A Brief History On July 12, 100 B.C., Julius Caesar was born by what many believe to have been the first Caesarian section. Digging Deeper Today it is generally assumed that Caesar was not born by Caesarian section, as C-sections were only performed on dead women in Roman times, and there are many accounts of Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, being alive well into Caesar’s adulthood. So, how did this surgical procedure come to be associated with one of the greatest generals in recorded time? This belief has certainly been around a long time; and many Western names for the procedure include…
Browsing: Misconceptions
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A Brief History Contrary to Pat Robertson’s beliefs, on November 18, 1803, Haitians won their independence, not with the Devil’s assistance, but with their victory at The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution. The victory lead to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Digging Deeper After the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 took over 100,000 Haitian lives, Pat Robertson (Chancellor of Regent University and Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network), proclaimed on television that Haiti, while under the heel of Napoleon III, had made a pact with…
A Brief History On November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne, France, officially ending fighting at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day in the eleventh month, but fighting did not actually end at that exact time and nor did the war! Digging Deeper Today, Belgium, France, Serbia, and New Zealand commemorate the armistice between the Allies of World War I and Germany. The Commonwealth Nations, except Mozambique, similarly observe Remembrance Day, while the United States honors those who served its armed forces on Veterans Day, both…
A Brief History On October 22, 1926, J. Gordon Whitehead dealt a potentially deadly sucker punch to magician Harry Houdini’s stomach. Digging Deeper Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz in Budapest on March 24, 1874) is almost without any doubt the most famous magician and escape artist of all time, arguably surpassing the David Copperfields and Chris Angels of more recent years. From 1891 to 1926, Houdini dazzled audiences around the world with his many mind-boggling tricks. He gradually acquired such memorable nicknames as “The King of Cards” and “The Handcuff King”. For his many amazing abilities, he is accordingly ranked…