Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore.
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, the last president from the Whig Party. Born into poverty in the Finger Lakes area of New York state, he became a prominent attorney in the Buffalo area and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1828, and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1832. As Ways and Means Committee chairman, he helped pass the Tariff of 1842. In 1848, he was elected vice president and succeeded to the presidency in July 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore considered slavery an evil, but beyond the powers of the federal government. He pushed to pass the Compromise of 1850, leading to a brief truce in the battle over slavery. He also enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, a controversial part of the Compromise. The Whigs nominated Winfield Scott in 1852 instead of him. In 1856, he was nominated for president by the Know Nothing Party, but he finished third, winning only Maryland.

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Gottlob Berger

Gottlob Berger.
Gottlob Berger (1896–1975) was a senior German Nazi official and the chief of the Main Office of the Schutzstaffel (SS) during World War II. He was transferred to the SS in 1936 by its commander, Heinrich Himmler. Berger was responsible for the growth of the armed wing of the SS, the Waffen-SS, evading controls over conscription and overseeing recruitment within and outside Germany, including among those who in no way reflected Himmler's ideas of "racial purity". Often clashing with senior military officers and even with his superiors over his recruiting methods, Berger grew the Waffen-SS to 38 divisions by the war's end. He placed his friend Oskar Dirlewanger in command of a unit of convicted criminals that later committed many war crimes. Indicted for war crimes himself on 6 January 1949, Berger was convicted on 13 April, including for his involvement in slave labour schemes and as a conscious participant in the concentration camp program.

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Mark XIV bomb sight

Mark XIV bomb sight.
The Mark XIV bomb sight was developed by Royal Air Force Bomber Command during the Second World War. It was their standard bombsight for the second half of the War, replacing the First World War-era CSBS beginning in 1942. Essentially an automated version of the CSBS, it used a mechanical computer to update the sights in real-time. It required only 10 seconds of straight flight before a bomb drop, and automatically accounted for shallow climbs and dives. It contained a gyro stabilization platform that kept the sight pointed at the target as the bomber manoeuvred, dramatically increasing its accuracy and ease of sighting. It demonstrated accuracy roughly equal to the contemporary Norden bombsight, and was smaller, easier to use, faster-acting and better suited to night bombing. A post-war upgrade, the T-4, connected directly to the Navigation and Bombing System computers to automate the setting of wind speed and direction.

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Venture Science Fiction

Venture Science Fiction.
Venture Science Fiction was an American science fiction magazine published from 1957 to 1958, and revived for a brief run in 1969 and 1970. There were ten issues of the 1950s version, and six in the second run. Robert P. Mills edited the 1950s version, and Edward L. Ferman was editor for the second run. A British edition ran for 28 issues between 1963 and 1965 reprinting material from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction as well as from the US edition of Venture. An Australian edition was identical to the British version but dated two months later. The 1950's version was only moderately successful, failing due to poor sales within two years. The publisher, Joseph W. Ferman, said that he wanted well-told stories of action and adventure; the resulting fiction contained more sex and violence than was usual for the genre in the late 1950s, and science fiction historian Mike Ashley noted that the magazine was ahead of its time. The second US version was also unsuccessful, with poorer cover art and little in the way of notable fiction. By the end of 1970, Venture had ceased publication permanently.