Historical Nonfiction

The Invention of the Balaclava

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:40:00 -0400

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 result, the British commissariat arranged for balaclavas to be manufactured and sent to the soldiers as protective clothing. The Balaclava was designed to cover the entire head and neck, except the eyes and mouth for breathing and seeing. It entered the English language after the war, and was named after the seaside town of Balaklava, which is in the southwestern Ukraine.

After the Crimean War ended, the balaclava continued to be popular as a protective head garment and new applications for it were developed, as well as many variations. Race car drivers wear fireproof balaclavas in case of crashes and emergencies and they are also used by the military. Motorcyclists wear them to protect their faces from flying dirt and gravel and from the wind’s chill.

The largest make-up budget was $1 million for Planet of the Apes...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:20:27 -0400

The largest make-up budget was $1 million for Planet of the Apes (1968), which represented nearly 17% of the total production cost.

The first newspaper was printed on silk.

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:40:32 -0400

The first newspaper was printed on silk.

Gregory Scarpa, Sr. was an enforcer for the Colombo crime...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:20:47 -0400

Gregory Scarpa, Sr. was an enforcer for the Colombo crime family, specifically for the boss Carmine Persico. He was responsible for at least three murders in 1991. In addition to being a murderer, Scarpa was also racist. He despised African Americans. In fact, in 1986, he underwent emergency ulcer surgery at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn. He refused blood donations from the local blood bank because he feared that the blood may have been donated by African Americans.

Instead, he took blood donations from several family members and associates. One associate was mobster Paul Mele, who was a body builder and steroid user. Mele had contracted HIV from a dirty needle and ended up passing it on to Scarpa. It eventually progressed into AIDS which caused the death of the mobster. So Scarpa died from being a racist.

At a council in Constance between 1414 and 1417, the man who called himself Pope John XXIII and is...

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:40:14 -0400

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.

American president William Howard Taft was the inspiration for...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:20:26 -0400

American president William Howard Taft was the inspiration for Popeye’s nemesis, Brutus.

SHARKS

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:40:00 -0400

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 warriors wrapped the skin around the handles of their swords to keep the swords from slipping out of their hands
The first use of the word “shark” in English occurred in 1569. Previously, English sailors and fishermen used the term “sea dog” or the Spanish tiburón
Native Americans in Florida used the teeth of Great White sharks as arrowheads

When informed of the accession of Peter III of Russia in 1762,...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:20:22 -0400

When informed of the accession of Peter III of Russia in 1762, George III said, “Well, there are now nine of us in Europe the third of our respective names”:

George III, King of England
Charles III, King of Spain
Augustus III, King of Poland
Frederick III, King of Prussia
Charles Emanuel III, King of Sardinia
Mustapha III, Emperor of the Turks
Peter III, Emperor of Russia
Francis III, Duke of Modena
Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha

Such a coincidence was unprecedented in European history.

"Then the king of England, seeing all the delays interposed by the Sultan to the execution of the..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:40:20 -0400

“

Then the king of England, seeing all the delays interposed by the Sultan to the execution of the treaty, acted perfidiously as regards his Musulinan prisoners. On their yielding the town he had engaged to grant their life, adding that if the Sultan carried out the bargain he would give them freedom and suffer them to carry off their children and wives; if the Sultan did not fulfill his engagements they were to be made slaves. Now the king broke his promises to them and made open display of what he had till now kept hidden in his heart, by carrying out what he had intended to do after he had received the money and the Frank prisoners. It is thus that people of his nation ultimately admitted.

