Did You Know – Letters, Numbers and Such
The symbol # commonly called the Number Sign is called an octothorpe. The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle. The ampersand (&) is actually a stylized version of the Latin word “et,” meaning and. The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one endpoint is P. The letters H I [...]
Died Before Their Time
Rudolph Valentino was one of the most popular stars of Silent Films in the 1920′s. When he died at the age of 31 in 1926, it is estimated that 100,000 people attended his funeral in New York. His image as the Latin Lover has lasted for decades. When Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean [...]
September 11
September 11, 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon outside of DC. It is the first anniversary that will be on the same day of the week (Tuesday) as the attack. In total 2974 people were killed in the attack. September [...]
Mercury Seven
Freedom 7 Launched May 8, 1963 with Alan Shepard aboard. The flight put the first man in space. It lasted 15 minutes 28 seconds. The flight did not orbit the earth. Liberty Bell 7 Launched July 21, 1961 with Virgil (Gus) Grissom aboard. Second flight into space, but it too was a non-orbital flight lasting [...]
Big Trial in the Summer of ’25
It was the summer of 1925 and in Dayton, Tennessee a trial took place that helped shaped the American culture. The trial lasted 11 days and it was on July 10 of that year that the State of Tennessee began its case against school teacher John Scopes for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to his [...]
Lewis And Clark Expedition
Beginning in 1801 the United States began an effort to bring New Orleans, which had just changed hands from Spanish to French rule, into the United States. After nearly 2 years of negotiation the United States, who had been prepared to pay 10 Million dollars to the cash starved French discovered that the entire region [...]
The Flag of the United States
It was on June 14, 1777 that The Continental Congress passed The Flag Resolution. It reads; “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a [...]
About Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) left $7 million in his 1867 incorporation papers and 1873 will for the foundation of a university and Hospital. The equivalent is over $131 million in the year 2006 dollars. The peculiar first name of Johns Hopkins came from the surname of his great-grandmother, Margaret Johns. [...]
USO
The United Service Organizations, the USO, was chartered on February 4, 1941. General George C Marshall suggested the idea in 1940. The armed forces were growing even before the US entered World War II and he felt that there was a need for recreation for on-leave members. The USO, Inc., was organized by representatives of [...]
In Texas
Texas was the next to last state to reenter the union of the United States of American after the end of the War Between the States or the Civil War. That occurred on March 30, 1870. The last was Georgia a few months later on July 15, 1870. Over its history Texas has been part [...]
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