History »
WWII Files: Japan’s Secret Weapon- Exploding Balloons
WWII saw the development of some zany designs for weapons, such as when the U.S. developed pigeon guided missiles and (literal) bat bombs (the latter of which were a little too effective, accidentally destroying the testing
Read More »
The Lawrence Massacre of 1863
Kansas had been swept up in the debate over whether or not it should allow slavery for some time. When it was finally decided that Kansas would be a free state, the South was
Read More »
The Jackson State Massacre of 1970
Overshadowed by the coverage of the Kent State Massacre that occurred not two weeks prior, when two people were killed and 11 injured while protesting at Jackson State College in the spring of 1970,
Read More »
Damnatio Memoriae: When the Romans Purposely Erased People from History
Damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory) was a punishment reserved for certain people the Romans decided to dishonour for one reason or another. Rather impressively, it involved trying to get rid of all records that
Read More »
Chastity Belts Were Never Actually Used in Medieval Times
The lasting images of what most of us perceive to be the “medieval times” includes heroic knights, stampeding horses, court jesters, giant turkey legs, ruling kings, and pure maidens wearing chastity belts. But the
Read More »
That Time Detroit Gave Saddam Hussein the Key to the City
In 1980 America, the Cold War was still very much hot, Ronald Reagan was elected President, and the United States’ Olympic hockey team shockingly upset the USSR in what would be dubbed “The Miracle
Read More »
How the King James Bible Came About
Today I found out about the origin of the King James Bible. Back in 1603, Queen Elizabeth I passed away. She had ruled England for 45 years, was well-loved, and provided a sense of
Read More »
A Brief History of Beer
Beer brewing and drinking are activities that have been part of the human experience seemingly since the dawn of civilization. Around 10,000 years ago, mankind began to move away from living life as nomadic
Read More »
The Curious Relationship Between Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II of France
Today I found out Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France “ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them.” There
Read More »
The U.S. Army’s Camel Corps
Today I found out that camels were acquired by the United States military and played a role in the settlement of the American west. Camels are no strangers to war. They have been used
Read More »
How a Donkey and an Elephant Came to Represent Democrats and Republicans
Jennifer asks: Why is a donkey and an elephant associated with the Democrats and the Republicans? The donkey is stereotypically bumbling, slow, and stubborn; the elephant- big and clumsy. Being compared to one of
Read More »
The True Story Behind The Appalling Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Controversial research programs, unethical experimentation, and human trials have been part of the medical field for centuries. It doesn’t make it any less wrong, but certain scientists with questionable ethics have gotten away with
Read More »
The North’s Air Force During the American Civil War
Today I found out about the Union Army Balloon Corps. If you thought that air warfare was reserved for a time after airplanes were invented, you thought wrong. During the American Civil War, the
Read More »
The Last Gasp of the Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind
Over two days in April 1975, as the forces of the North Vietnamese Army were poised to take the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, members of the U.S. armed forces, its embassy in South
Read More »
Why Native Americans Didn’t Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases
Greg H. asks: Diseases from Europe wiped out most of the Indians, so why didn’t the Europeans also get wiped out by diseases from America? While estimates vary, approximately 20 million people are believed
Read More »
The Stanford Prison Experiment
In the summer of 1971, on the campus of one of the nation’s top universities and under the supervision of a faculty member, 11 students tortured 10 others over a six-day period, all in
Read More »
The Deadly Glasgow Ice Cream Wars
In the east end of Glasgow during the 1980s there were epic conflicts between warring ice cream truck operators over turf that came to be known as the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars. These conflicts
Read More »
The Great Depression and Scrabble
There isn’t a great deal of positive things that can be attributed to the Great Depression. However, Scrabble is a game that probably wouldn’t have existed without it. It all began with an unemployed
Read More »
