One of the oldest tricks in the book, er, history, is to use the tools at your disposal. A new tool is always nice but, frankly, you don’t get that many ‘new’ tools in life. So you are stuck with … Continue reading →

Back in the 1970s there was a song by Dr. John – Right Place, Wrong Time” – which was the story of my life. It became my mantra when I added to it:  right dock, wrong boat; right plane, wrong … Continue reading →

For most people, ‘yesterdays’ are not believable because the photos are black-and-white. This leads people to believe ‘then’ is different from ‘now.’ But with colorization, the past becomes alive. This is a beach scene of Atlantic City, 1922, the kind … Continue reading →

There is a stark lesson in the Brett Kavanaugh nomination imbroglio.  It is as old as America.  You only have the rights you are willing to fight for. Contrary to popular belief, Constitutional guarantees can vaporize. As an example, the … Continue reading →

Anthony “Tony” Dimond, Alaska’s lone delegate to the United States Congress from 1933 to 1944, was a master at selecting juries when he was a private practice in Valdez in the 1920s.  In one particular suit against the Kennecott Copper … Continue reading →

Next time you turn on the tap and let the water d-r-a-i-n while you brush your teeth, think of how lucky you are!  In 1898, you would have saved every drop of water in your house you could. That was … Continue reading →

Nice, eh? Historic but nice. Well, these are fashions from my great grandparents’ women’s fashion design in Torino, Italy. They owned the entire company: lock, stock, barrel and sewing machines.  In today’s dollars, it was a fully-operational $200 million-dollar business. … Continue reading →

Of course, it’s the sphinx. Everyone knows that. Everyone. Since the beginning of time. Really? Odd. Did you know that when the Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt in 450 BCE (Before the Christian Era), he did not see the sphinx?  … Continue reading →

I’ll bet you think you are looking at flowers. WRONG!  These are ‘fields’ of abandoned bicycles in China.  Talk about a traffic jam!  In 2017, in an effort to make the citizenry more mobile, scores of business offered free bikes … Continue reading →

OK, what time is it?  But there’s a real problem here – what happens if the instructions are to “put your hands on the steering wheel at 10 and 2?” I can understand why 3 is at 90 degrees but … Continue reading →