Well-Bred & Well-Brewed
114 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsEase into the morning with a dose of culture.
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
July 24, Wednesday | A writer or a lover first?
July 24, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.26 MBThe date is July 24th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland Oregon. Today is the birthday of French writer Alexandre Dumas. Notable titles include The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Prince of Thieves (a Robin Hood Tale), and a version of the Nutcracker. It was Dumas’s version of the classic tale that would be adapted into the Tchaikovsky opera of the same name in 1892. Scholars estimate that Dumas’s writing, in total, amo...
July 23rd, Tuesday | A Starry-eyed Gov'na
July 23, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.2 MBThe date is July 23rd, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of Thomas Brisbane, British-Australian governor and astronomer. Brisbane was born in 1775 in Scotland. After a career in the military, Brisbane served as the 6th governor of Australia in his late 40s, from 1821 to 1825. At the time Australia was called “New South Wales” and large portions of the island remained wild and unexplored by colonists. Halfway through Brisbane’s ter...
July 22nd, Monday | "Give me your tired, your poor..."
July 22, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.1 MBThe date is July 22nd, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of Emma Lazarus, American poet and activist. Verses from her poem “The New Colossus” are on a plaque under the Statue of Liberty. She was born in 1849 in New York City, the fourth of seven children. Her father was a successful merchant and sugar refiner, and the family had the means to educate Emma and her siblings privately at home. She took to poetry at an early age. Having ...
July 19th, Friday | Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson
July 19, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.21 MBThe date is July 18th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. On this day in 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention, also known as the Women's Rights Convention began in Seneca Falls, New York. It was a gathering of women and men and their goal was to come out with a Declaration of Sentiments. Notable attendees included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Amy Post, Amelia Bloomer, Eunice Newton Foote, and Frederick Douglass. Going into the Convention, there w...
July 18th, Thursday | Mandela's Prison University
July 18, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 7.04 MBThe date is July 18th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of Nelson Mandela, South African political leader and first president of South Africa. He was born the son of an African chief in 1918, though he did not live like a prince. As a young boy he played out in fields and herded cattle. It wasn’t until he was seven that he attended school – and only because it was a Christian school and his mother was a devote Christian. At his f...
July 17th, Wednesday | The Air Conditioner is Born!
July 17, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.15 MBThe date is July 17th, Wednesday and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. As the Northern Hemisphere enters the heat of July, it seems appropriate that on this day in 1902 Willis Carrier in Buffalo, NY submitted drawings for what would be the first air conditioner. He determined that, to work, an Air Conditioner machine must do four things: 1. Control temperature 2. Control humidity 3. Control air circulation, and 4. Cleanse the air. Indeed, a large p...
July 16th, Tuesday | The First Parking Meter
July 16, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.19 MBThe date is July 16th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. On this day in 1935 the world's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the USA. As much as parking meters are an accepted evil of city parking today, the first parking meters were welcomed. The population in Oklahoma had risen with the discovery of rich oil fields, and with people and money came a rise in vehicles. In 1913 the number of cars in and around Oklahoma City ...
July 15th, Monday | The Greatest Etcher of all Time
July 15, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 7 MBThe date is July 15th, Monday, and today I’m traveling from Bend, Oregon to Portland, Oregon in the USA. Today is the birthday of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Dutch artist. He is considered the most important artist in Dutch history, and one of the great visual artists in art history. Born in 1606 in the Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands, Rembrandt was the ninth child of a miller father and baker mother. Rembrandt dropped out of secondary school at the age of 14 to become th...
July 12th, Friday | The Man who Popularized Photography
July 12, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.15 MBThe date is July 12th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of George Eastman, American inventor and businessman. Eastman’s tinkering with film and cameras in his 20s led him to develop his own film and start a business that would dominate the industry. Eastman was the first to use roll film in cameras allowing for multiple pictures to be taken in succession without much ado. Roll film would be the precursor to film for motion pictures. ...
July 11th, Thursday | To Kill a Mockingbird...
July 11, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.23 MBToday we take a look at To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, and never once out of print! Poem by Effie Smith. The date is July 11th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. On this day in 1960, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird was released. It was an instant bestseller and was published into ten different languages its second year in print. Since its first publication, To Kill a Mockingbird has won a Pulitzer Prize (1961), been translated into over 40 lan...
