by david allan van nostrand | Dec 29, 2025 | Items in the News, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
The first nutcrackers I ever saw were rounded silver jaws with teeth and handles hinged at the far end. We used them to crack open walnut shells, especially around Christmas. The second one was the soldiers falling at Radio City Music Hall. It was The Nutcracker, a...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 22, 2025 | Human Behavior, Items in the News, Rituals, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
Have you heard of the Western Hemisphere tribe that steals hemiparasites from their hosts and uses them as the centerpieces of a ritual that goes back centuries? People hang from the ceiling special organisms that feed on the resources of others. Once situated...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 15, 2025 | Americana, Outsiders, The Wayback Machine
Florida City, the southernmost sub-suburb of Miami, calls itself the gateway to the Florida Keys. In April of 1982, the U.S. Border Patrol closed that gate when it blockaded the 125-mile-long chain of 800 coral islands. Troops set up their roadblock on U.S. Highway 1,...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 8, 2025 | Behind the curtain, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine
There was a rumor that Charles Boles sent some gold home to his wife via Wells Fargo. The stage was robbed and his gold was stolen, thus the story that Boles chose to get even with Wells Fargo by robbing their stages and no others. Another story has it that Wells...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 1, 2025 | Americana, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine, Urban sociology
One year after the United States celebrated its 200th birthday, the U.S. Congress declared (no hurry, boys) Beale Street is the official Home of the Blues. The bill was sponsored by Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. in 1977. This was a nice gesture, but hardly a newsflash....
