There was a time, over a century ago, when there were still amazing feats yet to be achieved on Earth. Being first to reach the South Pole in Antarctica was one of those coveted prizes. Those who were first would claim international fame and have their names etched into history books. Those who failed, oftenContinue reading “The 1912 Race to Claim the South Pole”
Author Archives: andrewspaulw
The Tragic Story of the Radium Girls
Radium clocks and watches were all the rave during the Roaring Twenties. The watch faces glowed all the time and didn’t require charging in sunlight, like florescent paint. Everyone who was anyone had to have one. The Radium Girls were not rich debutants who flashed their wristwatches, but rather the simple factory women who hand-paintedContinue reading “The Tragic Story of the Radium Girls”
Watergate – the Scandal that took down a President
The Watergate Scandal may seem tepid compared to recent presidential escapades, but in 1973, it shocked America to its core. One of the most disturbing episodes of abuse of power occurred on the evening of October 20th, 1973. The press would dub it The Saturday Night Massacre. It would lead to the resignation of a U.S. President. President RichardContinue reading “Watergate – the Scandal that took down a President”
America’s Chernobyl – Three Mile Island
The Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear incident is the closest the United States ever came to a Chernobyl or Fukushima-level nuclear disaster. In March 1979, a series of human and mechanical errors caused the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. It resulted in a partial meltdown of the reactor core, and a release of dangerousContinue reading “America’s Chernobyl – Three Mile Island”
China vs. Tibet, a Century of Occupation
Before Communist China existed, for over a thousand years, Tibet was a ‘protectorate’ of the Manchu/Qing Dynasty. Tibet however maintained its own language, governor, laws, army, and paid no taxes. China’s control over Tibet weakened during the 1800’s, when China suffered assaults from the Japanese and British Empires. By the turn of the 1900’s, TibetContinue reading “China vs. Tibet, a Century of Occupation”
California’s Vanishing Salton Sea
California’s largest lake is the man-made Salton Sea, a shallow, salt water lake in the middle of the southern California desert. It sits just north of the Mexican border. The Salton Sea lies in what used to be an ancient dry lake bed, only five feet higher than Death Valley. Today it is sadly vanishingContinue reading “California’s Vanishing Salton Sea”
The Fall and Rise of Labor Unions
Labor unions grew over a hundred years ago during the Industrial Revolution out of a relatively simple concept. The idea of protecting and advancing the common interest and rights of workers, both men AND women – fair wages, fair compensation, fair hours, fair conditions. Still, labor unions had a long and torturous rise to influence.Continue reading “The Fall and Rise of Labor Unions”
Evita Peron – The Woman Behind the Musical
The beautiful Evita Perón wielded amazing power in a time and country when few women broke the patriarchy barrier. Maria Eva de Perón was the 2nd wife of Argentinian President Juan Perón. She was the First Lady of Argentina from 1946, until her very early death at only 33. Popularized in a Broadway musical, sheContinue reading “Evita Peron – The Woman Behind the Musical”
The Rwanda Genocide – an African Holocaust
In 1994, in just one hundred gruesome days, nearly 1 million Rwandan Tutsis and moderates were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists in the Rwanda Genocide.
The Confederate LOST CAUSE is not Lost
160 years after the American Civil War, we are hearing again about the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The statues may be gone, by the Lost Cause survives.