Archive for October 2023
History of October 31: What’s Martin Luther got to do with it?
HISTORY OF OCTOBER 31 See my mini-series here on the life of Martin Luther. On October 31, 1517, the story goes, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, 95 propositions or theses and marked the beginning of the Reformation. Of course, the Reformation began long…
Read MoreInformation Reformation: How the Web Was Like the Reformation
Information Reformation: 5 Ways Martin Luther and the Gutenberg movable type printing press presaged the Internet explosion of information.
Read MoreHistory of the Internet: Over 50 Years Ago
HISTORY OF THE INTERNET: OVER 50 YEARS AGO On October 29, 1969, at 10:30 PM, a computer grad student at U.C.L.A. named Charley Kline sent a message to S.R.I. (Stanford Research Institute.) It was the first connection between computer networks. The Internet began! We set up a telephone connection between us and the guys…
Read MoreHistory of the Kirking of the Tartans: Is it really Scottish?
HISTORY OF THE KIRKING OF THE TARTANS This Sunday, all over the world, many churches will observe the Kirkin’ o’ th’ Tartans, a celebration of Scottish heritage and culture. What is The Kirking of the Tartans? Kirking Etymologically Kirking, from the Scots word kirk, which means church, in this usage, means “blessing.” Tartans are the…
Read MoreHistory of Halloween: The Sacred and the Secular
HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN I did an hour-long interview on this topic on this podcast Halloween (Allhallows Eve’n) is the evening of October 31. This occasion is known as the Vigil of Hallowmas in its strictly religious aspect. There are several names used during this time of year. To eliminate confusion, Allhallowstide includes these three holidays:…
Read MoreHistory of the World Series: For People Who Don’t Watch
HISTORY OF THE WORLD SERIES The World Series is over a hundred years old, starting in 1903 as a contest between the National League and the American League. This sporting event, usually held in October and sometimes called the Fall Classic, has already infringed upon the territory of the following athletic contest run-up with the…
Read MoreHistory of Mach 1: Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier
THE HISTORY OF MACH 1 On June 10, 1948, The U.S. Air Force confirmed that Capt. Chuck Yeager had repeatedly attained supersonic speeds in the Bell X-1. Yeager’s Background But it was actually on October 14, 1947, that Chuck Yeager, who died in 2020, broke the sound barrier, Mach 1, for the first time. I…
Read MoreHistory of Friday the 13th
HISTORY OF FRIDAY THE 13TH If you’re reading this article to learn the history of Friday the 13th, you’re in luck. Or perhaps bad luck. No one knows, with any certainty, when it began or why it’s to be feared. However, there are lots of entertaining speculative theories about the topic. What is…
Read MoreHistory of Christopher Columbus: Hero or Heel?
HISTORY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS The man who sailed from Spain to discover America was neither Spanish nor did he discover America, at least not the mainland. But it was true that: In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Read MoreHistory of the Aspens: in the Colorado Rockies
HISTORY OF THE ASPENS This week, I had the pleasure of driving through the high country of the Colorado Rockies. I live at 6500 feet elevation, so “high country” means about another 3000 feet or more above me. Every year about this time, Fall is ushered in by a flush of Aspen trees as their…
Read MoreHistory of October: The Pumpkin Spice Saga
HISTORY OF OCTOBER: THE PUMPKIN SPICE SAGA October, the tenth month of the year in both the older Julian and the current Gregorian calendar, used to be the 8th month (Latin octo) in the ancient Roman calendar. But with the addition of January and February, it got bumped to Number 10. This month is significant…
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