I had no idea that today is the 120th anniversary of the cultured pearl.  That’s right, on this date in 1893, Kokichi Mikimoto created the first cultured pearl.  He was the son of a noodle maker, and he did a lot of experimentation to discover an artificial way to make these beautiful, expensive jewels.  He used a bamboo oyster on […]

So how many of you know who our thirteenth president was?  Anyone?  I have to admit that I did not, but he is featured above.  And on this date in 1850, Millard Fillmore was inaugurated, thus becoming our thirteenth president.  He had a very typical American story.  He came from “log cabin” roots, farmed for his father, and apprenticed under […]

There is some discrepancy on dates, so I cannot tell you for sure that this information is accurate, but it is pretty close.  From what I can tell, on this date in 1953, New York Airways launched its first passenger helicopter service.  They first used military helicopters–imagine the noise!  This helicopter service launched out of LaGuardia airport. I have never […]

All right, please indulge me. Yes, I like country music (though I didn’t until a few years ago), and today is a country musician’s birthday. So here goes. On this date in 1961, Toby Keith was born. I have posted his first hit above, and my goodness, he looks different! He is quite a success story. He made his way […]

I don’t remember this event, but maybe some of your do.  On this date in 1981, the Solar Challenger, Paul B. MacCready’s solar-powered creation, became the first plane powered solely by the sun to cross the English Channel.  MacCready had earlier had issues with Gossamer Albatross, the first human-powered plane to cross the English Channel (the pilot got dehydrated and […]

President Ronald Reagan is the first president I can actually recall running for office.  I was in first grade, and I remember our class taking a vote, and Reagan didn’t win.  I also remember the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.  But today’s feature is about probably one of the most charming First Ladies we have had in recent years–Nancy […]

Well, I was wrong.  I thought he really did say “There’s a sucker born every minute,” but it would appear that was just attributed to him.  But no matter–one of the greatest showmen of all time was born on this date in 1810, Phineas Taylor Barnum.  Among other things, he was known as a deceiver, a charlatan, a museum owner, […]

As most people know, it was this date in 1776, that America became a country.  It is our Independence Day. What I would like to do is share some little known fact concerning this date.  I am always appalled at how much is not known (especially by school kids) concerning this day.  I am also using this for Ultimate Blog […]

I found today’s story quite intriguing since I had never heard of this inventor nor his machine.  On this date in 1886, the New York Tribune first used Ottmar Mergenthaler’s linotype machine.  Although Guttenberg’s machine was absolutely essential to the publishing world, but due to the slowness of the machine, no more than eight pages could be included in an […]

Ever since seeing the Spielberg film, this has been a historical event that truly captured my attention and my heart.  It was on this date in 1839, that the wrongfully captured Africans overthrew the Amistad ship.  The slaves killed all of the crew with except for two individuals.  These two complied with turning the ship towards Africa during the day […]