Rants

Sarah Winchester: No Sane, No Shame

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

A book written by a California history professor claims to set the record straight on Sarah Winchester, the reclusive millionaire whose Winchester Mystery House continues to baffle the rest of us.

The Real Mix-up At Arlington: Where’s RFK?

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

“Has anybody here, seen my old friend Bobby?” The AP reported that as many as 6,600 graves in the Arlington National Cemetery were misplaced or misidentified.

The Road Ahead: Let’s Keep It Smooth

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Trimming expenses in tough times seems smart, like trimming your speed when an oncoming car flashes its headlights. But now The Wall Street Journal is reporting that counties in North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are deliberately grinding up their paved roads as a way to save money. Embarrassing? The idea of [...]

Missouri’s Dogged Love Of A Dog

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Lewis and Clark, continental explorers, were big news during their extended 2003-2006 bicentennial (we stumbled across tributes to them in dozens of city parks and museums). It got so crazy, we thought, that North Dakota even erected a twice-life-size statue of “Seaman,” their dog. Lewis and Clark have since faded from public view — they’ll [...]

Let’s Go Day Glow (Part 2)

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Now that we’ve absorbed a bit about the science behind fluorescence, let’s see how black lights and glow-in-the-dark effects add psychedelic pageantry to many leisuretime activities. Eerie day-glo exoticism is a popular feature at haunted houses, mystery spots, and classic amusement park “dark rides” (many of which have undergone klutzy re-branding, Kennywood’s “Garfield’s Nightmare” being [...]

Old Chief Faces New Foes In Bemidji

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

For a hundred years a statue of Chief Bemidji has stood in his namesake city of Bemidji, Minnesota. The current Chief has looked out over Lake Bemidjigamaug since 1952, replacing an earlier model that had fallen apart.

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