We all know that historical movies can be inaccurate. Sometimes, they get historical figures completely wrong – for example, Pocahontas was a child when she met John Smith, and so was Isabella of France when William Wallace was alive. Still, most historical movies don’t make executions less gory as was […]
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in April of 1865. Lincoln was examined by doctors and then taken across the street to a room in the Petersen House where he died on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 am. The after effects of Lincoln’s assassination were immediate. People in […]
England was the clear winner of the latter half of the 16th century. Flourishing under the reign of their industrious and stylish monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, it was between 1558 and 1603 that England emerged as the world’s first real superpower. Elizabethan England also saw the birth of a cultural […]
The concept of prisons as we know them today is relatively modern. In antiquity, jails served less as places of penitence and more as a purgatory before the final judgment of guilt, which was often punished either by enslavement or execution. Before the mega jails and super-maxes of today, historical […]
History is filled with stories of barbaric warriors who cause wanton destruction. They have been titled by ancient historians as “savages,” “uncivilized,” and even “the Scourge of God.” But what makes them the most terrifying warriors in history? What sets apart the supposedly well-trained soldier of the Roman Empire from […]
Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1901, presiding over an era of unprecedented technological and social change, as well as an era of unrelenting horrors and human cruelty. Sure, your hipsters and your steampunks may love cribbing Victorian style, choosing to remember the pennyfarthings and top hats that look […]
Oh what a time to be alive in late 16th Century England! Queen Elizabeth I was defending her throne while some plotted against her in favor of her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. Regardless, Elizabeth’s reign cemented Britain as a global powerhouse in arts, culture, and cuisine. (Particularly sugary foods, […]
Every day, the world flushes 270,000 trees down the toilet. If the US switched to bidets, it could save 15 million trees – so why don’t Americans use bidets? If you’re not familiar with this alternative to toilet paper in many countries, it’s a basin separate from the toilet for […]
Beneath Paris’s tree-lined avenues and broad boulevards, there lurks a labyrinthine world of tunnels, chambers, and ossuaries: the Paris Catacombs, which are made up of 200 miles of tunnels that have been attracting, terrorizing, inspiring, and hosting generations of Parisians. The catacombs are probably best known as the final resting […]
Have you ever heard a word or phrase and wondered when people started saying it? And why? Language is constantly changing, and many of the common terms and phrases we use in everyday conversation have much deeper meanings than we realize. Numerous statements still in use have evoked controversy and […]
