Facts & History
“Animal House” released in theaters
On July 28, 1978, National Lampoon’s Animal House, a movie spoof about 1960s college fraternities starring John Belushi, opens in U.S. theaters. Produced with an estimated budget of $3 million, Animal House became a huge, multi-million-dollar box-office hit, spawned a slew of cinematic imitations and became part of pop-culture history with such memorable lines as “Fat, drunk and stupid…
Read MorePresident Johnson announces more troops to Vietnam
President Lyndon B. Johnson announces that he has ordered an increase in U.S. military forces in Vietnam, from the present 75,000 to 125,000. Johnson also said that he would order additional increases if necessary. He pointed out that to fill the increase in military manpower needs, the monthly draft calls would be raised from 17,000 to 35,000. At…
Read MoreBonus Marchers evicted by U.S. Army
During the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army under General Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation’s capital. Two months before, the so-called “Bonus Expeditionary Force,” a group of some 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans’ bonus certificates, had arrived in Washington, D.C. Most of the marchers were unemployed veterans in…
Read MoreOne of the worst earthquakes in modern history destroys Chinese city
At 3:42 a.m., an earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with a population of about one million people. As almost everyone was asleep in their beds, instead of outside in the relative safety of the streets, the quake was especially costly in terms of…
Read MoreHillary Clinton accepts Democratic nomination for president, becoming first woman to lead a major U.S. political party
95 years after women were first granted the right to vote, on July 28, 2016, former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton makes history by accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, becoming the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia formally nominated Clinton two days…
Read More14th Amendment adopted
July 28, 1868: Following its ratification by the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states, the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including formerly enslaved people—is officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Secretary of State William Seward issues a proclamation certifying the amendment. Two years after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 divided the South into…
Read MoreScientists successfully isolate insulin
At the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolate insulin—a hormone they believe could prevent diabetes—for the first time. Within a year, the first human sufferers of diabetes were receiving insulin treatments, and countless lives were saved from what was previously regarded as a fatal disease. Diabetes has been recognized…
Read MoreFirst commercial jet makes test flight
On July 27, 1949, the world’s first jet-propelled airliner, the British De Havilland Comet, makes its maiden test-flight in England. The jet engine would ultimately revolutionize the airline industry, shrinking air travel time in half by enabling planes to climb faster and fly higher. The Comet was the creation of English aircraft designer and aviation…
Read MoreHouse begins impeachment of Nixon
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommends that America’s 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from office. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate. The Watergate scandal first came to light following a break-in on June 17, 1972, at…
Read MorePresident Truman ends discrimination in the military
President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981—ending discrimination in the military—on July 26, 1948. Truman’s order ended a long-standing practice of segregating Black soldiers and relegating them to more menial jobs. African Americans had been serving in the United States military since the Revolutionary War, but were deployed in their largest numbers during World War II. By December 31,…
Read MoreOperation Gomorrah is launched
On July 24, 1943, British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.” Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. The evening of July 24 saw…
Read MoreHundreds drown in Eastland disaster
On July 24, 1915, the steamer Eastland overturns in the Chicago River, drowning between 800 and 850 of its passengers who were heading to a picnic. The disaster was caused by serious problems with the boat’s design, which were known but never remedied. The Eastland was owned by the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company and made money ferrying people from…
Read More“Saving Private Ryan” opens in theaters
On July 24, 1998, the director Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic, Saving Private Ryan, is released in theaters across the United States. The film, which starred Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, was praised for its authentic portrayal of war and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards. It took home five Oscars, for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best…
Read MoreAmerican archeologist encounters Machu Picchu ruins
On July 24, 1911, American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at the ruins of Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world’s top tourist destinations. Tucked away in the rocky countryside northwest of Cuzco, Machu Picchu is believed to have been a summer retreat for Inca leaders, whose civilization…
Read MoreFormer president Ulysses S. Grant dies
