minihistory

Here is this week’s mini-history for you education and entertainement. I hope you find it useful. A crash The Transcontinental and Western Air flight was a Fokker F.10 Trimotor enroute from Kansas City to Los Angeles on March 31, 1931. On the first leg of the flight to Wichita, the airplane crashed and all eight on board died,…

I was re-reading Barbara Tuchman’s 1981 book Practicing History and came across an article she wrote for Foreign Affairs, in 1936. It was entitled “Japan: A Clinical Note.” It smacks of today’s news. Historical context Japan invaded Manchuria on September 19, 1931. They established a puppet state, called Manchukuo, and occupied it until the end…

This is a story that has nothing to do with the internet. It has to do with health, safety, and quality of life. And, if you’re like me, you’ve enjoyed the benefits of a networked house for a long time. “Back in the Day” You used candles and kerosene lanterns for light at night. If…

Germany started flying rigid airships when they launched the Zeppelin line in 1910 and successfully carried passengers globally for thousands of flights. This form of civilian air travel was interrupted by WWI but resumed after the war. In 1928 the Graf Zeppelin took passengers on a 112-hour non-stop flight from Germany to New Jersey. Over…