With that in mind, we are very excited to announce our very first Iphone App – “Disaster of the Day”. The Disaster of the Day App has over 500 different disasters (it’s actually over 700 now) ranging from the well-known to the obscure to the downright weird. Every day of the year has at least one disaster- each with a description, a location and multiple photos and videos. If you crave more, you can jump over to Timelines.com and see all the info we have on that disaster. You can scroll day-to-day, or jump to a specific day. (Incidentally, when I’ve shown this app to other people, they invariably want to jump to their birthdays). On my birthday April 14 for instance, the Titanic sank (1912), the Bombay Docks exploded (1944) and the Yuska Earthquake occurred (2010). And it’s free!
So the next time you are having a bad day or you think that your life couldn’t get any worse, fire up “Disaster of the Day”and check out what disaster happened. You’ll think, “Hmm, maybe I don’t have it so bad,” and, Voila!, your mood will instantly improve.
Disasters have a unique way of capturing our attention. The Titanic, the Hindenburg, the Chicago Fire, the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii- they are all well known and hold a strong place in our memory. On Timelines.com, there are over 500 disasters chronicled. When you glance through this list, some jump out as being highly unusual and downright weird. Here are five of the strangest disasters, in chronological order.
Twenty-three years into the Hundred Years’ War, King Edward III of England had invaded France and was sacking the suburbs of Paris. On April 13, while camped outside of Chartres (a town southwest of Paris), Edward and his forces were caught outside in a massive hail and lightning storm. The storm and the ensuing panic killed over 1,000 English soldiers. Edward took this as a sign of divine displeasure, and as a result agreed to relinquish his claim to the French throne in exchange for one third of France. Not such a bad deal after all.
On October 17, 1814 at the Meux and Co. Brewery, a gigantic vat of beer blew open and caused other vats to rupture, resulting in 1.5 million liters to gush onto Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street in London. The flood destroyed two homes, knocked down a wall at a nearby pub and trapped poor families who lived in the basements of tenement houses in the neighborhood. Eight people died that day from drowning and one person died the next from alcohol poisoning. Read the account of the disaster in the London Times from 1814.
On January 15, 1919 in the North End of Boston, a 50-foot high tank containing 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst at the Purity Distilling Company, producing an 8 – 15 ft high wave that rushed through the streets at 35 mph. The molasses wave was so strong that it knocked down the girders of nearby elevated train tracks and lifted a train off of its track. Twenty-one people were killed and 150 people injured. It was the front page headline story in the now defunct Boston Post newspaper. Legend has it that on hot summer days in Boston’s North End you can still smell molasses .
Yes, you read this title correctly – the plane crashed with a 15-year old at the controls. The plane’s flight and data recorders revealed that the pilot’s 15-year old son was at the controls and accidentally disabled the auto-pilot controls of the plane. This caused the airplane to go into a steep bank and then an uncontrollable dive. Before the pilots could figure out that the autopilot control had been disabled (there was no audible alarm to signal this), the plane slammed into a Siberian hillside. The crash killed all 75 people on board. As Rain Man said, “Only fly Qantas.”
On May 13, 2000, over 100 tons of fireworks were detonated by a fire and two explosions at the S.E. Fireworks warehouse in Enschede, The Netherlands. The explosion killed 22 people, injured 947 and left 1,250 people homeless; 400 apartments were leveled; 15 streets incinerated; and 1,500 homes were damaged. People felt the blast up to 30 km away. If you want to get a feel for what this was like, watch this video. It was shot on the scene as the explosion was happening. Be sure to watch it all the way through- it is unreal.
Do you know of any disasters not covered on our Disasters Timeline? Let us know or just add it directly.
Believe it or not, summer is almost over and the school year is nearly upon us. So we at Timelines decided to give all of you history teachers out there a head start. Here’s a list of five great web sites and resources. Drop us a note if you know of others to recommend. Enjoy the last few weeks!
If you are not familiar with HistoryTeacher.net, you need to be. Passionately run by a history teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, NY, this site is jam packed with hundreds of resources ranging from current events, to American history, to government (local and national) to interesting and specific sites (like the National Inventors Hall of Fame or the US Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Run by a director of EdTechTeacher, Inc and history teacher, BestHistorySites.net is a seemingly comprehensive collection of history related web sites. The site has navigation devoted to specific time periods (such as Prehistory, Medieval History and American History) as well as links to seminars that focus on using technology in the classroom.
