Purchase High Resolution Map of Transcontinental in 1901 By: Andrew Glass May 10, 2011 04:34 AM EDT  On this day in 1869, workers for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads drove a golden spike into the rails at Promontory Summit, Utah. The event marked completion of the first transcontinental railroad, connecting the nation from coast to coast and cutting a journey of at least four months to a week. It also, in a sense, fulfilled long-standing U.S. policies.  Under the aegis of President Thomas Jefferson, The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, prepared the first maps and reports describing the topography of the trails and passages…

Aviation History |  Published: June 12, 2006 at 8:05 pm Icy winds swept across Spitsbergen, an island group on the Arctic Circle north of Norway. In May of 1926, Spitsbergen’s barren, frozen landscape erupted with activity as two international expeditions struggled to become the first to fly over the North Pole. Famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, teaming with American adventurer Lincoln Ellsworth and a mixed Italian and Norwegian crew, planned on flying an Italian-built dirigible, Norge. At the same time, an American party commanded by Richard E. Byrd was about to attempt the flight in a trimotor skiplane. Exploring the Arctic by air was not exactly a new idea in 1926. Thomas…

The story of America is the story of its working people—their struggles and successes and their hopes for a better future for themselves and their families. The Battle of Cripple Creek These days, the town of Cripple Creek, Colo., is best known for casinos—14 of them. A century ago, Cripple Creek was famous for important, dramatic battles where workers fought to win their rights. It all began in 1894. Cripple Creek had become a boom town after gold was discovered. Some 150 mines sprang up. So did a strong miners union—the Free Coinage Union No. 19, which was part of the militant Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Workers started pouring in from around the…

Eve Tahmincioglu writes the weekly “Your Career” column for msnbc.com and chronicles workplace issues in her blog, CareerDiva.net. updated 5/8/2011 6:55:48 PM ET Bert Martinez, CEO of a business-training firm in Houston, has decided to blow away the five-day workweek for himself and his staff of 28.Starting next month the entire company is going to work for four ten-hour days instead of five eight-hour days, and the company’s workweek will stay that way if productivity and profits stay the same or increase. It’s all part of Martinez’s strategy to take back his personal life, and his general inclination to shake things up at the firm. “I want to spend more time with my family,…

May 7, 1960: Leonid Brezhnev, one of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s most trusted proteges, is selected as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet—the Soviet equivalent to the presidency. This was another important step in Brezhnev’s rise to power in Russia, a rise that he later capped by taking control of the Soviet Union in 1964. Brezhnev had been a trusted associate of Khrushchev since the 1940s. As Khrushchev rose through the ranks, so did his protege. After Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev rapidly consolidated his power and succeeded in becoming First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This position had always been the real seat of…

Biography of Edvard Munch Edvard Munch – The Dance of Life Site © 2005 Roman Jaster 1863 Birth of Edvard Munch, December 12, Loten, Norway. Son of military doctor, Christian Munch and wife, Cathrine. 1868 Munch’s mother dies of tuberculosis at the age of 30. Her sister, Karen Bjolstad, takes over household. 1877 Sister, Sophie, dies of tuberculosis at age of 15. 1879 Edvard enters Technical College to become an engineer. Frequent illnesses interrupt his studies. 1880 Leaves College to become a painter. 1881 Enrolls at the Royal School of Art and Design. Paints his first self portrait. Sculptor Julius Middelthun teacher of Munch. 1882 Exhibits at the Industries and Art…

May 7, 2011 NY Times By LARRY DORMAN CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The reality of the death of the great golf champion Seve Ballesteros in Spain at the age of 54 dawned on the Quail Hollow Club on Saturday morning, its arrival fittingly wrapped in a thick fog that shrouded the golf course and delayed the start of play for 90 minutes. Early arrivals were greeted by somber images on big-screen televisions beamed from the Spanish Open, where players wearing black ribbons on their caps stood in a light rain for a moment of silence to remember the man whose fiery passion changed the way golf was perceived and played. At…

May 7, 1994: On May 7, 1994, Norway’s most famous painting, “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. The fragile painting was recovered undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said. The iconic 1893 painting of a waiflike figure on a bridge was stolen in only 50 seconds during a break-in on February 12, the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Two thieves broke through a window of the National Gallery, cut a wire holding the painting to the wall and left a note reading “Thousand thanks for the…