WEIRD HISTORY
By David Szondy – The Colossus Mark II was the second of 10 Colossus computers. (Credit: The National Museum of Computing). The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, UK is marking the 75th anniversary of the Colossus Mark II computer …
By Rich Haridy – Fifteen new sites have been discovered, revealing 137 previously undiscovered stone jars, deepening the mystery of Laos Plain of Jars. (Credit: ANU). A team of archaeologists from the Australian National University has discovered over 100 ancient stone jars across …
by Juliette Fay – Mary Pickford, best known as “America’s Sweetheart,” was the most successful and highest paid actor of her time. She was also a shrewd business woman. Hold on. When did women—who produced only 18 percent of the 100 top-grossing movies …
By Ken Lawrence – The Navassa Lighthouse. On December 8, 1859, to forestall a Haitian attempt to take possession of Navassa, a Caribbean island south of Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State Lewis Cass made a momentous decision. He officially recognized an American ship …
By William G. Hyland Jr. – America was woven together by three revered pieces of political paper: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. George Mason’s intellectual potency had a decisive role in shaping and producing all three …
By Michael Irving – An artist’s impression of the early hominin Graecopithecus freybergi in its savannah home in ancient Greece. (Credit: Veliza Simeonovski). It’s generally accepted that humans originated in Africa and gradually spread out across the globe from there, but a pair of …
Ice cores, used to study ancient climates, also contain the history of the Roman Empire By Elisa Bonnin, Oceanography, University of Washington. Of all of the civilizations of the past two thousand years, there are few as well-known as the Roman …
By Melissa Sartore – – In contrast to much of what Hollywood has constructed, the real cowboy lifestyle was far less glamorous and happy than you may think. Of course, there were some smiling faces among 19th century cowboys, but the gunslinging frontier …
By Luke Kemp – Studying the demise of historic civilizations can tell us how much risk we face today, says collapse expert Luke Kemp. Worryingly, the signs are worsening. Great civilisations are not murdered. Instead, they take their own lives. DEEP CIVILISATION …
by Ben B.Boothe, Sr. – – Circa 1890: A sailor tries to kiss a young woman under a sprig of mistletoe. (William Small. Hulton Archive/Getty Images By KAT MOON). From Harry Potter’s first kiss to Justin Bieber’s holiday tune, kissing under the mistletoe is everywhere …
