November 2010
31 posts
The Royal Society's Lost Women Scientists →
All this year, and all round the globe, the Royal Society of London has been celebrating its 350th birthday. In a sense, it has been a celebration of science itself and the social importance of its history. The senior scientific establishment in Britain, and arguably in the world, the Royal Society dates to the time of Charles II. Its early members included Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley, Robert...
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1815- Elizabeth Cady Stanton a leading crusader for both women’s rights and social reforms is born.
1847 – British doctor Sir James Young Simpson first to uses chloroform as an anaesthetic.
1927 – The Communist Party expels Leon Trotsky. Joseph Stalin retains total control of the Soviet Union.
1933 – Smile, Nessie! In Scotland Hugh Gray shoots the first photos of the famed and mysterious...
The old South Boston Aquarium stands
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken...
– Robert Lowell, “For The Union Dead” (The Atlantic, 1960). The poem turns 50 today.
Today is Veteran’s Day. If you know someone who has served the country, be sure to thank them today.
(via theatlantic)
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1215 – The Fourth Lateran Council defines the doctrine of transubstantiation.
1620 – Before officially settling in the New World, 41 of the male pilgrims aboard the ship sign the The Mayflower Compact—a social contract which established a government for the colony.
1675 – Gottfried Leibniz first uses calculus to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x). High school seniors everywhere rue...
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1483— It’s hard to imagine it, but once Martin Luther was an infant (can’t you see him clutching his 95 thesis?). He is born this day in Eisleben, Germany.
1775 – Semper Fi. The United States Marine Corps is formed in Philadelphia.
1871 – Henry Morton Stanley finally discovers Dr. David Livigston, the British explorer who’d gone missing in Central Africa. According to the...
3 tags
3 tags
Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell?
Today is the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
I went digging in the archives for stories from the day after. It’s interesting to read these newspaper reports and contrast them with the way the story would be told if it was happening TODAY in our, hyper active 24/7, pro-am media environment.
People Dance on Berlin Wall E. German Borders Open Up— Orlando Sentinel
...
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1494 – The infamous, scheming and art loving Medici family is expelled from Florence.
1620 – After long months at sea on the Mayflower, English separatist “pilgrims” first spot land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
1799 – In France, Napoleon leads a coup d’état leading to the end of the Directory and the creation of the Consulate.
1857 – The Atlantic Magazine is founded in...
A 1995 Newsweek essay on why people will never buy... →
theinternetaccordingtoadrian:
ronworkman:
(via:nickdouglas)
Those damn “Internet hucksters”.
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1519 – Aztec ruler Montezuma naively allows Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés to enter Tenochtitlán, going so far as to allow Cortes to live in his palace. History tells us this was a very bad idea, reminiscent of the fall of Troy.
1602 – Oxford University opens the Bodleian library to the public.
1793 – The French Revolutionary government opens the Louvre (formerly a royal palace) as a museum...
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1605 – Remember, remember the 5th of November. The Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament is thwarted when the infamous Guy Fawkes is discovered in the basement of the House of Lords.
1688 – The Glorious (and bloodless) Revolution begins. William of Orange lands in England to remove James II from the throne.
1831 – Nat Turner, leader of a slave rebellion in Virginia, is convicted, and sentenced to...
India, fearing coconuts could fall on Obama's... →
Better safe, than sorry.
msnbc:
BBC:
Officials in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) have taken extraordinary measures to protect US President Barack Obama ahead of his visit.
In their effort to provide maximum security in the run-up to his visit on Friday, they have removed coconuts which may fall on his head from trees.
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1429 – Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier from the British.
1918 – 40,000 sailors revolt at the end of WWI in Kiel Germany, beginning the German Revolution .
1922 – British archaeologists find Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
1924- Nellie T. Ross is elected governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in the US.
1942—Axis forces led...
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
1839— Talk about a drug bust— the first Opium War begins in China. 1868— Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horatio Seymour for the presidency.
1913 – The US institutes an income tax.
1936 - Franklin D. Roosevelt wins his second term in a landslide victory over “some guy” named Alfred ”Alf” Landon.
1986 – The Iran-Contra affair begins when a Lebanese magazine...
Newspapers: Dead or Alive? →
niemanlab:
Election night in the newsroom: Here’s what some news orgs (old & new) have planned for today http://nie.mn/95W7oH
It's Your Civic Duty
theatlantic:
We’re glad you’re following us here. Now get off the Internets and go vote!
Election coverage starts at 6 PM EST at TheAtlantic.com.
3 tags
Today in History...This Stuff Happened
Today is Election Day, make sure you exercise your democratic and civic duty. It’s a chance to make history.
1570 – A North Sea tidal wave kills more than 1,000 people along the coast of a number of Scandinavian countries.
1772 – In a move to unite the colonies, Massachusetts patriots Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren create the Committee of Correspondence.
1889 – Happy Dakota Day! North and...