Can't wait to hear about the career of the first Selfridge to join the Space Force.
Give me a mind-blowing history fact
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Last: 1 day ago by Jaydoug
Sapper Redux said:
Can't wait to hear about the career of the first Selfridge to join the Space Force.
The story of the American who parachuted into France, delivered gold to the French resistance, was captured, escaped several times, nearly executed by the gestapo, then managed to convince a (female) Russian tank commander to let him join them in the march to Berlin to 'kill Hitler' and was awarded an "Order of the Red Banner" signed by Stalin.
I somehow doubt he vacationed in Germany much after the war.
Quote:
Over the next seven months, Beyrle was held in seven German prisons. He escaped twice, and was both times recaptured. Beyrle and his fellow prisoners had been hoping to find the Red Army, which was a short distance away. After the second escape (in which he and his companions set out for Poland but boarded a train to Berlin by mistake), Beyrle was turned over to the Gestapo by a German civilian. Beaten and tortured, he was released to the German military after officials stepped in and determined that the Gestapo had no jurisdiction over prisoners of war. The Gestapo were about to shoot Beyrle and his comrades, claiming that he was an American spy who had parachuted into Berlin.
Beyrle was taken to the Stalag III-C POW camp in Alt Drewitz, from which he escaped in early January 1945. He headed east, hoping to meet up with the Soviet army. Encountering a Soviet tank brigade in the middle of January, he raised his hands, holding a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and shouted in Russian, 'Amerikansky tovarishch! ("American comrade!"). Beyrle was eventually able to persuade the battalion's commander (Aleksandra Samusenko, reportedly the only female tank officer of that rank in the war) to allow him to fight alongside the unit on its way to Berlin. Beyrle began a month-long stint in a Soviet tank battalion, where his demolitions expertise was appreciated.
i had no idea about the guy. he delivered gold to the french resistance. coolhttps://t.co/RXL7P6ZI5t
— Jef Booth (@JefBooth) April 17, 2025
I somehow doubt he vacationed in Germany much after the war.
Marie Curie's son-in-law, Frdric Joliot-Curie was also an accomplished scientist when he married her daughter. Their work was a link in the discovery of the neutron. He was also part of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France. He was responsible for creating Molotov Cocktails and apparently found a way for them to burn hotter and longer than what was being produced beforehand. He was an actual Nazi killer.
Unfortunately, he was also a rabid communist and won the Stalin Peace Priz.
Unfortunately, he was also a rabid communist and won the Stalin Peace Priz.
If you say you hate the state of politics in this nation and you don't get involved in it, you obviously don't hate the state of politics in this nation.
The Texas Playboys recorded "Time Changes Everything" during an April 15, 1940, recording session in Saginaw, Texas.
I read about him at the Upottery UK airborne museum
Home of the largest grain elevators in Texas.
Wichita is the home of the largest grain elevator, which was Jack White's destination in Seven Nation Army, which was recorded in London, UK.
Wichita is the home of the largest grain elevator, which was Jack White's destination in Seven Nation Army, which was recorded in London, UK.
Not really a secret at all (Latin for reserve/separate) but some incredible stuff:
Some crazy history:
The Heresy Trial of Galileo Galilei (1633)
— Glimpses of Culture 🏛️ (@CharmOfCulture) April 17, 2025
You can read the full transcripts of the Church’s trial against Galileo for supporting heliocentrism.
He was forced to recant and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
The signature of Pope Urban VIII is still on the… pic.twitter.com/zIyRKfQVNC
Michelangelo’s Letters to the Vatican (1500s)
— Glimpses of Culture 🏛️ (@CharmOfCulture) April 17, 2025
The archives contain correspondence from the artist himself, including complaints about delays in payment for his work on the Sistine Chapel.
Yes—Michelangelo was chasing invoices too. pic.twitter.com/ZKj1rF2nuQ
The Bull Inter Caetera (1493)
— Glimpses of Culture 🏛️ (@CharmOfCulture) April 17, 2025
Issued by Pope Alexander VI, this document granted Spain control over newly discovered lands west of a line in the Atlantic.
