Taking a second view of everything!
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.
09/28/2017
Updated 10/08/2018
In honor of the excellent Ken Burns and Lynn Novick documentary The Vietnam War, which is currently showing on PBS, I thought it was a fitting time to highlight Harry Griffith Cramer, Jr., the person considered to be the second U.S. soldier killed during that conflict. Before we go on, it’s worth mentioning that this is a case where it is difficult…read more
09/26/2017
Updated 04/10/2023
Editor’s Note: SilverMedals.net defines the second day of school for the Little Rock Nine as the second day they were able to actually enter the school. Their first day was supposed to be 9/4/57, but they were turned away by soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard. The first day they were actually able to enter Little Rock Central High School,…read more
09/12/2017
Updated 08/05/2020
Geri Reischl may not be a household name but she occupies a rather unique place in American pop-cultural history. Some may know her for her singing. Some may know her for her toy ads in the late 60s and early 70s. There are many French Canadians who may remember Reischl from when she toured with singer René Simard. But the…read more
09/11/2017
Updated 10/08/2018
You’d think it would be easy to establish which is the world’s second-biggest lake island — a lake island being an island on a lake. For the most part, you can look at a map, figure out which bodies of water are the lakes, then look for the islands in them. Simple right? For the biggest lake island, it’s super…read more
08/20/2017
Updated 09/24/2022
Nagasaki was not the primary target for the nuclear attack the United States launched against Japan on the morning of August 9, 1945. It had barely even made the list of potential targets for atomic bombings. Kokura was the primary target, and Nagasaki was the secondary target should weather conditions have prevented the attack on Kokura. Conditions for the atomic…read more
07/27/2017
Updated 10/21/2022
Madison Square Garden is New York’s premier indoor arena and venue. It is the home of the the New York Knicks (NBA), the New York Liberty (WNBA), and the New York Rangers (NHL) sports franchises. It is the main venue for the Men’s Big East Basketball Conference Tournament, the National Invitational Tournament Final and many other sporting and boxing events….read more
06/14/2017
Updated 10/08/2018
It looks like we can add “survivor of mass extinction” to the list of awesomeness associated with pronghorns. According to this piece on the BBC website, while mastodons, giant sloths, and camels were dying off like a bunch of evolutionary wimps 11,000 years ago, the pronghorn kept bounding along the American plains and deserts like a happy-go-lucky little smart-ass. That part…read more
06/02/2017
Updated 10/26/2018
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was first released in the U.K. on May 26, 1967, and in the U.S. on June 2 of that year, exactly 50 years before this Second Thoughts entry. Widely regarded as the greatest album of all time, it is also one of the most widely recognized album covers. It features the four band members in their…read more
05/14/2017
Updated 10/08/2018
One thing we never mentioned in the K2 article here at SilverMedals.net is that even though the mountain has been climbed many times, it has never been summited in the winter. That may not seem like much of a necessary fact for most readers, but for mountain climbers that is significant. For the most part, mountains are harder to climb…read more