Now that the pandemic is over and world travel is again a reasonable activity, you might decide to visit as exotic a location as you could find. Even one that might be pretty hard to find, like, for example, East Timor.  Timor is an island at the southern end of the island chains in southeast… Continue reading

Today is the anniversary of the opening of the Mount Washington Cog Railway. It was the first “rack railroad” in the world that used gears to make it possible to climb such a steep grade. The whole thing was a tourist attraction right from the start; there’s really no reason to visit the top of… Continue reading

Humans have existed for tens of thousands of years, and have been able to count, at least to some extent, for (probably) most of that time. So with all that experience, particularly once writing was invented in various places and experiences could be widely shared, it’s natural to expect that people would gradually converge on… Continue reading

It’s August 27, the anniversary of the first successful oil well (at least in the US), in Titusville, Pennsylvania. People knew about oil in the 1850s, of course. In some parts of the world you could get the stuff out of freestanding pools (like tar pits), and it had been used for thousands of years… Continue reading

Today is the anniversary of the adoption of the nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution. It’s usually described as “granting women the right to vote,” but the language itself is slightly different; it prohibits federal and state governments from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.  The US Constitution is actually a… Continue reading

It was August 25, 1835, that the New York Sun newspaper published one of the greatest stories ever — certainly their biggest scoop in history. The greatest astronomer of the time was Sir William Herschel, and he had made some astonishing observations from his immense telescope of an entirely new principle, built in South Africa. … Continue reading

It’s August twenty-fourth, a date that will live in…paperwork. It was the date in 1215 that the Pope declared the English Magna Carta invalid. The Pope got involved because, well, in those days the Pope got involved in everything. The Great Charter of Freedoms had been written by one of his crew, the Archbishop of… Continue reading

August 23 is the birthday of the sculptor Alexander Calder. You’re thinking of the big steel mobiles and abstract constructions on exhibit in airports and concert halls. But no, it’s not that Alexander Calder.  Oh, right, you say, you must mean Alexander Calder who sculpted the Washington Square Arch in New York; the one with… Continue reading

Today is the anniversary of the first time a yacht owned by some really rich guy beat a yacht owned by another really rich guy in a race to win the America’s Cup. Except they didn’t really win the America’s Cup, because at the time it was called the R.Y.S. One Hundred Sovereign Cup. “RYS”… Continue reading

When you fill out an online form with your postal location information, one of the choices in the “country” dropdown menu is “United States Outlying Islands.” Ever wonder about those? Today,  August 21, is the anniversary of the naming of one of them in 1821.  Jarvis Island is a tiny coral island that’s really, totally,… Continue reading