Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Buon Natale (Merry Christmas)

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Buon Natale. Merry Christmas. Buon Natale, nemesis, I look forward to more feuding next year!”

History Schmistory: November 29. Going South.

1929: U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole. Say, if Santa Claus lives in the North Pole, then who lives in the South Pole? Could it be…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus#/media/File:Gruss_vom_Krampus.jpg

See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: November 28. “Someone should invent the windshield.”

1895: The first American automobile race takes place along a 54 mile stretch between Chicago’s Jackson Park and Evanston, Illinois. In a little over 10 hours, Frank Duryea wins by a two hour nose. Here we see the thrill of their victory…

See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: November 26. “Someone’s here… Places!”

1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (“King Tut”) in over 3000 years, giving the King ample time to perfect his moment in the spotlight…

By Bjørn Christian Tørrissen [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Bjørn Christian Tørrissen [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: November 25. “Take my money, just make it stop!”`

1984: In a Band-Aid charity event, 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and pretend to enjoy singing Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. While it was certainly a great cause for Ethiopia, the only thing it caused elsewhere was severe auditory hemorrhaging

By Ecallow (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Ecallow (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Nero Venerdi (Black Friday)

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Nero Venerdi. (NEH-roh veh nehr DEE) Black Friday. Nero Venerdi is to shopping what the Black Plague is to history.”

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Mercoledi (Wednesday)

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Mercoledì. (mehr ko lay DEE) Wednesday. Mercoledì is the day after Tuesday, silly rabbit.”

History Schmistory: November 24. Gone Apey.

1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, introducing the scientific theory of natural selection, which suggests, among many things, that humans evolved from apes. Many tempers flare, while other imaginations run wild!

By Cover designer Unknown. Book written by Pierre Boulle. (ebay posting) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Cover designer Unknown. Book written by Pierre Boulle. (ebay posting) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Martedì (Tuesday)

Today’s MarcoWord (Italian): Martedì. (mar tay DEE) Tuesday. Martedì is named after Mars, god of chocolaty nougat candy bars.”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Mars_bar_bitten.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Mars_bar_bitten.jpg

History Schmistory: November 23. Music to your ear-holes.

For a nickel apiece a thrilled group tunes in on a screechy jukebox of the 1890s.
Photo: Bettmann/Corbis

 

1889: The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. Originally named the “nickel-in-the-slot-player”, the machine caused a such a sensation that people didn’t even mind exchanging earwax…

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