The very first time I donated blood (right after my 18th birthday), one of the other donors arrived wearing a sweatshirt with “Dracula” emblazoned on the front. Â (I think it was the logo from the 1979 movie starring Frank Langella,
First World Trade Center Bombing — an “It Was 20 Years Ago Today” text post
[Posted at the “It Was 20 Years Ago Today” site (http://20yearsago.libsyn.com), the Starlight Teahouse message board (www.starlightteahouse.com), and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Sailbourne).] Twenty years ago today, a truck bomb exploded in the underground garage of the North Tower of the
Farewell to the Friend I Never Met
I lost a friend this week. She was a friend I had never met, and in fact I didn’t even know what she looked like – until I got the letter announcing her death. But nevertheless, Patt Griffin was a
Why the 20 Years Ago Podcast Is Coming Back
I bring a lot of my own memory and experience to the history in “It Was 20 Years Ago Today.† It’s fascinating because I can look back at events which I knew at the time were world-changing.  But, even more
Topics on the Teahouse for April 15, 2011
A sampling of topics posted this week on the Starlight Teahouse forums (all links should open in a new window or tab): Links to pictures of Playland at the Beach, a San Francisco landmark in the time of the Chamber
Rollercoaster Year in Review, part two
Continuing the craziness that was 2008 … May — The Thing One of the true highlights of the year came on a warm Saturday afternoon in May. It was the ninth annual UFO Festival at the McMenamins Hotel Oregon in
Rollercoaster Year in Review, part one
It seems like 2008 was a really wild and crazy year for just about everyone we know — no less for Joe and I. Before the memories fade too far into the distance, I thought I’d do a brief summary.Â
Old Time Rocket Scientists
Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, one of the last of the Von Braun team of rocket scientists who came to America from Germany at the end of World War II, has died at the age of 94. He left this world even
A man never forgets. A man pays his debts.
You will no doubt have read the sad news in many other places by the time you read it here, but if you haven’t seen it yet, go take a look at Sydney Pollack’s obituary. I’m hardly qualified to comment
quote for the day
A revisit, for this Veterans/Armistice/Remembrance Day: (yes, I know it was actually yesterday, but there are still plenty of observances going on today, so …) “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives. You are now living in