October 26 is notable for several things, but in the US in the early 1800s the most notable might have been the completion of the Erie Canal in 1821. It was a very big deal back in the day; a 363-mile-long waterway connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. It meant that you could… Continue reading

In 1929, October 24 was “Black Thursday,” the day the New York Stock Exchange crashed by 11 percent. Then on October 24, 2008, it was “Black Friday,” the day most of the stock exchanges around the world crashed by 10 percent or more.  You might say the value of stocks those days dropped like a… Continue reading

If the weather is accommodating wherever you happen to be today, it’s a good day to venture outside, find a patch of grass or forest, lean down, and say loudly, directly into the ground, “CONGRATULATIONS!” The sound will carry through the earth and with luck, will be appreciated by some tiny, burrowing mammals. Because today… Continue reading

We only have one day before the anniversary of the Great Disappointment. Although to everyone except the one group that at least claimed to be disappointed, the rest of the population generally continues to be not disappointed at all over how things turned out.  It all goes back to October 22, 1844, in Low Hampton,… Continue reading

In the early days of exploring and settling North America, several European nations claimed territories or colonies or areas as “property” of a sort. The territories were generally consolidated into independent countries: Canada, the US, and Mexico. But France still has a North American territory. Not everyone knows about the “Overseas Collectivity of Saint Pierre… Continue reading

Depending on how you arrange the digits of a date, today is either 20-10-2023 or 10-20-2023. Statistically speaking, it’s 10-20-2023 for about 88.5% and 10-20-2023 for the 11.5% of the world that puts the month in the first position.  In both positions, though, October 20 sometimes represents World Statistics Day in about 49.5% of the… Continue reading

Vivian Hubert Howard Green was Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. Quite a proper gentleman, he lectured on ecclesiastical history at St. Augustine’s College in Canterbury before his position at Lincoln College and was asked if he would consider sitting for the ordination exams. He declined, explaining that as the ecclesiastical lecturer he would be grading… Continue reading

The small group of people who see themselves as in charge of larger groups of people — bosses of workers, say — generally don’t like the idea of the people who are supposed to be “under their control” getting more ability to control things for themselves. One way workers can achieve more agency is through… Continue reading

October 17 has been a bad day to be in London. In 1091, of all things, a tornado touched down. The city was a great deal less impressive in 1091 than it is now, but it did have a London Bridge — which the tornado demolished. It also destroyed the St. Mary-le-Bow church and about… Continue reading

You know, if Ricimer hadn’t defeated Avitus back on this day in 456 — which, incidentally, was the Year of the Consulship of Avitus Without Colleague — then he wouldn’t have gone on to be the magister militum of the western Roman Empire for the next sixteen years. There were various emperors, of course, but… Continue reading