Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On August 5, 1861, the Federal Government of the United States instituted its first income tax to help pay for the Civil War.  With a tax rate of only 3% on all income over $800, it may seem like a bargain today, but at the time it was about as popular as emptying the chamber pot.  Governments have a way of irritating their people with unpopular laws, and here we list 10 such legislative actions.  Some have been rescinded, while others just will not go away.   Digging Deeper 10. Income Tax. Everyone seems to have their own…

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A Brief History On August 4, 1693, the monk Dom Peringnon is traditionally believed to have invented Champagne.  This belief is not the case, but many people still believe he did, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.  Many historical “facts” believed by the general public are simply not accurate.  On July 23 and July 24, 2014, we listed 10 such errors.  Here we list 10 more common misunderstandings.   Digging Deeper 10. General Short and Admiral Kimmel were scapegoats. The Pearl Harbor debacle was blamed on the Army and Navy commanders of the U.S. forces in Hawaii, although many people…

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A Brief History On August 3, 1921, the Commissioner of Baseball, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, reaffirmed the ban from baseball of the 8 players involved in the “Black Sox” scandal, even though they had just been acquitted in criminal court.  Accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, the group included the immortal Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the game’s most popular players.  The world of sports has since been beset by scandals over the years.  Here we list 10 of the most famous and most interesting cases.  Which cases would you include in this list?  Do we need a sequel? (Hint:…

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A Brief History On August 2, 1916, Austrian saboteurs managed to sink the Italian battleship, Leonardo da Vinci as the great ship lay in Taranto harbor.  Was the magazine explosion an accident, or did the Austrians use some sort of novel booby trap to sink the mighty vessel?  Either way, World War I, like other wars, saw the imagination of arms designers and military engineers run wild.  Here we list 10 of the weird weapons or contraptions dreamed up to help one side or the other win the war.  What items would you add to the list?  (See our follow on article,…

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A Brief History On Thursday, August 1st, 1991, actress Hedy Lamarr was arrested for shoplifting.  Hedy’s life and accomplishments were presented in Part 1 of our series on German-speaking women in English-speaking roles. In this article, we present the next group of German actresses. Digging Deeper Part 2: The Post-War Years 1) Hildegard Knef (1925-2002) During World War II, Hildegard Knef, a young aspiring actress, had an affair with Ewald von Demandowsky who was the head of a film production company responsible for making many Nazi propaganda movies. In the final year of the war and to be able to stay…

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