A Brief History On April 15, 2017, we get a 2-day reprieve from the filing limit date for filing our Federal Income Tax Returns, since the day falls on Saturday. By Monday, April 17, 2017, you better either have your tax return in the mail or have applied for an extension. Americans did not always have an income tax, although it may seem like it to you. Digging Deeper Back in the 1890’s through the 1920’s the United States of America underwent a period called the Progressive Era, a period in which activists sought to improve the quality of life…
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A Brief History On April 14, 1561, numerous Germans witnessed what they described as an aerial battle over Nuremberg, Germany. Unlike many UFO sightings, this celestial event happened in daylight, a little after daybreak, and featured numerous UFOs, perhaps even hundreds of them! The image on the left depicts the celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg as printed in an illustrated news notice in the same month. The image on the right is from 1566. Digging Deeper The UFOs were described as being in many different varieties, with shapes including crosses, arrows or spears, tubes, triangles, globes, crescents and other objects, variously…
A Brief History On April 13, 2013, Yan Gomes, born in Brazil of Portuguese descent, hit a home run for the Cleveland Indians, his first hit as an Indian, but not his first homer ever. Digging Deeper Gomes moved to the United States at age 12, and played high school baseball and college baseball at the University of Tennessee, where he was an All-American, and later switched to Barry University after 2 years at UT. Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009, Gomes was promoted to the big league club on May 17, 2012, becoming the first Major League…
A Brief History On April 13, 1873, on Easter Sunday, the holiest day on the Christian calendar, between 60 and 150 African-Americans were slaughtered by irate Louisiana White Democrats angry about having lost the Civil War and Reconstruction efforts to place free Black persons in government and militia positions. Digging Deeper With the status quo severely upended after the Civil War, disaffected White people believed that Northern interference was adversely affecting the welfare of the White Democrats. The 1872 gubernatorial election had been hotly contested as had local elections, with Blacks being allowed to vote in large numbers and ex-Confederates…
A Brief History On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut (their version of astronaut) Yuri Gagarin was sent into orbit around the Earth aboard Vostok 1, becoming the first human being to “slip the surly bonds of Earth” and voyage where no man had gone before, Outer Space. Digging Deeper Humans have looked up with wonder at the Sun, the Moon, the stars and planets beyond the clouds and wondered what is really up there? In the past, with no better explanation, stories were made up about celestial gods, the Moon made of Green Cheese, flaming chariots and all sorts of…