Historical
History of Independence Day
Independence Day or the Fourth of July celebrates the adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, of the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the severance of the allegiance of the American colonies to Great Britain. It is the most significant secular holiday in the United States, observed in all the states, territories, and dependencies.
By Bill Petro5 years ago in FYI
History of Independence Day
Independence Day or the Fourth of July celebrates the adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, of the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the severance of the allegiance of the American colonies to Great Britain. It is the most significant secular holiday in the United States, observed in all the states, territories, and dependencies.
By Bill Petro5 years ago in FYI
The Cold War
In the summer of 1945, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, set a course for Hiroshima, on the southern tip of Japan’s Honshu Island. The Enola Gay, it would soon be revealed, was no ordinary bomber plane. Her mission was to deliver a payload so powerful, so violent, and so devastating, that it would forever change the course of human events. In the wake of World War II, the world would see the rise of two nuclear superpowers. The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, known informally as the Soviet Union, would soon become locked in a ‘Cold War’ that would push the world to the brink of disaster, and the human race to the edge of extinction.
By Mack Devlin5 years ago in FYI
The Night of the Long Knives
“If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this: In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people.”
By Kathy Copeland Padden5 years ago in FYI
There's a n--ger in the woodpile
"There's a n--ger in the woodpile" is a term my grandmother used on occasion to indicate that a situation had something hidden that needed to be revealed. We lived in the county and actually had a pile of wood from which we gathered the sticks to make a fire. I could not imagine anyone hiding inside of a woodpile and never pondered that what my grandma said was more than just a phrase and at one time was a reality.
By Cheryl E Preston5 years ago in FYI
You Probably Know My Ex: The F*ckboy Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard
You probably know Soren Kierkegaard as the writer of some of the most formidable philosophical and theological works of the nineteenth century. Maybe you don’t really understand anything he’s written (because let’s face it, he kind of sucked at communication even at the best of times and avoided conciseness like the plague), but vaguely know of him from your annoying philosophy major friend.
By Katie Alafdal5 years ago in FYI
A Monumental Change
It may not have been “the shot heard round the world,” but it was an excruciatingly long and violent video seen and heard by billions of people across the Earth. Every single one of them heard the pleas of a black man who was killed in the most violent of manners by a white man who was supposed to protect and serve him. That, while three other police officers stood by and did nothing to stop the brutality, which they could have done any time during those eternal nine minutes before George Floyd gave up the ghost. Everything is now changed for good and all; there is no going back. George Floyd’s murder shone a retina-scorching light on racial inequities that have dominated our nation since even before its birth. Those who refuse to see them were already blind.
By Charles McGuigan5 years ago in FYI
Monica Dickens, an English novelist
Monica Dickens was a notable 20th century writer of both fiction and non-fiction, whose success may or may not have had something to do with her surname. It cannot be said that any favours came her way because she was a great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, but the name may have prompted many a book buyer to pick her titles off the shelf out of curiosity if nothing else.
By John Welford5 years ago in FYI
The Most Expensive Book
Christie's offered a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio at closeout with a presale gauge of USD 4 million to $6 million. The part effectively beat its high gauge, selling for almost $10 million. The auction house declared that it was the greatest cost accomplished by most expensive book or a piece of writing at closeout.
By Jacob Walker5 years ago in FYI
Five Saints Looking Totally Chill During Execution
This has always blown my mind. I mean, I look more agonized when I get a paper cut than these guys do being chopped, roasted, stabbed, beheaded, and all the other god-awful fates (no pun intended) the early saints reportedly endured.
By Kathy Copeland Padden5 years ago in FYI