Earlier in the year, Chicago experienced a “non-event” when we lost the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the first round of voting. This week we experienced another one.
After 19 months of proclaiming his innocence on countless talk shows, a stint on “Celebrity Apprentice”, an appearance on a musical named for him, writing a book, and hosting a radio talk show, Rod Blagojevich chose to stay silent at his trial. We have followed his saga since his arrest on December 9, 2008 (see RodBlagojevich.com for over 250 Rod Blagojevich events). We figured that every public appearance was just one more warm up, another trial run for the day when he would prove the federal prosecutors and all of his doubters wrong. His testimony was going to be his Alamo, his OK Corral, his Last Stand. And we were gearing up for it. Boy, were we disappointed. And I suspect that the jury felt cheated too. I suppose, however, that we shouldn’t be. After all, he disappointed and cheated us as governor.
This Monday begins the closing arguments in the trial. My prediction? Robert Blagojevich (Rod’s brother who is being tried simultaneously) will be found not guilty on all five charges against him.
Rod won’t be as lucky. He’ll be found guilty of at least 10 of the 24 counts against him.
We’ve been working hard on expanding our product line, and we are proud to announce our latest addition to the Timelines family – the Timelines Showcase!
Similar to Timelines SE (in case you were wondering, SE is for “Sports Edition”), the Timelines Showcase enables newspaper clients to present their past content in the context of the present, while maintaining the look and feel of their site. So, what does that mean? It means that a news topic that unfolds over time with multiple articles, photos and videos can be easily explored across time and place, helping readers answer the questions: “How did we get here? What happened in the past about this topic?” It also means that a newspaper can quickly (and cost effectively) create unlimited number of timelines without having to build this functionality every time a timeline is needed.
One of our clients, Boston.com, is utilizing the Timelines Showcase across three very different topics: the Russian Spy Ring, the Amy Bishop Case and Health Care Reform. Lets’ take a walk through the Amy Bishop Case implementation to see its benefits, features and function. (By the way, the Amy Bishop Case is about a former University of Alabama-Huntsville professor- Amy Bishop- who shot and killed a number of her colleagues when she was denied tenure. She is originally from the Boston area.)
Explorer Page
The first page a reader encounters is what we call the Explorer Page. This page is sort of the home page for the Timelines Showcase.
It has a timeline at the top of the page with a thumbnail image for each event. A reader can roll over an event, read the title and get a quick understanding of that event and the sequence of events relating to the topic. Additionally the reader can scroll backwards and forward through time to get to any event he/she is looking for.
List View of Events
Below the timeline is a list of the events in reverse chronological order.
A reader can use this list to get a high level summary of the topic and how it developed over time, and he/she can click on any event to get more information.
Map View
If a reader wants to explore the topic geographically, he/she can click on the Map link. And like magic, all of the events are now displayed where they happened. (Personally, this is my favorite feature).
By clicking on any one of the locations, a bubble appears with the summary and thumbnail photo of that event. By clicking on the title of the event, the reader is brought to the event page.
Event Page
The Event Page houses all of the articles, photos, videos and links related to an event.
If you are interested in hearing more (or want to sign up for the service), just drop me a line at: Bob at Timelines.com
Major props to Scott, Geoff and Zach who made this happen!
If you are a Twitter or Facebook user (or both), be sure to follow us. We tweet and post fun facts about this day in history as well as cool (dare I say educational) history-related posts, resources and experts. And we are always on the look out for like-minded people and sites. So if you haven’t already, be sure to connect with us out in your social networks.
I happened to be browsing our “What Happened On” page on Timelines.com, and I decided to look at the events of today, July 1. After looking at the events, I’ve concluded that July 1 might be history’s bloodiest day of the year. Take a look:
The American Civil War’s turning point was also its bloodiest battle. Over ninety-three thousand Union soldiers took on seventy-two thousand Confederates, resulting in over 46,000 in casualties (over 7,800 soldiers died) – a casualty rate of over 25%. Staggering.
The Spanish-American War’s bloodiest battle. Over 19,000 US and Cuban fighters took on 800 Spanish soldiers. The US-Cuban side had over 1,300 casualties (with 205 killed) and the Spanish suffered casualties of 277 (58 killed). Incidentally, this was one of the Rough Riders greatest victories, and Teddy Roosevelt was their commander.
