How Civil War Engineers Tasted A Cretaceous Sea
In 1864, the US Army began digging a proper well for Fort Monroe, a Chesapeake Bay Union fort surrounded by…
Starvation, Chewing, and Cigarettes: The World's First Fad Diets
Every year we spend over $60 billion dollars on dieting in the USA alone. Between Paleo, raw foods, superfoods,…
Why Is The Dollar Sign A Letter S?
The letter S appears nowhere in the word “dollar”, yet an S with a line through it ($) is unmistakably the dollar sign.…
The Swiss Verdingkinder: A Forgotten History Of Government Sanctioned Abuse
Verdingkinder, the German for "forced child labors", also known as contract children, were children taken as wards of…
The Languages and Architecture of Mars (circa 1899)
One of the most curious examples of late-19th/early 20th century "trance mediumship" is that of Catherine-Elise Muller,…
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman's real "secret origin" has been revealed thanks to author Jill Lepore's historical detective work, as…
What Is Weird Al Wearing In This Mandatory Fun Album Art?
The style of Weird Al Yankovic's newest album cover is meant to evoke a Soviet-era propaganda feel, with a hint of…
Rocket Cat
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the cat they think I…
The mystery of Victor Penny's "death ray"
Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, I heard vague rumors about a "death ray" invented just before WW2 by a…
Madame Alberti's science of flight
On a crisp April morning in 1931, a sturdy, middle-aged woman strode purposefully up a hillock overlooking the Spot…
Esme Beringer - the first female action star?
Linda Hamilton, Lucy Lawless, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence ... the long list of contemporary female action stars…
Esme Beringer: the first female action star?
Linda Hamilton, Lucy Lawless, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence ... the long list of contemporary female action stars…
The swashbuckling fictions of Egerton Castle
Anthony Egerton Castle (1858-1920) was a real Renaissance man; a multi-lingual scholar, historian and champion athlete…
Celebrating the radical "Amazons", 100 years later
The soon-to-be-released graphic novel trilogy Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons will mark the centennial…
Spanish Flu might have been a Chinese Import
According to NatGeo, it looks like there's a good possibility that the 20th century's deadliest pandemic may have…
The Secret Origins of the Masked Avenger (trope)
- Spring Heeled Jack (before any of the others).
Celebrating the radical suffragette "Amazons", one hundred years later
The soon-to-be-released graphic novel trilogy Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons will mark the centennial anniversary of…
The Joint USA/USSR Moon Landing that Almost Was
In September 1962, U.S. President Kennedy delivered his famous "We choose to go to the moon" speech, at Rice Stadium,…
Read The Queen's speech on the outbreak of Nuclear War in 1983
At the height of the Cold War, a speech for Queen Elizabeth II to read to the nation on the outbreak of Nuclear War was…
The Mysterious Powers of the "Georgia Magnet" - Exposed!
What if you met a slight young woman who claimed to be able to overpower the strongest men, due to her mastery of a…