May 2013
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The Pre-First Crusade: A Tale of Starvation and...
In the first Crusade in 1096, two armies of beggars set out alongside the knights, one army from southern France and the other from Germany, regions that had been suffering from famine recently. When travelling towards Palestine, these armies plundered many cities on the Rhine and in southern Germany, killing Jews and in some cases Christians. They never reached the Holy Land; they were defeated...
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The Invention of the Balaclava
The Crimean War, (1853-1856), was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and British and Ottoman Empires on the other. British soldiers suffered in battle from the effects of the cold Ukrainian weather, which England is protected from by the Gulf Stream. The troops were running short of supplies and food, and were starving and often getting frostbite. This resulted in a public outcry. As a...
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The first newspaper was printed on silk.
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At a council in Constance between 1414 and 1417, the man who called himself Pope John XXIII and is now known as Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415; not to be confused with Pope John XXIII, pope from 1958–1963) was convicted of piracy, murder, rape, and incest — and only received three years in prison.
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SHARKS
The first sharks lived more than 400 million years ago—200 million years before the first dinosaurs
The first written account of a shark attack is found in Herodotus’ (c. 484–425 B.C.) description of hordes of “monsters” devouring the shipwrecked sailors of the Persian fleet
Before sandpaper was invented, people used the rough skin of sharks, called shagreen, to smooth and polish wood. Japanese...
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“Then the king of England, seeing all the delays interposed by the Sultan to the...”
– Beha-ed-Din was a member of Saladin’s court and (along with much of the Saracen army who watched from a distance) witnessed the massacre of 2,700 of his comrades by Richard I, King of England, during the Third Crusade
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College Admissions: Causing Panic Attacks in...
Since 970 CE., students of philosophy, Islamic law, history, and Arabic have gathered at Al Azhar, the beautiful and distinguished university in Cairo’s old city. For many years, it was also the largest college in the world. Candidates for admission have traditionally faced a very challenging qualifying exam; entering students are required to recite the entire Koran. Even besides the length,...
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“Many a man floated in water before Archimedes; apples fell from trees as long...”
– Walter Cannon, The Way of an Investigator, 1945
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Interesting Things Rationed During WWII
What it says on the tin, folks:
corduroy
bicycles
cheese
typewriters
silk
rubber footwear
baby food
coffee
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Kim Jong Il, jealous of Seoul’s Olympic Games in 1988, decided to create his own. He called it The World Festival of Youth and Students. To prepare, Pyongyang was cleared of people who were disabled and shorter people had to take ‘height medicine’ to grow taller.
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Mail by Nuke?
Experiments in delivering mail by rocket had met with mixed success since the first rocket mail was sent between two Austrian villages in 1931. Subsequent attempts tended to explode, which explains why countries did not immediately switch, despite rockets being undeniably faster. The first successful delivery in the United States occurred in 1936. Two rockets fired from Greenwood Lake, New Jersey,...
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Fun Facts about Ancient China
A short facts list about China:
an ancient Chinese curse is: “May you live in interesting times”
Chinese Emperor Shi Huang-Ti came to power in China as a 13-year-old boy in 222 B.C.
sauerkraut was invented by the Chinese
physician Hua T’o, born between 140 and 150 A.D., was the first doctor known to perform surgery under general anaesthetic: a mixture of hemp and...
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Why The Shakers Are More Than An Interesting But...
In the late 18th century, a religious sect known as the Shakers emerged. Shakers valued living communally (albeit celibately), with equality between the sexes and hard work. Tabitha Babbitt lived in a Shaker community in Massachusetts and worked as a weaver. In 1810, she observed men cutting wood with a pit saw, which is a two-handled saw that requires two men to pull it back and forth. Though the...
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It’s that time of year! Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite subject, taxes
The word “tax” is from the Latin taxo, meaning “I estimate.”
The Magna Carter was drafted in large part in response to the excessive high tax rate imposed by King John.
In 1691, England taxed the number of windows on a house. Consequently, houses began to be built with very few windows or people would...
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“I love the way you handle the press. It’s something I never learned to do.”
– President Nixon to baseball’s Gary Carter
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To stay fit, Herbert Hoover and his personal physician invented a new sport, which they creatively named Hooverball.
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April 2013
62 posts
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The city of Buffalo was very large around the fin de siecle, because it was where electricity started. Niagara Falls provided clean energy for much of western New York State (and Canada, but no one remembers Canada). It was also the gateway to the Great Lakes, and the terminal of the Erie Canal.
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Kids, you haven’t truly lived unless somewhere...
Due to J. Edgar Hoover’s abuses of power, the Director of the FBI is limited to ten year stints.
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The British And Their Tea
Since 1945, all British tanks have come equipped with everything you need to make a proper cup of tea.
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Albert Einstein went through a rather nasty divorce, several years before he got his Nobel prize but after he had already become known among a certain circle. In his divorce settlement, he put in a provision on how the prize money from his not-yet-won Nobel would be split. Normally, this would be a story about hubris but since Einstein did get that Nobel, it seems more like good planning.
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And This Is Why Classic Rock Is Awesome
A large percentage of the budget for Monty Python and the Holy Grail was donated by members of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
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Black Beans, Nuns, and the Working Poor
Black beans were known as aphrodisiacs. So much so that St. Jerome forbade nuns to eat them in 400 A.D., for fear that the beans would lure them into breaking their vows of chastity. This did not stop black beans from becoming known as “poor man’s meat” in the Americas.
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Thanks, Tiberius
Flexible glass is a legendary lost invention from during the reign of Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar (between 14-37 CE). As recounted by Isadore of Seville, the craftsman who invented the technique brought a drinking bowl made of flexible glass before Caesar who threw it to the floor, whereupon the material dented, rather than shattering. The inventor then repaired the bowl easily with a small...
