Tuesday, July 2, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 6: Taking a Risk and Sports

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It's not just gamblers taking risks in Vegas.  The Strip has been a global capital of extreme sports ever since December 1967, when a li...
Monday, July 1, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 5: Bigger and Grander

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In the 1990s, Vegas developers began thinking even bigger, and the arrival of the great pyramid of the Luxur Hotel and Casino in 1993 began ...
Saturday, June 29, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 4: About That Residency

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Toward the end of World War II, piano sensation Liberace pioneered the concept of a residency, where venues dedicate their stages exclusivel...
Friday, June 28, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 3: The Coming of the Las Vegas Strip

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The characteristically American mix of grit, graft and speculation turned a dusty desert road into the entertainment capital of the world, a...
Wednesday, June 26, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 2: Gambling and Quickie Divorces

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Continued from June 13. At the turn of the 20th century, the oasis town became a rest area for wagons and a stop on the new railroad connect...
Tuesday, June 25, 2024

The 15 Most Legendary Sandwiches in the United States-- Part 2:

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8.  French Dip, Los Angeles, California  (Sure liked the ones at Hackney's in Lake Zurich, Illinois.) 9.  Pulled Pork BBQ, the Carolinas...
Monday, June 24, 2024

The 15 Most Legendary Sandwiches in the United States-- Part 1: Italian Beef

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From April 2024 My Pure Plants US by Nandor Barta. 1.  Po' Boy, New Orleans, Louisiana  (especially a shrimp po' boy.  But any old p...
Saturday, June 22, 2024

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 5: 13 Stripes and Stars for New States

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The rules for the design of the national flag were finalized after the War of 1812. The design needed to be updated again again with the add...
Thursday, June 20, 2024

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag (in Honor of Flag Day)-- Part 4: Star-Spangled Banner Flag Had 15 Stripes

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The flag immortalized by "The Star-Spangles Banner" had 15 stripes-- not 13! In 1791, Vermont was admitted to the Union and Kentuc...
Monday, June 17, 2024

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 3: One of the First U.S. Flags Had the Union Jack of Britain in It

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Raised during the American Revolution, the first American flag featured, strangely enough, the Union Jack of Great Britain. The Continental ...
Saturday, June 15, 2024

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 2: Vertical Stripes? Really?

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The first time red and white stripes were used to represent America, there were nine of them-- and they were vertical. On exhibit at the Old...
Friday, June 14, 2024

Today Is Flag Day: Is Your Flag Up? Five Things You Might Not Know

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From the June 13, 2024 Marquette Today "Star-spangled trivia: five things you (probably) don't know about Flag Day." The Ameri...
Thursday, June 13, 2024

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 1: 'The Meadows'

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From the March 2024, Smithsonian Magazine ""American Icon." In 1829, a group of explorers led by Spanish merchant Antonio Arm...
Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society Meeting May 18, 2024

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We love visitors, but last month we almost had one we didn't want.  A raccoon made a concerted effort to enter Grant Hall Museum but was...
Monday, June 10, 2024

The Cicadas Are A-Coming-- Part 2: The Females Do the Clicking

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These two broods coming/came to Illinois have spent 13 or 17 years underground. It is the females who click.  (I have now noticed that some ...
Sunday, June 9, 2024

The Cicadas Are A-Coming-- Part 1: May Meeting of the Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society

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The May 18, 2024, Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society meeting featured a very timely talk by the Lake County Forest on "The Past...
Saturday, June 8, 2024

Trip to Normandy-- Part 5: Fewer WW II Veterans Still Alive

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The 80th anniversary will likely be one of the last big D-Day celebrations to include so many living World War II veterans.  Only about 100,...