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The robed harbinger of human demise was once seen much differently, as was death itself. The history of how we personify death is a record of what we face in life. The Grim Reaper | 16:44 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.61M subscribers | 97,710 views | October 31, 2025

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - Another Texas A&M professor is facing scrutiny from university administration over course curriculum, being instructed to remove readings from his syllabus. Professor Martin Peterson confirmed to KBTX’s Rusty Surette that he was instructed by the philosophy department to remove readings in his “Contemporary Moral Issues” course related to race and gender - including readings by the Greek philosopher Plato - or be reassigned. “I speak for myself, not the university, when I say in my opinion, Texas A&M is not on the right track. Censorship is not a viable path to academic excellence,” said Peterson.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 February 29 Julius Caesar and Leap Days Credit: Rune Rysstad Explanation: Today, February 29th, is a leap day - a relatively rare occurrence. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar, pictured above in a self-decreed minted coin, created a calendar system that added one leap day every four years. Acting on advice by Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, Caesar did this to make up for the fact that the Earth's year...

Each month in the modern Gregorian calendar consists of at least 28 days. That number would be a nicely rounded 30 were it not for February. While every month besides the second in the calendar contains at least 30 days, February falls short with 28 (and 29 on a leap year). So why is the most widely used calendar in the world so inconsistent in the lengths of its months? And why is February stuck with the fewest number of days? Blame it on Roman superstition. The Gregorian calendar’s oldest ancestor, the first Roman calendar, had a glaring difference in...

...in the early 1990s two of Mike’s interests, numismatics and astronomy, came together. As Mike explored the astrological iconography on Roman coins he developed a theory for the "Magi's star.” He interpreted this event as a description of a remarkable pair of highly visible eclipses of Jupiter by the Moon. These occurred in the constellation Aries that was associated with King Herod and was likely interpreted as a sign of a major event. He presented his findings in a 1995 paper in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society and later in his 1999 Rutgers University Press book "The...

Because of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s, Christmas ended up being celebrated 11 days earlier than before. When the change reached America in the 1750s, some people continued to observe December 25 as sacred and also marked January 6 as “Old Christmas.” This tradition held on strongly in Appalachia and remained part of Kentucky's holiday heritage as a parallel celebration alongside the newer Christmas date. The Forgotten Holiday Called 'Old Christmas' | 5:57 KET - Kentucky Educational Television | 44K subscribers | 47,374 views | November 26, 2025

This Monday is the federal holiday Washington's Birthday, better known as Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February. If you want to know the actual birth date of George Washington, you will find two dates: Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 11, 1731. Both dates are correct. What accounts for the discrepancy? When Washington was born, Britain and its colonies were using the Julian calendar. Developed in first century B.C. under Julius Caesar, it had three too many leap days per 400-year period. The Catholic Church corrected the error in the 16th century by introducing a modified calendar (the...

The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has switched from the lunar-based Islamic calendar, which starts with the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, to the "Western" Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII and based on Jesus Christ's birth.The decision, taken during a recent cabinet session chaired by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, is an austerity measure to deal with its budget deficit, according to reports, which say the drop in crude oil prices beginning 2014 has hit the world's top oil exporter hard.The Muslim calendar, also known as Hijri, loses some 11 days a year so that Islamic...

The false prophet who predicted that the Rapture would take place late last month has set the date for the REAL Rapture, insisting it will take place some time between October 7-8 of this year “”The 7th and 8th of October is the real Feast of the Trumpets. I’m a billion percent sure.” Three months ago, Joshua Mhlakela—a “believer” from South Africa who claimed to have once been a pastor—came out of nowhere and began claiming that Jesus came to him in a dream in 2018 and told him: “On the 23rd and the 24th of September, 2025, I will...

December 25, 2003, Christmas DayA Message to Earth Apollo 8 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on December 21, 1968. It was the first mission to the moon with a crew aboard, and its purpose was to orbit the moon in preparation for a future landing on the moon. On Christmas Eve, Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit and the crew began to relay back to Earth live television pictures of the moon and the Earth. They ended their broadcast by saying: “For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to...

NASA told them to say something. And so they did. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. . . .'' The trio of astronauts of Apollo 8, speaking from space on Christmas Eve in 1968, quoted from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It was, opines historian Robert Zimmerman, "the most profound Christmas prayer ever given by any member of the human race.'' "It was a natural. It's really the basis of most of the world's religions,'' said James Lovell, an Apollo 8 astronaut who has lent the flight manual containing the verses to the Adler...

Even though I wasn't born until 1970 I still like to listen this.. You can view the video here: Apollo 8

The Adler Planetarium has the first Christmas message from space: the 1968 flight manual from Apollo 8 containing verses of Genesis. The three crew members took turns, on live television on Christmas Eve, reading the opening passages of the Bible, starting with, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth. ..." "It was a natural. It's really the basis of most of the world's religions," Apollo 8 astronaut and Lake Forest restaurateur James Lovell said in an interview last year. Historian Robert Zimmerman, writing in his book Genesis: The First Manned Flight To Another World, called it "the...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

NASA Television Commemorates Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will honor the 40th anniversary of the historic Christmas Eve broadcast by the Apollo 8 crew with special programming Dec. 24 and 25 on the NASA TV Public Channel (101). Forty years ago, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to visit another heavenly body as they successfully orbited the moon in their Apollo 8 spacecraft. On Dec. 24, 1968, the three astronauts devoted one of their mission's six live television transmissions to reading from the biblical book of Genesis during what has...

Merry Christmas my fellow Space Freepers...

Apollo 8 Christmas Message

The year 1968 was one of the mst discouraging in modern US history. The Vietnam War dragged on. Despite major civil rights bills, many people feared the country was turning "increasingly seperate and unequal." The nation grieved over the assassinations of Martin Luther King JR. and Robert Kennedy. Riots filled the streets.

It happened on Christmas Eve, 48 years ago. Three men took turns reading from the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis. They were nearly 250,000 miles away from Bethlehem, but since it was the night before Christmas, and there was no chimney from which to hang their stockings, the three astronauts inside the Apollo 8 capsule orbiting the moon thought it would be appropriate. So as Jim Lovell,Frank Borman and Bill Anders looked at the faraway Earth through the small window of the spacecraft, they read the verses: “In the beginning, God made the heavens and the Earth.”...

Christmas Eve, 1968. As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around the world were watching and listening as the Apollo 8 astronauts - Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders - became the first humans to orbit another world.