Anecdote
THE GIN AND GUNS GUY
Eli Whitney was born on Dec. 8, 1765 in Massachusetts. As a youth he showed talent in the mechanical arts by building his own violin. He graduated from Yale in 1789 and hope to become a teacher. Things did Read more…
Anecdote
PEARL HARBOR HEROES
The night of Dec. 6 Second Lieutenants George Welch and Ken Taylor spent drinking, like most servicemen stationed at Pearl Harbor. Next morning, they sobered up quickly as Japanese planes bombed the Pacific Fleet and their air base Wheeler Read more…
Anecdote
THE MAD KING
Charles VI ruled France from 1380 – 1422. He started off well and was known as “Charles the Beloved”, but before his reign was over he was known as “Charles the Mad”. His insanity was evidenced in several ways. Read more…
Anecdote
THE LOST FLIGHT 19
The myth of the Bermuda Triangle exploded after an incident on Dec. 5, 1945. On that day, a training flight took off from the naval station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 5 TBM Avengers torpedo bombers were led by Read more…
Anecdote
BEATEN WITH HIS OWN LEG
Sir Arthur Aston was a professional soldier who commanded mercenary forces in the Thirty Years’ War. In 1642, he was back in England and he joined the king’s forces in the English Civil War. Somewhere along the way he Read more…
Anecdote
FACTS ABOUT JOHN BROWN
He was born in 1800 in Connecticut to an abolitionist family. They moved to Ohio where his father allowed the home to be used by the Underground Railroad. John went to school to become a minister, but had to drop Read more…
Anecdote
FACTS ABOUT SHERLOCK HOLMES
On Dec. 1, 1887 the first Sherlock Holmes story appeared in print. Arthur Conan Doyle had been turned down by several publishers before he finally found someone to print it. He was 27 years old and wrote “A Study in Read more…
Anecdote
FACTS ABOUT MARK TWAIN
He was born two-months premature on November 30, 1835 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His home town was Florida, Missouri. His father was a self-educated lawyer who ran a general store. At age 4, the family moved to Hannibal, Mo. His Read more…
Anecdote
THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
Recently I posted on the Battle of the Washita and posed the question “was it a battle or a massacre?” I think most would agree it was a battle, although one-sided and unfair. A similar question, but with a Read more…
Anecdote
HERACLITUS
Heraclitus was a famous Greek philosopher. He lived from 535-475 B.C. He believed that the Universe was constantly changing, hence his quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. He formulated the “unity of opposites” which is Read more…