Author Archives: dcaligari

December 21, 1898 –Radium, which existed since the world was young, was minding it own business when French local busybodies and known chemists Pierre and Marie Curie isolated radium; one of the first radioactive elements to be discovered. They won a joint Nobel prize for their work, and Marie Curie went on to win anotherContinue reading “Curiosity killed the cat … and the scientist”

December 21, 1963 –The Doctor Who story arc The Daleks, the second story of Season One, first aired on the BBC on this date. The episodes mark the first appearance of the Doctor’s mortal enemies, the Daleks, a race of genetically engineered mutants who abhor all other races.

The Winter Solstice in Northern Hemisphere will be at 10:58 AM (EST), the shortest amount of daylight of the year and the longest night. It’s officially the first day of Winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans evenContinue reading “Follow along – I promise it will make sense”

Josif Djugashvili was born in the Gori District of Tiflis Province in Georgia, Imperial Russia, on December 21, 1879 (or December 18th or the 22nd. When you’re an evil bastard dictator, you get to choose your own birthday). His father was a drunken and often unemployed cobbler, illiterate, and like Josif’s mother, Ekaterina, had onlyContinue reading “Stalin: Portrait of an Evil Bastard”

We have been host to some of the girls from the finest finishing school across the country – The Mata Hari Finishing School for Young Ladies – for years. Here’s the final guest programmers with some of their favorite Christmas jingles (we can not identify them by name because many of them are avoiding extraditionContinue reading “This Year’s Fourth Special Guest Programmers”

December 20, 1939 –The Frank Capra film It’s A Wonderful Life had a preview showing for charity at New York City’s Globe Theatre, (a day before its official premiere) on this date. The film is no longer available online – please enjoy the 1947 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast The film is regarded as a classicContinue reading “Each man’s life touches so many other lives.”

Ok bunkies, today is the fourth and last Sunday of the Advent season. The day is called the Fourth Sunday of Advent, sorry no fancy french or latin name. The fourth candle is lit on this day along with the first three. The fourth candle is often called the Angel candle. It represents the messengersContinue reading “We’re so close”

December 19, 1972 –Apollo 17 completed their mission and splashed down in the Pacific on this date. With this return to earth, the Apollo program of manned lunar landings ended. NASA has announced plans to return to the Moon with the Artemis program, scheduling to send the first woman and 13th man to the MoonContinue reading “‘America’ returned”

ACME Eagle Hand Soap would like to share with you another of their annual salute to the holidays via Rock and Roll (well, some Rock and Roll). Today – Do you hear what I hear?: Male Performers: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Barenaked Ladies – This is a traditional English carol dating back to theContinue reading “Rocking out for Christmas”

It’s the anniversary of the passing of the the singer Kirsty MacColl. I can think of no better remembrance of her than playing this holiday classic. After their second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, The Pogues wanted to release a Christmas single. Instead of a cover song, lead singer Shane MacGowan and banjo playerContinue reading “The Fairytale of New York”