A Brief History On April 4, 1859, the familiar Southern anthem, “Dixie,” alternatively known as “Dixie Land,” “Dixie’s Land,” and “I Wish I Was in Dixie,” made its public debut performed by the blackface troupe Bryant’s Minstrels as the closing number of their show.  Not only was the song first publicly performed in New York, a decidedly NOT city in Dixie, it was written by a guy from Ohio, another place North of the Mason-Dixon Line. Digging Deeper The Mason-Dixon Line, the line symbolically separating the Northern from the Southern United States, dates back to a surveying job performed by…

A Brief History On April 3, 1981, the Osborne Computer Corporation unveiled its latest creation, the Osborne 1, the first portable computer to be commercially viable.  The grand daddy of all the laptops, tablets, pads and smartphones we have today started with this 24.5 pound chunk of electronics.  Despite the pioneering nature of the company, Osborne went out of business only 4 years later. Digging Deeper Costing a whopping $1795 (or equivalent to over $5000 today), the Osborne 1 had to be plugged in to a wall socket for power as it had no internal battery.  Although you could not…

A Brief History In these uncertain financial times, investors of all shapes and sizes are looking for a combination of asset growth and security. As the “gold standard” of investing over centuries, gold bullion is often considered a quality investment for protecting value over time. As a growth investment, gold coins can be successful, depending on a number of market factors. In this article, Rory Brown, Lydian founder discusses some of the major advantages and disadvantages of using gold coins as a part of a solid investment plan.  Note: This post is sponsored by Rory Brown. Digging Deeper Advantages Permanent…

A Brief History On April 2, 1930, Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia died, making her the last (most recent) Empress regnant in world history.  Will there be another empress someday?  In the past, we have discussed women leaders and even some “badass women” and today we take a look at this last female head of an empire.  When will another woman become empress of an empire?  If you know of any candidates, share that information with us! Digging Deeper Zewditu, named Askala Maryam at birth in 1876, was the daughter of King Menelik of Shewa, the man who would become Emperor…

A Brief History On April 1, 2016, we published an article using made up “scientific” names of fish in a pathetic effort to be funny.  (This author, according to most people, is not funny.  I beg to differ…)  Today, we take a look at the common name of some real life fish in fresh and salt water.  Feel free to nominate others that you believe should be on such a list.  Sometimes people butcher the names of fish and create their own stupid/funny names, a fact I learned working part-time at an aquarium store.  Examples are “African American Cichlids” when…