The Cactus Who Wanted to Be a Christmas Tree
Katie loves Christmastime. Getting presents is nice, and playing in the snow with her friends is fun, but what she likes best are all the pretty decorations...
Speaking After 3000 Years
No, this is not a joke. An Egyptian has spoken for the first time in 3000 years. It was only one syllable, but still… As you must have guessed, the person was actually the mummy of a priest named Nesyamun who lived three millennia ago. And yet scientists were able to reproduce his speech. How
How to Eat Healthier
If you’re wanting to eat healthier, but are having trouble resisting the allure of junk food, there is good news. A new study in the Journal of Marketing Research says that being exposed to the scent of junk food for at least two minutes can help you make healthier choices. It seems counter-intuitive, but this research suggests
The Newest Navy Carrier is….
One of the fascinations of being a history nerd is the personal stories you come across. For example, the mess attendant who was gathering laundry aboard the battleship West Virginia in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. When the ship was hit by Japanese torpedoes, this sailor helped his mortally wounded commanding officer, manned a
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.
I remember the first time I saw a TV commercial featuring a black family. It was a Crest toothpaste commercial, set in a typical house in the suburbs, with an exasperated mother chasing a child who had left home without having brushed his teeth. Except the mother and child were black. Our family’s reaction was
A Modern Good Samaritan
Suppose you were walking in your hometown and you came across a bundle of cash lying on the sidewalk. What would you think? For the past six or so years, residents of Blackhall Colliery, England haven’t known what to think. They have been finding neat packages of 20-pound notes, worth as much as $2,600, in
The Hidden Trap in 2020
I’ve seen several warnings — when you write this year in a date, don’t abbreviate it. Sometimes it takes me a while to catch on, but now I understand. Simply writing “20” is an invitation to tampering. For example, you’ve just borrowed money. On the contract, you wrote the date as 1/8/20. If you miss
Putting a Lid on Highways
We are a mobile society. In fact, some would say we are addicted to our cars. Our interstate highway system is one of the engineering marvels of the modern age. And yet… Controlled-access multi-lane, and especially elevated, roadways cause serious collateral damage. They split neighborhoods and upend property values. But as our highways are getting
Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later
From the “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” department — last year I leased a hybrid car. My original motivation was because it has all the latest safety features, an important consideration as I age and my reflexes decline. But the nicest advantage is the fuel economy; I got over 57 miles to the gallon on
Speaking of New Decades, Remember Y2K?
Not only is this a new year, this is a new decade. Speaking of new decades, I’ve been surprised at the number of news articles revisiting the Year 2000 problem at the turn of the century, otherwise known as Y2K (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem) . In case you don’t remember or are very young, as we approached the
Happy New Year!
Tomorrow is the start of another year, in fact, another decade. Since this is a good time to reflect upon our lives, not to mention a good excuse to party, many traditions have arisen over the millennia to stimulate our celebrations. If you’ve ever wondered how some of these traditions have originated, The Writer’s Almanac