The first house I lived in was one block from a brand new Interstate highway.  Once when I was about two or three years old, I wandered from our unfenced back yard and started walking along the shoulder of the highway.  A neighbor happened to drive by.  He picked me up… Read full post »

Newt Gingrich will be the Republican nominee for president.  Why?  Because Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and the GOP primary/caucus schedule favors a non-Mormon candidate.

White Evangelical Christians are perhaps the strongest, most loyal constituency of the Republican Party.  That is Ro… Read full post »

On November 15, 1781, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first governmental framework for the new United States of America.  Prior to the Articles of Confederation, there was no written set of laws applicable to all Americans.  Each state was complete… Read full post »

This past weekend, some 1,700 men and women gathered in Rockford, Illinois, to take part in one of the more obscure, yet fun and colorful sporting events one could ever hope to witness.  Sunday marked the 26th annual Head of the Rock Regatta, when athletes from across the nation gather to… Read full post »

Some who read my blog may know that I made a career change to teaching a few years ago.  I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert in the state of education in America.  In fact, I’m not even a full-time teacher, yet.  I was not… Read full post »

I just watched the trailer for the upcoming film, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, based on the John le Carre novel of the same name.  Many, if not most readers of this post will surely be familiar with the book, although I would understand if you never actually… Read full post »

On August 31, 1897, Thomas Edison patented his kinetographic camera, the forerunner of the modern motion picture film projector.  Edison’s was not the first motion picture camera.&nbs… Read full post »

        Yes, we'll gather at the river,

        the beautiful, the beautiful river;

        gather with the saints at the river

        that flows by the th/… Read full post »

I come from a family that likes to ride bicycles.  Admittably, I don’t have the stamina of my siblings. My sister rides – and runs – competitively, and thinks nothing of cycling along the roller coaster roads of the Appalachians or the Canadian Rockies.  My brother rides t… Read full post »

It was one of those little blurbs that appear as a sidebar below the fold on the back pages of the newspaper.  It is a story that doesn’t really bear much relevance to current world affairs, and no one would feel deprived if it never made it to print.  Still, it… Read full post »

When I was about 12 or 13 years old I received a .22 gauge bolt action rifle for Christmas.  People who hear this little fact generally respond in one of two ways.  Some will be shocked that a child that young would be entrusted with a rifle, even a small one… Read full post »

Erosion.  Anyone familiar with my blog might wonder why I would put out a post on something like erosion.  After all, the majority of my blog entries deal with history, not ecological issues.  The fact is, history cannot be separated from ecology.  Ecology has been one of the grea… Read full post »

A wave of patriotic fervor swept across the northern tier of states that summer of 1863.  It was the summer that saved the Union.  The offensive capabilities of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been crushed during the three days of hell that ended on July 3 outside Gettys… Read full post »

I was bored.  It was a cloudy, blustery spring day, far colder than the calendar would suggest.  It was the kind of day best spent indoors.  Nevertheless, I was suffering from a near terminal case of cabin fever.  I needed to get out and do something.  Then the wild idea hit… Read full post »

Well, I predicted it.  A few days ago I commented on a post  by OS’s own star blogger, designanator, in which he stated that Obama’s release of the “long form” birth certificate would finally put the entire birther “controversy” to rest.  Only… Read full post »

I’m really glad I don’t work for a newspaper.  I would hate to work in a profession that just barely limps along while the front office takes desperate measures to keep the enterprise afloat against seemingly insurmountable economic trends.  In the past two years we’ve see… Read full post »

Anyone feeling overly optimistic about the future of America need only take a substitute teaching job in an inner city public school, and your optimism will very quickly blow away like pinching blood-red sand in a West Texas dust storm.

Two weeks ago I began filling in for… Read full post »

One of the little things about the movies that bothers me is the fact that Hollywood seems to believe that virtually every noteworthy event that took place in the 19^th century American West happened either in the deserts of the Southwest, or in the shadow of the highest peaks of… Read full post »

The last combat veteran of World War I  has died.  Frank Buckles, a volunteer with the American Expeditionary Forces, passed away at the age of 110.  I have mentioned Buckles in a few of my previous posts, here and here.  Buckles was born in Missouri, and later moved to West Virgi… Read full post »

Of course, now we know that Mubarek's 30 years of autocratic rule has blinded him to the will of the masses.  What hubris those years have wrought.  Tonight, as thousands march toward the Presidential Palace, the fate of dictators throughout the Mideast and Arab World hangs on the brink.&nb… Read full post »

Each winter, Rockford hosts the annual Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition.  This is the third largest public festival held in our city, and it attracts nearly 100,000 visits every year. There are 35 teams competing in this event, and it is divided into a professional competition and a school co… Read full post »

I was woken up at 5:00 AM this morning by an automated telephone call letting me know that the local schools would be closed today due to extreme weather conditions.  Expecting to see a raging blizzard outside, I was rather surprised to notice that my sidewalk was still well cleared of… Read full post »

In 50 or 100 years, when historians look back on the 20^th century, several things will stand out.  It was the century of world-wide total war.  It was the century of racial and national genocide.  It was the century of ideological competition.  It was “the American century&r… Read full post »

I admit it.  I’ve been pretty much out of the loop on a lot of stuff lately.  I once prided myself in keeping abreast of the news.  I’m not just talking about major political stories, either.  I like to be aware of what’s going on in the world of pop culture,… Read full post »

I had already heard too many moans of "What can we do today?" and "I'm bored", and this is only day one of my son's Christmas break.  I needed to take him out of the house, but I didn't want to go to a mall or anything like that.  Then, voila! … Read full post »