Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would say that they played football on Christmas day in world war 1
Deano, would be hard for me to pin down a historical fact that surprised me most.. But since u mentioned football, I was surprised to learn that Havana Cuba used to host an American Bowl game once upon a time.
LSU, Tulane, and Villanova all played in Cuba's Bacardi Bowl. The bowl game was played intermittently from the early, thru mid, 1900s.
I learn something new every day. Today I learned that Madge Blake, who was on Batman and played Larry Mondello's mother on Leave It To Beaver, assembled the detonator for the atomic bomb with her husband during WWII for the U.S government.
When studying for the AP U.S. History exam in high school, I realized that most people don't know that the U.S. only practiced open-door immigration AFTER 1965. During the "glory years" (post WWII boom) when America's working class achieved an incredible level of prosperity, we severely restricted immigration to only certain western European nations that had been proven to provide only incredibly hard-working, intelligent workers who wouldn't sign up for public assistance unless they were literally starving.
This strict immigration system resulted in a balance of power between "labor" and "capital" (or the working class and the wealthy business owner class), where employers had to provide decent working conditions and good pay in order to get and keep workers. Gains due to productivity were equally shared between the two groups. Life was great.
All that ended with the 1965 "open door immigration" law that threw out the old system, and replaced it with a system that welcomed a tsunami of dirt-poor, uneducated and unskilled people from the poverty-stricken nations to our south. Welfare and public education costs (which are paid by taxes on the working class) skyrocketed, and wages & benefits (for all levels of worker, skilled and unskilled) began their long downward slide, which continues today. As of about 1970 (the point where the influx of millions had swamped the unskilled labor market), productivity gains were no longer shared with workers--business owners kept 100%. This is why the gap between the top 1% of 1%, and everyone else, continues to widen.
Q; Who is the first president? Hint: he's on the quarter.
A: I don't look at quarters
Q: What does July 4th commemorate?
A: "Thanking like, the people who served. Well, that's more Memorial Day."
Q: Do you remember the name of the king we kicked to the curb?
A: "King Arthur?"
A: King Tut?
Q: Do you remember what year we declared independence?
A: "1973 was it?"
Q: What was the war called where we declared our independence?
A: "World War II."
A: "The Renaissance?"
Does anyone take this segment seriously? Would anyone think that he would be chosen to appear on TV if he answered correctly (unless he happened to be a foreigner or member of an ethnic minority)?
Does anyone take this segment seriously? Would anyone think that he would be chosen to appear on TV if he answered correctly (unless he happened to be a foreigner or member of an ethnic minority)?
Yes the TV segment is intended for entertainment but sadly, this lack of historical knowledge is supported by other studies.
If you click on the link it explains that some did not wish the answers to be broadcast (and those are not shown), others indeed were answering sincerely but just wished to be on TV.
So, ummm, what's your point? I'm confused here. Does anyone even doubt that lack of history education is an issue in the US?
That ancient peoples from every continent, have "mythology"that pre-dates any contact with eachother, regarding a "Great Flood".
I'm not saying the flood itself is a historical fact; I'm saying that every culture of ancient peoples, from Africa to South America, China, India, the Inuit, the Native American, the Norse ... etc, all have a consistent story in the form of Mythology; about the flood.
Consistencies include: Large boats, sometimes just one but the Finnish tell of 44. Entire continents under water, anywhere from one week to over a year. Both select male/female from human & animal species spared (on boats) for their "seed".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
