April 30th: Today in 1789 George Washington was sworn in as the first elected President of the United States. He was offered the salary of $25,000 a year, a huge sum at the time, but declined the pay. It is unknown if he submitted expenses as he did when he refused his pay as the [...]

The House Appropriations Committee has sent a letter the to Smithsonian asking about the Smithsonian/Showtime secret deal I wrote about recently. Glad to see at least some questions are being asked and that the letter is bipartizan. I wrote to both my Senators and my Representative but have heard nothing back from any of them [...]

Next Saturday (May 6th 2006) is Free Comic Book Day, if you live near a comic store at all drop in for some nice samples from a wide range of comics. Many of these are definately not for kids, but there are many kids titles as well.

England proud to announce that, after installing thousands of cameras, banning handguns, and being lenient on criminals, violent crime is still rising
This Fark story has the best headline ever. No really. The story it points to is depressing, but sadly predictable.

April 29th: Today in 1916 the Irish Easter Rebellion ended with the surrender of Irish Nationalists in Dublin.

Always Be Able To Kill Your Students
That isn’t just every school teacher’s secret dream, it is one of the mottos of the last Ninja master in Japan, apparently a career in decline despite the popularity of Ninjas in the media. I suspect if there is a true Ninja master in the wild it is likely [...]

Saw this one on the BBC this morning, is there any hope for humanity when the crocodiles start running around with chainsaws?

April 28th: Today in 1988 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 from Hilo to Honolulu suffered from metal fatigue which caused a huge portion of the roof of the airplane to tear off while in flight. One stewardess, Clarabelle Lansing, was sucked from the plane and killed, but remarkably thanks to a very skilled crew no one [...]

In a nightmarish future world the government tries to stop us from eating cookies, who can save us from the nanny state?!?
Via Howling Curmudgeons

April 27th: Today in 1805 the US forces and their Berber allies won the Battle of Derna, which is where the “Shores of Tripoli” come from in the Marines’ Hymn comes from. The American commander, William Eaton became a popular hero and while the battle is often described as the first US battle on foreign [...]