Browsing: March

A Brief History On March 22, 1997, figure skater Tara Lipinski, age 14, became the youngest skater ever to win a World Championship.  (Okay, she was actually 14 years and 9 months old for you nitpickers.)  Prior to her history making performance at the World competition, Tara had won the United States National Championship and in 1998 would go on to win the Gold Medal at the Winter Olympic Games.  Lipinski is only 1 of many young athletes who have excelled beyond their seemingly tender years, and today we list 10 such young athletic stars that strike us as particularly…

A Brief History On March 20, 1985, Libby Riddles became the first female sled dog musher to win the grueling 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, truly one of the toughest races in the world.  Yes, Libby Riddles rates an A+ in the Badass column, as have many real and fictional women and girls over the years.  Today we take a look at 5 Real and 5 Fictional women that we would be mighty careful about insulting in a bar.  Who would you add to the list?  (We know there are many deserving women not listed, so have at it! …

A Brief History On March 20, 2019, we take a plunge into one of the forbidden subjects, that of atheism.  With Atheist Pride Day being celebrated on March 20 AND June 6 annually, atheists must feel the need for 2 days, maybe making up for the cornucopia of religious holidays each year.  Atheists often hide their true feelings and thoughts on the subject of religion to avoid social ostracism, so exact numbers of atheists are hard to pin down due to reluctance to admit such an idea publicly. Digging Deeper Poll takers claim there are about 11% to 13% of…

A Brief History Back on March 18, 2016, we ran an article, “10 People (You Do not Know) Behind the Characters,” and today we take a look at 5 more characters and the persons or critters behind the character.  As always, feel free to illuminate us with more information about the character or person behind the character, or to nominate those characters you think should be on such a list. Digging Deeper 1. Lassie, television and movie star (dog). You may be surprised to find out that the dog that played “Lassie” in the movies was played by a male…

A Brief History On March 17, 1891, a civilian ocean liner, the steamship SS Utopia of the Anchor Line ran into the moored battleship, HMS Anson in Gibraltar Bay, causing the ill-fated steamer to sink taking 562 of the 880 passengers to Davy Jones Locker!  We have frequently written about naval and maritime disasters, and today we include another one of those times a ship’s captain would love to have a “do over.” Digging Deeper As stated above, the British battleship HMS Anson (the 6th Royal Navy ship to bear the name, but not the last!) was anchored in Gibraltar…