July 10th, Wednesday | Tesla's Youth
July 10, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.22 MBThe date is July 10th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born American engineer. He is known for his Tesla Coil and the contributions he made to alternating current electricity supply system. He was born in 1856 to an Eastern Orthodox Priest and his wife. Tesla’s mother, Đuka Mandić Tesla, had a knack for crafting tools for use in the home and fixing what mechanical appliances the family had. Despite no fo...
July 9th, Tuesday | A Gothic Enchantress & an Inventor
July 09, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.11 MBThe date is July 9th, Tuesday, and today I’m heading from Los Angeles, California to Portland, Oregon, in the USA. Today is the birthday of Elias Howe, American inventor of the sewing machine. Born in 1819 in Massachusetts, Elias Howe was reportedly interested in machines and how they worked from an early age. He began working in a cotton factory in Boston as soon as he was old enough. To survive the hard financial times of 1837 and preceding years, Howe bounced from factory to f...
July 8th, Monday | The Man who invented Coca-Cola
July 08, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.13 MBThe date is July 8th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Los Angeles, California, in the USA Today is the birthday of John Pemberton, American pharmacist and inventor of the Coca-Cola secret recipe. Pemberton was born and raised in Georgia, outside of Atlanta. He finished up a medical degree at age 19 in 1850. He tried practicing medicine and surgery but was ultimately drawn toward the chemistry side. He opened up a drug store in a town outside of Atlanta. He got married, ...
July 5th, Friday | Who was "de Silhouette"?
July 05, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.24 MBThe date is July 5th, Friday, and today is my last day in La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Étienne (EH-tien) de Silhouette, a notoriously cheap Comptroller-General of finances under King Louis XV in 1759. As the head of France’s finances he was in charge of pulling the nation out of a mound of debt. He did so by taxing the wealthiest citizens, curtailing the spending habits of the Royal family, and reforming state pensions. Although his methods were more or less effect...
July 4th, Thursday | The Star-Spangled Banner (poem)
July 04, 2019 04:15 - 3 minutes - 5.6 MBThe date is July 4th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. On this day in 1776, America’s Second Continental Congress unanimously voted to ratify the Declaration of Independence. As such, today America celebrates its independence and it is a national holiday in the States. I’ll spare everyone the long story that is the American Revolution this year, and instead opt for a reading the poem “The Star Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key. The poem was set ...
July 3rd, Wednesday | W.H. Davies & Québec City
July 03, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.86 MBThe date is July 3rd, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. On this day in 1608, Québec City was founded by Samuel de Champlain. Champlain landed with three ships at the shore of the city on the bank of the St. Lawrence River. He and his crew set about fortifying the city with walls and a moat. Québec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America and the only city north of Mexico City to still have parts of its original fortifying walls. ...
July 2nd, Tuesday | Thurgood Marshall & an Eclipse
July 02, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.1 MBThe date is July 2nd, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the ‘midpoint’ of the year. We’ve put 182 days of 2019 behind us and there are 182 days to go. Today, people in Chile and Argentina will experience a Total Solar Eclipse – including me! A Total Solar Eclipse is when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, blocking it out completely. It essentially becomes nighttime for two minutes during the middle of the day, with stars visible duri...
July 1st, Monday | Before Lindbergh, there was Blériot
July 01, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.12 MBA French aviator, American poet, and the only Olympic Medalist from Ecuador share a birthday. “The Morning Glory” starts off the new month. The date is July 1st, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Louis Blériot, French engineer and aviator. In 1909 he became famous as the first person to fly across the English Channel and received £1000 from a contest held by the Daily Mail. But before that he made his fortune in car headlamps. I...
June 28th, Friday | Rousseau, Peaceful Child & Turbulent Teen
June 28, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.08 MBThe date is June 28th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Genevan writer and philosopher. His writings The Social Contract and Discourse on Inequality were heavily influential in the European Enlightment, as well as various independence movements in the Western Hemisphere. Born in 1712, Jean-Jacques’s mother died of fever just nine days after his birth. His father’s sister moved in and helped raise Jean-Jacqu...
