Corn is quite the important grain. It’s “maize,” really, and it came from southern Mexico, where it was cultivated over 10,000 years ago. Even the word “maize” comes from what the indigenous Taino called it: “mahiz.” It’s called “corn” in English because the word already existed, meaning a small, hard particle like a grain of Continue reading

It’s kind of amazing that today, September 17, isn’t more widely commemorated as the day Norton I, Emperor of the United States, was crowned. As emperor of the egalitarian USA, it makes perfect sense that Norton I started life as a commoner. He was born Joshua Abraham Norton in England in 1818. Or sometime between Continue reading

This is it. September 16. The very day that, in 1959, the first successful photocopier was introduced. This is it. September 16. The very day that, in 1959, the first successful photocopier was introduced. This is it. September 16. The very day that, in 1959, the first successful photocopier was introduced.  It was the Xerox Continue reading

September 15 features a wide range of holidays and observances, some of them fairly unusual. First of all, of course, it’s global “Free Money Day.” The idea is simple; you just give away money (generally two bills or two coins) to strangers, or leave it someplace it will be found. You can share physically or Continue reading

September 14, 1914, marked the birth of Clayton Moore — “The Lone Ranger.” His real name was Jack — not short for anything; just Jack Moore. He started using the stage name Clayton around 1940 when he was working as a stuntman and extra in movies as well as doing modeling work.  Moore enlisted in Continue reading

It’s September 13, and as everybody in Great Missenden knows, September 13 has Rules. There are 8 of them.  JUST ADD CHOCOLATE is the first rule. This is something that Milton Hershey took to heart in 1900 when he started manufacturing chocolate bars. He had already sold his first company — which made caramel — Continue reading

On September 12, 1910, in the Neue Musik-Festhalle (a newly-built hall in Munich with 3,200 seats) an orchestra of 171 instruments and a choir of 852 singers performed Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony Number 8” for the first time. The organizers — including Mahler himself — had started recruiting choirs and musicians to join the performance. The Continue reading

It’s hard to write about September 11. The remembrance of that day hangs over and darkens our time, at least in the US. It doesn’t help to realize that whenever you look up the notable events of any day of the year, most of what’s been remembered has to do with inhumanity. September 11 certainly Continue reading

Elias Howe received a patent on September 10, 1846. It was for a sewing machine. It wasn’t the first sewing machine, and not even the first sewing machine patent (although it was the first of those in the US), but it did have an important innovation.  Sewing needles have a hole (or an “eye”) on Continue reading

September 9 is memorable in quite a few ways. In the annals of monarchy, it’s the day in 1543 that Mary Stuart crowned “Queen of Scots.” She was only 9 months old at the time. Then a mere 472 years later, Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning monarch of the UK. She was only 89 years Continue reading