Browsing: December 14

A Brief History On December 14, 2017, we would like to take a moment to discuss the new feature film, The Shape of Water, a science fiction Cold War based movie that is hard to fit into a particular movie genre. Featuring spies, mad scientists, cold blooded bureaucrats, artists and other sensitive people, race and class struggle, and of course, love, and the lack of love.  Oh, and it also features a Creature From the Black Lagoon type character as well! Digging Deeper Guillermo del Toro, horror and sci-fi maven, wrote and directed the film, and his vision for this movie…

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A Brief History On December 14, 835, Emperor Wenzong of the Chinese Tang Dynasty was given the news that “sweet dew” had formed on a pomegranate tree outside a military headquarters, a sign of divine favor for the Emperor.  It was suggested that the Emperor and his court travel to the lucky tree to observe the blessed event for themselves, which was readily agreed to.  In reality, this story and movement of the officials was all a ruse to get the powerful court Eunuchs (castrated public officials dedicated to a life of government service) to a place where they could…

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A Brief History On December 14, 1836, a war between the States ended, but one you may not be familiar with.  The so called Toledo War, also known as the Michigan-Ohio War ended when Michigan chose to give up its claim on the land called The Toledo Strip. Digging Deeper Ohio had already been a state since 1803, and Michigan was eager  to join the union by achieving statehood.  Unfortunately, due to sloppy mapping and a marginal understanding of geography, there was some confusion and dispute as to where the border of Ohio and Michigan was.  On top of that,…

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A Brief History On December 14, 2012, in Chenpeng Village of Henan Province, Chinese citizen Min Yongjun stabbed an 85-years-old lady in her own home with her own knife and then took the knife to the primary school next door and began stabbing children aged 6 to 11. Digging Deeper Apparently China’s emergence as a world economic and industrial power has caused changes in society that have unsettled many of its citizens, and for the past few years, there have been several such attacks on school children as a result.  In them meantime, security guards are posted at all Chinese schools. Although…

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A Brief History On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen of Norway narrowly beat a doomed English expedition to win the race to the South Pole! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Norwegian team of Amundsen (the tenth most famous explorer in history!) and 4 other men arriving just over a month before the Robert Scott led English expedition reached the South Pole only to find the Norwegian flag and evidence of Amundsen’s feat. While the Norwegians made it back to base camp safely, the ill fated Englishmen died along the way back, carrying the crushing burden of knowing they…

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