2016 – the quick Sliver

Week 48: The Turning Point

December 1, 2023 Mike Keeler

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Times are tough in places like Trenton, New Jersey. With the cost of living up and the people’s outlooks down, citizens have finally taken up arms. There’s a group of protesters gathered on the Pennington Road, threatening the town. Another is moving up State Street into the city center. The bridge…

Week 34: Back to School

August 25, 2023 Mike Keeler

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It’s back to school season, so here’s a short primer in Technology 101. The story starts in 1948, when some engineering students at Drexel named Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland overheard their dean talking to the president of a local retail chain. He was hoping that somebody could create a…

2016 Bar Code Bernard Silver David Collins Drexel University MIT Norman Woodland Sales Technology UPC

Week 25: Ach, der Radler

June 23, 2023 Mike Keeler

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Forget necessity. The FATHER of invention is desperation. Here’s an example. In 1922, in the little German village of Deisenhofen, a retired railroad worker named Franz Xaver Kugler opened an inn and beer garden he called the Kugleralm. Business was slow at first, but Herr Kugler had taken notice of…

2016 Alsterwasser beer Germany Kugler Radler soda

11.18.16 Bird de Bourbon

November 18, 2016 Mike Keeler

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My recommendation for Thanksgiving: More Bourbon! But first some history. Way back in 913, France was ruled by a king named Charles the Simple. He had a buddy named Aymar who lived along the Allier river in the center of the country. Simple Charlie liked Aymar so much that he…

2016 Bourbon Red France Kentucky Thanksgiving

11.4.16 Names to Blame

November 4, 2016 Mike Keeler

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OK, OK!, OKAYYYY! Relax…breathe…it’s almost over… But before the torment ends next Tuesday, let’s circle back to where we started and see how well our political prognostications held up. Back in January, we played “What’s in a Name?” with the leading political candidates. Let’s see how well we did. First,…

2016 clinton Democrat election politics President Republican trump

10.28.16 Castle of Horrors

October 28, 2016 Mike Keeler

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Deep within the City of Brotherly Love stands a castle of historic horrors. If you had lived in Philadelphia in the 1800’s, you would have feared this place. As you approached it, its 30-foot-high fieldstone walls would have scared you silly. Once you passed through the narrow entrance, the iron gates would…

2016 Eastern State Penitentiary halloween Philadelphia prison

10.20.16 Meh

October 20, 2016 Mike Keeler

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OK, it’s time to just come right out and say it: when it comes to voting, we suck. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an organization of 35 highly developed democratic nations, the United States ranks 31st in voter turnout among such nations, with about 53%…

2016 clinton election trump United States voting

9.30.16 Ringing Freedom

September 30, 2016 Mike Keeler

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This was a long time coming. In 1776, the First Baptist Church was established in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was led by Gowan Pamphlet, a slave owned by the proprietor of the King’s Arm Tavern, who had learned to read and write and who had served many famous travelers including George…

2016 Elijah Odom First Baptist Church Freedom Bell Michelle Obama National Museum of African-American History and Culture President Bush President Obama Ruth Odom Bonner

Week 35: Labor’s Day

September 2, 2016 Mike Keeler

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You can travel in style, but eventually you have to pay the bill. History remembers George Pullman as the inventor of the railroad sleeping car which is synonymous with his name. It was the perfect idea for the time, when the American railroad system was exploding after the Civil War, making…

2016 Grover Cleveland Labor Day Pullman

8.26.16 Bully

August 26, 2016 Mike Keeler

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This is an example of Presidential overreach. Teddy Roosevelt used to love to say, “Bully,” and he surely was one. As a child he was sickly, so he spent his time working out and toughening up. When he was 26, he suffered the most devastating Valentine’s Day imaginable: on that…

2016 Antiquities Act Grand Canyon National Park Service Teddy Roosevelt