A Brief History On January 23, 971, troops of the Chinese Song Dynasty managed to defeat the War Elephant Corps of the Southern Han Kingdom by the use of deadly crossbows.  In those days, elephants were the equivalent of today’s tanks and were a fearsome and seemingly unstoppable force on the battlefield.  There was nothing else like warrior pachyderms until tanks were introduced in World War I. Digging Deeper The crossbow, consisting of a horizontal bow crossed by a straight stock held by the bowman, had been invented in China perhaps as early as the 4th century B.C. or even earlier.  The string would be held back…

A Brief History On January 22, 1987, Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer called a news conference to read a statement in front of the gathered journalists and television cameras. Digging Deeper Dwyer had been convicted of accepting bribes in connection with giving a contract to an accounting firm hired to determine what refunds were owed to Pennsylvania government workers who had been overtaxed.  Throughout the entire process, Dwyer adamantly insisted upon his complete innocence and said he was being framed. Scheduled to be sentenced the next day by a judge who was known for stiff sentences and who had gloated over the guilty verdict, after Dwyer…

A Brief History On January 21, 1535, in the aftermath of “The Affair of the Placards,” French Protestants were burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.   Digging Deeper Starting in October of 1534, in the largest French cities, Protestant activists had been hanging up posters (placards) casting aspersions on the Catholic Church, the most gutsy move being the hanging of such a poster on King Franςois I’s bedroom door! This action apparently was the last straw for the frightened King who reaffirmed his Catholic faith as the religion of the land and…

A Brief History On January 20, 2014, one year ago today, a headline in Israel screamed out the news that “revenge porn” had been outlawed there.  Israel is now joined by Germany and at least 12 of the 50 United States of America in making revenge porn illegal.  France and other countries have broader privacy laws that could be interpreted as to include revenge porn. Digging Deeper So what is revenge porn?  It is the posting on the internet or any other publicly viewed forum of sexually explicit video or photos of a person or persons without their consent for the purpose of embarrassing…

A Brief History On January 19, 2014, one year ago today, Serena Williams, the reigning Number 1 female tennis player in the world, was upset in the fourth round of the Australian Open.  Along with her sister Venus, the Williams girls are the two most successful sibling tennis players ever.  History is full of brothers and sisters who have achieved greatness either in the same endeavor or in separate careers.  Here we list 10 such relatives from a variety of professions.   (History and Headlines Note: If Jeb Bush is elected President of the United States in 2016, he and his brother…