How Did the Ancient Romans Make Concrete So Much Better Than Ours?
Today I Found Out
by Gilles Messier
2d ago
In the heart of Rome stands one of the Eternal City’s most famous and well-preserved ancient monuments: the Pantheon. Constructed during the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the Second Century C.E, the building has been in near-continuous use for two millennia, first as a temple dedicated to the Olympian Gods, and then as a Catholic Basilica. Home to exquisitely preserved Roman architecture and the tombs of such luminaries as the artist Raphael and King Vittorio Emanuele II, the Pantheon has inspired the design of buildings around the world and remains one of Rome’s most popular tourist attraction ..read more
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How Did One Actually Become a Spartan Warrior?
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by Yehia Amin
2d ago
When we think of Sparta, the first thing that comes to mind is the Spartan warrior. Unlike other historical warrior peoples like the Samurai, the Spartan warriors were pretty close to our imagined conception of them. They were manly warriors who were very muscular, fought wearing red capes, and holding big shields. They were the face of Sparta, to the point that we often don’t realize that Sparta is not a state, but the capital of the region of Lakedemonia and the only city in which the warriors were permitted to live, hence their description as Spartans. Today, the Spartans are remembered as ..read more
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Could the Allies Really Have Crushed Germany Right at the Start of WWII?
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by Gilles Messier
2d ago
On the first of September, 1939, nearly 1.5 million troops, 2,750 tanks, and 2,300 aircraft of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich stormed over the border into Poland. We all know what happened next: despite declaring war in solidarity, Poland’s allies Britain and France stood by and did nothing as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union overran and occupied the country in only five weeks. What followed was a seven-month period of relative calm known as the “Phoney War”, which was finally broken in the spring of 1940 when the Germans overran Denmark, Norway, France, and the Low Countries in quick succession ..read more
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Canada’s Plan to Unleash a Bacteriological Apocalypse
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by Gilles Messier
2d ago
Grosse Île lies 50km east of Quebec City, one of 21 islands in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Though its name means “Big Island” in French, Grosse Île is barely two kilometres square, home to a small collection of buildings from its days as a quarantine station for Irish immigrants arriving in Canada. Designated a National Historic Site in 1974, today the island is open to tourists and hosts a museum, guided walking tours, and other activities. Yet this seemingly idyllic little island holds a dark secret. During the Second World War, a team of Canadian scientists used Grosse Île as a s ..read more
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The Many Myths Surrounding Nikola Tesla
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by Chris Wheatley
2d ago
In the mid-19th century, the Austrian Empire, which stretched for over a thousand miles (1600 km) from Italy to Ukraine, was a place of contradictions. The ruling patriarch, Minister of the Interior Baron Alexander von Bach, was on the one hand something of a despot, abolishing public trials, reducing the freedom of the press and imprisoning political opponents. Conversely, his rule also saw the relaxing of economic laws, the demise of internal custom duties and peasants freed from their feudal obligations. It was during this time, in the small village of Smiljan, situated within the Emp ..read more
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Are Booster Seats Actually Safer Than Just Seatbelts
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by Daven Hiskey
2d ago
If you are like many parents watching your children’s booster seats slide around while they hop into the vehicle and otherwise wonder what precisely is the way you’re supposed to incorporate the seatbelt around the bits so it’s properly positioned on the kids (we’ll get into how to always do this one correctly later in this video), or lord help you if you have your kids buckle themselves and watch as they somehow find a completely different way to position things each and every time, you may have found yourself wondering if this more complicated and expensive way to get children safely secure ..read more
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America’s First Power Couple
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by Daven Hiskey
2d ago
History often remembers the great men of each era, their very public accomplishments, and the trials and tribulations they may or may not have gone through to get there, sometimes to the extreme. What’s often forgotten in many cases is the men generally didn’t do any of it alone. For most, there was their partner in life beside them supporting them through it all. Beyond such aphorisms as “Behind every great man, you’ll find a great woman”, as Ben Franklin noted in his June 25, 1745 “Old Mistresses Apologue”, “It is the Man and Woman united that make the complete human Being. Separate, she wa ..read more
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A Cure for the Living Dead
Today I Found Out
by Gilles Messier
2d ago
If ever there was a living embodiment of the Roaring 20s, it was Eben Byers. The scion of a New York steelmaking fortune, Byers indulged in every hobby and luxury his wealth and social status allowed. He kept luxury homes across the United States, collected fine art, owned stables of racehorses, held titles in trap shooting, and even won the national amateur golf championship in 1906. He was also an infamous ladies’ man, earning the nickname “Foxy Grandpa” from his classmates at Yale University. But in October 1930, this charmed life came to an abrupt end when Byers began losing weight and su ..read more
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“Up Yours!” “Victory,” Or “Peace, Man” Where did the “Two Finger Salute” REALLY Come From?
Today I Found Out
by Gilles Messier
2d ago
Of all the various hand gestures we humans commonly use, few are as complicated and versatile as the “V-sign,” AKA “the forks” or the “two-finger salute”. With just a twist of the wrist, this simple sign can go from a symbol of victory, peace, or Kawaii cuteness to an extremely rude gesture roughly translating to “Up yours!” Or “F**k you!” But where did this gesture come from, and how did it come to have such wildly different meanings. And before you start furiously typing “Simon, we already know this one!” into the comments, please keep watching, for as with much of history, the answer is mu ..read more
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The Bizarre Story of the Massive Fake Army That Defeated the Nazis and Helped End WWII
Today I Found Out
by Gilles Messier
4d ago
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, a massive armada set sail from southeast England and steamed south across the English Channel. Comprising more than 7,000 ships, 11,000 aircraft, and 156,000 troops, it was the largest amphibious invasion force in history. At 6:30 AM, after some 23,000 airborne troops had landed behind enemy lines, the main seaborne force stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France, had begun. Though the fighting was fierce, within 24 hours Overlord had achieved its main objective: securing a solid foothold in Western ..read more
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