A Brief History On August 18, 2019, about 100 environmentally concerned citizens, including government officials and activists, held a funeral for the Okjökull glacier in Iceland. Digging Deeper The glacier, a large landbound ice formation, once covered about 6 square miles, but had completely melted away, presumably due to global climate change.  Located northeast of Reykjavík, the end of the glacier often called “the Ok glacier” actually came in 2014, so the 2019 funeral was perhaps a bit late. The gone but not forgotten glacier is memorialized on a metal plaque placed in its honor that bears the inscription (in…

A Brief History Fantasy fans, here is your chance to be among the first in Cleveland, Ohio to see Three Thousand Years of Longing on Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at 7:00 PM at Cedar Lee Theatre at 2163 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, Ohio!  For your chance to get a pass, please log on to https://uareleasingscreenings.com/3000YRSHH24.  Passes are first-come, first-serve.  The theater is overbooked slightly to ensure a full audience.  Therefore, seating is not guaranteed.  So, please arrive early!  Saving seats for other parties is prohibited. Digging Deeper In Three Thousand Years of Longing, Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is…

A Brief History On August 17, 1914, the World War I Battle of Stallupönen was fought between the Imperial German army and the Imperial Russian army near Nesterov, Russia.  The Germans were armed with the Mauser M98 chambered in 7.92 mm Mauser (sometimes called “8 mm Mauser”) and the Russians with the M1891 Mosin-Nagant rifle chambered in 7.62×54mmR.  both rifles were 5 shot bolt action repeating rifles firing smokeless powder cartridges topped by copper jacketed pointy nosed bullets that were accurate and highly effective. Digging Deeper Bullets were originally merely lead round balls, and then were blunt tip hollow based…

A Brief History On August 17, 1998, US President Bill Clinton admitted in a taped deposition that he had am “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a lie that led to his impeachment. American Presidents have been involved in many scandals over the years, and here we list some of those, inviting our viewers to chime in and rank those executive misdeeds from bad to the worst. (See our many other articles about political scandals.) Digging Deeper Andrew Jackson was married to an already married woman and was a veteran of 100 duels, including killing a man…

A Brief History On August 17, 2008, 6 foot 4 inch tall American swimmer Michael Phelps broke the previous record held by American swimmer Mark Spitz by winning his 8th Olympic Gold Medal at a single Olympic Games. Digging Deeper Not only a single Olympics wonder, Phelps excelled at the 2004, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games as well as at the 2008 event, winning a record of 28 Olympic Medals, of which 23 were the coveted Gold Medals. Phelps is the current or former World Record holder in five events, and during his career, won more Olympic Medals than…