While flying commercial airlines is a relatively safe way to travel, that does not mean that things cannot go wrong. There might be difficult weather, mechanical problems with the aircraft, or pilot error. Or, for the 274 passengers and crew of China Air Flight 006, February 19, 1985, all of the above. That terrifying time that a 747 fell thirty thousand feet in just under two and a half minutes, deserves to be remembered.

One of the items from the History guy set that has gotten the most attention for viewers is the bugle, which hangs on the wall. This bugle in b-flat brings to mind the interesting history of the instrument and how bugles have been used on the battlefield. Their origins are ancient, but they are still an important part of military culture today.

There seems to be no agreement as to what was the greatest thing before sliced bread, we just know that many now compete over what is the greatest thing since. But, in 1943, sliced bread was about to encounter the largest war in human history. The US government ban on sliced bread in January, 1943, deserves to be remembered.

How much power is there in a horsepower, where does the term come from, and how did it become the most common way of talking about the power of a car engine? In fact the history of horsepower begins in the 18th century, and with a man whose name has become synonymous with a measurement of power – James Watt. It is history that deserves to be remembered.

In 2003 Walter Gregg, then 82, said “Not too many people can say they’ve had a nuclear bomb dropped on them. Not too many would want to.” The 1958 Mars Bluff nuclear weapon incident deserves to be remembered.

The Sicily earthquake of 1693 was the most powerful in recorded Italian history, and was so devastating that it changed the nature of architecture throughout the region. It is history that deserves to be remembered.

Erik the Red is one of the most famous historical Norsemen today. His life was in some way that of a typical ‘Viking’, but ultimately he established for himself and his family a famous reputation. He led the first permanent settlements of Greenland, and indirectly the earliest recorded landing on American shores.

By May 1942, nearly half of the forty surface ships of the U.S. Asiatic fleet would be sunk, including the fleet’s largest vessel, the heavy cruiser USS Houston. But the improbable survival of one of the fleet’s vessels, the light cruiser USS Marblehead, is the stuff of legend. The extraordinary voyage of the Marblehead is history that deserves to be remembered.

The most successful of the Inca resistance leaders was the Spanish installed emperor, Manco Inca, who rebelled in 1535 and briefly threatened the Spaniard’s hold on the Empire. The last stand of the Inca Empire is history that deserves to be remembered.

In a sense, every day could be seen as the beginning of the new year, in that every day occurs about 365 days after the same day the previous year. So how did we come to adopt January 1st as the beginning of the year?