June 27th, Thursday | Paul Laurence Dunbar, Elevator Poet
June 27, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.16 MBThe date is June 27th, Thursday and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Paul Laurence Dunbar, African American poet, novelist, and playwright. Dunbar, though he had a short career, achieved a good deal of success mostly through his poetry. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, Paul was the child of an emancipated mother and a father who has escaped slavery just before the end of the Civil War. The marriage wasn’t happy though and the couple separated af...
June 26th, Wednesday | Pearl Buck brush with death
June 26, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.88 MBThe date is June 26th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Pearl S. Buck, American writer. Her most famous work is certainly her novel The Good Earth, though she would write over 85 combined novels, short stories, and essays during her career. The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in America for 1931 and 1932 and Pearl was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for it. Pearl was born to Christian missionary parents in 189...
June 25th, Tuesday | Who was George Orwell?
June 25, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.08 MBThe date is June 25th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of English writer Eric Arthur Blair, known better by his pen name George Orwell. He’s remembered today for his novella Animal Farm and novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. From his work we get terms like “Big brother” and the “Thought Police” and of course there is the word “Orwellian” which refers to the dystopian reality depicted in Nineteen Eighty-Four. During his short lifetime, Bl...
June 24th, Monday | The first UFO 'sighting'
June 24, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.99 MBThe date is June 24th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. On this day in 1947 aviator Kenneth Arnold of Washington State made the first widely reported UFO sighting. As he was flying a plane near Mt Rainer in Washington, he claims to have seen nine unusual flying objects. He said they were shaped like a pie pan or like a saucer. The term “flying saucer” was quickly used by the media. The US Government was quick to label Arnold’s sighting a mirage as they ge...
June 21st, Friday | Boxers rebel!
June 21, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.13 MBThe date is June 21st, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The Earth is at a point of maximum tilt toward the sun, accounting for the longest day of year for the Northern hemisphere and shortest day for the Southern. Just part of another trip around the sun! Although in regions closer to the equator, today is mid-summer, in the more seasonal climates ...
June 20th, Thursday | Vitamins & Rationing
June 20, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.07 MBThe date is June 20th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Charles W. Chesnutt, African American writer and activist. He was born in 1858, a few years before the start of the civil war, to free-born parents in Ohio. His parents were of mixed race, resulting in Chesnutt’s light complexion. The mystery surrounding who his grandfathers were, would lead to Chesnutt’s life-long fascination with miscegenation, or mixed-race persons. Stru...
June 19th, Wednesday | What is Juneteenth?
June 19, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.17 MBThe date is June 19th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is Juneteenth. On this day in 1865 in Galveston Texas, Union Army General Gordon Granger read “General Order No. 3” from the top deck of Ashton Villa. It had been two years since Lincoln had given the Emancipation Proclamation, and this was the first the slave population was hearing of their freedom. General Granger had arrived with 2000 troops to enforce the freeing of all the slaves. The ...
June 18th, Tuesday | Anastasia & an Economist
June 18, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.14 MBThe date is June 18th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, sometimes referred to as Princess Anastasia. Born in 1901, she was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar. Anastasia’s birth was a grave disappointment to her parents. The tsarina’s biological clock was ticking and instead of a male heir, they had produced a fourth girl. Fortunately, the birth of her br...
June 17th, Monday | Everyone's Favorite Cookie
June 17, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.14 MBThe date is June 17th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Ruth Graves Wakefield, American chef and inventor of the most popular cookie in America: the chocolate chip cookie. After graduating in 1924 from what is now known as Framingham State University, with a degree from the Department of Household Arts, Ruth lectured and worked as a dietician in the Massachusetts town. In 1930, Ruth and her husband bought a small inn in Whitman,...
June 14th, Friday | Father's Day's dark past
June 14, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.92 MBThe date is June 14th, Friday, and there are 200 days left of 2019. Today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, we have a bit about the origins of Father’s Day. Before it was nationally observance in the US, Father’s Day was primarily celebrated by Catholics and Christians on March 19th, the feast day of St. Joseph. In Latin America, Father’s Day is generally still celebrated on March 19th. Once Mother’s Day became a tradition in the US,...
