Category Archives: History

The Statue of Liberty celebrated her 125th birthday Friday by serving as an inspiring backdrop for immigrants declaring the oath of American citizenship.

The new Americans came from 46 countries in all, with one person swearing the oath for each of the years Lady Liberty has stood as a beacon of freedom in New York harbor.

“Now I can say I’m American!” gushed an ecstatic Anatoliy Gryshchenko, 21, who came to the U.S. from the Ukraine in 2005. “I’m actually a part of this country like everyone else.”

The new citizens came from countries like Russia, Cuba, China and the Dominican Republic.
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There was $10 billion in damages from the Loma Prieta earthquake

Two small earthquakes jolted the Bay Area Thursday, just days after the 22nd anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. That 6.9-magnitude jolt went down in California history after it killed 63 people, injured over 3,000 and caused up to $10 billion damage on October 17, 1989.The Loma Prieta earthquake was the largest to occur on the San Andreas fault since the great San Francisco earthquake in April 1906, reports the US Geological Survey. The most severe damage was caused in Oakland and San Francisco, even though the quake occurred near Santa Cruz, California. However, there were damages in many cities in the area, including Los Gatos and Santa Cruz after highways collapsed and houses crumbled in the shake.

There were also 1,000 landslides after the quake, and one on Highway 17 disrupted traffic for over a month. Read More →

As today’s Columbus Day celebrations begin, marking Columbus’ 1492 arrival in the New World, here are some little-known facts about the explorer celebrated by Italian-Americans across the United States.

1. When the Columbus Day Holiday Began

In the U.S., it’s sometimes reported that the national holiday began in 1971, but that’s actually the date when Congress changed Columbus Day to the second Monday of October. In reality, Columbus Day became a national holiday much earlier, in 1937. At that time, President Franklin Roosevelt declared the holiday would take place on Oct. 12 (the date Columbus first landed in the Bahamas). But the first known Columbus Day celebration in the U.S. took place in New York City in 1792, long before it became a national holiday.

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British archaeologists have found an ancient shipyard in Italy that built or maintained ships for the Roman empire.

The team, led by the University of Southampton, excavated the remains of a building five storeys high, at Portus, about 20 miles (32km) from Rome.

The structure, from about 117 AD, was used to build or service ships that travelled across the empire to keep Rome supplied with food and goods.

The team believe it is the largest Roman imperial shipyard found in Italy.

The 150m (492ft) by 60m (197ft) site was found close to an existing hexagonal basin or “harbour” at the centre of the huge ancient port complex, which covers two miles square. Read More →

Progressive Christians are criticizing both New York Michael Bloomberg and his conservative critics.

(CNN) – A handful of progressive Christian leaders are joining the mostly conservative chorus of religious leaders who are criticizing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for excluding clergy from this weekend’s 9/11 commemoration event at ground zero.

But there’s a twist.

In addition to criticizing Bloomberg, progressive religious leaders are also taking aim at prominent conservatives who’ve blasted Bloomberg in recent days, alleging that those critics are stoking division at a time that calls for national unity.

The group is planning a press conference near ground zero on Friday to stress that “religion should not be excluded from 9/11 remembrances” but to also “urge unity, not division, on 9/11,” according to a Tuesday press release. Read More →

BEIJING (The Borowitz Report) – Labor Day, one of America’s most beloved and longest-celebrated holidays, has been officially moved to China, U.S. officials confirmed today.

The Labor Day celebrations are expected to kick off Monday afternoon in Beijing with a barbeque attended by over seven million people and presided over by former NBA star Yao Ming.

The transfer of Labor Day to China represents the first time in American history that an entire holiday has been outsourced, experts said. Read More →

Science Friday (known as SciFri for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that is part of NPR’s Talk of the Nation radio program.[1][2] SciFri is hosted by award winning science journalist Ira Flatow and was created and is produced by ScienceFriday, Inc. . The program is divided into two, one-hour programs. The focus of each program is nature, science, and technology and the news and information. Each week 1.3 million listeners tune into the program. Read More →

Have you Noticed the date? It’s July 11, or 7-11, and 7-Eleven, the nation’s most prolific convenience-store chain, is giving away free 7.11-ounce size Slurpees all day until midnight at participating stores throughout Colorado.

To mark its 84th birthday, the chain, which has 8,600 locations in North America, and 41,500 stores worldwide, has been giving away free Slurpees since 2002; two year ago, 7-Eleven stores handed out three million of the lightly carbonated frozen slushies.

Coca-Cola — 7-Eleven’s most popular flavor — is the convenience store’s “Slurpee-weight Champion of the Universe,” but half the fun is seeing the crazy flavors the chain comes up with for promotional tie-ins. Right now, it’s Alienade to coincide with the release of Cowboys and Aliens. The description? “This unearthly flavor combination combines strawberry, raspberry and lemonade in an exciting new way. It’s as close as you can get to making contact without risking an abduction.” Read More →

The late Father Charles Murphy was gravely scarred by a false accusation of sexual abuse, writes Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory. Father Murphy was cleared of the charge after an investigation, but the experience left deep scars. Read More →