I’m going to be honest.  I thought that today’s featured person was dead!  What a shock to realize that her birthday is today, and she is 97!  That’s right, on this date in 1916, Olivia de Havilland was born.  Her parents were from the UK, and they were living in Tokyo, Japan at the time.  Her mother had been an […]

I actually had never heard of today’s feature–nor had my mom.  Evidently, the earth’s orbit is somewhat irregular.  Atomic clocks, first appearing in the 1950’s, were extremely accurate, but these deviations in the earth’s orbit would eventually mean our time would be off by a second, then a minute, and eventually hours over the course of thousands of years.  And […]

Somehow, I don’t remember this great tragedy.  On this date in 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea collapsed killing 502 and injuring 937.  There were signs that an impending collapse was coming as early as April that year.  However, even when it opened back in 1990, there were problems.  The air conditioning was an issue.  The morning […]

I am a minimal collector of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.  I was intrigued to learn that on this date in 1917, the first Raggedy Ann doll went on sale.  I did try to verify this as much as I could, and it seems like most sites record this as fact.  Most don’t elaborate, however.  So don’t be shocked when […]

I was not aware of today’s feature–maybe you were.  On this date in 1898, Joshua Slocum became the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone.  He was a native of Nova Scotia, and he began his journey on April 24, 1895, from Boston,  It was a 46,000, three-year journey.  He was 54 when he began this journey–wow!    He published a […]

I found this quite interesting since it happened in the same year I was born.  On this date in 1974, the first product’s barcode was scanned electronically, and it automatically added the price into the system.  Thus, we arrived in the “barcode scanner era.”  I can’t imagine life without these barcodes.  I know that sometimes it gets annoying when they […]

I found today’s feature quite interesting.  On this date in 1638, the first recorded astronomical event happened in the American colonies–a lunar eclipse.  It was a bit of an unnerving experience, for sure, for the American colonists.  In fact,  Anne Hutchinson’s expulsion  (religious dissident–read about her here) may have even been somewhat connected to this event.  It was five months […]

Today’s feature was a bit of a struggle when it came to researching and verifying the information.  However, it was worth it.  On this date in 1939, the country of Siam officially changed its name to Thailand.  I grew up knowing somewhat about Thailand, and my grandparents had a Siamese cat named Ginger (she was mean!).  My first exposure to […]

  I know this is pretty sad that I have never heard of this place.  After all, I lived in Florida for around six years, or so.  Then again, St. Augustine was a place I never visited–always planned to, but never did.  I lived in the Orland/Tampa Bay area.  On this date in 1938, Marine Studios (the first oceanarium) opened […]

This was certainly news to me, and maybe it will be for you, too.  On this date in 1847, historians normally state the doughnut was invented.  It seems like there are a myriad of names for the delectable treats, and there were earlier versions of this in the U.S.  Originally, these sweets were introduced by Dutch settlers, and they were […]