It divided the New World and laid the foundation for the Treaty of Tordesillas. pic.twitter.com/7y3YrzPDFK
Some crazy history:
Quote:
Sadly, many of the documents that were formerly held in the archives were lost to history. After invading Rome and taking Pope Pius VII hostage, Napoleon had the most of Pope's papers carted off to Paris. After Napoleon fell from power, Pope Pius VII demanded his papers back. But the costs of transport back to Rome from Paris proved more than the Vatican could afford, many of the priceless papers were burnt. In an episode that haunts historians, the documents that weren't destroyed were used as scrap, with some parchments sold by weight to a French grocer for packing purposes. About a third of the collection never returned to Rome.
Before Napoleon, the Vatican Archives were badly organized and improperly cared for. The effort to organize the papers into the system now used truly began in earnest when the remaining documents seized by the French were returned in the 1880's.
In 2012, to mark the 400th anniversary of the Vatican Archives, 100 original documents dating from the 8th to the 20th century were put on display from February to September 2012 in the "Lux in Arcana" exhibition held at the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
A truly tragic event in history.
When the Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 they wrote back to the Pope with news that they “ended” the schism. Pope Innocent III accepted it and replied:
— ShadowsOfConstantinople (@RomeInTheEast) April 22, 2025
“Surely, this was done by the Lord and is wondrous in our eyes. This is truly a change done by the right hand of the… https://t.co/eSZDBqR1aC pic.twitter.com/q4pVhLd9yD
Even back then, it was all about the money
Wild. Sure the dude, Selfridge, had some bad luck but he was also on the bad end of brand new, leading edge tech, Armored warships, CSS Virginia, and electronically detonated mines- with USS Cairo as its first victim. I doubt countermeasure against these techs were on the books when these events took place.BQ78 said:
Desperate times call for desperate measures and sometimes people get killed.
Puts me in mind of another desperate situation, hero versus fool situation and a semi-mind-blowing history fact. The very sinkable Thomas Selfridge during the Civil War is the man. He was in command of USS Cumberland in Hampton Roads the day CSS Virginia came out to play. Cumberland would be the first ship sunk by an ironclad in combat. Selfridge refused to strike his colors as his ship was sinking from Virginia's gunfire and Selfridge kept on firing his guns, watching most of the projectiles bounce off the casemate of the ironclad. He did order his men to fire at the portholes, hoping for a lucky strike but sailors died because of his decision to go down fighting.
Selfridge was next given command of the USS Alligator, where he did sea trials on the Federal version of the Hunley. Of course, in this case he was trying to sink his ship, as it was a submarine. After testing the submarine, he was given command of the tinclad gunboat USS Cairo on the western waters. Of course, Cairo with Selfridge in command became the first naval vessel sunk by an electronically detonated mine (called a torpedo in those days). His next command was the timberclad USS Manitou. Did he lose her? Of course he did, when he collided with the former CSS General Price (captured at Memphis) at the beginning of the Red River Campaign in April 1864.
Despite this bad luck he was immediately given command of the USS Osage, a Neosho class monitor and during the fighting on Red River at Blair's Landing his ship became the first to fire a cannon aimed by a telescopic sight. This first shot took off the top of the head off the famous Texan, Tom Green. Selfridge did not sink the Osage but he did ground it on a sandbar in the Arkansas River, splitting the hull. Fortunately, it was salvaged and repaired.
With the end of the war the navy got Selfridge off the water and behind a desk at the US Naval Academy. With everyone calling him the best swimmer in the US Navy. Less friendly people gave him the more familiar moniker of Jonah.
But that was not the end of the hard luck of the Selfridge family. His son and namesake became an admiral but was court martialed for killing Japanese fishermen when he decided to have target practice 3 miles off the coast of Japan, without first inspecting the impact zone. His son, and namesake, realizing the navy life had not always been good to the Selfridge's joined the army. He became the first person to die in a plane crash, while flying with Orville Wright in 1908. Selfridge Air National Guard Base is named for him. I saw the propeller from the plane he was flying in when he died. It is at the Air Force National Museum at Wright Patterson AFB.
