Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On June 27, 1985, US Route 66, known as “The Main Street of America,” was officially taken off the list of US highways. Established in 1926, it was the main road from Chicago to Los Angeles (Santa Monica). Spawning a hit song (by Nat “King” Cole) and a hit television series, this route was the American highway, at least until superseded by the Interstate Highway System. It survives (barely) today in pieces as “State Route 66” in some states and as stretches of a “National Scenic Byway.” We previously discussed “10 Iconic American Things You Do Not…

A Brief History On June 13, 2010, country music singer and actor, as well as sausage impresario, Jimmy Dean, died at the age of 81 while watching television in his Virginia home.  Dean sang some notable hit songs, including “Big Bad John,” but he also recorded a not-so-great hit song in 1972, “Who Put the Leaving in Your Eyes.”  Over the many decades since people have been recording songs, many of those songs have been about eyes, or had the word “eyes” in the title or prominently featured that particular body part(s) in the lyrics.  Today we take a look…

A Brief History On May 30, 1883, panicked public people pushed, prodded, poked, and pummeled each other in a mad dash to get away from the Brooklyn Bridge when an unfounded rumor circulated that collapse was imminent.  This ridiculous rumor was not true, and the incident provided the impetus for our previous article about Stupid Rumors.  Today we take a look at more of these persistent beliefs that people have that get passed around to the point that vast numbers of people actually believe them to be fact, which of course they are not. Digging Deeper Covid vaccine has some…

A Brief History On May 23, 1945, notorious head of the dreaded German SS (Schutzstaffel), Heinrich Himmler, committed suicide by taking poison rather than face execution by hanging.  Himmler is just one of many famous or infamous people that have killed themselves while in custody to avoid whatever retribution awaited them at the hands of their captors.  Today we list some of those notorious incidents. Digging Deeper Heinrich Himmler, SS Chief and mass murderer (1945) A high-ranking Nazi official before and during World War II, this German weasel led the fanatic SS and was the leading head Nazi behind the…

A Brief History On May 16, 1957, Eliot Ness, former head of the “Untouchables” and former Safety Director of Cleveland, Ohio, died in relative obscurity, unlike the famous character of television and movies. Today we take a quick look at 5 famous lawmen, with the emphasis on “fame” rather than on any particular virtue or value. Digging Deeper Wyatt Earp, Frontier Lawman Wyatt, along with his brothers Virgil and Morgan, gained everlasting fame as the winners of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.  Despite his far greater fame, Wyatt was not the main lawman on the scene, as…