On this day in 1964 the Warren commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone to kill president John F. Kennedy. On this day in 1998 Mark McGwire hit home runs 69 and 70 to break the home run record long held by Roger Maris. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

In light of the terrible news coming out of New Orleans, did you know that hurricane names often get reused unless the storm causes major damage in which case it gets retired (at least for 10 years). NOAA has a list of names that have been retired.

Ohhhhhh, that actually finally makes some sense. From straightdope.com (through digg.com ) Mainly to continue the tradition of making English as incomprehensible as possible, thereby keeping the spelling bee industry in business. (Believe me, there’s millions in it.) Colonel comes from Old Italian colonello, commander of a column of troops, which in turn derives from ...

On this day in 1945 Japan surrendered to Allied forces, bringing World War II to a close. VJ day was then celebrated with a two day holiday starting on August 15th. According to the BBC from Augst 15, 1945:   After days of rumour and speculation, US President Harry S Truman broke the good news ...

On this day in 1981 Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court. Many on the left are afraid that her resignation this week will allow Bush to pack the court with conservatives and change the direction of the court. That could be, but people on the left and right should remember O’Connor’s ...

On this day in 1946 the 1st Bikini was shown at a Paris fashion show. French engineer Louis Reard was trying to create some fun after the difficult years of World War II. He was looking for a name as explosive as his creation and named it after the Bikini atoll where the U.S. was ...

I saw this poster from World War II recently. I was not surprised by the unflattering presentation of the Japanese as that is typical of the posters of the area. We were both a country at war and a country who had been the victims of what we considered an unprovoked attack. What I was ...

The BBC had a chilly “what if” article about a drawing recently uncovered by historians that indicates that Nazi Germany may have been closer to developing its own atomic bomb in World War II. The researchers who brought it to light say the drawing is a rough schematic and does not imply the Nazis built, ...

On this day in history in 1938 Superman was born. That is not to say that today is Clark Kent’s birthday (whenever that may be) but that Superman first appeared in Action comics on this day in the dark days before World War II. In other Man of Steel news, I have seen a few ...

On this day in history in 2004 one of the last widows of a Civil War veteran died. Huh? In 2004? Alberta Martin, 97, one the last known widow of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.