But yeah the rest is some wildly bad luck and bad decision making.
On April 21st 1942 the USS San Jacinto was spotted by U-201 and after a 12 hour pursuit was hit by a torpedo and sunk. (Went down on the 22nd).
The legendary Commanche War Chief, Quanah Parker was filmed as part of a silent film in 1908. Pretty wild to be able to see him ride a horse and on camera.
I believe that is him at 3:18.
I believe that is him at 3:18.
💀⚖️ The Trial of a Dead Pope: The Cadaver Synod of 897
— MindVoyager (@Karol1669024) April 23, 2025
A corpse. A courtroom. A pope on the throne... but already dead.
In 897, Pope Stephen VI put his predecessor, Pope Formosus, on trial
His decaying body was dressed in papal robes, seated on a throne, and judged posthumously… pic.twitter.com/qsxhqfxXq2
4️⃣ The People Revolt 🏛️🔥
— MindVoyager (@Karol1669024) April 23, 2025
Rome erupted in shock and fury
Even in a brutal era, this was too much
Whispers of blasphemy spread
Clergy and nobles were horrified
Within months, Stephen VI was overthrown, imprisoned, and finally strangled in his cell
His reign of vengeance ended in… pic.twitter.com/17R8SsyCVc
LOL, talk about mind-blowing history. I'm tempted to reference 'papal infallibility.' Ah, the good ol' days.
In more recent times, there's the case of Pope Pius XII, the so-called "Exploding Pope" (thanks to a ridiculously-botched embalming ..
When embalming goes wrong it shows the powerful production of gases during decomposition. In a very famous case, this occurred when Pope Pius XII died in Rome on October 11, 1958. As is normally the case with popes, there was to be a large funeral with viewing, requiring the body to be embalmed to preserve it during the viewing process. In accordance with tradition, the papal physician Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi was responsible for the embalming. Known to be an incompetent physician, Galeazzi-Lisi showed himself to be as bad at embalming as he was in normal medical matters and he botched the embalming. He used a technique that involved soaking the body with oils, then wrapping it tightly in cellophane sheets. Although it was in line with Pius's wishes to be buried "as God had made him", you may spot the mistake in that the internal organs were not preserved in this approach. Inevitably autolysis, plus putrefaction caused by the gut bacteria, were soon generating large amounts of gas inside the body. This was exacerbated by the failure to refrigerate the body in the unseasonably hot weather. Over the 4-day course of the viewing and funeral ceremony, the Pope's chest "exploded" due to build-up of gas in the chest cavity, then the nose and fingers fell off and the body turned a greenish black color. The smell was so sickening that some guards fainted and guarding could only be made bearable by changing the guard every 15 minutes. Galeazzi-Lisi was humiliated and was eventually banned from the Vatican forever.
https://surgeonshallmuseums.wordpress.com/2021/08/20/decomposition-the-enemy-of-anatomy-and-embalming-and-the-case-of-the-exploding-pope/
When embalming goes wrong it shows the powerful production of gases during decomposition. In a very famous case, this occurred when Pope Pius XII died in Rome on October 11, 1958. As is normally the case with popes, there was to be a large funeral with viewing, requiring the body to be embalmed to preserve it during the viewing process. In accordance with tradition, the papal physician Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi was responsible for the embalming. Known to be an incompetent physician, Galeazzi-Lisi showed himself to be as bad at embalming as he was in normal medical matters and he botched the embalming. He used a technique that involved soaking the body with oils, then wrapping it tightly in cellophane sheets. Although it was in line with Pius's wishes to be buried "as God had made him", you may spot the mistake in that the internal organs were not preserved in this approach. Inevitably autolysis, plus putrefaction caused by the gut bacteria, were soon generating large amounts of gas inside the body. This was exacerbated by the failure to refrigerate the body in the unseasonably hot weather. Over the 4-day course of the viewing and funeral ceremony, the Pope's chest "exploded" due to build-up of gas in the chest cavity, then the nose and fingers fell off and the body turned a greenish black color. The smell was so sickening that some guards fainted and guarding could only be made bearable by changing the guard every 15 minutes. Galeazzi-Lisi was humiliated and was eventually banned from the Vatican forever.
https://surgeonshallmuseums.wordpress.com/2021/08/20/decomposition-the-enemy-of-anatomy-and-embalming-and-the-case-of-the-exploding-pope/
Maybe that is why Francis didn't want to be embalmed.
