History Schmistory: January 23. Mohawk Fever!
Sunday, January 23, 2022
January 23, 1983: The A-Team debuts. Fashion takes note.
Video Schmistory: January 22.
Saturday, January 22, 2022
What do Darwin, Truman, Brahms, Queen Victoria and giant cheese all have in common? January 22, that’s what!
History Schmistory: January 21. Off with his head!
Friday, January 21, 2022
1793: After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine. A perfect excuse to roll out our Bastille video! Viva la France!
GO THERE! “Can I get this in large print?”
Friday, January 21, 2022
This ain’t no Photoshop! That’s right, the south wall of the Kansas City Public Library displays 22 GIANT mylar book spines up to 25 feet tall. As of yet, none are available for checkout.
History Schmistory: January 21. No Smoking Ladies!
Friday, January 21, 2022
January 21, 1908. NYC says NO to women smoking in public.
GO THERE! Scandinavian Subterranean Art!
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Warning: If you take a trip to Stockholm, you may never leave the subway. It is, after all, the longest art exhibit in the world…
History Schmistory: January 20. Prez-time for Ronzo!
Thursday, January 20, 2022
1981: At age 69, Ronald Reagan becomes the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as US President. Today, he remains history’s only US President to have ever starred in a movie with a monkey…
Note: We are aware that chimps are not actually monkeys, but it just sounds funnier.
History Comedy at its British-y-est!
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Do you stream the Netflix? Well, we just want you to know that they have all 4 seasons of history’s greatest historical comedy series, Blackadder, available now! Marco is partial to season 3, featuring Dr. House himself, Hugh Laurie, as the bumbling Prince of Wales. Give it a try!
History Schmistory: January 20. Go South!
Thursday, January 20, 2022
January 20, 2007. Heart of Southern Pole Reached on Skis!
History Schmistory: January 19. Under the Neon Lights!
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
1915: The Neon Tube sign is patented by Georges Claude, and later exploited by Las Vegas.
-So, you might already know that neon is one of the “noble” gases of the periodic table, which glows an orangey-red color when electrons run through it. But what about all the other colors on a typical “neon” sign? Well, sorry to say, those aren’t neon. To get shades of blue, typically argon is used with a dash of mercury. Helium can be used for a nice pink glow; xenon radiates a cool purple, while krypton yields- what? Green, you say? Nope, sorry Superman, it has more of an off-white tinge. From there, certain gases can mingle to produce colors like green and yellow, or sometimes the tubes are coated with fluorescent powders to tweak the shading. But neon typically doesn’t play nicely with others, so it’s only used to produce that one color.
(Check out Vegas Vic’s scarf. There’s your neon.)
There is another noble gas that wasn’t invited to the party: Radon. That stuff is radioactive, yo.
Vegas Vic,By  Joe Gauder [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
