race took place, the Chicago Times-Herald Race, a 54 mile event with a grand prize of $5,000.  (If that prize sounds lame, remember that this is worth over $140,000 in today’s money.) Digging Deeper As the automobile was a new-fangled invention at the time, a proper name for the motorized conveyance had not yet been agreed upon and the Times-Herald called their event a “Moto-cycle Race.”  Originally meant to be a race from Chicago to Milwaukee, the roads of the day were not smooth enough for those primitive cars…

A Brief History On November 27, 1810, a Londoner named Theodore Hooke perpetrated one of the most effective hoaxes in history, throwing a large part of the city into disarray and confusion, all because of a bet and without spending much money at all. Digging Deeper Apparently Hooke made a bet with his friend Sam Beazley that Hooke could transform any old house in London into the most talked about in the city within a week.  Instead of landing a UFO on a house, or detonating a nuclear weapon, either of which surely would have won the bet but would…

A Brief History On this holiday when thoughts of children are wandering to their Christmas and Hanukkah lists, for those among us that are hunters, law enforcement officers, military people, recreational or competitive shooters, interested in self defense and the preservation of liberty, or just into the history and technology of firearms, we present to you our “Bucket List” of guns we would like to own before we are too old to enjoy them. (Although some may be out of production, they are still out there for sale.)  Obviously, such a list is pure opinion and is not relevant to…

A Brief History On November 25, 1940, the feverish pace of developing improved warplanes during World War II culminated in the first flight of two of the most iconic twin engine medium bombers of the war, the British de Havilland Mosquito and the American Martin B-26 Marauder. Digging Deeper These 2 medium bombers had quite different roles in combat, with the B-26 operating as a conventional medium bomber, best employed from medium altitude.  The B-26 had impressive self defense armament of 12 X .50 caliber machine guns and could carry up to 4000 lbs of bombs.  The Mosquito was often…

A Brief History On November 24, 1835, the Texas Provincial Government (Permanent Council) authorized the creation of a mounted para-military police force to enforce laws throughout The Republic of Texas and protect its borders. Digging Deeper Stephen Austin had first formed the unit under the command of Captain Morris as an unofficial call for volunteers in 1823, while Texas was still the property of Mexico.  Texas became an independent republic in 1836, and was admitted as a state in the United States in 1845.  Although Mexico had welcomed American settlers to Texas, the Americans insisted on violating Mexican law by…