Category Archives: History

Three Blind Mice

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

One day when my middle daughter and I were sitting and waiting in her pediatrician’s office, she noticed a painting on the wall of a children’s nursery rhyme. And we wondered who had written it, what it might be about, … Continue reading →

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What If?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by

One of my favorite kinds of science fiction is a subgenre known as “alternate history.” The authors of this sort of science fiction ask the “what if” questions of history: what if the North had lost the battle at Gettysburg? … Continue reading →

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Time

Posted on April 28, 2013 by

We’re more than ten years past our fears of Y2K and more than ten percent of the twenty-first century is now history. As long as there have been human beings, they have kept track of the time. Through most of … Continue reading →

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The Coin

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

Recently I went through a box of loose coins from my coin collection: coins I hadn’t had time to sort or organize up until that moment. One of the coins I chanced upon was a 1913 10 pfennig piece from … Continue reading →

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Serendipity

Posted on April 21, 2013 by

In 1945 Nazi Germany was finally defeated. One of the things that had helped bring about its defeat was the successful breaking of what the German’s thought was an unbreakable code. At the end of the First World War a … Continue reading →

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A Memory

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot upon the moon, passed away the afternoon of Saturday, August 25, 2012. The flags of the nation flew at half-staff in remembrance and there were outpourings of tributes. And yet, only … Continue reading →

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How to Do Research

Posted on March 30, 2013 by

My undergraduate degree was in history and one of the required courses was a course in the methodology of research. Our primary textbook was The Modern Researcher by Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff; the sixth edition paperback is rather … Continue reading →

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How High

Posted on March 29, 2013 by

One day when my oldest daughter was no more than about four years old, she announced that “I’m taller than any tree that’s really short.” I suppose that’s even more true of her today, when she can drive herself and … Continue reading →

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Antarctica

Posted on March 23, 2013 by

Two organizations raced to get to their destination, stretching the available technology to achieve their goals. Only one could get there first. National pride and personal pride were at stake. But we’re not talking about a race to the moon. … Continue reading →

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How Science Fiction Becomes Mundane

Posted on March 22, 2013 by

In the mid-1980s a bank had a series of commercials set in a foreign country. A small boy ran about shouting “ATM, ATM” in such a way that at first one imagined he was shouting someone’s name as he looked … Continue reading →

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