During the War of 1812, the British Army burned Washington, D.C. in August, 1814, and attacked and plundered other spots in the same general vicinity. On August 28, 1814, in the nearby town of Upper Marlboro in Maryland, William Beanes, the town physician, was arrested by British Forces for assisting in the capture of wounded […]
THE STORY OF THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER Read More »
On January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of state governments and became the law of the land ending the manufacture, importation, or distribution of most alcoholic beverages. For the next thirteen years, this country went officially dry, but what actually happened as a consequence of
WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN THE U.S. DURING PROHIBITION? Read More »
During the period from November, 1926, to June, 1985, famous U.S. Route 66 was the primary highway corridor from the Midwestern U.S. to the Pacific Coast. It began in Chicago near Grant Park, crossed through eight states, transversed 2,448 miles, and ended at the pier in Santa Monica, California. It was the subject of pop
HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN ON ROUTE 66? Read More »
One of history’s greatest sculptors performed one of the finest artistic projects of all time by putting his mallet and chisel down in favor of a paint brush. The artist was Michelangelo, the project was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. About the Sistine Chapel: Called the Cappella Maggiore, the first structure was
MICHELANGELO’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT: THE SISTINE CHAPEL Read More »
On Halloween, young and old alike dress up as witches, ghosts, monsters, and other forms of apparitions in the American traditional way of celebrating All Saints Day (November 1) on the day before (October 31). It’s all in good fun, but there was a time in this country when witches and witchcraft were taken very,
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At their last supper together, Jesus Christ and his disciples shared a sip of wine from a cup in what became a communal ritual for the Christian Church. The ritual continues to this day, but whatever happened to the cup and where it currently resides remains the subject of a vast amount of (mostly) medieval
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In September of 31 BC, Octavian defeated the naval forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Shortly thereafter he became Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. For the next 211 years the Roman Empire enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity that became known as Pax Romana. It encompassed the
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The evidence is mounting that Xi Jinping, China’s president, is ever tightening the communist party’s control of all aspects of society in China. In addition to internet censorship, rewriting school textbooks, and imposing ideological crackdowns on arts, music, and entertainment, the communist party now wants to control all aspects of business including those companies that
IS NOW THE RIGHT TIME TO INVEST IN CHINA: PART II Read More »
In New York’s harbor stands one of the most famous symbols of American democracy, the Statue of Liberty. The colossal copper statue is a gift from the people of France as a monument to freedom in America. It became a dominant figure to immigrants who passed by it on their way to Ellis Island for
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During the 10th Century, a group of Vikings landed on Greenland and in time developed settlements there. About 400 years later they vanished from the island. No one outside of Greenland even knew that they were gone until 1721 when some missionaries arrived at the sites and found only the ruins of their settlements. Their
WHY DID THE VIKINGS DISAPPEAR FROM GREENLAND? Read More »