“Back in 1830, a man by the name of George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. ‘A…
In 1973, the price of copper was starting to increase dramatically. To cut costs, there was a proposal sent to Congress to produce aluminum pennies instead of copper. The Mint made about 1.6 million of these pennies and brought them to Congress for approval. They were rejected. So, all the coins were taken back and…
“John III Sobieski, king of Poland in the late 17th century, is best remembered as the man who saved central Europe from invading armies of Turks in 1683. With the Turks at the walls of Vienna, Sobieski led a charge that broke the siege. His rescue of Vienna is considered one of the decisive battles…
“The class of noisy boys in a German primary school was being punished by their teacher. They were assigned the problem of adding together all the numbers from 1 to 100. The boys settled down, scribbling busily on their slates — all but one. This boy looked off into space for a few moments, then…
The Calgary Hitmen, a team with the Canadian major junior ice hockey league, have what is probably one of the coolest hockey traditions. Every year in December they play a game where they have a “Teddy toss.” When the Hitmen score their first goal, everyone in the stadium begins throwing teddy bears on the ice. …
I was standing there in the parking lot with my truck hood up and jumper cables in my hands. My car battery was dead. To anyone willing to take a moment to notice, I needed a bit of help. Just then a truck pulled up a few spots back and a guy about my age…
A tragic situation unfolded on the streets of Queens, New York on March 13, 1964. As she was returning home from work, Kitty Genovese was brutally stabbed outside her apartment building. Many neighbors heard her screaming out in a panic, but only one man shouted out his window, “Let that girl alone.” That was all…
It’s one thing for an animal to blend into its background. Many animals can do this. It’s a completely different level for an animal to perfectly mimic some object in its environment. Enter the Buff-tip moth. No, that isn’t a broken stick laying on top of some branch. That is a Buff-tip moth that landed…
“A man who lived on Long Island was able one day to satisfy a lifelong ambition by purchasing for himself a very fine barometer. When the instrument arrived at his home, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the sector marked ‘HURRICANE.’ After shaking the barometer…
Over the summer, I served as a counselor at our local church camp. At the end of the week, I did the usual final clean-up and pack-up. I took out the trash, vacuumed the floors, and checked all the nooks and crannies for left-behind items. As I checked under the bed I found something odd…
(William Beebe (pictured left) and Frederick Otis Barton, Jr. standing next to the bathysphere) For ages, people have wondered what was on the ocean floor. On August 15, 1934, Otis Barton and William Beebe came closer than ever before. On that day, they descended to a depth of 3,028 feet into the dark ocean, a…
Maybe she was looking for her “10 seconds of fame.” Or perhaps she just really wanted to say “Hi” to her grandma and grandpa, as her sign indicated. Whatever the intentions, during this year’s Tour de France, this woman caused “one of the worst crashes in Tour de France History” (DailyMail.co.uk). As the riders approached…
“Another police shooting.” Just three little words are all it takes to erupt the volcano of internal feelings throughout our nation. People start screaming “racism” and “injustice!” People start marching, shouting, rioting, and storming police stations. People start pointing fingers in all directions. While other people will take to social media to argue and fight,…
“Three men were trapped on a desert island. As the days slowly went by, they dreamed of what it would be like to be back at home with their friends and family, to be back at their jobs doing the things they loved. One day, one of the men found a lamp that contained…
According to longstanding tradition, the 117th Congress was opened with a prayer. As Rep. Emanuel Cleaver came to the end of his prayer, he concluded with “Amen and a-woman.” Yes, you read that correctly, “a-woman.” As if, in some way, “amen” was actually a chauvinistic masculine word. Watch It Here. To set the record straight, “amen”…
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