June 13th, Thursday | Yeats's Unrequited Love
June 13, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.95 MBThe date is June 13th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from La Serena, Chile. Today is the birthday of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, more commonly referred to as W.B. Yeats. He was born to an artist father and heiress mother in 1865 in Ireland, but the family moved to London shortly thereafter to benefit his father’s artistic career. While in London, Yeats along with his three siblings were informally homeschooled by their mother and father. Their mother regaled the chi...
June 7th, Friday | Gauguin goes
June 07, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.12 MBThe date is June 7th, Friday, and today is my second to last day in Buenos Aires! Today is the birthday of Paul Gauguin, French artist. He was active in the second half of the 19th Century and painted in the post-Impressionist style, which was characterized by an experimental use of color and folk-art influences. (MoMA published a catalogue of Gauguin’s work, which you can see/get here.) He did extensive traveling for an artist and caught the traveling bug at an early age. As a ba...
June 6th, Thursday | Two Writers
June 06, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.13 MBThe date is June 6th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Thomas Mann, German-born writer. Mann received the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 54 for his two epic novels Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain and his numerous short stories. It was Thomas Mann who said: “In books we never find anything but ourselves. Strangely enough, that always gives us great pleasure, and we say the author is a genius.” In Mann’s fictio...
June 5th, Wednesday | A Runaway Best-Seller
June 05, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.06 MBThe date is June 5th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this day in 1851 the first two chapters of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe appeared in The National Era. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was set to run for just a few weeks in the abolitionist newspaper, but the story and its characters became so popular, that Harriet Beecher Stowe expanded the narrative. It ended up running for 40 weeks. On the weeks that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not in print...
June 4th, Tuesday | The US Army had....Camels?
June 04, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.07 MBThe date is June 4th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. As weird as it might sound, on this day in 1855 Major Henry C. Wayne set sail on the USS Supply to procure a small herd of camels for the US military. He stopped in the Mediterranean making it to Greece, Turkey, Egypt (of course), and Tunisia, picking up 33 camels, two being pregnant. They also hired five expert camel drivers and bought a variety of gear including saddles and saddle packs th...
June 3rd, Monday | A Most Charming Spy
June 03, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.99 MBThe date is June 3rd, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Josephine Baker, African American dancer, entertainer, spy, and activist. Josephine was born in 1906 under suspicious circumstances. As noted by her son in Baker’s biography, Josephine’s mother was taken in by a white hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and given care unknown to African American women at the time. Most minorities gave birth at home with the help of a mi...
May 31st, Friday
May 31, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.18 MBThe date is May 31st, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of American writer and poet Walt Whitman. Born in 1819 on Long Island, Walt considered his childhood relatively unhappy with an impecunious father leading the family. When Whitman was just four, the family moved to Brooklyn, his father seeking better employment. Brooklyn is where Walt would grow up, the city and country still reveling in its young glory of being an indepe...
May 30th, Thursday | About a Girl
May 30, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.06 MBThe date is May 30th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the feast day of Joan of Arc, patron saint of soldiers and France. She was born around 1412 in rural France to a farmer with 50 acres and his wife. She never received any formal education and was illiterate. Her local church however was right around the corner from her home and it could be inferred that her ecclesiastical knowledge came from her close proximity to the church as well ...
May 29th, Wednesday | JFK & a Sherpa
May 29, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.94 MBThe date is May 29th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this day in 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the top of Mount Everest. They were the first to conclusively reach the top and took plenty of pictures looking down to prove it. Hillary also took the now-iconic picture of Norgay on the summit, holding his ice axe overhead. Afterwards, Norgay, a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer, decided to take May 29th as his birthday. He k...
May 28th, Tuesday | But wait: there's Moore
May 28, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.04 MBThe date is May 28th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this day in 585 BCE the Battle of Halys (hey-lis) came to a quick end when a Solar Eclipse occurred over the battlefield. When the sunny skies suddenly turned dark, the two armies immediately dropped their weapons and came to a truce, ending a five-year-long war. The account was written down by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales and remains the first ever noted solar eclipse. If you...
May 24th, Friday | Memorial Day & Modern Kitchens
May 24, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.05 MBThe date is May 24th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Lillian Moller Gilbreth, an industrial/organizational psychologist. The title sounds fancy, but it’s really quite practical. She, along with her husband Frank Gilbreth ran a consulting business, helping companies increase productivity and efficiency in their systems. They were particularly looking at things on the human level. [A lot of their early work was on how to ...