On July 23, 1885, just after completing his memoirs, Civil War hero and former president Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer. The son of a tanner, Grant showed little enthusiasm for joining his father’s business, so the elder Grant enrolled his son at West Point in 1839. Though Grant later admitted in his memoirs that he had no…
Read MoreRosetta Stone found
Although there is some debate about the exact date, on what was likely July 19, 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles east of Alexandria. The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in three different scripts:…
Read MoreMassachusetts begins ill-fated Penobscot Expedition
On July 19, 1779, Massachusetts, without consulting either Continental political or military authorities, launches a 4,000-man naval expedition commanded by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, Adjutant General Peleg Wadsworth, Brigadier General Solomon Lovell and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere. The expedition consisted of 19 warships, 24 transport ships and more than 1,000 militiamen. Their objective was to capture a…
Read MoreDoc Holliday kills for the first time
Doc Holliday commits his first murder, killing a man for shooting up his New Mexico saloon. Despite his formidable reputation as a deadly gunslinger, Doc Holliday only engaged in eight shootouts during his life, and it has been verified that he killed two men. Still, the smartly dressed ex-dentist had a remarkably fearless attitude toward…
Read MoreLady Jane Grey deposed as Queen of England
After only nine days as the monarch of England, Lady Jane Grey is deposed in favor of her cousin Mary. The 15-year-old Lady Jane, beautiful and intelligent, had only reluctantly agreed to be put on the throne. The decision would result in her execution. Lady Jane Grey was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII and…
Read MoreSeneca Falls Convention begins
At the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, a woman’s rights convention—the first ever held in the United States—convenes with almost 200 women in attendance. The convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two abolitionists who met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. As women, Mott and Stanton were barred from the…
Read MoreEric Garner dies in NYPD chokehold
On July 17, 2014, two New York Police Department officers confront Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American father of six, for illegally selling cigarettes. Garner dies after losing consciousness as a police officer locks him in an illegal chokehold, and within hours, a video of the incident begins to spark outrage across the country. Garner…
Read MoreMalaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down over the Ukraine-Russia border
On July 17, halfway through a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia, a passenger plane was shot down over the war-torn Ukraine-Russia Border. All 298 people on board, most of whom were citizens of the Netherlands, died in the explosion. It was the second Malaysian Air flight to disappear in 2014, after flight 370 crashed over the Indian…
Read MoreTWA Flight 800 explodes over Long Island (1996)
Shortly after takeoff from New York’s Kennedy International Airport, a TWA Boeing 747 jetliner bound for Paris explodes over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 people aboard. Flight 800 had just received clearance to initiate a climb to cruise altitude when it exploded without warning. Because the plane was loaded with fuel for the long…
Read MoreDouglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan crosses the Atlantic
Douglas Corrigan, the last of the early glory-seeking fliers, takes off from Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn, New York, on a flight that would finally win him a place in aviation history. Eleven years earlier, American Charles A. Lindbergh had become an international celebrity with his solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Corrigan was among the…
Read MoreDisneyland opens
Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 18 million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion. Walt Disney,…
Read MoreWorld’s first parking meter installed
The world’s first parking meter, known as Park-O-Meter No. 1, is installed on the southeast corner of what was then First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 16, 1935. The parking meter was the brainchild of a man named Carl C. Magee, who moved to Oklahoma City from New Mexico in 1927. Magee…
Read MoreApollo 11 departs Earth
At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, is launched on a historic journey to the surface of the moon. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, separated from the command…
Read MoreJFK Jr. killed in plane crash
On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., was born on November 25, 1960, just a few weeks after his father and namesake…
Read MoreAmazon opens for business
On July 16, 1995, Amazon officially opens for business as an online bookseller. Within a month, the fledgling retailer had shipped books to all 50 U.S. states and to 45 countries. Founder Jeff Bezos’s motto was “get big fast,” and Seattle-based Amazon eventually morphed into an e-commerce colossus, selling everything from groceries to furniture to live…
Read MoreExistence of Watergate tapes is revealed in live testimony
On July 16 ,1973—a little more than a year after the break-in at the Watergate Hotel led to a widening scandal—explosive news is revealed during a live broadcast of the Watergate hearings in the Senate: A secret taping system inside the White House had recorded all of President Richard Nixon’s telephone calls and in-person conversations. Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant…
Read MoreCan technology clean up the shrimp farming business?
