Category Archives: World News

Life In 1909 – Random News And Advertising

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What Was Happening On January 21, 1909

I picked a random day 103 years ago to see what was in the news. I read the entire New York Times newspaper for Thursday, January 21, 1909 to come up with the some interesting stories and unusual items.  The paper was only 18 pages! The major differences compared to current newspapers: few photographs accompany any story and  articles of different types are interspersed on the same page, so the news is not sectioned by category.  I have put the article summary in blue and my comments are in black italics.

Crowds flocked to the Auto Show at Madison Square Garden. Lots of famous people showed up including Colonel John Jacob Astor and Mr. & Mrs. George J. Gould. There was a selection in gasoline powered and electric cars on display.

Not many people realize that in the early days of automobile manufacturing gasoline and electric cars were battling for market share. Steam cars were also an option, but were left unmentioned in the article.  Before 1909 over 600 companies in the United States had at one time started manufacturing automobiles and half of them had already run out of business.  An estimated 200,000 automobiles were in use in the United States according to the  Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. What would our current energy situation be like today had the electric car won the battle for vehicular supremacy over the gasoline powered engine?

An advertisement for Renault showed they led all automobile companies in US imports with 214 in 1907 and 244 in 1908.

The runner-up for sales in each year (by half as much) were in order: Mercedes, Fiat and Panhard?!

The Conference Committee of the Independent Telephone Officers to meet the following week on plans to build a long distance telephone line from Boston to Omaha. The cost: $5,000,000 immediate expenditure and $30,000,000 over the next four years! Continue reading →

The Best Presidential Candidate In The 2012 Election

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Vermin Supreme – Would Make A Better President Than Obama, Romney, Paul, Huntsman, Gingrich, Perry and Santorum

vermin supremeIf you have never heard of Vermin Supreme or that he is running for President you are not alone. He has not taken out any advertising and the mainstream media ignores him. But through youtube and other web sites, Vermin Supreme is making his candidacy known.

The only Presidential candidate who wears a boot on his head, Vermin Supreme has a simple platform:

  • Dental Hygiene Law
  • Flying Monkey Public Safety Assurance Program
  • Time Travel Research Funding
  • An Energy Program Which Harnesses the Awesome Power of The Zombies
  • Free Pony’s For All Americans

Vermin Supreme really is running for President. The satirist was invited to share the dais with the other Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum which was held December 19, 2011 and hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. The forum shows Mr Supreme at his best.

Randall Terry, the notorious anti-abortion activist, is the candidate who gets Mr. Supreme’s attention at the end of the video.

In a previous interview with the Washington Times, Mr. Supreme was asked whether he plans to send troops back into Iraq, Mr. Supreme said he wants to send troops “everywhere.”

“I propose we will invade and we will make that country a state,” he said. “So Iraq would be our 51st state, Afghanistan would be 52nd state. and on and on. Once we change these foreigners to Americans, they will certainly love America and we’ll will be able to tax them and it will be a wonderful unified United States of the Earth. Thank you.”

The United States needs Mr. Supreme if only for relief from all the empty words emanating from our politicians mouths.

7 Billion People, That’s 6 Billion Too Many

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Celebrating Rising World Poverty, Hunger and Lots of People

The news yesterday was not earth shattering. The estimated number of people living on the earth is now seven billion. But that is a number that can shatter the earth and its resources.

What all the world’s cities can look like in 20 years – hooray!

News venues are touting this historic event as if it is something to be proud of. ABC television was showing babies from around the world born October 31, 2011 speculating that any of these children could have been the seven billionth living human.  It was then remarked by anchor Diane Sawyer that when these children turn fourteen, there will likely be eight billion people on the earth. Great. Overpopulation being glorified. Continue reading →

The “New” Led Zeppelin

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The Name Game Continues

While New Zealand may have outlawed some names, the USA, with the exception of what a judge may find to be a frivolous name, (Your Majesty; Copyright; Superman) still allows people to name themselves or their offspring pretty much whatever they want.

So when George Blackburn, 64, of Bethalto, IL recently got divorced, he wanted a fresh start and legally renamed himself Led Zeppelin II. According to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch the newly named Zeppelin said: Continue reading →

Reaching A New Low in Identity Theft

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Woman Steals Identity of 8-Year-Old Girl Killed in an Auto Accident 30 Years Ago

This story out of Delray Beach, Florida confirms that identity thieves are the scum of the earth.

Juliet Sherry-Ann Smith Mahabir the “alleged” identity thief, was caught when the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud received a tip that Mahabir had “fraudulently obtained” a U.S. Passport.

Yes, besides being an identity thief, Mahabir is apparently an illegal alien.

I can only imagine what the deceased girl’s family whose identity Mahabir stole must be feeling.

After reading this – I have only two questions:

1- Why was she released on such low bail?

2- She is an illegal alien – shouldn’t she be deported?

Stupid Baby Names Outlawed in New Zealand

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New Zealand’s Birth Registrar bans “Lucifer” “Messiah” “General” and “*”  as Names

As reported in the West Australian newspaper on July 19 and other news outlets down under the New Zealand  registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages have compiled a list of 102 names (so far) of names they will not allow parents to name their bundles of joy.

It might seem an arbitrary list, as they allowed one set of parents to name their child “Violence.”

Wouldn’t it be easier to just change your own name rather than embarrassing your offspring with your own idea of a unique name?

This is probably a case of the government overstepping their boundaries, but I am astounded by the number of stupid names American parents give their babies.

In New York City, a teacher I know who taught in the lower income South Bronx, actually encountered two children (from different families) with incredibly unique names.  Continue reading →

Rise in Graffiti Reported Across USA

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Graffiti is Vandalism, Not Art

The New York Times story on the rise of graffiti in cities both large and small is disturbing. For those who say graffiti is art, I would like to be invited to your home and I will splash paint over your entire home inside and out Jackson Pollack style, dripping and splashing it everywhere I can. If you don’t like it too bad, I’m not cleaning it up.

But you say that’s not art. I say that it is.

You say, what right do I have to come to your home and deface it?

That is exactly my point.

Our cities and public surroundings are our homes and no one has the right to deface public or private property.

The majority of graffiti artists are not frustrated artists but are in reality criminals, juvenile delinquents and gang members, who have a compulsion to etch, paint, mark or deface public property. Continue reading →

Paul Gauguin Painting Attacked at the National Gallery

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Lunatics Among Us

This story of a woman attacking the Paul Gauguin painting “Two Tahitian Women” on April 1, 2011 got skipped over in a lot of newspapers or was a blurb in others. The 1899 painting is worth an estimated $80 million dollars.

What was even less covered, and I thought was worth commenting on, was what the suspect in the attack, Susan Burns said in her statement to the police. “I feel that Gauguin is evil. Continue reading →

Guess What? The World Is NOT Ending May 21

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People Believing In Strange Things

Maybe you’ve seen these people?

The New York Times front page story on the people who believe in Harold Camping’s prophecy about the return of Jesus on May 21 and the end of the world on October 21, points out that the children of these doomsayers are somewhat confused by their parent’s strange beliefs.

The idea of knowing doomsday’s arrival by interpreting or unlocking the secrets of sacred text has been around for a while.

The Times has a second story about a New Yorker who gathered about a dozen believers to prepare for the end of the world in 1925.

The United States has quite a history of biblical Doomsday prophets. A very notable occurrence happened Continue reading →