100

Yes, friend. Today is my 100th blog post since beginning this little labor of love back in February. A momentous occasion indeed. Please send chocolate.

Some of you (OK, probably like 3 of you) read me every day, and for that I should send you chocolate.

Anyway, to celebrate this milestone, I figured I’d do something with the number 100. The following is my second choice, given that asking for $100 from each of my readers would likely end in disappointment. Therefore, I have collected some facts about life in America 100 years ago (give or take a year).

In 1908…

  • The entire population of Las Vegas: 30.
  • Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at local drug stores.
  • You could buy a dozen eggs for 14 cents.
  • A 3-minute telephone call from Denver to New York City cost $11.
  • Coca-Cola contained cocaine.
  • Most women washed their hair once a month. Nice.
  • Ninety percent of US doctors had no formal college education.
  • Average life expectancy: 47 years. Holy carp, I’d be dead.
  • There were more deaths from lynchings than from automobile accidents.
  • The Theodore Roosevelt administration created the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  • Congress voted in the first Worker Compensation law for men hurt on the job.
  • The Ex-Lax Company is formed in New York City.
  • Albert von Tilzer wrote “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
  • The Cubs won the World Series. Heh.
  • Kate Mulcahey was arrested in New York for smoking in a restaurant — but not because it was illegal to smoke in public places like it is today. It was just illegal for women to smoke in public places.
  • The J. I. Case Company began selling gasoline-powered tractors.
  • The skin test for tuberculosis is produced. At the time, TB was the #2 killer of Americans. (Influenza and its resultant pneumonia was #1 on the list.)
  • Henry Ford built the first Model T.
  • Women competed in the Olympics for the first time.
  • A guy named Tom Selfridge became the first person to die in a plane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, survived.
  • William Howard Taft (R-Ohio) was elected president in November 1908. He weighed over 300 lbs. Heavy.

Today is my last day of school with students in attendance. Everyone will celebrate. Yippy!

Fink out….for the hundredth time.

2 thoughts on “100

  1. RD

    Congrats on your 100th post. You were so kind to the Cubs! You didn’t point out that they haven’t won a World Series since 1908. BTW, as of this morning, they have the best record of all major league teams. But, I’m not getting my hopes up. As for chocolate: boxed Milk Duds are on sale at Drug Mart for $.99 — that’s pretty close to 100. :)

    Reply

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