Randal A. Burd, Jr.

Randal A. Burd Jr. is a freelance writer, educator, and poet from Missouri. He is also a Kentucky Colonel and a genealogy enthusiast.

  • History
    Symbolism Run Amok: The Demise of the Bellamy Salute

    With their right arms extended stiffly forward, angled upward with fingers straight, man, woman, and child reflexively spoke the familiar words in unison. While this scenario might easily be mistaken as coming straight out of a reviled chapter of European history, this particular description is not denoting a gesture of fascism, but...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. April 20, 2016
  • History
    A Fool’s Errand: Speculating on the Origin of April Fool’s Day

    The world is full of reasons to be serious. Poverty. Disease. Famine. War. When people have trouble choosing a good reason to be serious, they settle for one of their own. People argue over religion, over politics, over sports, and over nothing at all. And as this contentiousness has taken place throughout...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. April 1, 2016
  • Odd News
    Disney Banishes Wisecracking Guest for Life

    Saint Augustine, Florida, resident David Swindler is an avid Disney fan, and a bit of a smart aleck. When he used his acerbic wit on employees of the Pop Century Resort at Disney World, he learned that bullies with badges do exist. Upset with the customer service he was receiving (or the...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. October 1, 2015
  • Current Events
    The Marasca Report: Italy’s Exoneration of Amanda Knox

    Amanda “Foxy Knoxy” Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, have been decidedly cleared of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher by a top Italian court. An explanation of the March ruling was released on 7 September 2015 by the panel of five judges and ends a saga which began on...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. September 9, 2015
  • Celebrity News
    Disney Actor Dean Jones Dead at 84

    The news that actor Dean Jones, the charismatic leading role from several popular Disney movies of 40-50 years ago, died on Tuesday, September 1, 2015, took this fan/writer by surprise. Honestly, I was unaware this talented thespian was still alive, seeing as how I was almost equally surprised to see the aging...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. September 4, 2015
  • History
    Unlikely a Lincoln: The Improbable Progeny of Honest Abe

    October 14, 1968, was a day like any other in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was a rough year nationally for the Civil Rights Movement as the country still reeled from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April and Robert Francis Kennedy in June. The Civil Rights Movement, arguably set in motion...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. September 3, 2015
  • Odd News
    Research Results: Can Plants Hear Themselves Being Eaten?

    My eight-year-old daughter REALLY loves animals. And not just animals in the traditional sense of the word, but also any insect or invertebrate which moves: ants, caterpillars, earthworms—you name it. She has come home from a day of 2nd grade and moped around in sincere mourning because some boy maliciously stepped on...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. July 10, 2015
  • Social Media
    Social Media Marketing: How to Optimize Your Twitter Experience

    Twitter and Facebook occupy the front two seats of any social media marketing vehicle. You cannot read an article or watch a video on social media marketing without spending the majority of your time learning about these two platforms. So, despite negative information concerning the platform, such as our recent article, “Study:...

    Randal A. Burd, Jr. June 19, 2015