Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On July 27, 1890, painter Vincent van Gogh shot himself, dying 2 days later.  Commemorated in the Don McLean song, Vincent, van Gogh was a tormented person.  It seems that great painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, actors and other creative people are often beset by their own demons that leads them to self-destruction.  Here we list 10 of those sad cases, representing a variety of art forms.   Digging Deeper 10. Mary Kay Bergman, 1999. The voices of South Park’s Ms. Cartman (Cartman’s mom) and Wendy, she also was the official voice of Snow White for Disney.  Bergman was the voice of Timmy Turner in The Fairly Odd Parents…

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A Brief History On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which ordered the desegregation of the US military.  At times presidents cannot or will not wait for congress to act on a subject and they take it into their own hands by issuing an “Executive Order.”  President Obama is currently under attack by Republicans for using this non-legislative authority, somewhat hypocritically when in fact George W. Bush used many more executive orders than Obama (291 to 183).  Franklin Roosevelt holds the record for the most executive orders with a whopping 3721.  Second place is Woodrow Wilson with…

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A Brief History On July 26, 1767, Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and one-time mistress of King George II of England, died. Henrietta has the distinction of probably being the only mistress in history to be unwanted; George II much preferring the company of his wife to her. Digging Deeper What also sets Henrietta Howard apart is that she was a different nationality from her royal lover. This article will list 10 women who slept with emperors, czars, kings and princes but were not their subjects. Mistresses such as Cleopatra or Wallis Simpson who eventually married their lovers will not…

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A Brief History On this day, July 25, 2014, Universal Pictures releases Lucy in theaters in the United States of America.  The film stars 29-year-old superstar Scarlett Johansson in the titular role.  Here is the first edition of what could be an annual list of the current hottest young actresses gracing big and small screens alike.  For the purpose of this list, by “young”, I am including women who portrayed girls.  Also, as a 34-year-old myself, anyone who is younger than I am is considered “young” by me!  Moreover, by “hottest”, I do not necessarily mean “most attractive”.  Yes, these are all…

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A Brief History On July 25, 1969, President Nixon declared the “Nixon Doctrine,” stating that from this point on Asian countries were expected to defend themselves rather than rely on the US to defend them.  This policy began the pathetic process of “Vietnamization” of the Viet Nam War, turning over responsibility for the war to South Viet Nam.  Presidents have been declaring “doctrines” all the way back to James Monroe.  Here we list 10 of those presidential doctrines.  Whether or not they were/are a good idea is for you to decide.   Digging Deeper 10. Monroe. The original policy labeled a…

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