Twenty-five years ago, the space-shuttle Challenger exploded moments after launch, which resulted in the deaths of Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe most-famously, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. The photo above is Challenger making its way to the launch pad through a heavy fog. I was out sick from school [...]
The first canned beer in the United States goes on sale in Richmond, Virginia, courtesy of the Gottfied Krueger Brewery. By the end of the year, 37 breweries follow suit. Thus forever changing binge drinking and college life. So, in 1935 Krueger’s Cream Ale and Krueger’s Finest Beer were the first beers sold to the [...]
Google’s latest doodle marks the 115th anniversary of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays. Not their best effort, but pretty good. Would be better if the Google logo was normal and then when you moved the cursor over it, the X-rays appeared. Or something to that effect.
Chrontendo is a video podcast in which a guy methodically describes and discusses every Famicom/NES game released. The obsessive one is currently up to 33 episodes and counting. So far he’s covered some gems: Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Rush N’Attack, Metal Gear, Ice Hockey, etc. [via metafilter]
The Guardian has a post up with lesser-known facts about the Mario franchise and character in honor of his 25th birthday. The character is so ubiquitous in pop culture and everyone has their favorite game, whether it’s the original game for the NES (oddly enough mine was always Super Mario 2, which is everyone’s least [...]
The Big Picture presents another excellent series of photographs to remember the first atomic bomb used during warfare. Many of the photos highlight the mass destruction of life and property that took place on August 6, 1945. The U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian Island very early on the morning of [...]
Balk succinctly puts this speech into proper context: “It’s the last time an American President thought that appealing to a shared sense of sacrifice while being frank and honest with the American people was a good idea. . . it’s hard to look at this speech and not be amazed by the boldness of its [...]
Don’t forget to call you’re dad today, if he’s still in your life. They’re important, ya know. Kids also learn from fathers during a unique form of papa play. Unlike mothers, fathers tend to roughhouse with their children. “They rile them up, almost to the point that they are going to snap, and then calm [...]
Blues legend Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett was born 99 years ago today. Here he is in 1964 with ”Blind” Willie Dixon and Hubert Sumlin performing “Smokestack Lightening.” Oddly enough, the Mississippi-born guitarist was named after US President Chester A. Arthur.
The world was watching, but now 20 years later to the day, even Chinese youth barely know the significance of the student protests — or what has become known as The Tiananmen Square Massacre (or in China, The June Fourth Incident). Even as a 10-year-old there was power in those images. Captivating, historical. There was [...]
