WEIRD HISTORY
That siege was just one battle in a decades-long assault on democracy, funded by billionaire donors and corporate interests. A window at the US Capitol building broken by supporters of US President Donald Trump. Photograph: Dmitry Kirsanov/TASS – By Brendan O’Connor 2021 Jan …
Father Coughlin’s bully pulpit. Fotosearch/Getty Images – By William (Bill) Kovarik, Professor of Communication, Radford University 2021 Jan 15 – In speeches filled with hatred and falsehoods, a public figure attacks his enemies and calls for marches on Washington. Then, after one particularly …
Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images – Written by Amber Nicole Alston, CNN 2021 Jan 08 – Few accessories have lived as complicated a life as the headscarf. The versatile fabric has been chosen by and impressed upon people for political, religious and practical purposes …
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 …
