Sigmund Freud: Searching the Mind
“Good morning,” says one psychiatrist as he passes another in the hallway.
“Hmm,” thinks the other psychiatrist, “I wonder what he meant by that.”
Is there some deep hidden meaning — as that joke suggests — in our every gesture, comment and slip of the tongue? Well, like most jokes, this one makes its point by exaggeration, [...]
Moths: We're Different from Butterflies!
What’s the difference between butterflies and moths? Many moths and butterflies look alike. But a few traits help us to distinguish one from the other. The butterfly has club-like antennae, while moth antennae are feathery or hair-like. Butterflies are usually brighter in color than moths. Butterflies have slim bodies compared to the moth’s stout, hairier [...]
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1958 Colts vs. Giants: Football's Game of the Century
The 1958 sudden-death National Football League title game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants has been called pro football’s “Game of the Century.” The championship clash, played at Yankee Stadium in front of 64,185 lucky fans, was tied at 17 after 60 minutes of play. The two teams were about to embark [...]
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Battle of Crecy: Sunset for the Knight
A few miles north of the village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu, France, in the year 1346, the sun began to set on the proud and seemingly invincible armored knight, who had ruled European battlefields in the Middle Ages. The English longbow ended its reign.
To prepare for the French attack, Edward III of England placed his infantry in [...]
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African-Americans: Unwilling Immigrants
In 1619, the first African slaves were sold in the Jamestown colony. Slavery, however, was not new. In 1442, Portuguese ships took some Africans as slaves and the Spanish quickly followed their lead and began to trade slaves as cheap labor to the New World. The British followed suit in 1562 and by 1600 the [...]
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Bald Eagle: A Hunter in the Forest
The bald eagle is a large North American bird of the forest that catches most of its meals live–including ducks, gulls, seabirds, salmon, and other fish. The bald eagle is an accomplished fisherman. It can snatch fish from the surface of the water — but with its feet rather than its hooked beak. The eagle [...]
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Empire State Building: Scraping The Sky
When completed in 1931, the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world. The building, standing 1,245 feet high, was constructed during the Great Depression and became a symbol of confidence in America. It has remained a symbol of American greatness even though taller American buildings now exist.
The construction of such tall buildings, [...]
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Whooping Crane: Spectacular Dancers
Unique to North America, whooping cranes (“Grus americana”) stand about five feet tall, have sinewy necks, long legs, and a wing span of about seven-and-a-half feet. Their snow-white bodies are contrasted by jet-black wing tips and a red-and-black head.
Found in marshy areas with bulrushes and cattails, “whoopers” feed on crabs, frogs, and other small aquatic [...]
American Revolution Ends
The Yorktown Campaign in Virginia in 1781, marked the last great military action in the American Revolution and assured that America would be a free nation.
In late summer 1781, General George Washington, in camp near New York City, learned that the British commander in the southern Colonies, Lord Charles Cornwallis, had failed to destroy the [...]
A Formula For SETI
1960 AD
GREEN BANK, WEST VIRGINIA
Frank Drake, the man who conducted the first modern search for radio signals from other civilizations, developed a way of thinking about how many civilizations there could be in our galaxy. It’s now known as the Drake Equation: N = R x Fs x Fp x Ne x Fl x Fi [...]
Blue Whale: Largest Animal Ever
It is believed that no animal — living or dead — has ever been larger than the blue whale. This giant marine mammal can grow up to 120 feet in length and weigh more than 100 tons. Like other large undersea animals, the blue whale reaches its massive size by feeding on microscopic animals known [...]
America's Love Affair With Corn
Corn has been the food of sustenance for Native Americans as far back as records can be found. Some Native Americans refer to themselves as “children of the corn.”
When European explorers and then settlers came to America, the native Indians gave them corn and showed them how to cook and eat it. The new inhabitants [...]