Dec
14
2013

The Great Chinese Famine of 1958-1961

by walterh

Today’s podcast is something that is such a vast subject, that my 16 minutes barely scratches the surface.  There’s still so much to learn about what happened, and all of the events that led up to the Great Chinese Famine of 1958-1961, aka “The Great Leap Forward”.

As usual, you can download the podcast from this link, find us on iTunes at this link, or listen to the podcast in the below player.

Sources for the podcast are as follows:

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Nov
10
2013

Memorial to UTA Flight 722

by walterh

Another airline crash that was unknown to me, until a recent Snopes email was sent out to discuss a memorial that was built to honor the victims of that flight.  If you want to know more, details are over here on the Snopes webpage.  But the picture below is what struck me most about the story, because it’s an image that you can actually see from space.

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Nov
06
2013

Spirit Airlines Airbus

by walterh

So I totally missed this, but apparently a Spirit Airlines Airbus had an engine explode on takeoff at DFW.  Need to do some research.  But in the meantime, here is an image that was just shared on Reddit.

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Oct
18
2013

National Airlines Flight #83, and Philadelphia’s Forgotten Hero

by walterh

A few minutes ago, I published the latest podcast, this one about National Airlines Flight #83, a crash of a Douglas DC-4 at Philadelphia Airport from January, 1951.  Curiously, this is the article that spurred the podcast itself!

As usual, you can download the podcast from this link, find us in iTunes at this link, or listen online from the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast are as follows:

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Aug
10
2013

The UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack

by walterh

This morning I published the latest podcast on the subject of The UpStairs Lounge arson attack, an horrific attack against gay people in the history of the United States.

As usual, you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or listen online in the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast are as follows:

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Jun
13
2013

The Great Chicago Fire

by walterh

While I haven’t had a chance to do a podcast lately (real life has kept me busy!), I have had a chance to listen to other podcasters here and there.  And it’s no secret that I love the ones from Discovery Channel, especially Stuff You Missed In History Class and Stuff You Should Know.  Well on my commute this morning, I got to listen to Josh & Chuck from Stuff You Should Know talk about the Great Chicago Fire.  It made for a good podcast, and actually shows how myth and hype are more well known than the truth.

So until I can get back into the studio and put together a new podcast, I’ll suggest other podcasts from time to time.  The one about the Great Chicago Fire can be found at this link.  Give it a listen!

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May
20
2013

New Movie: Sole Survivor

by walterh

There was a news story out recently about Cecelia Crocker, the sole survivor of a Northwest Airlines crash in 1987.  The first thing that struck me was that she put a tattoo of an airplane on her wrist, as a constant reminder of that night back in 1987 that took 154 souls, leaving her as the sole survivor.

The story goes to a link to the film “Sole Survivor” that appears will be released sometime in 2013.  You can find the page here, as well as a trailer of the film.  It looks to be an incredible, emotional film.

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Mar
12
2013

The Catastrophe At Los Alfaques Resort, Spain

by walterh

Today we tackle (after another lengthy absence – SORRY!) our first listener suggested podcast!  Though it’s not well known, the catastrophic explosion, fireball, and resulting fire at the Los Alfaques Resort on the Spanish coast is something that devastated hundreds of lives.  It starts with a set of bad coincidences, and ends with the destruction of almost an entire popular camping spot on the Mediterranean.

As usual, you can download the postcast at this link, or find us on iTunes (along with all of our other episodes), or just listen below.

Sources were hard to come by, and I had to rely on Google.com to translate many of them.  They are:

 

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Mar
06
2013

News coming late?

by walterh

So there’s an article that came across my desk just now that’s titled, “The Mystery of the Hindenburg Disaster Finally Solved?“.  It delves into the disaster itself, and how studies have now pretty much concluded that the airship was brought down by a leak in one of the hydrogen tanks, a buildup of static electricity, and when one of the landing ropes touched the ground – effectively “completing the circuit”.  This means all you needed was a little spark, and BANG!

Who knows.  It’s been over 75 years, and we probably will never, ever know for sure.  But it’s good that people are still looking into it.  Because the more we understand yesterday, the better we can deal with tomorrow.

Hopefully there’ll be a podcast soon.  Life has been absolutely insane, and freetime and I haven’t seemed to be able to meet as of late.  No promises, but possibly this upcoming Friday for our next episode.

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Jan
18
2013

The Crash of UPS Flight 006

by walterh

Today we focus on the crash of UPS – yes, United Parcel Service of the “What can brown do for you?” fame – Airways Flight 006 in September, 2010, which crashed less than an hour after taking off from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, en route to Cologne, Germany.  The crash, which is not all that well known, has forced changes that impact every single airline passenger every day.

As usual, you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or just listen below.

Sources:

And as promised, this is the link to the article on HowStuffWorks about lithium battery fires, and here is the burned-out hull of the Boeing 787’s lithium-ion battery based APU (auxiliary power unit):

Boeing 787 APU

Boeing 787 APU

 

 

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