For generations the family of Debabrata Khuntia made a living by fishing in the Bay of Bengal and the rivers and canals of Purba Medinipur in West Bengal. He remembers being able to catch 10 tonnes of fish a year, some of which he would keep and the rest he would sell in the market.…
Read MoreCheapest States to Live in
Jobs are plentiful today, but the cost of living is high. If you’re contemplating relocating to a more affordable part of the country, there are several factors you should consider. The average costs of food, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services, are the six elements that the Council for Community and…
Read MoreSalt in water sources becoming worrisome in D.C. region, experts warn
The Washington region is growing — a metropolis of nearly 6 million people where area officials are pressing to build another 320,000 homes by the end of this decade. And with that growth comes an increasing, largely unregulated problem: Salt. Lots of it. Paved streets, sidewalks and parking lots need de-icing in winter, with the…
Read MoreTHE INVENTION OF THE VACUUM CLEANER
In 1901, if you were lucky, you might have witnessed a startling scene on the streets of London—one which would quickly revolutionise how most of us clean our homes. Science Museum Group Collection Hubert Cecil Booth (1871–1955). Science Museum Group Collection Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth was rolling his new vacuum cleaner onto the wealthier streets of…
Read MoreTreasure trove of gold and jewels recovered from a 366-year-old shipwreck in the Bahamas
Gold coins, gemstones and jewels are just a few of the priceless treasures found at a shipwreck site in the Bahamas. (Image credit: ©Brendan Chavez/Allen Exploration) A treasure trove of gold coins, gemstones and jewels was recently uncovered at a 366-year-old Spanish shipwreck. In an effort to conserve what’s left of the ship and its prized…
Read MoreHow to Prepare for a Hurricane
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 3. Homeowners like Jason Huffman (seen here) did all they could beforehand to prepare their homes to withstand the brunt of the storm. STEPHEN MORTON/GETTY IMAGES There’s not much that can rattle a New Yorker. Most have seen enough to know they’ve…
Read MoreWhy Jack Ruby Killed JFK’s Assassin
If not for the events of Nov. 22, 1963, Jack Ruby may have lived out the rest of his life as he did most of the first 50-plus years of it: as a nobody, an outsider looking in, a small-time crook desperately seeking to belong. As it happened, though that day in Dallas changed a lot…
Read More1.2 billion-year-old groundwater is some of the oldest on Earth
Researchers discovered 1.2 billion-year-old groundwater inside a mine in South Africa. (Image credit: Dr. Oliver Warr/University of Toronto) Groundwater that was recently discovered deep underground in a mine in South Africa is estimated to be 1.2 billion years old. Researchers suspect that the groundwater is some of the oldest on the planet, and its chemical interactions…
Read MoreThere Are 6 ‘Strongest Materials’ On Earth That Are Harder Than Diamonds
Carbon is one of the most fascinating elements in all of nature, with chemical and physical properties unlike any other element. With just six protons in its nucleus, it’s the lightest abundant element capable of forming a slew of complex bonds. All known forms of life are carbon-based, as its atomic properties enable it to…
Read MoreThese 6 U.S. States Once Declared Themselves Independent Nations
This map shows the short-lived Republic of West Florida. Taken from the map ‘The British Colonies in North America, 1763-1775.’ RATTYRATTERY/WIKIPEDIA/CREATIVE COMMONS CC0 1.0 The good old U.S. of A. wasn’t always made up of the 50 states that we know today. It took a lot of battles, bloodshed and negotiations to get to this point. Some states…
Read MoreWho Invented The Shower?
