250 and Counting

On This Day in 1776: the man responsible for a lot of early Nova Scotia law dies in office. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/30/dea…

On This Day in 1776: Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to a postally-inclined friend in England. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/29/fro…

Because every episode is only two minutes long, the show notes often have a lot of stuff we couldn't fit, or related materials that give broader context to the story. 250andcounting.com

On This Day in 1776: the British fleet, having abandoned Boston ten days earlier, begins arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/27/a-n…

@PrezWisdom He also gets credit for "inventing" the 7th Inning Stretch, but I think that's largely apocryphal.

William Howard Taft 🇺🇸 started the "first pitch" tradition in 1910, throwing out the first pitch for a Washington Senators game #POTUS ⚾ #OpeningDay

@educator4ever36 This is the Wikipedia argument all over again, except that we now have above-ability language coming in rather than citation markers the kids forgot to delete.

Lots of talk this week about AI in education that was magnified by a robot and Melania Trump. Many are saying absolutely no AI belongs in schools. I’m going to disagree with this. Whereas we must absolutely create policy, appropriate use, etc for AI, to keep it out of schools will put every child at a disadvantage. It’s here. It’s not going to go away. Not teaching AI is like having a swimming pool and not teaching children how to swim. Adults need to be adults here and schools must prepare students for an AI world and I dare say, we are already years behind. Let’s not fear what we don’t understand. Let’s learn and teach it as it is ubiquitous in our world already and schools and universities have buried their heads in the sand.

On This Day in 1776, Patriots raid Tybee Island, but not for an especially noble reason. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/25/rai…

On This Day in 1776: George Washington writes two letters. One is confident; the other one is worried. They're both about the same thing. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/24/let…

@educator4ever36 @iReady @iReady absolutely undersells student achievement, especially at the high school level. We've gotten students who test as being barely above the phonics level but in the classroom they've got very strong skills. It's also possible they're not taking iReady seriously.

I wish @iReady was held accountable for this. They should be required to send a rep to a school board meeting to discuss the programs data in district they serve. Put a rep in front of them and make them explain why the program is showing no growth.

@educator4ever36 The only time I was put on a PIP was during the brief period I worked at Central Office. I actually exceeded the metrics they'd laid down and their disappointment was palpable. Then they just surplused me anyway without telling me.

This is especially true for classroom teachers.

@PrezWisdom I would be delighted if the White House ever did an actual Big Block of Cheese Day.

In 1835, Andrew Jackson’s 🇺🇸 supporters gave him a 1400 lb wheel of cheese - which he kept in the White House entry to age for ~2 years Jackson's next step was to hold a public cheese sampling to celebrate George Washington’s 🇺🇸 birthday The White House stunk! #POTUS 🧀

On This Day in 1776: citizens of New York express their dissatisfaction with the Royal Governor. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/22/wil…

On This Day in 1776: George Washington takes stock of the condition of Boston, post-siege. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/18/rev…

Rev250 resource of the day — Visit Dorchester Heights, where the monument has reopened for climbing, on Saturday, March 14, 11–2. The end of the siege of Boston will be commemorated with artillery demonstrations: nps.gov/articles/000/e…

On This Day in 1776: George Washington's orders of the day reflect preparation for retaking Boston and moving on to New York. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/13/pre…

On This Day in 1776: General Howe makes a decision that's either pragmatic or petty. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/10/lau…

On This Day in 1776: the group that eventually became known as the Pennsylvania 13th was raised. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/06/the…

Stuff like this reminds me of just how close some events are to one another.

On This Day in 1776: As the Noble Train of Artillery arrives in Cambridge, George Washington starts putting it to good use, with the aim of finally breaking the Siege of Boston. 250andcounting.com/2026/03/04/beg…

@history_dame According to the docents at Ft. McHenry, Key was watching from approximately the place where that bridge in the distance is located. that's close to four miles, and there's a buoy out there. (WAS located; that's the bridge that got knocked down a couple of years ago.)

On March 3, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” officially became America’s national anthem, but it took over 100 years to become official. The story begins on the night of September 13–14, 1814, when lawyer Francis Scott Key found himself detained aboard a British warship, watching helplessly as enemy forces unleashed a relentless overnight bombardment, roughly 1,800 bombs, on Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. As dawn broke, the American flag was still flying over the fort. So moved by what he witnessed, Key penned the words that would become iconic. His poem circulated as a handbill before being published in a Baltimore newspaper on September 20, 1814. It was then set to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular English song of the era, and the rest, as they say, is history. For much of the 19th century, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was embraced by most branches of the U.S. armed forces and adopted as an unofficial anthem, but it still lacked official status. That began to change in 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order formally designating it as the national anthem. Still, it wasn’t until March 1931 that Congress passed a confirming act, and on March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover put pen to paper and signed it into law, 117 years after Francis Scott Key first watched that flag wave through the smoke over Fort McHenry. From the ramparts of a battered Baltimore fort to every stadium, school, and ceremony in America.