Guess Pius wasn't a saint, no miraculous preservation of his body.
Guess Pius wasn't a saint, no miraculous preservation of his body.
My great, great grandfather fought for the confederate & passed away at a POW camp.BQ78 said:
26,000 Confederates died in Federal Prison Camps, most in the last year of the war. That is 6X the number of Confederate dead at Gettysburg and 2X the number of Confederate dead at Antietam, Chickamauga, Seven Days, Shiloh and Second Manassas combined.
He was one of them. Died of TB, like many other prisoners.
My great grandfather was orphaned at an early age. He and his Uncle's family and a few other settlers took a wagon train from Arkansas to California back in the mid 1860's.
They missed the initial group but they were the fortunate as they passed the earlier party that had died of starvation & Indian attacks along the way.
Thank goodness that they did so or I wouldn't be typing this out right now.
Looks true, it's on the internet, but I guess they are going to work on it again now (been sitting there for around 10 years?)
Was contributing to a thread on the Politics forum (shudder) about PBS and NPR.
I mentioned the value to the American public about a show of which I was a big fan, being a Finance major in the 70's (I'm a class of '80, the class with the greatest class gift ever). The show was Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser. It was an awesome show that really inspired me.
Going back and reading about Rukeyser, who I mentioned I had a nice encounter with hm many years ago, I read that Rukeyser roomed with Wayne Rogers, the actor - famous for MASH. Rogers became a very successful financial advisor after leaving a successful acting career.
Maybe not mind boggling to many, it is to me.
I mentioned the value to the American public about a show of which I was a big fan, being a Finance major in the 70's (I'm a class of '80, the class with the greatest class gift ever). The show was Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser. It was an awesome show that really inspired me.
Going back and reading about Rukeyser, who I mentioned I had a nice encounter with hm many years ago, I read that Rukeyser roomed with Wayne Rogers, the actor - famous for MASH. Rogers became a very successful financial advisor after leaving a successful acting career.
Maybe not mind boggling to many, it is to me.
The sack of Antioch is one of the more extreme/dramatic examples of islamic 'religion of peace' conquest/destruction in history.
Brutal history.
What ever happened to the famous Christian city of Antioch?
— ShadowsOfConstantinople (@RomeInTheEast) May 5, 2025
In 1268 Antioch was ruthlessly destroyed by the Mamluk Sultan Baybars - “they slew all the males therein, they destroyed the famous churches, they took captive women, and sons, and daughters, and they left it a heap of… pic.twitter.com/TQiLoSfjEm
Brutal history.
Reminds me of the movie they made with Charles Goodnight in 1916. Parker was already dead, but Kiowa and Comanche were filmed for the movie.
https://texasarchive.org/2010_01598
https://texasarchive.org/2010_01598
I don't think you're going to find too many religions covered in peaceful glory in that era. The Crusaders were certainly not peaceful.
And look at what the Brits did during the sacks of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), Badajoz (1812) and San Sebastian (1813), and their sack of Jhansi in India as recently as 1858.Sapper Redux said:
I don't think you're going to find too many religions covered in peaceful glory in that era. The Crusaders were certainly not peaceful.
Brennan's monorail using two huge gyroscopes to self-balance is pretty cool.
About that infamous Fokker Triplane of WWI, which was renowned & feared for its ability to climb and maneuver ... you might assume that its legendary attributes were due to it having three wings ... but as explained in the video linked below, it was the design of the Gottingen 298 wing, along with the design of the propeller, that accounted for most of this.
You might be thinking, "3 wings = more wing area, and therefore more lift."
Except that the wingspan of the Fokker Triplane was less than the contemporary biplanes, and it actually had less wing area than a Sopwith Pup or a Sopwith Camel ...
