In January 1935, gangster “Ma” Barker and her son Fred were killed by the FBI in a multi-hour shootout in the little town of Ocklawaha FL. Arizona “Arrie” Clark was born in the rural town of Ash Grove MO in October 1873, where she played the fiddle and sang in the local church choir. In … Continue reading Florida’s Barker Gang Shootout →

During the Second World War, the Japanese launched thousands of incendiary bombs against the United States that were carried by top secret balloons. In April 1942, the United States launched a daring raid on Japan using 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers under the command of Lt Col Jimmy Doolittle that had been specially-trained to take off from an aircraft … Continue reading The Japanese Fugo Balloon Bomb →

Sahelanthropus may be the earliest human ancestor that we know about, but it is mired in controversy. In the 1980s, French paleontologist Michel Brunet and his partner David Pilbeam were searching for hominin fossils in Cameroon, in deposits formed along an ancient shoreline when Lake Chad had been much larger than at present and was surrounded … Continue reading A Closer Look at: Sahelanthropus →

The submarine USS Dolphin was specially built as a test-bed for deep-diving designs. At the outbreak of the Second World War, a typical submarine or u-boat was capable of diving to a maximum depth of round 250 feet. By the time the war ended, advanced models like the American Tench class could reach depths of 450 … Continue reading Submarine USS Dolphin →

The first diary in a series which looks at significant species in the evolution of humans. Humans evolved from apelike ancestors. This idea was first put forth in 1859, when Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species and spelled out his idea of evolution through natural selection. At that time, most people accepted the religious … Continue reading Hominins →