Today in 1974, Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a US-based radical terrorist group. They held her for nearly two years and in that time, through the use of isolation, sexual assault and more, they brainwashed her into siding with their organization. When she was captured in 1976, her lawyers could not […]
A Classic Stockholm Syndrome Girl Read More »
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police very nearly didn’t exist. They began life in the 19th century as the North West Mounted Police, but in 1896, the new Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, decided that the NWMP should be disbanded. However, over in the west, the NWMP were becoming incredibly useful containing the excesses of the
The Mounties are 95 Years Old Read More »
The very first primetime Emmy Awards took place on this day in 1949. It was held in Los Angeles, and only Los Angeles produced TV shows were admitted for nomination. The best TV show for 1949 was a games show called Pantomime Quiz. There were no sub-categories. Interestingly, every show nominated was aired by the
And the winner is… Read More »
Meet Osborne, the portable computer of 1983. It weighed nearly 24 lbs and had a whopping 124K of RAM (today’s laptops average 8 Gb of operating memory, which is over 64,000 times more than Osborne). I am going to date myself badly here, but one of my first jobs out of high school was using
It’s such a pretty name, isn’t it? It makes you think of swashbuckling science fiction or the old Victorian fantasy fiction, the sort of stories that HG Wells wrote, or the pulp fiction of the 1920s. I might have to see if there’s a story in that name… However, the Galilean Moons are very real.
The Galilean Moons Read More »
For those of you who are actually on line today that celebrate Christmas, even if it’s just for the turkey and presents, please have a wonderfully happy, argument-free day with your family and friends. May your stocking be overflowing! And because I just can’t help myself, did you know the very first Christmas was celebrated
Did you know Bluebeard was a real man? I didn’t. I’ve found another cool history factoid! I grew up reading the Bluebeard fairytale that warns women everywhere and everywhen about the dangers of curiosity and not obeying your husband (which just underlines when the fairytale was created!). It took growing up and getting married myself
Bluebeard Gets His Just Rewards Read More »
Benjamin Franklin may be the earliest indie author in North America. He wrote and self-published Poor Richard’s Almanack on this day in 1732, and it was so successful it ran for decades after that, lasting sixteen years. It was considered a best seller, with print runs reaching ten thousand per year. The Almanack contained weather
Poor Richard is 282 Years Old Read More »
145 years ago today, in 1869, the first Women’s Suffrage law in the United Stated was granted in Wyoming Territory. It was the first step in full voting rights for women in America, which was written into the Constitution in 1920. Canada gave women the vote in 1919, and the United Kingdom trailed behind, declaring
Equality for Women: Not such a hot idea. Read More »
Funny, I was just talking about Lancelot the other day, wasn’t I? Sheer coincidence. Or perhaps not. The Arthurian tale seems to be one of those evergreen ones, that revises itself, renews its magic and repeats generation after generation. I am particularly fond of the Camelot musical and especially the movie made from the same
Camelot is 54 Years Old Read More »