When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. Why are Marines often called “Leathernecks?” Leather neck stocks were part of the standard uniform of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps at the time of the American Revolution. …
Category Archives: Ideas
Let’s Rise to the Challenge and REALLY Make America Great Again.
So, I find myself driving alone late at night across Pennsylvania and in the interest of staying alert, I turn on the radio (mistake #1). The music kind of drones on and doesn’t really help so I switch to “talk radio” (mistake #2). Have you noticed that despite their arguments to the contrary, bigots, anarchists, …
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Making Perry
Perry is made by fermenting the juice of freshly squeezed pears with the help of natural yeasts. As apples are to cider, so pears are to perry. Perries have complex but subtle flavors that are typically more delicate than cider; good perry can be like a subtle white wine. In some parts of West England …
Making “Hard” Cider
Cider has a long and rich history in America. It was the beverage of choice from the first English settlers in the 16th Century until well into the late 19th Century. When the Mayflower suffered beam damaged in a storm badly enough to consider turning back to England, a large iron screw was taken from …
Dividing up the Spoils
Following the Seven Years War, the aristocrats who gathered in Paris in February 1763 divided up North America belonged to sort of a huge gambling sort. The war started in 1754 as a skirmish between France and Britain in the Ohio River Valley but eventually exploded into a worldwide conflict. The imperial powers attacked each …
THE BILL OF RIGHTS: A BRIEF HISTORY #8
Insurrections often are propagated upon misinformation. So too are the most recent band of domestic terrorist who like to hide behind our most sacred American institutions. In this series, I want to explore the Bill of Rights and why some of the hype and hyperbole thrown around by the extremist is not just wrong but …
The Evil Gerrymander
In March 1812, the Boston Gazette ran a political cartoon depicting “a new species of monster”: “The Gerry-mander.” The forked-tongue creature was shaped like a contorted Massachusetts voting district that the state’s Jeffersonian Republicans had drawn to benefit their own party. Governor (and future vice president) Elbridge Gerry signed off on his party’s redistricting plan …
Come Help Us Create a Unique Portable Bar at Fort Mifflin
March 19 at 10:30 at Fort Mifflin! We are moving forward with our plans to build a bar wagon. Our second work day is March 12 and we plan to finish out the interior of the wagon so that it transforms from a carriage for people into a carriage for spirits, and snacks that can …
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Ben Franklin DID NOT Invent Daylight Savings Time!
Well, today we lose an hour of sleep to the interest of commerce. Don’t worry, you will get it back in November. Before the middle of the 19th Century, keeping time was more of an art than a science. Time pieces and clocks were available, even common in certain circles but they were notoriously inaccurate. …
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Where do “Boycotts” Come From?
This is off topic for me but I often remind my readers that when they frequent businesses and companies that support issues that they find abhorrent, for example Chick-fil-a ACTIVELY discriminates against LBGTQ and non-Christian people (both potential employees and patrons); and GM. UPS, American Airlines, Tyson Foods all made multimillion dollar donations to Donald Trump …
