Articles by Steven Gilchrist

John Augustus Roebling (1806 – 1869) was a farmer and engineer best known for his designs of wire rope suspension bridges.   Roebling was born in the Kingdom of Prussia and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1831 with his brother Carl.   Roebling’s early engineering work focused on improving river navigation and canal building.   In 1976, Roebling’s home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Roebling’s most notable bridge designs include: 1. 1854 – Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge: 821 feet 2. 1866 – John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (Cincinnati, Ohio to Covington, Kentucky): 1,057 feet 3. 1883 – Brooklyn Bridge: 1,595 feet

According to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), landmines kill between 15,000 – 20,000 people worldwide every year.   Most of the victims of landmine explosions are not soldiers; rather, those tend to be killed by landmines are children, women, and the elderly.   UNMAS suggests that anti-personnel mines have accomplished limited military purposes, despite their prevalence. In every military conflict since 1938, anti-personnel mines have been used.   Anti-personnel mines have a long-life span.   Anti-personnel mines are intended to maim or kill anything that comes in contact with them.   Mines from World War II are still in existence to the present-day.   Since the 1960s, as many as 110 million landmines have been spread throughout 78 countries worldwide.   Submunitions – which include bombs delivered by air, artillery, sea, or multipurpose weapons, and unexploded ordnance should be categorized as mines, according to UNMAS. In...

Boston, MA. – Samuel Walker McCall (1851 – 1923) was born in East Providence Township, Pennsylvania.   During his time as a student at Dartmouth College, McCall self-published a newspaper called The Anvil.   After college, McCall settled in Massachusetts.   He would eventually practice law in Boston.   McCall also served as the editor-in-chief of The Boston Daily Advertiser newspaper for two years. As a member of the Republican party, McCall served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1887 – 1892) and he also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1893 – 1913.   McCall served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1916 – 1919. After he left politics, McCall continued to write for newspapers and magazines.   There is a statue of Samuel W. McCall in the Massachusetts State House in Boston. Samuel W. McCall statue at the Massachusetts State House.

Romance scams are crimes that occur on the Internet.   These types of crimes are on the rise and are appealing for perpetrators since they are lucrative and relatively easy to commit.   According to the FBI, victims tend to be elderly divorced or widowed women who are targeted by criminal organizations.   The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) states that romance scams, also known as confidence fraud result in the highest amount of financial losses to victims compared with other Internet-based crimes.   Often times, romance fraudsters say that they are in the building or construction industry working on projects outside of the United States. “The Internet makes this type of crime easy because you can pretend to be anybody you want to be.   You can be anywhere in the world and victimize people.   The perpetrators will reach out to a lot of people on various networking sites to find somebody who may be a good target.   Then they use what th...