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December 11, 1970 A Green Revolution – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
“The green revolution has an entirely different meaning to most people in the affluent nations of the privileged world than to those in the developing nations of the forgotten world.” – Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution
December 6, 1768 Murderer’s Dictionary – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
70 years in the making with something like 3,000 voluntary contributors, the Oxford English Dictionary is The premier reference work of the English Language. Only one individual is credited with more entries than Dr. William Minor - a convicted murderer. Working from an insane asylum, no less.
December 3, 1999 Everyday Heroes – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
Worcester Fire Department District Chief Michael McNamee described the situation inside: "There was a light smoke condition in the upper levels of the building to the point we didn't even have our face pieces on. Within four seconds it went from that condition to the building being filled completely with black, hot, boiling smoke."
December 1, 1822 Lisztomania – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
100 years before the screams and fainting excitement of "Beatlemania", before Justin Bieber and Tom Jones and Elvis Presley, in an age when concert attendants were famously staid and well-behaved, even prim, there was Lisztomania.
November 25, 1841 Amistad – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
In arguing the case before the Supreme Court former President John Quincy Adams took the position that no man, woman, or child in the United States could ever be sure of the “blessing of freedom”, if the President could hand over free men on the demand of a foreign government.
November 24, 1962 Kilroy was Here – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
"Kilroy was Here" was a protective talisman. A good-luck symbol expected to provide good juju for the American GI. The constant companion of American offensive forces, Kilroy appeared on captured buildings and landings, the “Super GI” showing up for every combat, training and occupation operation of the WW2 and Korean war era. Even before you…
November 22, 1898 Fast Friends – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
"On August 15, 1935, in a plane crash near Point Barrow Alaska, famed aviator Wiley Post perished alongside his close friend, the renowned humorist and popular culture icon Will Rogers. With the exception of Charles Lindbergh, no American aviator of the time was as celebrated as Post, while Rogers was widely considered as the nation’s…
November 21, 1970 Operation Ivory Coast – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
Conceived and executed as a mission of mercy, Operation Ivory Coast was a complex mission involving nineteen fixed-wing and six rotary-wing aircraft and a 56 man Army SF ground force, carried out hundreds of miles behind enemy lines.
November 19, 1864 Avenging Lincoln – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
By the time of the Civil War, mercury poisoning had reduced countless numbers of factory workers to physical wrecks. Everybody knew the “Danbury shakes”. Erethism mercurialis or “Mad hatter’s Disease”, goes a long way to understanding Thomas Corbett.
November 14, 1975 Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
The largest fresh water system on the planet, the Great Lakes of North America are estimated to hold no fewer than 6,000 shipwrecks and the loss of some 30,000 lives. Lake Superior alone forms the watery grave for some 350 wrecks, fewer than half of which have ever been found.
November 13, 1982 A Wall of Faces – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (www.vvmf.org) began work in 2009 on a “Wall of Faces”, a virtual compendium containing a photo and a story to go with it for each of the 58,318 service members whose names inscribed on The Wall. In 2017, the organization was still looking for 6,000+ photographs. Today, fewer than 200…
November 12, 1943 The Unluckiest Ship in the American Navy – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
We’ve all experienced that “oh shit” moment. Words you wish you hadn’t said. The text or email you wish you could unsend. Take heart. You will never be that sailor who accidentally fired a live torpedo. At the president of the United States.
November 11, 1918 Veteran’s Day – A History – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
In an alternate history, the June 1914 assassination of the heir-apparent to the Habsburg Empire may have produced nothing more than a regional squabble. Cooler heads could have prevailed, the diplomatic crisis of July resulting in nothing more than a policing action in the Balkans. As it was, mutual distrust and entangling alliances combined with adherence to…
November 10, 1975 Rogue Wave – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
“None of the state-of-the-art weather forecasts and wave models—the information upon which all ships, oil rigs, fisheries, and passenger boats rely—had predicted these behemoths. According to all of the theoretical models at the time under this particular set of weather conditions, waves of this size should not have existed”.
October 31, 1883 The Dress – A Presidential Ghost Story – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
For most people, October 31, 1883, passed pleasantly enough. Fall festivals, children bobbing for apples and young women consulting mirrors or tossing nuts into fires, to see whom they would marry. Not so, Henry Rathbone. He had monsters in his head.
October 29, 1921 Bill Mauldin’s Army – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
Bill Mauldin was a reporter, a free-range cartoonist roaming the European theater of WW2. He told the stories of the common soldier through the eyes of two characters, "Willie & Joe," usually at the rate of six strips per week.
September 13, 2024 Friday the 13th – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
There are 13 steps leading to the gallows, where the condemned meets the 13 knots of the hangman’s noose. The guillotine’s blade falls 13 feet. Diana hit the 13th pillar at Place d’Alma. Tupac was shot on Friday the 13th, and Fidel Castro was born on one.
June 7, 1866 The Fenian Raids on Canada – Historical Easter Eggs – Today in History
The US chapter of Fenian Brotherhood was founded in 1858, based on the idea that Ireland should be free of English rule to become an independent, self-governing Republic. The Brotherhood traced its lineage back to 1758. By 1866, many of the membership were battle hardened veterans of the Civil War, ended only a year before.…