Weekly Update
Weekly Update 06/04/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday June 4, 2010
Welcome to North Carolina! On this day back in 1584, the first colony on Roanoke Island was established. It only lasted a year before fleeing back to England. Then two years later they tried again. That second attempt resulted in the famous 'disappearing colony' of legend when their ship went back to England for 3 months and didn't return for 3 years only to find in the meantime they'd all gone missing. There's been many theories over the years as to what happened, but no one knows for sure what really happened.
Weekly Update 05/28/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday May 28, 2010
Happy Birthday Sierra Club. Founded on this day back in 1892, your motto "Explore, enjoy, and protect the planet" is one that I can wholeheartedly agree with. You've done so many great things over the years to protect the environment including preventing them from building dams in the Grand Canyon and turning it into a lake. You take the long view of what is best for everyone. Of course, along the way you've upset the plans of many greedy businesses who only take the short view including our own government who attacked you back in the 1960's using the IRS. You survived those trying days and currently are larger and more active than ever before. This is a good thing, because with what is happening in the Gulf, you're going to be needed more than ever before to find ways to fix the mess we've gotten ourselves into.
Weekly Update 05/21/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday May 21, 2010
Hide the kitchen knives! It's been 74 years since the arrest of Sada Abe in Japan. She'd killed her lover through erotic asphyxiation, cut off his penis & testicles, and carried them around with her for 3 days before the police tracked her down. If that wasn't enough, the really weird thing about all this is that she'd done it because she loved him and knew that if she killed him no other woman would ever be able to touch him. Man, talk about taking jealousy to the extremes! I guess John Bobbitt should be glad that Lorena was angry at him. At least he lived through it... and had it reattached afterward!
Weekly Update 05/14/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday May 14, 2010
To the future and beyond! On this day back in 1973, the space-station Skylab was launched. It wasn't the world's first space station, that honor goes to the Soviet's Salyut 1, but it was four times bigger and stayed up over twelve times as long. Of course, this was at the height of the cold war, so the USA had to outdo everything their rival, the Soviet Union, did. To the politicians the benefits to scientific knowledge were almost incidental to the propaganda opportunities. It took them nearly a decade to outdo us for size and duration. It was a race that was good for science, but sometimes I think it would have been quicker and cheaper for them both to have just whipped it out of their pants and used a measuring stick.
Weekly Update 05/07/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday May 7, 2010
Happy Birthday Johannes Brahms. Born on this day back in 1833, you are still revered today as a masterful pianist and composer. Most people don't realise that you got your start playing the piano as a young teen in local German bars... which also doubled as brothels! Even later in life, once you were successful, you continued to visit such establishments, as a patron rather than employee. Although considered a sarcastic grump, you certainly had an appreciation for the finer things in life, enjoying good cigars, fine booze, and of course, the attention of lovely women.
Weekly Update 04/30/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday April 30, 2010
Every year lots of young hopefuls travel to Hollywood to try to make their mark in show-business. Some may succeed & be known forever, some may fail & never be heard from again, and some will be immortalized in concrete forever. It was on this day back in 1927 that the first stars placed their feet and hands in wet cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, starting a tradition that continues today. It's not just hands and feet though; cigars, hoof-prints, magic wands, and even a nose have all been pressed into wet concrete for all posterity to see. You know you're at the top when you've joined the ranks of those who've truly 'made their mark'.
Weekly Update 04/23/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday April 23, 2010
Hail the mighty Conch Republic! Founded 28 years ago today this micro-nation seceded from the United States in protest for being treated as if they weren't really part of the US. They figured that if they were going to be treated as if they were another nation, then they might as well create themselves as another nation. They promptly declared war on the US, surrendered a minute later, and then requested a billion dollars in foreign aid. Personally, given how the government likes spending money, I'm half surprised they didn't get it. This 'Sovereign State of Mind' seeks only to bring more "Humor, Warmth, & Respect" to the world. Sounds like a place I might like to emigrate to some day.
Weekly Update 04/16/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday April 16, 2010
Welcome home King Odysseus! You're a hero who won a great war with the Trojans that lasted 10 years before it then it took you 10 years to make it home in glorious triumph! ... Well, maybe it was not-so-glorious given that you lost your ship, your entire crew died, you returned as a beggar, and you found your wife besieged by suitors eating her out of house and home. Your triumph finally came when you ambushed and killed all those suitors and regained your wife, your kingship, and your lands. Wow, 20 years apart from your wife and she stayed faithful to you that whole time while you... you were Calypso's lover for 7 years.
Weekly Update 04/09/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday April 9, 2010
It's been 150 years today since the first human voice was recorded for playback. The phonoautograph beat the phonograph by 18 years although it took them until 2 years ago to actually play it back and hear what was recorded (using optical scanners and computers). Think about that accomplishment for a second. They recorded human voice to be replayed at a later time. No matter how common such a thing is now, I think it's incredible that they even considered trying to do it back then. Now think about all the things that such a breakthrough made possible; phonographs, radio, records, movies, TV, MTV, and finally U-tube!
Weekly Update 04/02/10
Weekly Update ~
Friday April 2, 2010
A call to arms! On this day back in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany during The Great War (also called WWI now that we have to number such things). The country was divided by those who favored isolationism and those who thought we should get involved in the war. It reminds me a lot of what is happening nowadays with those who favor getting out of Iraq and/or Afghanistan and those who want to see it through to the end. Each side thinks they know what's best for the country but the only way to know for sure is to look at it through the lens of history, once it's long past.