May 31rst: Today in 1921 a riot occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma that killed at least 39 and destroyed part of the town all caused by what appears to be an innocuous incident and an incendiary newspaper article. When it was over the black part of town was leveled and the atmosphere between whites and black [...]

May 30th: Today in 1806 Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel brought about by an arguement over a planned horse race which was cancelled. The two men seemed to be evenly matched as stiff necks and what should have been a quick matter soon led to insults and utlimately Dickinson’s death.

May 29th: Today in 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, the first people to do so. Everest has been in the news lately and Hillary has been speaking out about some of the controversy. The ethics of the controversy seem clear to me, but ethics are shifting and it [...]

So I went off to a science fiction convention this weekend for the first time in a looooong time. I saw a notice that my favorite author would be at Balticon there and I saw that I would be back in the US for the weekend so I went ahead and prebooked tickets.

Everytime I get depressed about where our world is headed I read about someone like the Nun in this story and get a little hope back. There is of course a terrrible Yang to this Yin in that everytime I think the world is improving I read of some psychopath, but for today we swing [...]

May 28th: Today in 1588 the Spanish Armada set sail for the English Channel, the fleet was so large it took two days for it to all leave port. It was much smaller when the survivors returned.

May 27th: Today in 1933 the Walt Disney cartoon version of The Three Little Pigs was released. The movie is one of the best Disney shorts and the music is classic with many brilliant covers over the year. A very odd cover of Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf is available here, it is [...]

I am a bit of a London History buff and had never heard of the London Stone. Apparently I am not alone in this as its recent history shows. Interesting to see how legends wax and wane. Via Cronaca

May 26th: Today on 1637 a group of Puritans and Narragansett indians surrounded the Pequot village of Misistuck (Mystic) and in a sustained attack slaughtered the inhabitants, all but destroying the Pequot tribe. As with any event this far back there are many versions of what happened from the self serving to the the skeptics.

The Post hits it right on the head for me in this editorial on the corruption search on the Hill. Power corrupts, there are almost no exceptions (although everyone seems to think their congress people are the exceptions for some reason, it is the other guys who are all crooks). Always vote against the incumbent.