By my best count, Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) scored only 19 or 20 kills in a Triplane. By the time he was shot down while flying a Triplane in April 1918, he had test flown the Fokker D.VII (a biplane ... or actually a sesquiplane if you want to be really technical about it) and was quite enthusiastic about it ... German squadrons started getting equipped with the D.VII in May 1918. Several thousand D.VIIs were built, compared with only 300+ of the Fokker Triplane ...
You might be thinking, "3 wings = more wing area, and therefore more lift."
Except that the wingspan of the Fokker Triplane was less than the contemporary biplanes, and it actually had less wing area than a Sopwith Pup or a Sopwith Camel ...
By my best count, Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) scored only 19 or 20 kills in a Triplane. By the time he was shot down while flying a Triplane in April 1918, he had test flown the Fokker D.VII (a biplane ... or actually a sesquiplane if you want to be really technical about it) and was quite enthusiastic about it ... German squadrons started getting equipped with the D.VII in May 1918. Several thousand D.VIIs were built, compared with only 300+ of the Fokker Triplane ...
So the idea behind three wings is roll rate, not lift. The shorter the wings, the faster a plane will roll around its long axis
But the engines of the time were weak, so they still needed lots of wing. Say you need 300 square feet of wing. In a biplane that's 150 each, in a triplane 100 each.
All other things being equal, the triplane wings can be 2/3 the width
But the engines of the time were weak, so they still needed lots of wing. Say you need 300 square feet of wing. In a biplane that's 150 each, in a triplane 100 each.
All other things being equal, the triplane wings can be 2/3 the width
Bell Labs history is absolutely mind blowing.
Harvard paid $25 bucks for an…original copy of the Magna Carta from 1215.
Greenwich Mean Time.
"The Time Seller!" — The Amazing Story of Greenwich
— 🇵🇰★彡عمران✿سعید彡★ 🇵🇰 (@Imransaeed1974) May 23, 2025
Have you ever wondered who "Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)" is attributed to?
Is it just a scientific term? Or is there an interesting human story behind it?
So here we go! We introduce you to Mrs. Greenwich — a woman who really… pic.twitter.com/dn1sLlMWgv
A mid-18th century inheritance in England may have cost Robert E. Lee his best chance to destroy George McClellan's Army of the Potomac in the Seven Days Battle.
In the mid-18th century, the ancient elite but dirt-poor Enroughty family lived in England. Forty years before, a female member of their clan, Magdalene, had committed the unforgivable crime of falling in love with and marrying a plebian scrub named Derby (pronounced Darby), who had to work the land for his living. The two were ostracized from the Enroughty clan.
Derby and Magdalene never had any children. But after 40 years of hard work, as a childless-widower, Derby had amassed land and a small fortune. In a twisted will, Derby left it all to the Enroughtys on the condition that they change their family name to Darby.
The proud Enroughty's did not want to change their name but the Derby fortune was too much to pass up. One of the clan came up with a brilliant solution. Let's keep our name spelling but pronounce it Darby.
Spring forward to the end of June 1862. George McClellan was falling back on Virginia's Peninsula to Harrison's Landing on the James River. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac had endured three days of fierce attacks by Robert E. Lee, who was seeking nothing less than the annihilation of McClellan and his army. Lee hoping to turn McClellan's left at Frayser's Farm looked at his map and ordered John Magruder and Benjamin Huger's Divisions to march down the Charles City Road, turn left on the Darbytown Road, past the Darby Farm and smash into the Army of the Potomac's left flank on Frayser's Farm.
But the attack never occurred, Magruder and Huger headed down the Charles City Road correctly but Magruder in the lead, marched past the Darbytown Road. After 15 minutes of marching incorrectly down the Charles City Road and consulting his map, he realized there was no Darby anything on his map. Consulting a local farmer, he learned that the road on his map that he was looking for was the Enroughty Road, pronounced in these parts as Darby.
To this day, there are Enroughtys on the Viriginia Peninsula who pronounce it Darby.
