A Brief History On May 16, 218, Elagabalus was proclaimed the true emperor of Rome by his mother and grandmother. After plots, intrigues, and some battles, Elagabulus captured and executed the previous emperor, Macrinus, and had the throne to himself at age 14. Digging Deeper If you think, “hey, a 14 year old emperor of Rome, what could go wrong?” then you would be thinking along the right track. After initially making peace with the Senate by granting amnesty for those who opposed him, and promising to obey the laws of Rome, Elagabalus went right off on his own, cracked…
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A Brief History On May 15, 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War recounted one of the most frightening displays of masculine toughness perhaps ever practiced in human history! Digging Deeper Imagine having cuts and bruises all over your chin, arms and chest, a result of being continuously whipped. If that is not bad enough, an open basketwork frame of stinging ants is pressed against your body, and you are itching like crazy! The worst part about all of this torture is that it is not a form of punishment! So, why would an…
A Brief History On May 14, 1939, in Peru, 5 ½ year old Lina Medina became the youngest documented human mother in history. Giving birth to a 6 pound healthy boy, due to Lina’s small pelvis the birth was performed by Caesarian section. Digging Deeper Far from a hoax or myth, this case was well documented after her parents brought her to a doctor because of her odd weight gain. From that point on when it was discovered this Kindergarten aged girl was pregnant, she was the center of medical and media attention. The baby boy was named Gerardo in…
A Brief History On May 10, 1941, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, third in command of Nazi Germany to Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring, some of history’s most evil people, parachuted into Scotland in an attempt to get Britain to make peace with Germany. Digging Deeper Nazi Number 3 was a far cry from the mythical Aryan “superman” that the Nazi propaganda machine depicted, but then again, so were the other top party members. (We wonder why the German people did not notice that their leadership was less than the so called “Nordic” ideal espoused by the Nazi party.) Although Hess…
A Brief History On May 8, 1927, two weeks before Charles Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis flew into history, two Frenchmen made the first attempt at a Paris to New York (or New York to Paris) flight and disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic. Digging Deeper The world of aviation progressed to the point where the idea of a non-stop trans-Atlantic flight began to seem possible. Two British aviators, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919 when they flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John’s, Newfoundland,…