Posts by billpetro
History of Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF ROSH HASHANAH osh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish new year, which starts tomorrow according to the Jewish calendar; tomorrow begins at sundown tonight. “Rosh” is Hebrew for “head,” and Rosh Hashanah refers to the head of the year on the 1st day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish ecclesiastical…
Read MoreHistory of Star Trek: 60 Years Ago, Now, and the Future
Reading Time: 16 minutesHISTORY OF STAR TREK Podcast tar Trek premiered on NBC TV on September 8, 1966… 60 years ago. It is my favorite television show; I was glued to the TV for the first episode and every one after that. It had a significant influence on my choice of a career in technology. The show…
Read MoreHistory of the Fall of the Roman Empire: the Short Version
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE On September 4, AD 476, Odoacer captured the city of Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus, marking the Fall of the Roman Empire. What do we mean by the Fall of the Roman Empire? First, what do we mean by the Roman Empire? This part of the…
Read MoreHistory of Labor Day: What’s Work Got To Do With It?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF LABOR DAY abor Day is the day we celebrate the process our mothers went through to deliver us at birth. Sorry, wrong holiday; Labor Day in the U.S. is the day we celebrate the achievements of the American labor movement. Because Labor Day is always observed on the first Monday in September, the…
Read MoreHistory of September: The Start of Fall
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF SEPTEMBER ou may have noticed that September sounds like the Latin word for seven. And you’d be perceptive — septem is the Latin word for seven, and this month used to be the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar. This Latin numbering continues through the year’s remaining months, as highlighted below: octo/eight,…
Read MoreHistory of I Have A Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. – 63 Years Ago
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH oday, 63 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. It continues to echo down the halls of history more than six decades later. On August 28, 1963, he delivered his speech at the March on Washington, at the height of…
Read MoreHistory of St. Augustine: Sinner and Theologian
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF ST. AUGUSTINE he Feast of Saint Augustine is celebrated on August 28, the date of his death in 430 A.D. Augustine is considered the most influential bishop in history; he is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, and several cities and dioceses worldwide. Most of what we know about him is from…
Read MoreNorthern Lights and Coronal Mass Ejection: Existential Threat from Methanogenic Cattle
Reading Time: 3 minutesNORTHERN LIGHTS AND CORONAL MASS EJECTION: METHANOGENIC CATTLE OAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has announced a G2 geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow, August 28, which could potentially boost aurora activity. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are plasma and magnetic field explosions from the Sun’s corona. When aimed at Earth, they trigger geomagnetic storms that affect…
Read MoreHistory of the 19th Amendment: Women’s Right to Vote, 106 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT: WOMEN’S RIGHT TO VOTE ver a hundred years ago, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. This prohibited the federal and state governments from denying citizens of the United States the right to vote on the basis of sex. Effectively, this meant that the…
Read MoreHistory of the California Gold Rush: How It Created the State
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH On August 19, 1848, the New York Herald reported news of the California Gold Rush along the American East Coast. It was not new news to those further West, as the gold rush had started in January and was publicized in San Francisco in March. However, the New York…
Read MoreHistory of Woodstock: Almost 60 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF WOODSTOCK August 15 marks the anniversary of the “3 Days of Peace & Music” held in 1969 at Max Yasgur‘s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the village of Woodstock. This outdoor music event, despite thunderstorms, gave voice to the counterculture youth generation of its time. A documentary film followed…
Read MoreHistory of Infinity Day: Why is it on August 8?
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF INFINITY DAY: AUGUST 8 Infinity Day, also known as Universal & International Infinity Day, is a commemoration held on the 8th day of the 8th month of each year to celebrate and promote Philosophy and Philosophizing for the ordinary person.
Read More