In the afternoon of Tuesday, 27 Rajab, [August 20] about four o’clock, he came out on horseback with all the Frankish army, knights, footmen, Turcoples, and advanced to the pits at the foot of the hill of Al ‘Ayadiyeh, to which place be had already sent on his tents. The Franks, on reaching the middle of the plain that stretches between this hill and that of Keisan, close to which place the sultan’s advanced guard had drawn back, ordered all the Musulman prisoners, whose martyrdom God had decreed for this day, to be brought before him. They numbered more than three thousand and were all bound with ropes. The Franks then flung themselves upon them all at once and massacred them with sword and lance in cold blood. Our advanced guard had already told the Sultan of the enemy’s movements and he sent it some reinforcements, but only after the massacre. The Musulmans, seeing what was being done to the prisoners, rushed against the Franks and in the combat, which lasted till nightfall, several were slain and wounded on either side. On the morrow morning our people gathered at the spot and found the Musulmans stretched out upon the ground as martyrs for the faith. They even recognised some of the dead, and the sight was a great affliction to them. The enemy had only spared the prisoners of note and such as were strong enough to work.

The motives of this massacre are differently told; according to some, the captives were slain by way of reprisal for the death of those Christians whom the Musulmans had slain. Others again say that the king of England, on deciding to attempt the conquest of Ascalon, thought it unwise to leave so many prisoners in the town after his departure. God alone knows what the real reason was. “

”

- 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

The three main actors in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) all met an...

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:20:40 -0400

The three main actors in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) all met an untimely death. James Dean died in a car crash, Natalie Wood drowned, and Sal Mineo was stabbed to death.

College Admissions: Causing Panic Attacks in Students Since 970 CE

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:40:37 -0400

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, Arabic is not the first language for many of the best Muslim students. And the Arabic used in the Koran is completely different from normal, spoken Arabic. Put that together, and this is truly a difficult test.

Keith Relf of the Yardbirds was electrocuted by his own electric...

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:20:00 -0400

Keith Relf of the Yardbirds was electrocuted by his own electric guitar, or more specifically, its amplifier.

"Many a man floated in water before Archimedes; apples fell from trees as long ago as the Garden of..."

Sun, 12 May 2013 07:40:29 -0400

“Many a man floated in water before Archimedes; apples fell from trees as long ago as the Garden of Eden, and the onrush of steam against resistance could have been noted at any time since the discovery of fire and its use under a covered pot of water. In all these cases it was eons before the significance of these events was perceived. Obviously a chance discovery involves both the phenomenon to be observed and the appropriate, intelligent observer.”

- Walter Cannon, The Way of an Investigator, 1945

John Cleese declined becoming a “Commander of the British...

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:20:38 -0400

John Cleese declined becoming a “Commander of the British Empire” because he thought it was “silly.”

Interesting Things Rationed During WWII

Sat, 11 May 2013 07:40:15 -0400

What it says on the tin, folks:

corduroy
bicycles
cheese
typewriters
silk
rubber footwear
baby food
coffee

Kim Jong Il, jealous of Seoul’s Olympic Games in 1988, decided to create his own. He called it...

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:20:47 -0400

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.

People enjoying a picnic in the middle of a highway during the...

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:40:13 -0400

People enjoying a picnic in the middle of a highway during the 1973 oil crisis.

Mail by Nuke?

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:20:22 -0400

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, landed on the New York shore about a thousand feet away.

In 1959, the US Postal Service tried something entirely new. They modified a nuclear warhead so that it could carry mail! Because this was strictly an experiment, the mail consisted entirely of commemorative postal covers addressed to a host of government officials, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was fired from a submarine off the coast of Virginia, and received and sorted in Jacksonville, Florida twenty-two minutes later.

Shibam, a town in Yemen, is considered to have the world’s...

Thu, 09 May 2013 07:40:18 -0400

Shibam, a town in Yemen, is considered to have the world’s oldest skyscrapers. It has about 7,000 inhabitants and all of the town’s houses are made out of mud bricks. Some of these houses rise 5 to 9 stories high. It protected residents from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most of the city’s houses come mainly from the 16th century. Shibam is often called “the Manhattan of the desert”.

Fun Facts about Ancient China

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:20:46 -0400

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 strong wine