October 1964 Evolution and Creation “Biblical fundamentalists are once again in conflict with biologists, this time as a result of efforts by the National Science Foundation to raise the level of high school biology teaching. After five years of preparation and classroom testing, three new textbooks have been offered to state and other educational agencies across the nation. All were produced by a $5 million Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) project. All present the theory of evolution as a logical explanation of the known facts in biological history. Contrary to the practice of some publishers, none is issued in regional editions re-written to avoid conflict with local prejudices. During the school year 1963–1964 some 250,000 copies of the three texts were sold, a number sufficient to reach 12 percent of the high school biology students in the U.S. All three have been offered to and accepted by state adoption boards in Georgia and Florida. In Arizona an effort by one church group to place a referendum opposing ‘atheistic teaching’ on next month's ballot failed to obtain the required 55,000 petition signatures.”
October 1914
Submarine Warfare “It is certain that, from the very declaration of war, German submarines have been cruising at will in the North Sea; and they have at last scored a success, in the sinking of three British armored cruisers of 12,000 tons displacement, which must be recorded as the most brilliant naval success thus far achieved in the present war, and which establishes, at a stroke, the deadly efficiency of this, the latest form of naval warfare. It is in the moral prestige acquired, rather than in the material loss to the enemy, that the value of this German success is to be estimated.”
For a slide show on naval warfare from 1914, click here.
Passenger Pigeon Extinction “It became very evident that not a single Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was left at large in the country, where formerly they migrated in flocks of billions. Meanwhile the sole survivor, the female in the Cincinnati ‘Zoo’ lived on; and at last, after it had survived for twenty-nine long years it succumbed to what was, apparently, nothing more than advanced age. This occurred at 1 o'clock in the morning on September 1st, 1914, and the body, as had been previously arranged, was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. For the side view of the head [see illustration], I restored the eye so that the portrait might have a more life-like appearance.”
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Public Electricity “To the high school of Rupert, Idaho, belongs the distinction of being the first large building in the world to be exclusively run by electricity. In this building electricity is also used for a wide variety of other uses, and hence it has come to be called the ‘Electric High School.’ Rupert is the metropolis of the Government Minidoka Irrigation Project on the Snake River, a region which eight years ago was a sage brush desert, but which now is a densely settled farming community. The settlers on this project are intensely progressive and are determined to have for themselves and their children advantages, especially educational advantages.”
The school served students until 1956.
October 1864 Iron Work “Great improvement has been made of late years in forging light work. Instead of relying upon the hand and eye of some skillful workman, dies have been substituted, and the jobs thus produced have all the accuracy of castings while they are far superior in strength. Drop-presses have been used, also rapid-working trip-hammers, but these make such a tremendous racket that it is almost impossible to stay in their vicinity.”
Profits of Blockade Running “The Liverpool Courier publishes some statistics in reference to the profits of blockade running. A single trip, it shows by a copy of bona fide account, costs $80,265. Of this amount five thousand dollars went to the captain for one month's service, three thousand dollars for pilotage out and in. Against this heavy expenditure the following is given on the credit side: 800 bales of cotton for Government, $40,000; 800 bales of cotton for owners, $40,000; Return freights for Government, $40,000; Return freight for owners, $40,000; Passengers, $12,000; Total $172,000. Thus, in case of a successful trip, the operators make a monthly profit of $91,735. It is to be remembered, however, that very often the vessels engaged in this business are captured at the first venture, entailing a heavy loss.”
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