Author Archives: dcaligari

September 30, 1938 –The Germans occupied the Sudetenland in late summer of 1938. This enraged the British and the English, who both feared for the loss of the Sudetenland’s celebrated pea crops. British Prime Minister flew to Germany to meet Hitler at Bertesgarden to discuss the situation, on this date. Hitler assured him that thereContinue reading “Always proofread your pacts with Rat Bastards”

September 30, 1965 – Gerry Anderson’s supermarionation take on The Tracy family business, Thunderbirds premiered on this date in the UK. The five Tracy brothers were named after astronauts from the Mercury program: Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.Gordon Tracy after GordonContinue reading “Thunderbirds”

With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses. The song Hail to the Chief became specially connected to the presendency, specifically because of James Polk. Although it had been played in connection with at least three earlier presidents, Sarah Polk, James’ wife, asked for Hail to the Chief toContinue reading “More Presidential Trivia”

The letter ‘E’ is the most common letter in the English language. It appears in roughly 11% of all words used in the English language, and is used 12 times in this very sentence alone!

September 29, 1957 –An explosion at the Chelyabinsk-40 complex, a Soviet nuclear fuel processing plant, irradiated the nearby city of Kyshtym with strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium on this date. This accident releases twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl incident. Oops And so it goes

It’s Miguel de Cervantes‘ birthday today. Born in 1547, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, a cunning satire on mental illness. The work is an epic treatment of the perennial question, “wouldn’t the world be better off if we were all crazy?“ The answer from the novel is a qualified yes:Continue reading “To be prepared is half the victory.”

September 29, 1967 – Gerry Anderson’s supermarionation take on superheroes, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons premiered on this date in the UK. The Spectrum organizations’ radio code SIG stood for Spectrum Is Green (essentially an OK), whilst the less used SIR stood for Spectrum Is Red (indicating a dangerous situation). Both radio codes have beenContinue reading “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons”

All astronauts going to the International Space Station have to learn how to speak Russian. This is because astronauts traveling to the ISS must hitch a ride with Russian cosmonauts, and the controls of their Soyuz spacecraft are in Russian. The first British astronaut to go to the ISS, Commander Tim Peake said “Learning RussianContinue reading “Elon Musk would have them learn Esperanto”

For those of you not near your church bulletin, today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. It’s also known in England as Michaelmas Day. St. Michael is the patron saint of the sea and maritime lands, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. He was the Angel who hurled Lucifer down fromContinue reading “It’s Michaelmas Day”

British history began on September 28, 1066, with the Norman invasion of England. The Normans were a group of Franks who’d grown weary of being so Frank. Their decision to become Normans cost them their Frankness, so they joined together and invaded England under the leadership of William (or, in Norman, “Norman“) the Conqueror. PriorContinue reading “I guess they wanted to celebrate ‘Beer Drinking Day’”