December 9th: Today in 1945 General George S. Patton was in a car accident that led to his death twelve days later. He was riding in a staff car that got cut off my a truck and his head slammed into the seat in front of him leaving him paralysed from the neck down. He [...]

Hucksters used to work either on pure pseudo-science or on religion, snake oil or faith healing, but in the last 100 years they have added in all kinds of eastern mysticism to the mix. One of the big growth areas has been in nonsense martial arts. Guys claiming to work miracles via martial methods passed [...]

December 8th: Today in 1854 with the publication of Ineffabilis Deus by Pope Pope Pius IX the doctrine of Immaculate Conception which holds that Christ’s mother Mary was born without sin became official doctrine in the Catholic church. I was surprised by how late this became doctrine, apparently it was a commonly held belief before [...]

We all knew it was too good to go on forever. It is finally over.

December 7th: Today in 1941 a Japanese surprise attack on the US military bases on Oahu brings the US into the Second World War. Good article today in the Washington Post about the wreckage of the battleship Arizona decaying. I grew up near Pearl Harbor and visited the Arizona a number of times. An account [...]

Interesting History news today, they have found the first Temple of the Ark of the Covenant in the West Bank, they think they found the body of the Apostle Paul in Rome and the ‘lost’ Afghan Bactrian treasure horde went on display in Paris.
All three are interesting stories. The Temple story mentions the dig [...]

Sorry guys busy today. For a great today in history check out Axis of Evel Knievel who has a great account of the Halifax Explosion which happened today in 1917.

A Christmas fair in the Yorkshire Dales is going to have to be canceled unless someone can come up with a good risk assessment on Mince Pies. Nope, not a joke. How about the guy who was detained for carrying a cricket ball in public. Think of the children.
I have met some great Englishmen and [...]

Today is the Day Of The Ninja. Don’t look behind you, you know they are there partying..

December 5th: Today in 1955 in order to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks for sitting in ‘white’ seats on the bus a black boycott of the Montgomery bus system began that would run for more than a year and lead to the desegregation of the service. The boycott began because people were fed up [...]