I recently saw some comments under a YouTube video asking why we don’t postpone going into space until we’ve solved our problems on Earth (which would be a pretty long postponement). This is a question people have asked for decades, … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
On May 31 Barnard Kemter, a 77-year-old retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, was delivering the keynote speech for a Memorial Day event at Markillie Cemetery in Hudson, Ohio, when his microphone went dead. After a moment’s pause he continued, using … Continue reading
Today is Juneteenth, named in honor of the 19th day of June 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger of the United States Army, newly arrived on Galveston Island, issued a declaration that the Emancipation Proclamation would be enforced in Texas. … Continue reading
The eternal debate on when decades start In the comic above, Ponytail accuses White Hat of being pedantic. Hah. I’ll show you pedantic. The 21st century began on the first day of 2001. This has nothing whatsoever to do with … Continue reading
There was so much written, said, and broadcast about John McCain in the week after his death August 25 that I decided to delay publishing this until today. It’s a short interview with his longtime aid and close friend Mark … Continue reading
The fine folks (and puppets) of the Glove and Boots YouTube channel propose that September 21, Bill Murray’s birthday, be made a national holiday: Link: https://youtu.be/fAW4snew9aw by … Continue reading
Filmmaker Brady Haran visits the archive of The Associated Press in London and finds old newsreels of driverless tractors from 1958 and driverless cars from 1972-73. Then there’s the creepy Billy the Beacon, a rather creepy robot for teaching British … Continue reading
This summer has been extraordinarily hot and dry in much of Europe, including places where air conditioning is rare. It’s been miserable for a lot of residents and tourists, but on the positive side, a side effect has been the … Continue reading
Senator John McCain has died of the same illness that took the life of my youngest brother just short of two years ago. I disagreed with Senator McCain about a lot of things and like all of us he was … Continue reading
Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel, was the first female astronomer to be paid for her work and in 1828 was the first woman to win the gold award of the Royal Astronomical Society, where the following video was shot … Continue reading