Coffee Over Tea in the United States
It seems odd on that surface that in the United States, with its cultural roots in England, coffee is preferred over tea. This was not always the case, and perhaps is also no longer as distinctly the case as it …
Category: Modern History
For the Love of Dog
I was interested in the idea of “universal values” and began looking at examples around the world that show this special connection. One thing that to me seems fairly universal is the special bond formed between humans and dogs. I …
It is Now Time to “Pull out all the Stops!”- The Cool Story Behind a Common Phrase.
When we say we are going to “pull out all the stops,” we are saying we are going to go to the greatest degree we can to make the thing we are doing the most impressive we can make it. …
It is Now Time to “Pull out all the Stops!”- The Cool Story Behind a Common Phrase. Read more »
Historian mini-rant: NAPOLEON DID NOT HAVE A NAPOLEON COMPLEX!
I was reading a respected news site today and they had an article talking about a correlation between height and heart disease. The article’s headline was “Short People More Prone to Heart Disease” The image that accompanied the article was …
Historian mini-rant: NAPOLEON DID NOT HAVE A NAPOLEON COMPLEX! Read more »
April Fools’ Day! Why?
Where did April Fools’ Day come from? In a previous post I spoke about how January was added to the calendar because of the Romans, and how the new year moved from March (coinciding with the coming of spring) to …
The Odd Origin of the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian is a wonderful, amazing place (well…19 places). It is America’s national museum(s). The only other museum I can think of like the Smithsonian is the British Museum. Both have incredible collections, both are State funded and both are …
Fun Fact St. Patrick’s Day Edition:
St. Patrick’s Day was never really a huge deal in Ireland. It was Irish immigrants in New York, forming the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in order to celebrate Irish pride, that caused the day to become the popular day it …
Christmas Fun Fact of the Day: Humbug!
At the office today we got into a discussion about the Grinch, which got me thinking about the original Christmas Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge. In Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic, “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge dismisses the idea of Christmas with his classic line “Bah, humbug!” …
The distance between Marathon and Athens is NOT a Marathon. Wait What?
Statue of Pheidippides, the famous original marathon runner along the road from Marathon to Athens. The story of the Battle of Marathon and its connection to the modern marathon is a wonderful one, and a little bit more complicated that …
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Fun Fact of the Day: Weird Quirk of English Language History: The Animal vs. What we Eat
Why is it that the bird is a “Chicken” but we eat “Poultry?” The animal is a “Cow,” but we eat “Beef?” The animal is a “Pig” but we eat “Pork?” The answer is…the Norman Invasion of 1066! Prior to …
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