Browsing: March 28

A Brief History On March 28, 2017, we celebrate the New Moon by bringing you 10 of our favorite idiotic, goofy, funny, or wacky and wonderful country songs.  We do not claim these are the weirdest ever made, but they are the ones that tickly our country funny bones.  (BTW, do you know what you get if you play a country song backwards?  You get your car, your house, your dog, and your wife back, and the train takes you home in reverse.) Digging Deeper 10. “Bony Fingers”, Hoyt Axton, 1974.  Seriously, what do people expect if they work their…

A Brief History On March 28, 1930, the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora changed their names to Istanbul and Ankara.  You may remember Constantinople as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the capital of the Ottoman Empire (as well as the Latin Empire and Byzantine Empire), but if you are not familiar with Angora/Ankara you are hereby informed that this city is the capital of Turkey.  Many cities, countries, and even regions have undergone name changes throughout history for many different reasons.  Here are some of the most significant. Digging Deeper 10. Peking to Beijing (1958). The…

A Brief History On March 28, 1978, the US Supreme Court rendered a decision that many would think defied reason! Digging Deeper An Indiana mom went before a local court to request the judge issue an order that her teenage daughter be sterilized! The mom claimed her daughter was “somewhat retarded” (a description the daughter would later be justified in using about the judge!) and was hanging around with older boys, and the mom was thus in fear that her daughter would get pregnant. Without any representation or advocate for the daughter, without any evidence that the girl was retarded or…

A Brief History On March 28, 845 A.D., a Viking raiding party led by Ragnar Lodbrok (a.k.a. Lothbrok) sacked Paris, the future capital of France, proving that it was not just coastal towns that were susceptible to such raids.  As was typical, they were given an enormous ransom to leave. Digging Deeper Ragnar Lodbrok is also the star character of the current History Channel series Vikings, in which he is depicted as a semi-mythical Viking hero kind of a George Washington, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, King Arthur, Hercules, Theseus, Perseus, all rolled into one.  A first-class production, the television series has superb acting and…