Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday Frolics, Volume 41: Protecting America
On this day in 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union. To celebrate Kansas' 148th birthday, let's take a look at a t-shirt I heard about while vacationing in the Midwest last year. Those of you who don't understand the joke should read this.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Friday Night Frolics
Every week, I post something here I hope you readers will find funny under the heading "Friday Frolics". If you haven't figured it out by now, I "borrowed" that name for the series of posts. The name comes from a radio show that aired on radio station WSM in Nashville from 1948 to 1958. The Friday Night Frolics was a spinoff of the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry had been airing on Saturday nights since 1925 and was at the height of its popularity when the WSM management decided to begin Frolics as a spinoff to the Opry. The show aired for 10 years from WSM's Studio C before moving to the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Opry, in 1958 and being renamed The Friday Night Opry.
Here's Carl Smith, one of the biggest country stars of that era, singing "Are You Teasing Me?". The song was written by two other country legends, the Louvin Brothers. By the way, Carl Smith was June Carter's first husband and he is the father of Carlene Carter.
Here's Carl Smith, one of the biggest country stars of that era, singing "Are You Teasing Me?". The song was written by two other country legends, the Louvin Brothers. By the way, Carl Smith was June Carter's first husband and he is the father of Carlene Carter.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Hank Aaron Flashback
On this day (April 8th) 35 years ago, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's long standing career home run record. Aaron went on to finish his career with 755 home runs. That record has since been broken by 'roids boy Barry Bonds. But, today let's remember the real home run king, Hank Aaron. A brief video about the record breaking night can be seen here.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Quickies
It's less than two weeks until the official start of spring and less than a month to the unofficial start of spring...baseball opening day. So appropriately, today's Quickies post has nothing to do with either spring or baseball....
50 years ago today (March 9th), Barbara Millicent Roberts came onto the American pop culture scene and depsite a few controversies, both here and abroad, she is still going strong. The latest fight Miss Roberts faces is in West Virginia, where State Delegate Jeff Eldridge has introduced legislation to ban her because she supposedly sets a bad example for little girls. Eldridge seems to be following the lead of Saudi Arabia, where Miss Roberts was outlawed in 2003. It's hard to understand why folks would have it in for Miss Roberts just because she once said "math class is tough". Everyone makes mistakes, so let's hope Delegate Eldridge sees his and drops his fight to ban the sale of Barbie dolls in West Virginia.
Remember the trade rumors involving Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler a couple of weeks back? Remember Cutler's reaction to them? Well, it seems a lot of folks, including Cutler and "credible" sports media types like Peter King and Colin Cowherd, fell for a giant hoax. A message board poster calling himself "The Truth" fabricated the rumor in a post on the message board BroncosFreaks.com. So far, I've had very little success in finding my own "credible" news source verifying what I heard about this hoax on the radio this morning. But, another blogger seems to be upset about it. You know what they say..."if it's on the internet, it's gotta be true".
Finally, and on a serious note, on this day in 1977, a group of Hanafi Muslims entered three buildings in Washington, D.C. and began a 39 hour siege. During the siege, 150 people were held hostage, one person was killed, and several were injured, including then D.C. Council member Marion Barry. Barry was hit in the chest by a pellet from a shotgun shell. Of course, Barry recovered and went on the serve as mayor of D.C. on two different occasions and came close to driving the city into financial ruin. The Washington Post ran this story two years ago marking the 3oth anniversary of the siege.
50 years ago today (March 9th), Barbara Millicent Roberts came onto the American pop culture scene and depsite a few controversies, both here and abroad, she is still going strong. The latest fight Miss Roberts faces is in West Virginia, where State Delegate Jeff Eldridge has introduced legislation to ban her because she supposedly sets a bad example for little girls. Eldridge seems to be following the lead of Saudi Arabia, where Miss Roberts was outlawed in 2003. It's hard to understand why folks would have it in for Miss Roberts just because she once said "math class is tough". Everyone makes mistakes, so let's hope Delegate Eldridge sees his and drops his fight to ban the sale of Barbie dolls in West Virginia.
Remember the trade rumors involving Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler a couple of weeks back? Remember Cutler's reaction to them? Well, it seems a lot of folks, including Cutler and "credible" sports media types like Peter King and Colin Cowherd, fell for a giant hoax. A message board poster calling himself "The Truth" fabricated the rumor in a post on the message board BroncosFreaks.com. So far, I've had very little success in finding my own "credible" news source verifying what I heard about this hoax on the radio this morning. But, another blogger seems to be upset about it. You know what they say..."if it's on the internet, it's gotta be true".
Finally, and on a serious note, on this day in 1977, a group of Hanafi Muslims entered three buildings in Washington, D.C. and began a 39 hour siege. During the siege, 150 people were held hostage, one person was killed, and several were injured, including then D.C. Council member Marion Barry. Barry was hit in the chest by a pellet from a shotgun shell. Of course, Barry recovered and went on the serve as mayor of D.C. on two different occasions and came close to driving the city into financial ruin. The Washington Post ran this story two years ago marking the 3oth anniversary of the siege.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
January 8th Happenings: National Debt Was Once $0 and a Former National Retires
On this day in 1835, the United States' national debt was zero for the first and only time. No wonder Andrew Jackson, the President at the time, has long been on the $20 bill. Nevermind all the other things he did, like defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, help found the Democratic Party and sign the Indian Removal Act (I didn't say everything he did was good.)
Shedd's Spot's west coast bureau forwarded this news to the home office today. Former Nationals pitcher John Patterson has annouced his retirement. Patterson showed glimpes of greatness during the Nationals innaugural season in 2005, but injuries have hampered his career since then. Read more about it here.
Shedd's Spot's west coast bureau forwarded this news to the home office today. Former Nationals pitcher John Patterson has annouced his retirement. Patterson showed glimpes of greatness during the Nationals innaugural season in 2005, but injuries have hampered his career since then. Read more about it here.
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