In the mid-18th century, the ancient elite but dirt-poor Enroughty family lived in England. Forty years before, a female member of their clan, Magdalene, had committed the unforgivable crime of falling in love with and marrying a plebian scrub named Derby (pronounced Darby), who had to work the land for his living. The two were ostracized from the Enroughty clan.
Derby and Magdalene never had any children. But after 40 years of hard work, as a childless-widower, Derby had amassed land and a small fortune. In a twisted will, Derby left it all to the Enroughtys on the condition that they change their family name to Darby.
The proud Enroughty's did not want to change their name but the Derby fortune was too much to pass up. One of the clan came up with a brilliant solution. Let's keep our name spelling but pronounce it Darby.
Spring forward to the end of June 1862. George McClellan was falling back on Virginia's Peninsula to Harrison's Landing on the James River. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac had endured three days of fierce attacks by Robert E. Lee, who was seeking nothing less than the annihilation of McClellan and his army. Lee hoping to turn McClellan's left at Frayser's Farm looked at his map and ordered John Magruder and Benjamin Huger's Divisions to march down the Charles City Road, turn left on the Darbytown Road, past the Darby Farm and smash into the Army of the Potomac's left flank on Frayser's Farm.
But the attack never occurred, Magruder and Huger headed down the Charles City Road correctly but Magruder in the lead, marched past the Darbytown Road. After 15 minutes of marching incorrectly down the Charles City Road and consulting his map, he realized there was no Darby anything on his map. Consulting a local farmer, he learned that the road on his map that he was looking for was the Enroughty Road, pronounced in these parts as Darby.
To this day, there are Enroughtys on the Viriginia Peninsula who pronounce it Darby.
Now that's a neat little story there
I'm currently on page 4. Talk about a rabbit hole!
On March 5, 1815 two days into the Hundred Days reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, stopped in the town of Volonne on his way to Paris. He dismounted and went to this wall of a house and performed an act the townspeople thought worthy of commemoration with a plaque:
Closer inspection of the inscription in Provencial French, really needs no translation:
I have seen something like this before though, in my first USAF squadron, one of the bathrooms had one of those trophy sticker things that was applied in one of the urinals saying that it had been used by General Burpee on his visit in the early 1970s.
Closer inspection of the inscription in Provencial French, really needs no translation:
I have seen something like this before though, in my first USAF squadron, one of the bathrooms had one of those trophy sticker things that was applied in one of the urinals saying that it had been used by General Burpee on his visit in the early 1970s.
Archaeologists may have uncovered the resting place of Genghis Khan in Mongolia's Khentii province, near the Onon River. During road construction, workers found a mass grave containing 68 skeletons on an ancient stone structure. pic.twitter.com/NVGw1KAp6S
— Erudite Luminary 𝕏 (@AK____0_0) June 5, 2025
"Maybe." I'm skeptical though. From 2022:
1 in 200 are direct descendant's of him. You'd think they'd do a DNA test.Quote:
A total of 68 skeletons were found u together, almost directly over the top of a rather crude stone structure
The content of the tomb was scattered and badly deteriorated, presumably due to the fact that the site was located beneath the river bed for hundreds of years until the course of the Onon river changed in the 18th century. The s of a tall male and sixteen female skeletons were identified among hundreds of gold and silver artifacts and thousands of coins.
The women are presumed to have been wives and concubines of the leader, who were to accompany the warlord in the afterlife. The amount of treasure and the number of scc animals and people immediately led the archaeologists to consider that the site was certainly the u site of a really powerful Mongol warlord.
After realizing an extensive set of tests and analysis, they were able to confirm that the o belonged to a man aged between 60 and 75, who between 1215 and 1235 AD. Both the age, the date, the location, and the opulence of the site seem to confirm that the tomb does indeed belong to Genghis Khan.
Sticking with the Napoleon theme, two great nephews of the emperor served the US Government. One as Teddy Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy (Charles Joseph) another founded the FBI (Charles Francis).
Napoleon's brother Jerome married an American and she returned to America with her children. The family name died out with last male heir in 1945.
Napoleon's brother Jerome married an American and she returned to America with her children. The family name died out with last male heir in 1945.