Pop Culture
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF ST. VALENTINE’S DAY Podcast version he day we associate with love and romance has a history that traces back almost three millennia to ancient Rome but winds through Roman North Africa, England, and the United States. St. Valentine was martyred on February 14. However, Valentine or Valentinus is the name of at least…
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF THE AVOCADO: THE SUPER BOWL FOOD Podcast version hy are avocados, especially guacamole dip, considered a required food for Super Bowl Parties? What’s the background?
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF CHARLES DICKENS oday marks the 214th birthdate of Charles Dickens, considered by many the greatest English writer since Shakespeare – at least he was during his lifetime in the Victorian age. He enjoyed the distinction of fame and a measure of financial success during his lifetime, starting in his 20s. Many of his…
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF THE BEATLES Podcast version n February 7, 1964, The Beatles landed at JFK Airport in New York. The airport had recently been renamed by a mourning country in honor of President Kennedy, who had been assassinated just 77 days earlier. When they landed, the airport was full of 4,000 greeters. Not realizing…
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF THE WINTER OLYMPICS have written previously about the history of the Olympics, but the Winter Olympics are unique among the Olympic Games. The Jeux Olympiques d’Hiver, or Winter Olympic Games, start today in northern Italy. Their history is much shorter than the Olympics in general. When did the Winter Olympics begin,…
Reading Time: 5 minutesuper Bowl™ is a territory-acquisition athletic contest played on a fixed agrarian grid, using an inflated porcine prolate spheroid as a token. Some will say it is the most important holiday of the year in America. While it is ostensibly a secular holiday, others argue it is truly a religious holiday. And there are several…
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF PETER PAN Podcast version All of this has happened before, And it will all happen again. o begins my favorite Walt Disney animated movie, Peter Pan, which debuted on February 5, 1953. The original movie poster said: “It will live in your heart forever” …and indeed it has. Why was…
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED: AMERICAN PIE Podcast version n February 3, 1959, a plane crash occurred in Iowa during a snowstorm shortly after 1:00 AM, killing three young rock and roll singers who would go down in history: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. They were part…
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF GROUNDHOG DAY Podcast version roundhog Day comes from Candlemas Day, observed for centuries in parts of Europe on February 2. The custom was for the clergy to bless candles, representing how long winter would be, and distribute them to the people. What are the pagan, Christian, and secular roots of this…
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF MOZART olfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, but he was baptized under the name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. What’s In A Name As an adult, he referred to himself as “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart,” signing his marriage certificate that way. His baptismal name was Latinized, as was common in…
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF AUSTRALIA DAY id you know that the history of European Australia has ties to the American Revolutionary War? When the 13 American Colonies were part of the British Commonwealth, it was convenient for England to transport its convicts to the Colonies. Indeed, it was considered more humane to “transport” prisoners than to execute…
Reading Time: 6 minutesHow 40 years ago the Apple Macintosh iconic personal computer forever changed how we think about computing.