history

Captain Eric Brown was friends with astronaut Neil Armstrong

Update with BBC vedio: "Story of Captain Winkle Brown"

Readers' comments:
"Bow in Respect!! I kept Saluting him during the Documentary. Blessing!!!"
"What a human being, RIP Captain Brown. A true Scots old school hero."
"He is probably the greatest man that I ever heard about. R.I.P Mr Eric Brown:')"
"An interviewer once said he made James Bond seem boring. RIP great man."
"Will we ever know the FULL story, I wonder? What an astonishing man, what an astonishing career. I salute you, Sir. RIP."
"Would love to meet this gentleman. The word hero is overused but in this case it's spot on?"
"I had some friends from Scotland when I attended Arizona State University. They were fearless rugby players. Captain Brown is a true Scot. Best pilot, and one of the greatest humans the world has ever known. Honest and true. God bless you Sir!!!"

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Pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown holds two of the most startling records from the world of flying. He has flown 487 different types of aircraft. Today's test pilots average fewer than 100 flights. "Over 50 is deemed a large number. We can't imagine in this day and age how dangerous his job was." Captain Brown has piloted 2,407 aircraft carrier landings. That's just a part of his extraordinary life. Brown's exploits run through some of the most momentous events of world history. He was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he interrogated Hermann Goering, helped liberate the Belsen concentration camp and by chance managed to sing with the Glenn Miller band.  read more »

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The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it has never been officially named so. On March 4, 1921, the United States Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American serviceman from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater. On November 11, 1921, the unknown soldier brought back from France was interred below a three-level marble tomb. The bottom two levels are six marble sections each and the top at least nine blocks with a rectangular opening in the center of each level through which the unknown remains were placed through the tomb and into the ground below. A stone other than marble covers the rectangular opening.  read more »

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dailymail.co.uk -Gallipoli anniversary ceremony: with solemnity and quiet dignity Queen and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, each placed a wreath at the war memorial. The ceremony marked the 100th anniversary of the end of the disastrous First World War campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula. During the ceremony the Queen and Philip, who is patron of the Gallipoli Association, stood still as the Last Post was played by a bugler and a minute's silence was observed. Then, with solemnity and quiet dignity, they each placed a wreath at the war memorial dedicated to local men who fought in the Great War and paid the ultimate sacrifice.  read more »

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The spending bill presents Mr. Ryan with his most important test so far as speaker and will be a measure of how long members will remain enchanted with him. He can only hope their newfound ardor will match that for his new beard.
The short exchange had many signets of Mr. Ryan’s nascent leadership style, which contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor, John A. Boehner. Mr. Ryan has for the most part pushed the privilege of crafting legislation — and with it, the responsibilities — out of the leadership offices and back into the hands of members, replacing Mr. Boehner’s smoke-filled rooms, at least for now, with energy bar-lined committee conference rooms. When he wants to chat, he texts. In a grooming contrast to Mr. Boehner that seems almost willful, Mr. Ryan now also shuns shaving.

Proud of his furry face, Mr. Ryan wondered on social media whether he was, in fact, the first bearded House speaker in a century. While it was has not quite been 100 years, Mr. Ryan was close. According to the House historian, the last speaker with a beard was the appropriately named Frederick H. Gillett, who presided over the chamber until 1925.  read more »

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The 400-year-old church was originally lost to the waters in 1966 when it was flooded; now emerging from the depths again due to 2015 drought (causing the Mexican reservoir to decrease by 82 feet) as it did in 2002 when water dropped so low.

2015 - The watershed of the Grijalva river has been hit by a drought this year, causing the water level in the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir to decrease by 82 feet. The remains of a 400-year-old church have emerged from the receding waters of a river in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas.

Mid-16th century - The church was built by a group of monks led by Friar Bartolome de la Casas, who arrived in the region that was inhabited by the Zoque people in the mid-16th century in the Quechula locality.

1966 - It was originally lost to the waters of the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir in 1966 when it flooded. With the walls rising to about 30 feet, the stunning structure is 183 feet long and 42 feet wide. The bell tower reaches 48 feet above the ground of the church. Architect Carlos Navarete, who worked with Mexican authorities on a report about the structure, said: 'The church was abandoned due to the big plagues of 1773-1776.'  read more »

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The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation, established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193.
The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna.
- UN Charter signed 26 June 1945
- Charter entered into force 24 October 1945
There are six official languages of the UN.
These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

1942 "Declaration of United Nations" by the Allies of World War II  read more »

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The duel was based on a code of honour. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of duelling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility.

telegraph.co.uk -MegaBots, an American engineering company, challenged Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industry to a duel. Japan's Suidobashi accepts MegaBots' challenge of a duel, paving the way for robot wars on a grand scale. It's the moment we've all been waiting for: two giant fighting robots - one Japanese and one American - will square off in a melee one year from now.

dailydot.com Jul 6, 2015 - The makers of a giant, real-life, human-powered robot have challenged their Japanese counterparts to a giant robot duel. Japan responds to U.S. giant-robot battle challenge: "Bring it on"
Last week, a U.S. giant-robot company summoned a Japanese giant-robot company to fight them in a giant-robot duel. In their challenge video, U.S.-based Megabots gave Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industry—and all of Japan—the opportunity to name the battlefield and "meet in one year's time." It's on.  read more »