A Brief History On October 16, 2010, a graduate student at Auburn University named a new species of fish Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini, because he thought a marking on the fish looked like a double necked guitar used by Led Zeppelin member Jimmy Page. Digging Deeper Obviously, it would be fun to be able to give a new species the name of your choice, and here are a few goofy sounding ones already taken: Gorilla gorilla gorilla, the Western Lowland Gorilla. If only they could all be so easy! Mini mum, Mini scule and Mini ature, three of the tiniest species of…
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A Brief History On October 15, 1930, Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical Company died. A graduate of Cleveland’s Case School of Applied Science, the brilliant chemist and inventor turned his company into an international chemical powerhouse. Digging Deeper This iconic “American” scientist and businessman was born in Canada back in 1866. Many other famous people considered “American” were also born in Canada, including: Senator Ted Cruz, actors Jim Carrey, Pamela Anderson, Michael J. Fox, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Phil Hartman, Martin Short, Eliot Page, Seth Rogan, Howie Mandel, Christopher Plummer, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, Donald Sutherland and…
A Brief History On December 6, 1884, the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. was completed. A spectacular structure, the tall white obelisk was the tallest man-made structure in the world when complete, over 554 feet tall, losing that title to the Eiffel Tower in 1889, although it still is the world’s tallest monumental column. Digging Deeper Some other magnificent American monuments include: Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, carved into bare rock to depict the likenesses of four of our greatest presidents. Completed in 1941, each head is about 60 feet tall with eyes 11 feet wide! Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota,…
A Brief History On October 30, 1961, former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin suffered the indignity of having his body removed from a place of honor in Lenin’s Tomb and parked in a regular grave with a plain granite marker. Stalin’s body suffered only a minor indignity compared to some other former national leaders, and here we discuss a few of those. Digging Deeper Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of Britain, was dug up in 1661, three years after his death to be tried and “executed,” including beheading. Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, died in exile in 1821, and someone removed…
A Brief History On October 15, 1989, Ukrainian-Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe to become the all-time leading scorer in the NHL. Not only does Gretzky have more goals and assists than any other player, his 2,857 regular season points remains the NHL record. Digging Deeper Some of the other all-time leading scorers include: Baseball: Rickey Henderson’s 2,295 runs scored edge Ty Cobb’s 2,245 for the MLB record. Basketball: LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2023 to become the NBA scoring champ with 38,652 points. College Basketball: Pistol Pete Maravich narrowly remains the all-time scorer, with 3,667 points,…