A Brief History On December 24, 1294, Pope Boniface VIII (born Benedetto Caetani) was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church to replace the previous Pope, St. Celestine V, who had resigned to return to his humble, monastic pre-papal life.  Fearing Celestine becoming an Anti-pope (pretender to the papacy), Boniface jailed Celestine, his predecessor (not the first Pope to ever resign the office, despite legend that he was).  Celestine spent the rest of his life imprisoned. Digging Deeper Celestine, born Pietro Angelerio in 1215 in Sicily, had become a Benedictine monk at the age of 17.  He led an austere…

A Brief History On December 23, 1997, the Seinfeld television comedy show introduced us to a new, secular holiday to be celebrated during the winter season, avoiding the religious friction of Hanukkah vs. Christmas vs. Saturnalia vs. Winter Solstice and the racially charged Kwanzaa.  (Note: Kwanzaa was invented by a creep that was convicted of kidnapping and torturing 2 African American women.)  December 23 is the day designated for the celebration of Festivus (For The Rest of Us!!!) Digging Deeper The brainchild of Seinfeld writer Dan O’Keefe, the idea of Festivus is to provide a “holiday” without any pressures to…

A Brief History On December 22, 2001, Richard Colvin Reid, age 28, of London, England, attempted to destroy an airliner in flight on its way to Miami, Florida by the use of explosives hidden in his shoe.  The comically inept terrorist failed to ignite his bomb when he was interrupted while attempting to light the fuse with a match during the flight.  Ever since, this career petty criminal turned radical Islamist has been known as “The Shoe Bomber.” Digging Deeper Reid was born in London in 1973 to a White English mother and a father of mixed heritage (Jamaican/African/White).  He…

A Brief History This article presents a list of floating islands in various types of fiction. Digging Deeper Literature The first floating island encountered in literature is the home of the four winds, Aiolia, as recounted in Homer’s Odyssey: Odysseus: We came to the Aiolian island (nesos Aiolios); here lived Aiolos, son of Hippotas; the deathless gods counted him their friend. His island is a floating one; all round it there is a wall of bronze, unbreakable, and rock rises sheer above it. — The Odyssey, 10.11 According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, c. 77–79 AD, there were floating islands on the Vadimonian Lake.2 Some other mythological…

A Brief History On December 21, 2017, the American public awaits another hard to define movie when Downsizing opens across the country tomorrow.   Called a science fiction-comedy-drama, to properly describe the film you would have to include the term “romance,” even if the plot takes a while to get there.  This Paramount Pictures release starring Matt Damon has already been named by the National Board of Review as one of the Top 10 Films of 2017. Digging Deeper Along with the star power of Matt Damon, Downsizing also features actors you know such as Christoph Waltz and Kristen Wiig, as…