History on Air

History Podcast and Blog

Archive for February, 2010

19 February
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You Camouflaged my Battleship!

Seen in the center of the image is the ABRAHAM CRIJNSSEN, covered in branches and made to look like an island.  The captain of the vessel did this to evade capture after the battle of the Java Sea in Feb. 1942 during WWII.  They went right through Japanese naval lines in this disguise.

Image credit: Historic Naval Ships Association

18 February
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Test Your Olympic Knowledge

Take this quiz and see how your Olympic knowledge stacks up.  Let me know if you want more quizzes like this in the future by posting your comment at the bottom of this post.

Where were the first modern Summer Olympics held?





In the first Olympic Winter Games, who won a Silver Medal in the 5000m speed skating event and a Gold Medal in the 10,000m speed skating event?





During which Olympic Games did the IOC first join the West Germany and East Germany teams into the Germany team?





Which of the following is Spain's IOC country code?





How many men athletes competed in the 1948 London Summer Games?





In-between what two dates were the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics held?





On February 12, 2010, luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died after crashing, flying over a wall, and hitting his head on a metal support beam on the Whistler Sliding Center in Vancouver, Canada. Which country was he competing for?





Which city hosted New York's first-ever Olympic Games?





In 1980 Lake Placid Games, the USA men's ice hockey team beat the USSR 4-3 in the round-robin tournament. What was this game nicknamed?





How many nations competed in the 2004 Athens Summer Games?







17 February
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Oral History

Found this on the AHA site.  Its a list of oral history project websites.

Image credit: Editor B

16 February
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Thanks Neil!

Hi
have just found your podcast and site. Enjoying the 3 I have heard so far – Rosa Luxemburg, Bobby Kennedy and Dien Bien Phu.  I’m a History teacher in the Uk and have recommended it to my students too.
Keep it up.
Neil

Hi

have just found your podcast and site. Enjoying the 3 I have heard so far – Rosa Luxemburg, Bobby Kennedy and Dien Bien Phu.  I’m a History teacher in the Uk and have recommended it to my students too.

Keep it up.

Neil

16 February
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Harry Truman

I recently found this short audio clip on This I Believe.  Here is a short description below.  Follow the link to listen to the audio.

President Harry Truman explains the beliefs that influenced his two decades of public service, and he encourages Americans to correct the remaining imperfections in our democracy. [This I Believe]

Image credit:  Wiki Commons

14 February
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Federal Air Marshals

Did you know you might have been sitting next to a person with a gun on your last flight?  What if I told you they had that gun on the flight legally.  Air Marshals have been flying with us since 1963.    On 9/11/2001 there were only 33 Federal Air Marshals active.  Now, although the official number is classified, the number is believed to be in the thousands.  The current budget for Air Marshals is 800 million annually.  Federal air marshals rollup under the TSA.

How many terrorists did the FAMs stop with this $800 million? Zero, according to a CNN Special Investigation (though agents did make four arrests last year – which averages some $200 million per arrest). OC Register

Read more about the federal air marshal program at wikipedia.

14 February
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Happy Valentine’s Day

I hope all of you out there have a great and romantic Valentine’s Day!

13 February
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Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland

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Vestmannaeyjar is a small archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,036. The other islands are uninhabited, though two have single hunting cabins. Read more about it at Wikipedia.org.

Top Image from: Pixdaus: Popular Today Pics

Bottom Image from:  michael clarke stuff

12 February
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Space Station Tour

The International Space Station represents a union of several national space station projects that originated during the Cold War. In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom as a counterpart to the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations, while the Soviets were planning to construct Mir-2 in the 1990s as a replacement for Mir. Because of budget and design constraints, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests. [wikipedia]

You can follow the astronouts on the space station via twitter now:  Soichi, Jeff, and TJ.  Watch a tour below:

11 February
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How to Podcast

I found two great videos on how to podcast via Podcasting News. See the embedded videos below.

Podcasting Basics from Brent Powell on Vimeo.

Podcasting 101 from Teknologikally on Vimeo.