WEIRD HISTORY
The bizarre sanitarium staple that became a spreadable obsession. Veteran food critic Florence Fabricant has called peanut butter “the pâté of childhood.” (Dan Saelinger) – By Kate Wheeling Smithsonian Magazine 2021 Jan/Feb – North Americans weren’t the first to grind peanuts—the Inca beat …
While the building has seen politically motivated mayhem in the past, never before has a mob of insurrectionists tried to overturn a presidential election. An illustration of the British burning Washington in 1814 (Library of Congress via Wikicommons) – By Nora McGreevy SmithsonianMag.Com …
A researcher from the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale in France examines material from excavations of La Ferrassie Neanderthal site in southwestern France. Thousands of bone remains were sorted and 47 new fossil remains belonging to a Neanderthal child were identified. – By Katie Hunt, …
The cache dates to the time of warrior queen Boudica’s revolt against the Romans The coins are worth an estimated £845,000, or roughly $1,150,000 USD. (Treasure Hunting magazine via Facebook) – By Isis Davis-Marks SmithsonianMag.Com 2020 Dec 31 – This September, a British …
Squatters reportedly belonging to one family claim site of 5,000 year-old ruins was given to them in the 1970s. The Huanca monolith in the Caral archaeological complex. Photograph: Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images – By Dan Collyns in Lima @yachay_dc 2021 Jan 03 – Illegal …
Here’s why Bill Watterson’s masterwork enchants us still. The final “Calvin and Hobbes” strip, by Bill Watterson, published 25 years ago this week — departing in peak form. (Bill Watterson/Andrews McMeel Syndication) – By Michael Cavna 2020 Dec 31 – “A new year…a …
The whereabouts of the documents remains a mystery to this day. In 1953, the eminent physicist and H-bomb advocate took an ill-fated overnight train from Philadelphia to Washington, DC, that would indirectly lead to the Robert Oppenheimer security hearing. Michail_Petrov-96/iStock/Getty Images – By …
The Fed is ‘making’ a lot of money. Alex Wong/Getty Images – By William J. Luther, Assistant Professor of Economics, Florida Atlantic University 2020 Jun 10 The Federal Reserve has vowed to provide up to US$2.3 trillion in lending to support households, employers, …
Venice’s small footprint, dense population, unusual governmental structure, and its devotion to trade was a unique combination that fostered innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. – By Meredith F. Small 2020 Dec 06 – When Venetians invented quarantine in 1348, the government proclamation was based …
Archaeologists on the ERC project LASTJOURNEY have discovered spectacular rock pictographs in three separate rock shelters in the Guaviare Department of Colombia. The drawings, made around 12,600 and 11,800 years ago, provide proof the Amazon rainforest’s earliest human inhabitants lived alongside now-extinct Ice …