May 23rd, Thursday | Goodnight Moon and Mr. Moog
May 23, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.16 MBThe date is May 23th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is Red Nose Day for the USA. Red Nose Day is a day of fundraising – all donations make their way to programs that serve children in need. The day was inspired by the BBC event of the same name and is run by the non-profit Comic Relief, Inc. The idea is to leverage the entertainment world to inspire giving, “making it fun to make a difference.” Today is the birthday of Robert Moog, Ame...
May 22nd, Wednesday | Sherlock & a Sports Legend
May 22, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.08 MBThe date is May 22nd, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish writer and former physician, best known for his creation of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle went to school in his native Scotland, to become a doctor. He served as the doctor on exploration voyages traveling to Australia, West & South Africa, and the Arctic Ocean. You could say that Doyle failed at becoming a doctor. He had plenty of experien...
May 21st, Tuesday | Fats Waller meets the Mob
May 21, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.02 MBThe date is May 21st, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Alexander Pope, English Poet, born in 1688. He gives us such lines as “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” His greatest works were satirical in nature, commenting on English politics, life, or contemporary public figures. Pope gave us English translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and is heavily quoted in The Oxfor...
May 20th, Monday | Jean & Bees & Toussaint
May 20, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.01 MBThe date is May 20th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this day in 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the patent for the use of copper rivets on jeans. Rivets are those little round metal things on your jeans, usually on a seam, that make the seam stronger. Jacob Davis, a tailor in Nevada, had the idea but didn’t have the money to file the patent. He was frequently buying denim from Levi Strauss and suggested they go in on the patent to...
May 17th, Friday | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
May 17, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.02 MBThe date is May 17th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. As promised, today we have more on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the first distinctly American fairy-tale-fantasy novel. On this day in 1900, the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, the first copy given to L. Frank Baum’s younger sister. Baum was the creator and author of the story and the original illustrations were by W.W. Denslow. The publisher did not think the book ...
May 16th, Thursday | Curious George escapes WWII
May 16, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.13 MBThe date is May 16th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this day in 1866, the United States Congress passed a bill to allow the minting of a new 5-cent coin, now known as the nickel. Why is the nickel so thick? The existing “half-dimes” prior to the nickel’s introduction were extremely thin, since they were half the size in weight of a dime, which was a tenth of the size of an American silver dollar. When the idea of using nickel in the 5-cent ...
May 15th, Wednesday - The Man Behind the Curtain
May 15, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.05 MBThe date is May 15th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. On this evening in 1793, farmer-turned-inventor Diego Marín Aguilera, in the light of the full moon, dragged a contraption to the top of his castle. His cousin and his blacksmith friend looked on as Diego jumped off the top. The contraption was a flying machine so Diego did not jump to his death. Instead he flew about 19 feet high in the air for a quarter of a mile, crash landing near the n...
May 14th, Tuesday - A Baseball Cinderella Story
May 14, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.17 MBThe date is May 14th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Earle Combs, Baseball Hall of Fame-r. Earle played centerfield for the Yankees and was the leadoff hitter for the New York Yankees legendary “Murderers’ Row” in 1927. Combs hadn’t planned on baseball being his career. He went to college to become a teacher for the one-room schoolhouses in rural Kentucky where he was born and raised. He played baseball, basketball, and ...
May 13th, Monday
May 13, 2019 05:00 - 4 minutes - 6.95 MBThe date is May 13th, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today is the birthday of Daphne du Maurier, English author and playwright. We have Daphne to thank for such novels as Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel as well as short stories like “The Birds,” in which birds begin attacking humans kamikaze style. She wrote primarily in the horror genre, often using psychological and paranormal elements. Her parents were both involved in the theater business, but Daphne w...
May 10th, Friday
May 10, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.94 MBThe date is May 10th, Friday, and today is my last day in Lima, Peru. In honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, I just wanted to take a moment to thank all the moms, grandmas, aunts, and mom-figures out there doing their best. Today in 1908 was the first celebration of Mother's Day in America in the township of Grafton, West Virginia. (May 10th was a Sunday that year.) We talked about the founder of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis, on her birthday, May 1st. Jarvis led the charge to get t...