For many of us, taking a daily shower is part of our everyday routine. Approximately half (49%) of people living in the UK have a shower or bath at least once a day and one in five (20%) have a shower four to six times a week*. That’s a lot of time spent in the…
Read MoreHOW BRIDGES ARE BUILT OVER WATER?
lmost everyone travel everyday and you must pass any bridge along your way. Bridges are the connecting link between two lands separated with water body. Do you ever think how the pillars are build in the water bodies to construct the bridge? Welcome to Engineering Master. In this article, we will tell the answer… Bridges…
Read More10 Little-known Facts About the Founding Fathers
This painting shows Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin presenting the first draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress. Less than a week later, on July 4, 1776, the colonial delegates signed the document. If asked to come up with a fact or two about the…
Read MoreWillis Carrier The Man who Invented Air Conditioning!
Who hasn’t sung the praises of air conditioning on a sweltering summer day? But who do you have to thank for this refreshing convenience? The short answer to that question is Willis Carrier, an American engineer credited with inventing the first modern air conditioner. However, the idea of using evaporated water — or other liquids…
Read MoreAlan Turing: Computer Genius Compared to Einstein
he 20th century had no shortage of brilliant minds, but perhaps none had as significant an impact on our day-to-day lives as Alan Turing, considered by many as the founding father of modern computer science. Turing was a brilliant mathematician, before he’d even earned a Master’s Degree he wrote probably the second-most-important academic paper of…
Read MoreThe Net Worth Of Andrew Carnegie $310 Billion! His Story
Have you ever wondered what the net worth of Andrew Carnegie was? Andrew Carnegie has an incredible “rags to riches” story that led him to a net worth today of $310 billion. This is more than Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos combined. In this post, we show you exactly how Carnegie built his net…
Read MoreWhat is an executive order, and why don’t presidents use them all the time?
Though the Constitution plainly articulates familiar presidential tools like vetoes and appointments, the real executive power comes from reading between the lines. Presidents have long interpreted the Constitution’s Article 2 clauses – like “the executive power shall be vested in a President” and “he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” – to give them…
Read MoreCan I still buy a car in lockdown?
With a new nationwide lockdown coming into force, new restrictions are being introduced to our lives as we’re told to ‘stay at home’. Car dealerships are included in those ordered to close – they’re classed as ‘non-essential retail’ – limiting your options if you’re looking to buy a car. So if you need one,…
Read MoreWhy DOES the UK drive on the left?
Today, about two thirds of the world drive on the right and a third on the left, but how did it come to pass? And why is the UK in the minority? VCARS found out… Historical precedent In 1998, archaeologists found a track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The grooves in the…
Read MoreWhat is the bloop?
The source of a mysterious rumble recorded in the ocean in 1997 is now known to have originated from an icequake. “The Bloop” is the given name of a mysterious underwater sound recorded in the 90s. Years later, NOAA scientists discovered that this sound emanated from an iceberg cracking and breaking away from an Antarctic glacier. In 1997,…
Read MoreWhat are the Totten Beacons?
These 19th-century aids to navigation are protected historical resources. In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de León sailed into the strong currents of the Florida Straits. Little did he know that within a few years, these uncharted waters, which feed into the Gulf Stream, would become a major international shipping route to and from Europe and the New World. As…
Read MoreWhy is the ocean salty?
Ocean salt primarily comes from rocks on land and openings in the seafloor. A brine seep located at the base of East Flower Garden Bank at a depth of about 240 feet. The seep lies within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. It is formed from super-saline water flowing from under the seafloor. The image was taken by the…
Read MoreIs glacier ice actually rock?
In places where it gets cold and snowy in winter, many meters of snow can fall. In some the following winter, adding a new layer to what was already there. Over hundreds to thousands of years, this process creates big sheets of ice called glaciers. Glaciers are found in the Arctic and Antarctic. They’re…
Read MoreWhat’s the Most Expensive Thing in the World?
