A Brief History On December 13, 2017, our Jewish friends celebrate the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication, known better as Hanukkah. Right off the bat, the confusion starts with the spelling of “Hanukkah!” You may find this word spelled several different ways, so just pick the one you like. No matter how you spell it, Hanukkah adds up to 8 Crazy Nights! Digging Deeper Celebrated to commemorate the founding of the Second Temple, Hanukkah rites center around an 8 candle candelabrum called a menorah, with a ninth candle holder holding a candle called a Shamash, usually in…
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A Brief History On December 12, 1862, the United States ship, USS Cairo, an iron-clad gunboat of the City-class, was sunk in the Yazoo River by a remotely detonated Confederate “torpedo,” what naval mines were called back then. The Cairo became the first ship ever sunk by a remote control mine. (The Cairo was named after the city of Cairo, Illinois.) Digging Deeper Commissioned on January 25, 1862, Cairo was at first an Army gunboat, 175 feet long and 51 feet wide, protected by 2 ½ inches of plate armor, with a maximum thickness of 3 ½ inches of railway…
A Brief History On December 11, 2005, racial tensions exploded into violence in the Sidney suburb of Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia, with rioting by White Australians against anyone they perceived to be of Lebanese descent. The riots lasted a few days, and spread to surrounding suburbs. Digging Deeper Australia, not unlike the United States, was originally settled by the people known today as Aborigines. When British explorers (17th Century) and colonists (18th Century) settled the giant island continent, the indigenous people declined from as many as a million people to a fraction of their previous numbers, mostly due to…
A Brief History On December 10, 1541, Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were executed by King Henry VIII of England for having sexual affairs with the Queen, Catherine Howard, wife of Henry VIII! You would think common sense would keep anyone from risking their neck just to have sex with a particular person, but over the years, time and again, people let their lust overrule their logical thinking with predictable results. Here we list 10 of those time when people really made poor choices when it comes to love and sex. Digging Deeper 1. Catherine Howard marries King Henry VIII, 1540.…
A Brief History On December 9, 1917, British forces under the command of Field Marshall Allenby captured the city of Jerusalem, then in the territory known as Palestine. Fighting in and around the city would continue for another three weeks between the British and the forces of Ottoman Turkey, the Yidirim Army Group (“Thunderbolt” Army Group). The World War I battle for Jerusalem is just one in the long history of battles for this city that is holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, a bloody history that goes back thousands of years. Today Jerusalem is back in the news with…