Remains of medieval soldier found at bottom of Lithuanian lake, hidden for centuries beneath the mud.
Remains of medieval soldier found at bottom of Lithuanian lake, hidden for centuries beneath the mud.
Category: History and Civilization
2020 year in review: Life during annus horribilis – a cheatsheet you can use to tell your grandkids about the most freakish year in human history.
Most of us are counting the days until 2021. It seems like this year will never end. Here are the freakish events we endured during this most unusual (and somewhat terrifying) year.
Here is the complete text of Barack Obama’s historical 2020 Democratic Nation Convention speech.
Read former President Barack Obama’s speech to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as prepared for delivery.
Polari – this bizarre slang has been around for hundreds of years.
You’ve probably heard the language spoken in Doctor Who, Doom Patrol, Filth Rich and Catflap, Velvet Goldmine, or Dragon Quest, sometimes subtitled like a foreign language. Polari is the name of a form of slang that was once used in Britain by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals, prostitutes,…
Is this a photo of the iceberg that sank the RMS Titanic?
A rare photo has emerged which may confirm earlier purported photos of the iceberg that sank the unsinkable RMS Titanic on April 12, 1912. The photo above was taken by W. Wood, the captain of the SS Etonian. The inscription on the photo reads: “Iceberg taken by Captain Wood SS Etonian in 41°50N 49°50WApril 12th…
List of locations of Transcontinental Airway beacons and concrete arrows (station name, counties, GPS coordinates)
The list below (organized by state) contains the known locations for Transcontinental Airway (airmail route) beacons/arrows that are known to exist today.
The Doomsday Clock – a grim reminder that the human race is not immortal
Called the Doomsday Clock, it hangs on a wall in the University of Chicago. In over 65 years, the time has only changed twenty-one times. Created in 1947, during the dawn of the atomic age, the universally-recognized clock represents the countdown to human extinction. The closer they set the clock to midnight, the closer the…
New research proves clever trick Egyptians used to move those massive stones across the sand
It’s long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers and created many sleepless nights for Geek Slop – how did the Egyptians move those massive 2 ½ ton stones that were used to create their magnificent pyramids? Scientists from the University of Amsterdam believe they have figured it out – and the answer has been right in…
National Archives photo mystery solved – newly-discovered 150-year-old photos depict Lincoln funeral procession
Experts at the National Archives say it’s long been a mystery – what the photograph depicts, why it was photographed, and where it was shot. But a retired government accountant from Maryland, Paul Taylor, believes the scene was shot on Broadway, outside New York’s historic Grace Church, and that it was shot on Tuesday, April…
If Earth’s life was compressed into a single day, here’s what that day would look like.
I’m a big fan of Bill Bryson’s writings and especially loved his A Short History of Nearly Everything book in which he gave an example of the Earth’s history if it had been compressed into a single day. The example highlighted how insignificant our time on Earth has been and really put things in perspective…
