I have welding helmets with relatively clear glass, that go instantly dark when you strike an arc. People claim that technology is from helmets designed for pilots who drop nukes.

True, or urban legend?

auto darkening didnt come out until 1981. Welding did start becoming more common in WW1/WW2, so im certain it was the same technology, but not auto darkening

source:
https://www.apexweldingsafety.com.au/blog/post/the-history-of-the-welding-helmet#:~:text=1981,to%20nod%20the%20shield%20down.

Interestingly, we never practiced with the eyepatches and goggles they stayed sealed in the box along with our three pairs of nylon stockings . So I never saw them.

But if you were getting off active duty, as I was in 1983-84, you always got the **** duties and plenty of substitute alert.

One of the crap duties I got was to go fly an 8 hour mission completely garbed in a chemical outfit (we had transitioned to an additional conventional role a couple of years before). We were outfitted in charcoal suits, gas masks and tanker's helmets, rubber hoods, boots and gloves, which was the makeshift aviators chemical gear. We had it all flight planned and headed into crew rest, when they cancelled the whole thing.

Someone finally realized the suits had no fire ******ant capability and rubber gloves and boots would be a mess in a fire. Thankfully they cancelled the whole thing. I was out before they came up with a new plan.

A Papal Bull issued by Gregory IV may have contributed to the bubonic plague significantly when it wiped out much of Europe's cat population:

Quote:

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On June 13, 1233, Pope Gregory IX instigated the first bull of his papacy: the Vox in Rama. The Bull arose in response to rumors of satanic cults in Germany by the area's grand inquisitor, Conrad of Marburg. The Vox (or "Voice in Rama," after the city of Ramah in ancient Judah) beseeched the archbishops Mainz and Hildesheim to lend their full support to Conrad in his efforts to root out the cult and its adherents. However, it was also a piece of papal legislation that was notable in another way, for the Vox was the first papal bull to associate the cat with witchcraft.

The Vox described the depraved rituals of the cult in detail, portraying the devil worshipped by the witches as a shadowy half cat and half man figure. Its long-term effect, however, was to reshape the view of the cat in European society in general, morphing it from a pagan sacred animal into an agent of hell. This demonization led to the widespread, violent persecution of black cats in particular. This persecution was so savage that some scholars believe that by the 1300's, Europe's cat numbers were sufficiently depleted to prevent them efficiently killing rats and mice- thus allowing the bubonic plague to spread.

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Not really Europe's best moment:

Quote:

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The account began by describing the initiation of novices to the coven. Firstly, they are greeted by an abnormally large frog or toad, whose behind they must kiss and then a "man of fearful pallor" and thinness whose task was to suck out "every last remnant of faith in the Catholic Church" from their soul. The novice then feasted with the rest of the congregation, after which they assembled to pay homage to "a black cat" which emerged " from a kind of statue which normally stands in the place where these meetings are held."

The whole coven was required to kiss the cat's behind, and once they had done this, a wild sexual orgy occurred. Once the lights came back on, "from a dark corner, the figure of a man emerges." This 'man' was Lucifer, who the whole company firmly believed to have been wronged by God. As was to be expected of a former angel "The upper part of his body from the hips upward shines as brightly as the sun." However, his fall from grace was encapsulated by his lower body where "his skin is coarse and covered with fur like a cat."

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Well, cats are agents from hell

CanyonAg77 said:

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Well, cats are agents from hell

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In the old day lots of people died from cat bites. In that time I'd have demonized them too (heck, even today I really dislike that animal).

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/when-cats-bite-1-in-3-patients-bitten-in-hand-hospitalized-infections-common/

"Boomin Beaver," the US Navy's smallest ship, is used mainly for the deployment and operation of floating barriers, ensuring that large vessels such as destroyers, submarines and even aircraft carriers do not receive 'unwanted visitors' when they are moored.

Moreover, "Boomin Beaver" can assist in towing ships or submarines as it is equipped with Cummins Diesel.

I thought it looked liked the boats they use to push log rafts around in the PNW. After looking it up, it is the same boats.

Napoleon spent all of the funds from The Louisiana Purchase on a planned invasion of Britain, which The United States had partly funded by means of a loan from Baring Brothers of London. Which essentially meant that a British bank was indirectly funding an invasion of the country.

also, November 9th has a lot of coincidences in German History:

The end of the German Empire
On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne and fled Germany

The Night of Broken Glass
On November 9, 1938, Nazi storm troopers and the SS carried out the Reichspogromnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass".

The fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the peaceful reunification of Germany after 40 years of division.

Turkey, today a largely Islamist country, once had a different cultural makeup. Bars In Turkey Used To Hire People To Carry Drunk Customers Home In Baskets.

If you wandered the streets of Turkey in the 1960s, you may have come across a surprising sight: a belligerent drunk, being carried in a basket on the back of a hunched man. According to Vintage News Daily, these basket carriers were called kfeci and they were paid to do this.

Though it's one of the weirdest facts from history, the kfeci's job was relatively simple. Bars would hire these men, who were often porters during the day, to carry home drunk customers at night.

Their name comes from the Turkish word kfe, which means being too drunk to walk.

I guess you can say Lyft is the modern day equivalent.

Operation Market Garden consisted of 1544 transport planes and 478 gliders, escorted by 1131 fighters.

The stream was 16km wide and 150km in length
(10 miles wide x 93 miles in length)

How/why we once flew the U-2 off an aircraft carrier (on more than one occasion):



Keep in mind, per the video, the pilots basically had to be in a space suit to fly this thing. Of course, with Kelly Johnson supporting it, 'not possible' wasn't an available answer. Landing it at 80 knots, with the Kitty Hawk doing 30, made it pretty dangerous (not the most controllable plane at that speed).

Clark Gable's discharge paperwork in June of 1944 was signed by Captain Ronald Reagan