Not only is this World War 1’s bloodiest battle, it is believed to be the bloodiest battle ever recorded. Over 1.5 million Allied forces took on 1.3 million Germans, and the resultant casualties are hard to comprehend: 1 – 1.5 million total casualties; the Allies lost over 623,000 (with 146,000 killed) and Germany lost 465,000 (with 164,000 killed). The British Army suffered over 60,000 casualties… in one day – it’s worst one-day combat loss in its history. And who won the battle? It was basically a draw. Given these numbers. it appears that everyone lost.
It’s Day 59 and counting since the BP Deepwater Horizon well blew up in the Gulf of Mexico, initiating the spill that has wreaked incredible environmental and economic damage and completely consumed the news cycle. This event is a sad and frustrating story on multiple levels, not the least of which is that 11 people were killed in the blast on April 20th.
At the current estimated leak rate of 35,000 – 60,000 barrels per day, the well is producing the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez sized spillevery 5 – 6 days. (Check out this graphic). Think of that- less than every week an Exxon Valdez load of oil is dumped into the Gulf, and now consider that the Exxon Valdez disaster is estimated to have produced damage to sea life that will last for 30 years (until 2019). Now, if you already aren’t depressed enough, layer in the great difference in population density and economic activity between Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s anyone’s guess what the amount of damage is and how long it will last. I think it will dwarf the $20 billion that BP has set aside to pay claims to the poor people directly impacted by the spill.
Furthermore, frustration continues to build with the American public as one of the biggest companies in the world, BP, and the largest and most powerful government in the world, the US, can’t provide reliable information or clear expectations on when the leak will be plugged. In lieu of speeding up the end to this calamity and in the midst of revelations of mutual incompetence and negligence, both have resorted to bickering and finger pointing. When the most powerful man in the world doesn’t know “whose ass to kick”, it’s clear that we are experiencing a complete, unmitigated and unprecedented institutional meltdown.
In case you’ve forgotten, below are some of the more discouraging milestones achieved since the explosion. (If you want the gory details, here’s a complete and developing timeline of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster).
Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup last night, four games to two over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks broke the longest drought without a Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League, 49 years, as the last time they were champs was in 1961 (when they beat the Detroit Red Wings). (For a complete history of all Stanley Cup winners, see our Stanley Cup Timeline).
Enjoy the Cup, Blackhawks, you’ve earned it, and you’ve made Chicago proud. And it might not be until 2059 when you win another…though I hope not!
Now, if only the Chicago Cubs could win the World Series. That’s an event that’s 102 years in the making… and still counting. 1908 was the last time the Cubs won the World Series.
And here’s one last rendition of Chelsea Dagger in honor of the Blackhawks:
Do you know that the most watched sporting event in the world kicks off this Friday, June 11 in South Africa? And it’s related to the sport that has the greatest sports anthem of all-time?
If you don’t know, or if you are wondering what it is, Timelines.com is here to help.The event is the World Cup, and we have put together the following fast facts (and a complete World Cup Timeline) to help make you smart about football’s (that’s soccer for all of you American neophytes) biggest event. (The greatest anthem is at the end of this post).
- 700+ million. It’s estimated that over 700 million people watched the final match between Italy and France in 2006, the last time that the World Cup tournament was held. (Like the Olympic Games, the World Cup is held every four years). Incidentally, Italy defeated France on penalty kicks that year.
- 1930. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2. Only 13 teams were invited to play in the inaugural tournament. Today, over 200 teams vie for one of the 32 entries during the course of a two year qualifying competition.
- 18. A total of eighteen World Cups have been awarded. (The World Cup was not held in 1942 and 1946 due to World War 2).
- 7. Only seven countries have won the World Cup. Brazil (5 times), Italy (4), Germany (3), Argentina and Uruguay (twice each) and France and England (one a piece). Of the countries with multiple wins,only Brazil has won it back to back (in 1958 and 1962).
- 6. Six of the seven champions have won when they have hosted the World Cup. Brazil is the only exception, as they finished as runner-up when they hosted it in 1950.
- 4. Germany holds the most runner up finishes with four: 1966, 1982, 1986, and 2002. (Incidentally, Germany also holds the most 3rd place finishes with 3: 1934, 1970 and 2006).
- 0. The United States has never won a World Cup, nor have they finished as runner up. However, USA finished in third place in 1930. They defeated Yugoslavia in the consolation game.
Be sure to check out our complete World Cup Timeline for all past champions and more details.
Oh, and here’s the greatest sports anthem of all time….
