November 15th: Today in 1864 Major General William Tecumseh Sherman began his famous March to the Sea by marching out from the burning city of Atlanta. Sherman was determined to make those in the deep south who had so far been relatively untouched by war pay a heavy price both to draw Confederate forces to [...]

November 14th: Today in 1940 a series of German air raids dropping high explosive and incendiary bombs devastated the city center of Coventry, UK. The city center was all but flattened however unlike other World War Two firebombings the civilian casualties were relatively light with only 568 dead. Hurray for low kill firebombing!
I have only [...]

Another brilliant example of what makes the internet great, The Helsinki Complaints Choir, don’t worry it is subtitled:

Via Neil Gaiman’s Blog

I am not one to overly anthropomorphize animals. I can look at a deer and see it as an animal, potentially a tasty animal, not as Bambi, but I still find this story of the execution of an Elephant in Tennessee to be a bit painful.
* Bad History pieces will be history that is unpleasant, [...]

Ashford in the Water Gateway

Originally uploaded by Tancread.

This is an old gateway in the small village of Ashford in the Water during the early morning. I was in the town for a meeting and got up early to walk around the town and take some [...]

November 12th: Today in 1912 the bodies of Robert Scott, Henry Bowers, and Edward Wilson were found in a snow covered tent in the Antarctic. Scott was the romantic image of a perfect explorer and his diary is harrowing reading, especially the diary of the last days but the expedition had made far too many [...]

Katherine Whalen was one of the lead singers for the Squirrel Nut Zippers in the 90s and her singing has been compared to some of the great early jazz and torch singers. This June she released a new album that she did with David Sale called Dirty Little Secret which has a number of great [...]

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day in the Eleventh Month

Originally uploaded by Tancread.

I took this photo of today’s Armistice Day ceremony in Nottingham. It was a nice, brief ceremony with a respectful crowd.

I was uninspired for a Today in History today so here are some very nice color photos from Russia from before the Revolution. Be sure to read the process they used to get the color from the original negatives, really interesting stuff.

November 10th: Today in 1969 Sesame Street debuted on television in the United States. The show has run continuously since then, teaching countless children about rubber duckies, tickling Elmos, Snuffleupagus and other important life skills. This one is a little light, but after a couple of days of Nazis I think a break is in [...]