FEBRUARY 15, 1946

Full News Archive

• Headline: Pennsylvania Steel Strike of 1946. Impact: The rise in idle steel workers ignited a wave of strikes that ultimately revolutionized labor laws, leading to the creation of a national holiday for steelworkers—now celebrated by barbecuing and pretending to understand metallurgy.. Fact: 290,000 steelworkers out of work is a staggering number—imagine the amount of steel that went unused! That’s a lot of unmade paperclips..
• Headline: Harvard Promotes Prof. Teele. Impact: Prof. Teele’s promotion sparked a series of prestigious promotions across the Ivy League, which eventually led to a mysterious secret handshake that only the elite could understand, keeping the rest of us mortals in the dark.. Fact: Harvard promotions are like the Olympics of academia—lots of pomp, circumstance, and a little bit of awkwardness as everyone pretends to care about the new dean..
• Headline: QUEEN MARY GETS OIL DIRECT FROM TANKER. Impact: Queen Mary's direct oil delivery led to a new royal trend in yacht refueling, inspiring future monarchs to adopt increasingly extravagant practices, like being refueled with organic avocado oil while sipping tea.. Fact: Refueling from a tanker is one way to show you have too much money—it's like saying, 'Why settle for a gas station when I can have a ship just for me?'.
• Headline: AIR STRIPS URGED AT END OF SUBWAYS; Piper, Plane Builder, Says City Must Learn Private Flying From Middle West. Impact: This suggestion led to an unexpected boom in private flying lessons, resulting in a generation of urbanites who thought they could just fly over traffic, only to discover that gravity still applies.. Fact: Subways and airplanes are both modes of transportation—one is underground and often smells like feet, while the other is a few thousand feet above and smells like jet fuel!.
• Headline: O'DWYER DEFENDS SHUTDOWN ORDER; Says He Sought to Prevent Suffering, Was Not Thinking in Terms of Dollars. Impact: O’Dwyer’s noble intentions to prevent suffering inadvertently led to a rise in underground markets for everything from coffee to toilet paper, creating a thriving black market economy.. Fact: In the grand scheme of things, there’s nothing like a good shutdown to make people appreciate things like running water and the ability to buy toilet paper without a secret passcode..
• Headline: KEEP RATION BOOK, OPA URGES PUBLIC. Impact: The call to keep ration books turned into a national obsession with collecting things that are no longer useful, eventually culminating in the Great Ration Book Museum of 2040, where people marvel at the 'good old days' of scarcity.. Fact: Ration books are now considered vintage—who knew that keeping track of your food portions would one day be a hipster's dream?.
• Headline: LIBERAL IS HUNTED FOR ICKES' POST; O'MAHONEY IN LEAD; Truman Talks to Westerners in Congress for a Speedy Choice to Ease Dispute PAULEY FIGHT UNCHANGED Democrats Reported Pushing Withdrawal Drive--Senate Group Will Hear Fortas. Impact: The hunt for Ickes' post escalated into a dramatic political saga, leading to a series of unproductive meetings and the creation of a new reality show: 'Survivor: Washington Edition,' where the stakes are low but the drama is high.. Fact: Nothing says democracy like a good old-fashioned political squabble—it's like watching a game of chess, but everyone is flipping the pieces and yelling..