December 2020

Here we are at the start of another year. People make a big deal out of “new” years, but in truth, when the calendar flips, the day is a lot like the one before, and most likely, a lot like the one after. But, we time track, we humans. And the turning of the calendar […]

The times sure have changed. I mean. Things are so much different now than they were a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, a million years ago. One year ago. If we go all the way back to a million, the United States, where it stands today, was pretty empty and cold. We’d have

He may have been the worst president in U.S. History until very recently. Andrew Johnson, our seventeenth president, was born on this date, December 29, 1808. His rise through the political ranks went as so many others do. They begin at the local level, and before you know it, they are president. Such was the

Clearly, the whale was having a bad day. I got a little sad for that whale and for all the others that had run into such a predicament. As I was reading my “This Day in History” letter, the entry for today’s date in 1614 simply said, “1614 Sperm whale beached at Noordwijk.” Of course,

I wish I would have had more awareness as a child, but I didn’t. What I mean is that I grew up essentially in a two-mile radius. From the time I was born, we lived at the same address, 134 E. Bruce Avenue in Dayton, Ohio. Our school, a Catholic school, was a mile away,

Historical Blurbs. That’s what we get most of the time, in our news threads, or on the evening network news. If something is of note — say Washington crossing the Delaware — we are usually given a one-sentence “capture” of that event, such as “Washington crossed the Delaware, December 25-26, 1776.” So when I read

The really, really magnificent ones only happen every once in a great while. The great leaders, or athletes, or entertainers, throughout history. In this case, a scientist, as Christmas Day is also Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday. He came into this world in 1642. He has been, undoubtedly, one of the most influential scientists of all

Merry Christmas to you all. Wishing you peace and joy. ========== “Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” =========== “What kind of Christmas present would Jesus ask Santa for?”― Salman Rushdie =========== “Like kids who only ever get socks for Christmas, but still believe with all their hearts in Santa.”― Barbara Kingsolver,