A Brief History On February 2, 1887 (or 1886), the first Groundhog Day celebration took place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and such celebrations have been taking place over and over again ever since (on each February 2nd)! Newsflash: On February 2, 2019, Phil gave a grateful nation a prediction of an early Spring for 2019! By failing to see his shadow, the famous rodent gave some welcome news to a country digging out from an epic cold snap. Thanks Phil! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Pennsylvania largely settled by people of German descent, often referred to incorrectly as the Pennsylvania…
Browsing: Animals/Pets
A Brief History On December 23, 1938, a commercial fisherman pulled in a “living fossil” in his net off the coast of Africa, a creature believed to be extinct since the time of the dinosaurs! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the first known discovery of the Coelacanth, a prehistoric fish believed to be a link between fish and 4 legged animals and the second oldest living species of common animals! Previously thought to exist from 360 million to perhaps 60 million years ago, the Coelacanth is a primitive looking fish, with pectoral and pelvic fins located at the ends…
A Brief History On December 18, 1912, Charles Dawson announced the discovery of the prehistoric missing link between ape and man! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Dawson, an amateur archaeologist presenting fossilized skull pieces to the Geological Society of London, claiming they were found in a quarry near Piltdown, East Sussex. The scientific community accepted the skull and jaw bones as genuine and declared a new species of ape-man, naming it Eoanthropus dawsoni. This creature was touted as the “missing link” between ape and man. As usual with new scientific discoveries, critics did not accept the discovery and conclusions as…
A Brief History On this date, December 10, 1907, a long running feud between the medical community and anti-vivisectionist activists boiled over into the worst of the riots and disturbances over the statue of a dog! Digging Deeper Digging deeper we find the turn of the century London medical community leaving the dark ages of medicine and trying to approach something more like the research we have today. Part of that scientific quest included the practice of vivisection, dissecting animals while they are still alive. This practice was used for research and also for the instruction of medical students, and…
A Brief History On October 6, 1945, Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat were ejected from Chicago’s Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series thereby (allegedly) cursing the Chicago Cubs for at least the next sixty years! Thus, one of the greatest of sports curses was born. Digging Deeper First off, while those in Chicago are probably more apt to be familiar with this story than our many followers from outside of Chicago, please dear non-Chicagoans rest assured that we are not making up this entry in our daily reporting on cracked events in world history!…