Would you pay $10,000 for a feather? How about $1 million for a parking spot? Do you think $1.6 million is a fair price for a new bed? These are some of the most expensive items in the world. However, none of them come close to the price of the most expensive thing in…
Read MoreOcean waters cover about 70 percent of the planet. On average, that water is 3,800 meters (almost 2.4 miles) deep. But in the deepest spots, seawater fills a mind-boggling 11,000 meters (6.8 miles) of space above the seafloor. As anyone who has tried diving to the bottom of a deep pool knows, all…
Read MoreWhat is a Nudibranch?
Has anyone ever told you that you are what you eat? Did you picture yourself as a pancake after breakfast or a big slice of pizza at dinnertime? What you eat affects your body, but you don’t really turn into the food you eat! Unless, of course, you’re a special animal called a nudibranch (NEW-dee-bronk). Nudibranchs are…
Read MoreHow Do We Know What Dinosaurs Looked Like?
Movies like Jurassic World invite people to imagine a world where dinosaurs still roam the Earth. What if scientists did create dinosaurs from ancient DNA? Would they look like they do in movies? Would they be covered in scales? Would they have spikes along their backs? How do people know what dinosaurs looked like, anyway? Paleoart is art…
Read MoreHow much do taxpayers pay for fireworks for Fourth of July celebrations on the Suncoast?
Fireworks shows costs tens of thousand of dollars, so we wanted to find out how much taxpayers have to cover here on the Suncoast. The City of Bradenton, the City of Palmetto, and Manatee County are having a fireworks show at the Green Bridge. The cost of that show is $40,000 and is split…
Read MoreDoes the ocean produce oxygen?
It’s easy to think of the world’s forests as the planet’s “lungs.” Trees pump out oxygen—the same stuff we breathe in. The bigger the tree the more oxygen it releases. But most of our breathable air doesn’t come from land. It comes from the world’s oceans. And the most important oxygen producers are some…
Read MoreHow Do You Make an App?
Have you ever grabbed floating coins from the air? Do you make candy explode on your screen? Do you take care of a virtual cat? If you’ve done any of these activities, you were probably using an app! An app, short for application, is a program designed for users of digital devices. They’re made for devices from smartphones to gaming…
Read MoreWhat is depicted by 16 digits printed on Debit Card?
What do the numbers on my debit card mean? How to identify numbers on a debit card? What is card number and what do 16 digits on debit card mean? These are some basic questions that frequently asked. For complete details let us see below. Debit Card is also known as ATM Card and it is used for…
Read MoreDo You know that who Invented Ball pen?
The inventor of ball pen was Ladislao José Bíro, a Hungarian born in 1899 into a Jewish family. He invented the ball pen in 1931 to get rid of fountain pen’s blotting and smudging. The inventor of ball pen was Ladislao José Bíro, a Hungaria born in 1899 into a Jewish family. He invented…
Read MoreWhy Does the Moon Change Shape?
People have always been fascinated by the Moon. We have plenty of good reasons to be! The Moon controls our tides, causes solar eclipses, and appears to have a face. To add to our fascination, the Moon even changes shape! If you’ve spent any amount of time looking at the Moon, you know that the shape we see…
Read MoreWhy Does Minimum Wage Exist?
What do you dream of being when you’re older? Do you want to be an astronaut? A detective? An actor? Many people want to be teachers, architects, and engineers! Whatever your dream is, surely you’ll want fair pay for what you do. Have you ever WONDERed who decides how much people are paid? In many jobs, the employer has most…
Read MoreWhat is the reason behind floating ice on water
Have you ever thought! How any solid object floats on any fluid? Solids are hard and rigid like stones. They immersed in water, but the ice, which is a solid substance, does not sink in water, but floats. Why? Let us find out why ice being a solid substance floats on water. Have you…
Read More