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Where there's a first, there MUST be a second!
Welcome to SilverMedals.net — The internet's premier blog and reference site celebrating the second greatest achievements, second-best records, and the almost extremes of the world we live in!
Items marked as Second Thoughts are short blog entries. Those marked as Feature Articles are informative, long-form, heavily researched pieces. Please also have a look at the SilverMedals.net Referencepedia for some quick facts of seconds.
01/27/2019
Updated 09/24/2022
In the never-ending political theater whose current star is U.S. President Donald Trump, even something as mundane as the State of the Union Address had become an issue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) had rescinded her invitation to the President to address a joint session of Congress, thus giving pundits everywhere more reason to yell at each other on…read more
01/08/2019
Updated 01/21/2019
Mongolia isn’t exactly the first place you’d think of when you think “heavy metal music”. Although the musical genre has touched most of the world, it’s still somewhat astonishing that it found its way onto the Mongolian steppe. For The Hu, it’s all just music. The Hu is a Mongolian heavy metal band that has been taking the internet by…read more
01/06/2019
When it comes to polar exploration, history is the mother of all excursion. To close out 2018, Louis Rudd became the second person to complete a solo crossing of the continent of Antarctica. In what seems a repeat of the Shackleton/Amundsen race to the pole (that was a race to the pole and not a traversal of the continent), the…read more
12/23/2018
John Rutledge (1739-1800) of South Carolina was an intriguing political figure whose highly preventable downfall came swiftly. In the early days of the U.S., political rules and practices were still being hammered out while the lines between what was appropriate and what wasn’t were slowly being drawn. What didn’t always help matters was the press at the time. Rumors were…read more
12/14/2018
Updated 12/21/2018
The world’s second-ranked Google search queries of 2018.
11/11/2018
Updated 12/31/2018
This being the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended major fighting in WWI, SilverMedals.net presents “second” facts about the Great War.
11/03/2018
Updated 10/22/2022
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk-show that has been airing on NBC since 1954. The first person to regularly play host on the show was comedian Steve Allen who was on the show from 1954 to 1957. As for who technically was the second host depends on, like so many other “seconds” on SilverMedals.net, how you define the…read more
10/25/2018
Almost all of what was the second-biggest island in the French Frigate Shoals disappeared on or around October 4 after having been hit by Hurricane Walaka. The category 4 storm’s high winds sent a storm surge over the small islet almost completely destroying it. The now-gone 11-acre island was known as East Island and was part of the Northwestern Hawaiian…read more
10/17/2018
The legal sale of recreational marijuana began today (10/17/18) in Canada, the second country to do so. More than just decriminalizing its use, or limiting its use or sale to specific places, people can now buy, cultivate, and use marijuana to their heart’s content (if their hearts are content with whatever limits their provinces may impose, that is). None of…read more