What is Vitameatavegemin? While Australia has its Vegemite and the UK has its Marmite, the United States had its Vitameatavegemin. Vitameatavegemin was a fictional health tonic promoted by the character of Lucy Ricardo (Lucile Ball) in an episode of the classic “I Love Lucy” series in the 1950s. It was supposed to contain the health [more...]
Do people have to sacrifice their minds in order to save their hearts? The doctor’s locker room jargon calls it “pump head.” The syndrome is actually a collection of various post surgical cognitive impairments that can follow heart surgery, a procedure 600,000 Americans undergo each year. While there is controversy, many believe the condition is [more...]
Krak des Chevaliers is a Crusader fortress in Syria and one of the premier preserved medieval military castles in the world. It is located west of the city of Homs and close to the border of Lebanon. It is administratively part of the Homs Governorate but is an excellent day-trip if headquartering in Hama or [more...]
Apamea, just to the northwest of Hama, Syria, was a treasure city of the Seleucid kings and was capital of the ancient province of Apamene. At various times the city was known as Pharmake, Pella, Cherronesos, and was the Biblical city of Shepham. Apamea was so closely tied to Jerusalem the first-fruits brought from that [more...]
The Water Wheels of Hama are part of an ancient irrigation system and were used to raise water into aqueducts. They have been used for a couple of thousand years to irrigate the city and surrounding valleys. There is an old mosaic in the Hama museum, found in Apamea and dated to 469 A.D. showing [more...]
Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska and the state’s second largest city. Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster. Omaha had been the capital of the territory and when it was decided to move the capital to Lancaster, Omaha tried to block that move by renaming Lancaster as Lincoln. Much of the [more...]
The Alhambra (Calat Alhambra – “the red fortress”), is a fort and palace complex built during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of Granada. The Alhambra’s palaces were built for the last Muslim Emirs (Kings) to rule in Spain, the Nasrid dynasty. It was started in the thirteenth century by the founder of [more...]
Helena is the capital of Montana and the state’s sixth largest city. With a main street named “Last Chance Gulch,” one knows one is in the Old West. In fact, many of the original streets followed the meandering paths of the miners, going around claims and following the winding gulch. As a result, few city [more...]
On October 8, 1871 the worst recorded fire in American history swept through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. It destroyed millions of dollars worth of property and took between 1,200 and 2,400 lives. It happened on the same day as the more famous Great Chicago, Illinois fire but is much less widely known. On that [more...]
Jefferson City is the capital of Missouri and was named after Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Jefferson City was selected as the new capital in 1821. It was first called Lohman’s Landing. When the legislature decided to relocate there, they suggested the name “Missouriopolis” but later agreed on Jefferson City. Located [more...]
Jackson is the capital of Mississippi and the state’s largest city. Jackson was founded as Parkerville, later known as LeFleur’s Bluff. The city was later named Jackson after the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, in recognition for his victory in the Battle of New Orleans. In 1839, Jackson was the site of [more...]
Saint Paul is the capital of Minnesota and the state’s second largest city. We have already learned of one state capital city which began as a land scam, now we will learn of one that became capital because somebody deliberately hid the official paperwork that would have made another city the capital. The Minnesota Territory [more...]
Lansing is the capital of Michigan, and the state’s sixth largest city. Lansing is the only state capital to begin as a ‘land scam.’ The city was founded by two brothers from New York who plotted the area now known as REO Town just south of downtown Lansing and named it “Biddle City.” It was [more...]
Boston is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts and was founded in 1630, by Puritan colonists from England. The town was later named after Boston, Lincolnshire, England (United Kingdom). During the Revolutionary War, The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege [more...]
Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and perhaps one of the more exciting of the small state capital cities. It is certainly not just another ‘big’ small town. And there is more to it than being the home of the United States Naval Academy. Annapolis was once even the Capital of the United States (1783–1784). [more...]
Augusta is the capital of Maine and one of the smallest state capital cities, though rather large by Maine standards. It was first inhabited by English settlers from the Plymouth Colony in 1629 as a trading post on the Kennebec River and known by its Indian name Cushnoc. Later the name was changed to Augusta [more...]
Baton Rouge is the capital and second largest city in Louisiana. Baton Rouge dates from 1699, when French explorer Sieur d’Iberville leads an exploration party up the Mississippi River. Since then, Baton Rouge has been governed by France, England (UK), Spain, Louisiana, the Florida Republic, the Confederate States, and the United States. Baton Rouge became [more...]
This deadly bloom is one of the most common wildflowers in the late summer in U.S. Midwestern woods and is seldom noticed, since it is somewhat weedy. It is a notorious killer, and at one time ravaged whole communities with its poison. Small pioneer settlements were visited by a terrible affliction, which came to be [more...]
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the Pyramid of Zoser, is the oldest known free standing stone structure in the world and the first of the Egyptian Pyramids. King Zoser’ name was Netjerykhet. The name Zoser was given by New Kingdom visitors to the monument, thousands of years later. The original name of the Step Pyramid [more...]
Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky and the 5th smallest state capital city. In 1786, the area of Frankfort was first purchased and an effort was made to make it the national capital over Washington D.C. It was established as Frankfort, Virginia, and became the capital of the new state of Kentucky in 1792. This [more...]