Free Republic

Soaring demand for guns and ammunition comes from a range of demographic groups Just two companies, Vista Outdoor and Olin Corp, meet the bulk of America’s demand for ammunition, and chiefly through two long-established brands. Remington, part of Vista, was founded in 1816, and Winchester Ammunition, owned by Olin Corp, started in 1866. Because of soaring demand for bullets, both firms are enjoying the sort of heady growth that only new businesses usually enjoy. Three times a day, queues of pick-up trucks appear outside Remington’s ammunition plant on the outskirts of Little Rock, Arkansas, to bear away the fruits of...

It all started when a massive volcano erupted, showering the land in a shroud of darkness. From that dark cloud in June of 1816, two of the most enduring horror icons were born: the Frankenstein Monster, and the modern interpretation of the Vampire–which ultimately resulted in Dracula. Born on the same night, both turn 200 years old this month. While that might all sound a little melodramatic, it’s actually totally accurate. In late 1815, a volcano called Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies had a massive eruption, which shifted weather patterns all throughout Asia and Europe. 1816 was known...

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER 1816, IN MAINE By Lee-Lee Schlegel MONTHS THAT SHOULD BE SUMMER’S PRIME SLEET AND SNOW AND FROST AND RIME AIR SO COLD YOU SEE YOUR BREATH EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FROZE TO DEATH (An old rhyme) -------------------------------------------------------------1771 REUBEN WHITTEN 1847 SON OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER, A PIONEER OF THIS TOWN, COLD SEASON OF 1816 RAISED 40 BUSHELS OF WHEAT ON THIS LAND WHITCH KEPT HIS FAMILY AND NEIGHBOURS FROM STARVATION ( Tombstone in an Ashland, N.H. cemetery) Imagine! It’s June. Or July. Or perhaps August in Down East Maine. In Milbridge. That’s easy enough to do,...

1816 was the "year without a summer." There were several causes of the abnormally cold weather that year, as this source recounts: The year 1816 is still known to scientists and historians as "eighteen hundred and froze to death" or the "year without a summer." It was the locus of a period of natural ecological destruction not soon to be forgotten. During that year, the Northern Hemisphere was slammed with the effects of at least two abnormal but natural phenomena. These events were mysterious at the time, and even today they are not well understood. First, 1816 marked the midpoint...

Introduction The period 1812-1817 was one of exceptional volcanic activity, and the sheer volume of volcanic dust pumped into the atmosphere by these volcanic eruptions caused a general, temporary cooling in the earth’s climate around this time. This temporary climatic cooling peaked during the summer of 1816 was the peak of this cooling and the reason the peak fell in the summer of 1816 is almost certainly die to the eruption of the Tamboro volcano east of Java in April 1815 (believed to be one of the most explosive eruptions of the last 10,000 years). At the time sunspots were...

Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death The Infamous "Year Without A Summer" Of the cold summers in the period 1811 to 1817, the year 1816 has gone down in the annals of New England history as "The Year There Was No Summer," the "Poverty Year" and "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." The year began with a moderate but dry winter. Spring was tardy and continued very dry. The growing season from late spring to early fall, however, was punctuated by a series of devastating cold waves that did major damage to the crops and greatly reduced the food supply....

In their excellent book, The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History, William and Nicholas Klingaman relate the history, causes, and effects of the record cold that gripped the northern hemisphere in 1816.  For most in America, Europe, and Asia, the winter of 1815-1816 was the coldest in living memory.  What followed in the spring and summer of that year was equally disastrous.  It was an entire year of cold rains, crop failures, hunger, and economic collapse. There were multiple causes for the extreme weather of 1816, but all of them were natural,...

As Biden speaks at event named for Old Hickory tonight, more appalling stories show party should dump him as icon Spring means that appeals for money are bursting forth from both major political parties. It also means Democratic officials in states and counties around the country are busy getting people out to their major fundraiser, the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. And theyÂ’re bringing in the big guns: Vice President Joe Biden will keynote the South Carolina DemocratsÂ’ dinner tonight.But after an election in which Democrats rode a wave of minority support to keep the White House and Senate, party activists should...