The Rajah from Tipperary (the tale of how an Irish farmer ended up ruling his own kingdom in India)There have been many great 'adventurers'. People who have through force of will or luck or the ability to bullshit really REALLY well, ha...
Possessed: Voodoo’s Origins and Influence from the Blues to BritneyVodou (the proper Kreyol/Creole spelling of Voodoo) is a neo-African religion that evolved in the New World from the 6000-year-old West A...
Native Americans Left a Code For Humans To Live ByCertain words of wisdom are followed by every person - regardless of their ethnicity, religion, tribe or culture. These words come from t...
Watch an Art Conservator Bring Classic Paintings Back to Life in Intriguingly Narrated VideosEven in our age of unprecedentedly abundant images, delivered to us at all times by print, film, television, and especially the ever-mult...
‘Unbought And Unbossed’: The Trailblazing Presidential Campaign Of Shirley ChisholmIn 1968, Shirley Chisholm made history when she became the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress. A few years later, she ...
The Dad That Turns His 4-Year-Old Son’s Adventures Into Action FilmsWhen we were kids, it was easy to imagine that the ground was lava, or that we were superheroes or ship captains. But when we grow up, ou...
Zitkala-Sa, The American Sioux Activist Zitkala-Sa was born on February 22, 1876 on the Yankton Indian Reservation. She spent her early childhood on the reservation with her mot...
The strained making of 'Apocalypse Now'If things had worked out differently, Apocalypse Now would have been directed by George Lucas in 1970, guerrilla-style in Vietnam itself,...
That time when David Bowie and Iggy Pop were caught in a marijuana drug bustWhen looking through famous mugshots, the chances are you’ll have stumbled across David Bowie’s effortlessly stylish picture. It’s enough...
Bessie Coleman the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilotBessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilot. Known for performing flyin...
While His Maniac Brother was Busy Killing Jews, Albert Göring Worked Tirelessly to Save ThemWhat would happen to your family should one of your siblings join a deadly political beast? If you were a member of the Göring family in ...
10 Delightful Icelandic Words and Phrases1. "I COME COMPLETELY FROM THE MOUNTAINS." Ég kem alveg af fjöllum. This phrase throws some shade at mountain dwellers, and means, “I hav...
The Origin of the English Alphabet (and all its 26 letters)The English alphabet has a fascinating history, and the development of each letter of the alphabet has its own story. Although English is...
Jonas Salk (1914–1995): A vaccine against polioThose who lived through the 1940s and 1950s will not forget the devastating ravages of poliomyelitis, a spinal cord motor neuron disease ...
Jane Austin and her use of pins to edit her workThe common consensus is that writers hate editing, but that’s not always the case. Truman Capote once said, “I’m all for the scissors. I ...
"It's Just A Ride" - Bill HicksInspiration comes in all shapes and sizes, and today I want to share with you a short 3-minute video clip I watch from time to time. It's...
In 1988, Kurt Vonnegut Writes a Letter to People Living in 2088, Giving 7 Pieces of AdviceThe mind of Kurt Vonnegut, like the protagonist of his best-known novel Slaughterhouse-Five, must have got "unstuck in time" somewhere a...
The occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans in 1969On March 8, 1964, a small group of Sioux made landfall on Alcatraz Island, which had been abandoned as a prison the previous year. They...
In 1908, racers attempted to drive from New York to Paris in the dead of winter. It got complicated.On the frigid morning of Feb. 12, 1908, a quarter of a million people lined the streets of New York City to witness the start of a contes...
Woody Guthrie, ‘Old Man Trump’ and a Real Estate Empire’s Racist FoundationsIn December 1950, Woody Guthrie signed his name to the lease of a new apartment in Brooklyn. Even now, over half a century later, that un...
Jólabókaflóðið, The Christmas Book FloodDecember abounds with holidays and reasons to celebrate. There's St. Nicholas Day, the Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucia Day, H...
The Bees That Make ArtWhilst bees are better known for being colonial insects, outside of the hive a particular species of bee known as the osmia avosetta has ...
The Filming Of The Great DictatorIn the autumn of 1938, when the Munich Agreement was being signed in Europe, Charles Chapin was putting the finishing touches to the firs...
“Thou Shalt Not”: A 1940 Photo Satirically Mocks Every Vice & Sin Censored by the Hays Film CensorsThe history of Hollywood film before 1968 breaks down into two eras: "pre-Code" and "post-Code." The "Code" in question is the Motion Pic...