A Brief History On December 20, 2019, the United States Space Force became a branch of the US Military, a military that far exceeds any current competitor. Digging Deeper Nations have always struggled with military costs, but the US is so rich that it is the only country to boast a Space Force at all.  Spending nearly $900 billion per year, the US defense budget is 40% of the total world defense spending, more than the next 10 nations combined. The US has 1.3 million active members and another 800,000 reservists.  The Navy has 11 active aircraft carriers among its…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 19th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 19, 1907, the Darr Mine disaster in Van Meter, Pennsylvania (Westmoreland County) killed a total of 239 miners, both men and boys. On December 19, 1912, US President William H. Taft pardoned the skipper of the ill-fated cruise ship, the PS General Slocum, which had burned and sunk on June 15, 1904, costing over 1000 people their lives. On December…

A Brief History On December 19, 1974, former governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, was sworn in as Vice President of the US.  Gerald Ford had previously served as Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace in 1973, meaning that both the President and the Vice President in late 1974 had both not been elected to office! Digging Deeper The office of Vice President has long been derided as a trivial position, with John Adams, our first Vice President, calling it “the most insignificant Office,” and John Garner, FDR’s first VP calling the job, “almost wholly unimportant.” Critics of…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 18th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 18, 1898, French race car driver Gaston de Chassaloup-Laubat set the first recognized World Record for Land Speed at an unimpressive 63.13 kilometers per hour (39.25 mph). On December 18, 1912, Charles Dawson announced the discovery of the prehistoric missing link between ape and man! On December 18, 1932, the first NFL Championship game was played, between the Chicago Bears and…

A Brief History On December 18, 1932, the first NFL Championship game was played between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans.  Due to the snow and cold weather, the game was played indoors at the Chicago Stadium, on a reduced size “field.”  The Bears won, 9-0, and in 1934 the Spartans moved to Detroit and became the Lions. Digging Deeper Portsmouth now has a population of only 18,000, but in 1930 boasted over 42,000 people.  Some other small cities that hosted major league teams include: Troy, New York, Trojans, of MLB’s National League, played from 1879 to 1882…