Isaac Newton... Scientist Extraordinaire. Figured out the laws of physics and composed the law of universal gravitation. Designed an Orbital Cannon, a thought experiment about a super weapon that, given enough gunpowder, could knock the Earth off its orbit. Newton, who composed the Three Laws of Motion. Newton, the Father of Calculus... defeated by... you guessed it... A…
Category: history
For Memorial Day: Ten Authors Who Have Served
Writers, perhaps unsurprisingly, are among the harshest critics of the word "patriotism" and especially of decisions to go to war. Many express sentiments similar to James Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain) who said, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right…
Twenty-First Century Foxes? Historical Figures Get Make Overs
The good folks over at Laughing Squid decided to give iconic historical figures updates to some pretty dated looks. C'mon, once every four hundred years or so...everyone deserves a spa day! William Shakespeare in skinny jeans? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Lord Chamberlain's Barista? Noooooooooooooo! Is that Elizabeth the First, the Virgin Queen, or is that my Statistics professor?…
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Four Bizarre Theories About Shakespeare
Happy belated birthday, Shakes! Just a day late. Actually, the exact date of his birth has long been disputed. Generally, April 23, 1564, which is also St. George's Day, is accepted as the date of the Bard's birth, but because his baptismal records reflect April 26th as the date, no one is completely sure. So…
Vestal Virgins Ain’t Got No Weaves: Ancient Hairstyles Re-Created for the First Time
If you've ever crooned along to Procol Harem's "Whiter Shade of Pale," you might remember the line about the "sixteen vestal virgins." Probably, you happily sang along without a clue as to what "vestal" really means. In ancient Rome, "vestals" were priestesses of the goddess Vesta, who was the goddess of the hearth. Her priestesses…
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Arthur Conan Doyle Can’t Be Bothered with Your Questions
Ever heard of the Proust Questionnaire? It's a list of questions about one's personality, named not because Marcel Proust, the French writer, wrote the questionnaire, but because he took it. (You can see a full list of the questions and Proust's response at this Wikipedia page.) The idea is that the person sitting down to…
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Was Pablo Neruda Murdered?
"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my…
A Very Bad Bard, Indeed
William Shakespeare---playwright, poet... ruthless tax evader? So says a new research paper to be presented next month by academics Dr Jayne Archer, Professor Richard Marggraf Turley and Professor Howard Thomas of Aberystwyth University, Wales. These three have exposed the Bard for offenses he committed more than four hundred years ago---those of hoarding grain during a food shortage…