Author Archives: dcaligari

February 16, 1964 –The Beatles appeared for the second time on the Ed Sullivan Show on this date. The Beatles performed six songs: She Loves You, This Boy, All My Loving, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You and I Want To Hold Your Hand. The Beatles received $25,000 for their appearance; halfContinue reading “The Beatles in Miami”

Today is the Feast of Saint Juliana of Nicomedia. She refused to marry a Roman official, so he had her roasted in flames, then dipped into boiling oil before finally being beheaded, which seems rather harsh even for Roman times. Once again, Springsteen was right – it’s hard being a saint (in the city.) AndContinue reading “Saint Juliana of Nicomedia”

February 16, 600 – (we can probably assume this date was correctly denoted. Let’s hope, since this involves a pope, most of the people there were not involved in a orgy and had the time to write this down.)Pope Gregory the Great declared “God bless you” to be the correct response to a sneeze. ItContinue reading “So now you know why.”

February 16, 1967 –The titanic battle of the man girdles and outrageous toupees began on this date. The Star Trek episode, Space Seed, premiered on NBC-TV on this date. In it, the crew re-awaken a ship of Augments from Earth’s eugenics war during the 1990s, including their leader, Khan Noonien Singh. This being a first-seasonContinue reading “The first appearance of Khan”

Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564. He worked on the improvement of a telescope with which he later discovered craters on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and every luscious detail of the girl next door’s nubile young form. Galileo’s astronomical observations seemed to confirm Copernicus‘ theory that the Earth went around theContinue reading “Thunderbolts and lightning …”

February 15, 1975 –Linda Ronstadt’s song You’re No Good went to No. # 1 on the Billboard charts on this date. This song had been around for a while before Linda Ronstadt took it to the top of the chart. It was originally recorded by Dee Dee Warwick in 1963. Her version was produced byContinue reading “You’re No Good”

Today is the Yuan Xiao festival, also called Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival is the first full moon night of the new Lunar year calendar. This is the 15th day of the Lunar Festival; it marks the end of the New Year celebrations, marking the return of spring and symbolizing the reunion of family. ThereContinue reading “And just like that – it’s over”

February 15, 1987 – Broadcast over the course of seven nights, Amerika, premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Amerika sparked much controversy from many camps long before it even aired. Many liberals dismissed the mini-series as right wing paranoia, while many conservatives complained that the Soviet brutality that was depicted was seriously underplayed. Several re-writesContinue reading “Amerika premiered”

February 14, 1990 –The Pale Blue Dot photograph of planet Earth was taken on this date, by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about 3. 7 billion miles (6 billion kms). In the photograph, Earth’s apparent size is less than a pixel; the planet appears as a tiny dot against theContinue reading “We are truly but stardust.”

February 14, 1962 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, with her breathless voice, takes television viewers on a tour of the White House. (Haven’t you always found it strange that Marylin Monroe and Jackie Kennedy basically had the same voice?) It was estimated that hundreds of millions of people saw the program, making it the mostContinue reading “White House Tour”