IT Insights Blog — history

There's a familiar saying that the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. But what if you live in Texas, for example, where there is no state income tax? Or what if you're a massive corporation that pretends to be based in Ireland to avoid settling up with Uncle Sam? Then the only thing that's certain is the cold embrace of death. And for a lot of people, death only comes at the end of very long life. And then it's like, "What took you so long?"

There's a new film about Mary Stuart, better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, that's set to be released on Dec. 7, exactly three months from today. Creatively titled Mary Queen of Scots, the historical epic will feature Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan as Mary, and Australian actress Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I, who was consistently antagonized by Mary's Catholic loyalists and survived numerous plots intended to elevate Mary in her place.

Once upon a long-forgotten time — well, mostly forgotten, at any rate; we couldn't tell you this story if nobody had ever remembered anything — a massive invading army of from Persia attempted to overwhelm a vastly outnumbered detachment of Greek soldiers at the coastal pass of Thermopylae. A company of about 1,000 Greeks, notably including 300 Spartans, held its ground against a Persian force more than 100 times as large for three full days of battle.

Exactly 74 years ago today, on June 6, 1944, more than 155,000 Allied soldiers waded ashore on the beaches of France's Normandy region to begin the long process of liberating France from Nazi occupation and gradually gaining a foothold for the invasion of Germany that ended World War II. Thousands died as soldiers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and 11 other nations braved withering fire from German gun emplacements.

In 1991 Noel Vallejo started TestOut Corporation (not its name at the time) to help computer training companies better market and sell IT certification training programs. As demand for these programs grew, one significant hurdle to get over was that many busy professionals lacked the time and means to attend expensive training seminars.