2025 Year-End Review

The Chinese called it the Year of the Snake. The United Nations dubbed 2025 the he International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation; the International Year of  Peace and Trust, and the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.  It was the year that Microsoft and the catalytic converter turned 50. Motels turned 100 years old in 2025 which also marked the 100^th anniversary of:

• the beginning of Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship in Italy

• the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby

• the execution by guillotine in Germany of serial killer Fritz Haarmann ^{[murdered 24 boys & young men]}

• the founding of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the world’s largest trade union organization

• African-American Tom Lee’s rescue of 32 people from the sinking steamboat on the Mississippi River

• Radiovision, the 1^st synchronized transmission of pictures and sound ^{[Amer; Charles Francis Jenkins]}

• the Santa Barbara Earthquake (6.8 Mw) that destroyed much of downtown Santa Barbara ^{[13 dead]}

• the Scopes Monkey Trial where a young Tennessee high school science teacher is found guilty of teaching evolution

• Adolf Hitler’s publication of Volume 1 of Mein Kampf

• the foundation of the Schutzstaffel (SS) as a personal bodyguard for Adolf Hitler in Germany

• a Ku Klux Klan parade with an estimated 30,000-35,000 marchers in Washington, D.C.

• the 1^st man to exceed 150 mph (^{241 km/h)} on land ^{[Malcolm Campbell]}

• the establishment of Russia’s state-owned Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS)

• the French complete their evacuation of the Ruhr region of Germany

• the S. Navy dirigible Shenandoah breaks up in a squall line near Caldwell, Ohio ^{[killing 14]} ;

• Congressional approval to begin constructing Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota

• the 1^st transmission of television pictures with a greyscale image ^{[John Logie Baird]}

• the 1^st Dick tests are administered to screen for scarlet fever

• the 1^st radio broadcast the Grand Ole Opry ^{[originally called WSM Barn Dance]} in Nashville, Tennessee

• Newfoundland’s granting women the right to vote

• the founding of the Chrysler Corporation

• Sears, Roebuck & Co. (a mail order company) opening its 1^st retail store ^{[Chicago, Illinois]}

• the foundation of IG Farben by the merger of six chemical companies in Germany

• the formation of the United Church of Canada

• the founding of the Royal Canadian Legion

• Canada’s amendment to divorce law to allow a woman to divorce her husband on the same grounds that a man could divorce his wife (i.e. they no longer also had to prove acts such as sodomy or bestiality over and above adultery to initiate a divorce)

• Pink’s War, a 50-day bombing and strafing campaign conducted by the British against rebel strongholds in Pakistan

• a magnitude 7.0 earthquake Yunnan Province of China ^{[5,000 dead]}

• the deadliest tornado in U.S. history ^{[Tri-State Tornado 695 dead, 2,027 injured in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana]}

• Ben Bernie’s Sweet Georgia Brown was the year’s #1 pop song

• “The Big Parade,” was the year’s #1 movie at the box office and became the highest-grossing film of the decade ^{[earning $11 million]} 

• the 1^st issue of The New Yorker (a magazine of satire, humour, and cartoons)

• the 1^st appearance of Bad Pete, Walt Disney’s oldest continuing cartoon character

• the introduction of Honey Maid Graham Wafers

• the introduction of Corona beer

• the words: big government, concrete jungle, cosmic ray, coli, extramarital, gas station, honor guard, jive, pinko, recycle, speed trap, workers’ compensation

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On the one hand we’ve come a long way in 100 years, but in some respect (or lack thereof) there is evidence that some Parties are endeavouring to make certain elements of 1925 Great Again.  As we recall, it was not all smooth skating in 2025 so beware the black ice (you are likely to slide over more than a few patches up ahead).  Now pop your MDMA psychedelics if you got ‘em because, if you aren’t already suffering from PTSD, I suspect we’ll all have it after this year’s double tap down memory lane.