Browsing: Lifestyle

A Brief History On April 17, 2019, the nation celebrates National Cheese Ball Day, or at least we should.  Cheese Balls are a mainstay of wine tasting parties and are a favored Hors d’oeuvre at seasonal get togethers and office parties, but apparently the delicious dairy treat needs its own day anyway.  We happen to love Cheese Balls, and this gastronomical love affair causes us to wonder, “Why do people refer to something that is cheap, tawdry, or otherwise crumby as ‘Cheese Ball’?” (Note: There is another kind of “Cheese Ball,” the salty snack type that is akin to cheese…

A Brief History On April 16, 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician later to gain the sobriquet, “Dr. Death,” assisted in his first physician assisted suicide when he assisted a 54 year old woman that had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in the act of taking her own life.  Kevorkian had made his controversial views on euthanasia and physician assisted suicide public by advertising in Detroit area newspapers, the culmination of the evolution of his medical opinions about death and how patients should be allowed to handle their own fate. Digging Deeper Dr. Kevorkian (1928-2011) was Michigan born and…

A Brief History On April 10, 1858, the original bell called “Big Ben” in the clock tower at the North end of Westminster Palace was removed because it had cracked when tested.  The giant 14.5 metric ton bell was replaced with a smaller version, weighing only 13.76 metric tons (or 30,300 pounds for Yankees), but also called Big Ben.  Built by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the bell called Big Ben is often confused with either the tower the giant clock sits in or the tower itself.  Big Ben is really just the bell that chimes the hours. Digging Deeper Like…

A Brief History On March 31, 1918, Daylight Saving Time (DST) went into effect for the first time.  For the first time, Americans would be told to “Spring Ahead!” and clocks across the nation had to change by 1 hour in advance.  First things first!  The term is “Daylight Saving Time,” NOT “Daylight Savings Time.”  (This common error seems to drive some people absolutely nuts, so if you have a bit of the devil in you, go ahead and add the unnecessary “S” and watch the fireworks begin.) Digging Deeper The idea of changing the clocks is to get an…

A Brief History On March 28, 1933, the first known incident of an airliner airplane being taken down by the actions of a passenger occurred when the City of Liverpool (airplanes, trains and the like used to have names like ships are named), a biplane operated by Imperial Airways was taken down because of a fire set by a passenger.  Ever since then, terrorists, saboteurs, and  assorted criminals have taken down airliners, usually with bombs, but also by commandeering the plane and flying it into the ground or other object, most notably the aerial hijackings of September 11, 2001 in…