Edison Didn’t Invent the 1st Light Bulb, Just the best. And No One Remembers the Other Guys December 31, 2010

On This Date in History: In 1876, Thomas Edison did perhaps the smartest thing he ever did. He created an invention factory. He moved his staff of 15 people into a large clapboard building filled with all sorts of scientific equipment and chemicals in Menlo Park, New Jersey which was then just a small rural [...]

Congress Once Funded an Expedition To Determine if the Earth Was Hollow December 31, 2010

On This Date in History:   17th Century astronomer Edmund Halley  is more famous for the comet that bears his name but it is less well-known that he also suggested that the earth had four concentric spheres and that there was a hollow area in the center with small entrances at each pole. Inside the hollow [...]

A Dirty Ring Around the White House Bathtub December 28, 2010

On This Date in History:   According to H.L. Mencken, the first bathtub was installed in the White House in 1851 by President Millard Fillmore. Mencken wrote in a New York newspaper that the first bathtub in the United States was an “elegant mahogany contraption” installed in the home of a Cincinnati businessman in 1842. He said after that point, that [...]

Abraham Lincoln Authorized the Largest Mass Execution in US History December 26, 2010

On This Date in History: The conflict between the American Indians (aka Native Americans) and European (White) settlers goes back to the original landing of Europeans at Roanoke Island and Jamestown. Just about every time the Indians tried to flip a deal, that deal was broken, most often by the Whites. Sometimes it was by design. [...]

A Christmas Thought December 24, 2010

So, This is Christmas: This time of year, Christmas becomes a focus of attention. Sometimes, we hear about the scrooges out there. Sometimes we hear about the sad stories. Other times, we hear of heartlifting stories of people serving their fellow man, giving others a hand or stories of families making long overdue reunions. It [...]

First in War, First in Peace: A Eulogy For the Man Who Transcends the Ages December 19, 2010

On this Date in History: General George Washington was eulogized on this date in 1799 with words that have come to describe him in American lore ever since. The ailing former president had died at his home, Mount Vernon, on December 14, 1799 and Congress chose a Virginian to deliver the eulogy. The man had [...]

It’s Takes a Hard Days Night to Imagine that John Lennon has been Gone for 30 years December 8, 2010

On This Date in History: John Lennon was shot and killed on this date in 1980. I remember I was in my dorm room at Jester Hall at the University of Texas at Austin. 13th floor…methinks it was room 1325. Gary Hindman was my roomate. I called him Captain America. It was a Monday night [...]

The Factual Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott Flowed Like an Orchestra December 5, 2010

On This Date in History:  Often times, when history becomes part of the popular lexicon, facts get obscurred in a sanitized or abbreviated version.  In some cases, the blurring of facts is done intentionally.  In other instances, it is a result of lazy or ignorant members of the media or simply from an effort at [...]

1st Thanksgiving Had No Pilgrims and Was More Famine than Feast December 4, 2010

On This Date in History:  Thanksgiving has come and gone and Black Friday is in the record books.  I”m not sure how the day after Thanksgiving has turned into such a big deal.  I suppose that its been coming for some time.  Previously, I had outlined the genesis of Thanksgiving and related how President Franklin [...]