Author Archives: dcaligari

March 12, 1888 –The day before started off seemingly fine – the temperature was mild as a light rain began to fall on March 11th, 1888. And then the weather changed. The rain became heavier and by the next day, the rains changed to heavy snow and buried the unprepared city in drifts of upContinue reading “Here are the snows of our yesteryears”

March 11, 222 –Most of you with teenagers think that yours are the worst, but no, Ancient Rome had the worst by far, the Emperor Elagabalus. His real name was Varius Avitus Bassianus but as he developed an intense interest in worshiping the Syrian god Elagabal, became High Priest of the cult and so hadContinue reading “These kids today have nothing on him”

March 11, 2006 –It’s that time again for Throwback Thursday featuring a favorite song, something about the song and a cover version of the song. Today’s Throwback Thursday is slightly different: this is not a particular favorite tune of mine – the song in question naturally made me post the other versions. James Blunt’s singleContinue reading “I don’t know what to…”

March 10, 1876 –It was on this date in 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell (Don Ameche) conducted the first successful experiment on a radical new technology. He put a “transmitter” in one room of his home and a “receiver” in another. He connected them with wire. He then shouted into the mouthpiece of the transmitter,Continue reading “In order to get a phone call, you need a phone”

March 10, 1983 –Despite the production value and Michael Jackson’s star quality, MTV didn’t play the video Billie Jean until the song was already a #1 hit. MTV executives claim that they loved the video and played it as soon as they could, but interviews with executives at Jackson’s record company and with others familiarContinue reading “Before he was the King of Pop”

Yes, Raymond Burr’s Nipple Rouge would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy Joe Franklin Day. One of ACME’s most popular products would like to honor this great American – (And even though Shabbat Across America/ Canada was cancelled last Friday night because of Covid concerns, hopefully you didn’t forget to bringContinue reading “Happy Joe Franklin Day!”

March 9, 1966 –The Beach Boys began recording God Only Knows on this date. (Paul McCartney once called God Only Knows, “The greatest song ever written.“) Brian Wilson planned to sing the lead vocal himself, but decided that his brother Carl was better suited for the track. “I was looking for a tenderness and aContinue reading “I’ll make you so sure about it”

Today marks the observance of International Women’s Day, celebrating the achievements of inspiring women around the world. (This year, the theme of International Women’s Day is “choose to challenge”.) The earliest Women’s Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York; it was organized by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance ofContinue reading “The best protection any woman can have is courage”

March 7, 1917 –Russia’s 1917 February Revolution began on March 7, which was then the middle of February, in the city of St. Petersburg, which was then Petrograd, in what was then Russia, but would soon be the Soviet Union. Tsar (or Czar) Nicholas II of the Romanov (or Romanoff) line had been away fromContinue reading “The Crazy Mixed-Up Russian Revolution”

March 6, 1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society on this date in a presentation entitled “The Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements.” He left gaps in his charts and predicted the addition of three more elements in the near future. Mendeleev’s predictionsContinue reading “you wouldn’t know where to put it”