One Math Nerd Proves Another Wrong

Marin Mersenne lived from 1588 to 1648. He had published that 2 to the 67th power minus 1 (147,573,952,589,676,412,927) was a prime number. For more than 250 years, that was widely accepted by mathematicians. In 1903 a mathematician named Frank Cole proved on a chalkboard doing longhand multiplication that 193,707,721 times 761,838,257,287 equaled 147,573,952,589,676,412,927. For math nerds it was a significant bit of history.

Conquest of Lisbon, Portugal

The city of Lisbon, Portugal was conquered by Berber and Arabic Muslim forces in the year 711. The Christians in the city were allowed to maintain their religion, but were considered second class citizens. In 1108 crusading forces led by led by Sigurd I of Norway retook the city and it returned to Christian rule. Most of the Muslims fled the city or were force to convert to Catholicism. Many of the Islamic mosques were made into Catholic churches....some which survive today.

Typhoid Mary

Typhoid Mary is an iconic figure in U.S. medical history. Her real name was Mary Mallon and she was a Irish Immigrant. Medical investigators tracked her down in a house where she was working as a cook. They discovered that 6 of the 8 homes in which she had worked had fatalities from typhoid.

She was a carrier for typhoid but did not contract the disease.

She was placed in isolation in a hospital for 3 years and was only released after a legal battle and agreeing to not cook again. Unfortunately she began cooking again and more people became sick. She was forced into quarantine on North Brother Island outside New York City and lived out the rest of her life there...never getting sick from Typhoid.

American Governors for $2000

Only one American has served as the governor of two different U.S. States. Who is it? Hint #1 He was also the President. Hint #2 He was not the President of the United States.

The Answer of course is Sam Houston. He was the governor of Tennessee from 1827 to 1829 and the governor of Texas from 1859 to 1861. He was the President of the Independent state of Texas twice from 1836 to 1844.

At the start of the Civil War he refused to join with the confederacy but also refused to give support for the Union. He died in the middle of the war.

Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn is one of the great American sports legends. He ranks 6th All-Time in games won and won more games than any pitcher in the past 100 years. He may have won more but he enlisted in U.S. Army in 1942 and served until the end of World War II. He served with distinction, and was awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for bravery. He did not win his first game until he was 25.

The American Bonapartes

Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of France in 1804. With that, he brought back the French Royal Family. It had ended in 1793 when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads. Napoleon had a younger brother named Jerome Bonaparte who traveled to America and married the wealthy daughter of a Baltimore merchant. When the young couple returned to France Napoleon was not happy with the union and refused Elizabeth to enter the country, even though she was pregnant. She returned to the United States and within 2 years, Jerome had married another woman.
Elizabeth's son was "Royal" however and gained some fame and reputation in both France and the United States. For more than 150 years the Baltimore Bonapartes were high society until the last heir, tripped while walking his dog and split his skull open.

Wyoming's Fremont Peak

While surveying for the U.S. Army in 1842 John C. Fremont climbed a peak in central Wyoming and proclaimed it the Highest Mountain in North America. Using barometers to determine air pressure they estimated the altitude at 13,500 ft. (actually 13,745) The mountain later called Fremont Peak is actually only the 3rd highest in Wyoming and not even one of the 50 highest on the continent.

The Inspiration for Superman

In 1932, Mitchell Siegel, a Lithuanian immigrant working in his store in Cleveland died during a robbery. He was 60 years old. 1 year later his son Jerry created the comic book hero Superman. Many theories suggest that Jerry Siegel and his friend Joel Shuster created the character because of their frustration with the crime of the great depression. Wishing for a "Superman" to solve the world's problems.

The Royal Jack the Ripper!

There are many theories as to the real identity of London's Jack the Ripper - the 1888 brutal murderer of several prostitutes. One possibility that is frequently suggested is that Jack the Ripper was Prince Albert Victor...the Grandson of Queen Victoria. At the time of the murders he was the 2nd in line to the thrown of England. The allegation is that he had fathered a child with one of the prostitutes and killed her and the other girls who might have implicated him. Add his name to the long list of suspects, we will probably never know the answer.

Assassination of Presidents and Congressmen

In the past 50 years the following Presidents, Senators or Congressmen have been either killed or seriously injured in attempts on their life while in office:

President John F. Kennedy - Nov. 22, 1963 Murdered in Dallas, TX
Senator Robert Kennedy - Jun. 6, 1968 Murdered in Los Angeles, CA
Representative Leo Ryan - Nov. 18, 1978 Murdered in Jonestown, Guyana
President Ronald Reagan - Mar. 30, 1981 Seriously wounded in Washington D.C.
Representative Larry McDonald (see photo) - Sep. 1, 1983 Shot Down in KAL Flight 007 over the sea of Japan.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords - Jan. 8, 2011 - Seriously wounded in Tuscon, AZ.

Notes: Rep. Giffords is the only woman Congressional History to have an attempt on her life.
Representatives Ryan and McDonald are the only Congressmen to be killed outside of the United States, unless you count the death of Oregon Senator Edward Baker who was killed in the confederate State of Virginia in 1861 during the Civil War.