The year was 1863.  British chemist John Newlands introduced the first periodic table.  It contained just 20 elements and the chart looked like the game Boggle.  Today, that table has grown to 118 elements with the first 94 occurring naturally and the rest being synthesized. Every chemistry student has had to memorize this chart.  When… Read More »

Ever heard of the Dalton Gang?  In the days of the expanding Wild West, gangs popped up all over the countryside, robbing trains, stagecoaches, and wagons.  On this day in 1891, the Dalton Gang committed their first robbery to start their nefarious career.  However, it didn’t go as expected. By some accounts, Lewis and Adeleine… Read More »

A Google search for the most famous meteorologists of all time turned up a list of over 50 individuals, only five of which were TV personalities.  Jim Cantore (The Weather Channel), Owen Daniels, and Dr. Reed Timmer (The Discovery Channel) were the only American television meteorologists mentioned in the list.  Helen Willets is on the… Read More »

Marbleton, Georgia is a city 15 miles northwest of Atlanta.  With a population of 78,000, they are the largest community in Cobb County.  They are also home to Vinings Lake Church. The church made national news in December because it is one of the growing number of “churches” that prefer to be recognized as a… Read More »

1998, Congress did something that rarely happens by casting a unanimous vote.  It was to declare February 3rd of each year as Four Chaplains Day.  Each year, events are held by military organizations to commemorate the events of this day in 1943. Methodist minister George L. Fox, Reform Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (PhD), Catholic priest… Read More »

 Scandals have rocked politics for years.  Congressional leaders and presidents have all faced the shame and embarrassment as their sordid lives spilled into the public arena.  Typically, their wives have managed to skate from scandal.  However, this hasn’t always been the case.  Consider some of the tawdry tales that have fallen from the lives of… Read More »

Is your glass half full or half empty?  Is today partly cloudy or partly sunny?  Do you see the difficulty in every opportunity or the opportunity in every difficulty?  Your answer to the questions probably reveals whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.  I think George Bernard Shaw got it right when he said,… Read More »

 A month ago, a conversation with some teens at church waxed nostalgic as we remembered childhood shows we watched as kids.  For us more-advanced-in-years kids, we remember Captain Kangaroo, Patches and Pockets, and Mr. Rogers.  Since Mr. Rogers was around for 32 years and syndicated reruns are still happening, the teens remembered him. Raising our… Read More »

I love to fly!  That is my preferred way to travel.  In December, we flew from Detroit to Austin, Texas – 1165 miles as the crow flies.  If we had driven, it would have taken over 20 hours and would have added nearly 300 miles.  As it was, our flight lasted about three hours. Taking… Read More »

For those of you who enjoy jigsaw puzzles, you might like to know the history behind their development.  All the credit goes to Londoner John Spilsbury in 1767.  He was an engraver and cartographer who wanted children to learn geography in a fun way.  Taking a world map, he mounted it to a piece of… Read More »