Random Knowledge

Random Knowledge

By John DoeEducation
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Random Knowledge episodes

  • S1E20 - 1994 Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash
    On Friday, 24 June 1994, a United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, United States, after its pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur "Bud" Holland, maneuvered the bomber beyond its operational limits and lost control. The B-52 stalled, fell to the ground and exploded, killing Holland and the three other field-grade officers on board the aircraft. In addition, one person on the ground suffered injuries during the accident, but survived. The crash was captured on video and was shown repeatedly on news broadcasts throughout the world.: 125 : 2–3 The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland's personality and behavior; USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland; and the sequence of events during the aircraft's final flight. The crash is now used in military and civilian aviation environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management. It is also often used by the U.S. Armed Forces during aviation safety training as an example of the importance of complying with safety regulations and correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    21 min
  • S1E19 - Jefferson nickel
    The Jefferson nickel has been the five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint since 1938, when it replaced the Buffalo nickel. From 1938 until 2004, the copper-nickel coin's obverse featured a profile depiction of founding father and third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson by artist Felix Schlag; the obverse design used in 2005 was also in profile, though by Joe Fitzgerald. Since 2006 Jefferson's portrayal, newly designed by Jamie Franki, faces forward. The coin's reverse is still the Schlag original, although in 2004 and 2005 the piece bore commemorative designs.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_nickel
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    7 min
  • S1E18 - George Formby Sr
    George Formby (born James Lawler Booth; 4 October 1875 – 8 February 1921) was an English comedian and singer in musical theatre, known as one of the greatest music hall performers of the early 20th century. His comedy played upon Lancashire stereotypes, and he was popular around Britain. His nickname, "The Wigan Nightingale", was coined because of the way he would use his bronchial cough as a comedic device in his act.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby_Sr
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    13 min
  • S1E17 - 2005 Atlantic hurricane season
    The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in history, until the record was broken 15 years later in 2020. The season broke numerous records at the time, with 28 tropical or subtropical storms recorded. The United States National Hurricane Center named 27 storms, exhausting the annual pre-designated list and resulting in the usage of six Greek letter names, and also identified an additional unnamed storm during a post-season re-analysis. A record 15 storms attained hurricane status, with maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 km/h); of those, a record seven became major hurricanes, which are a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Four storms of this season became Category 5 hurricanes, the highest ranking on the scale.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Atlantic_hurricane_season
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    1 hr 7 min
  • S1E16 - Richard Wagner
    Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( VAHG-nər; German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ] (listen); 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    17 min
  • S1E15 - Eastern Area Command (RAAF)
    Eastern Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in May 1942, and controlled units located in New South Wales and southern Queensland. Headquartered in Sydney, Eastern Area Command's responsibilities included air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. Its flying units operated fighters, reconnaissance bombers, and dive bombers, and concentrated on convoy escort, maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare. The size of the area was such that the RAAF twice considered splitting it, but nothing came of this.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Area_Command_(RAAF)
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    16 min
  • S1E14 - The Good Terrorist
    The Good Terrorist is a 1985 political novel written by the British novelist Doris Lessing. The book's protagonist is the naïve drifter Alice, who squats with a group of radicals in London and is drawn into their terrorist activities.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Terrorist
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    7 min
  • S1E13 - Samantha Smith
    Samantha Reed Smith ((1972-06-29)June 29, 1972 – (1985-08-25)August 25, 1985) was an American peace activist, and child actress from Manchester, Maine, who became famous for her anti-war outreaches during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1982, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, and received a personal reply with an invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    19 min
  • S1E12 - Blue-faced honeyeater
    The blue-faced honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis), also colloquially known as the bananabird, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It is the only member of its genus, and it is most closely related to honeyeaters of the genus Melithreptus. Three subspecies are recognised. At around 29.5 cm (11.6 in) in length, the blue-faced species is large for a honeyeater. Its plumage is distinctive, with olive upperparts, white underparts, and a black head and throat with white nape and cheeks. Males and females are similar in external appearance. Adults have a blue area of bare skin on each side of the face readily distinguishing them from juveniles, which have yellow or green patches of bare skin.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-faced_honeyeater
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    18 min
  • S1E11 - Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū
    Hiryū (飛龍, "Flying Dragon") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1930s. Generally regarded as the only ship of her class, she was built to a modified Sōryū design. Her aircraft supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940. She took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Wake Island. During the first few months of the Pacific War, the ship supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies in January 1942. The following month, her aircraft bombed Darwin, Australia, and continued to assist in the Dutch East Indies campaign. In April, Hiryū's aircraft helped sink two British heavy cruisers and several merchant ships during the Indian Ocean Raid.
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Hiry%C5%AB
    License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
    32 min

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