Historical
Knowing the Nutshell
Weird and wonderful facts. I love them. I have a store house in my brain where random information that is pretty much useless in any given situation waits to be called on for the hell of it. I like to imagine it as an old library. Think of floor-to-ceiling bookcases with ladders here and there to reach the top shelves. Stacks of books that don't fit on the shelves. Ornaments and trinkets and knick-knacks collected throughout a life of adventure and travel. A comfy chair with a standing light. A little table to put my coffee on. (Okay so it's basically how I'm planning to have my home-library when I have space and money for a home-library.)
By Eric Holbrook5 years ago in FYI
The Curious Case of Robert Lincoln. Top Story - March 2021.
On April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the Presidential Box in Ford’s Theatre during a performance of Our American Cousin and shot Abraham Lincoln (ultimately, killing him). This is a fact known to most everyone in the Western world. What fewer are aware of is that the night Honest Abe was assassinated, his son Robert Lincoln was invited to join him at Ford’s Theatre for the show. Robert chose to stay home, fatigued from having spent much time recently on the Civil War battlefront.
By Reuben Blaff5 years ago in FYI
Dragons: Real or Fantasy?
I remember sitting in Sunday School as a kid and listening tot he lesson on 'What does the Bible say about the existence of dinosaurs?' I found it pretty interesting - more interesting than some other lessons - but I was definitely not prepared for the teacher to read a passage talking about this dinosaur-like creature breathing fire. All my favorite movies and TV shows had, of course, educated me on the fact that it is dragons that breath fire, not dinosaurs. So, naturally, ever since that day I have not been able to shake the idea that dragons may have actually existed, according to the Bible.
By Breanna Harrel5 years ago in FYI
Getting Around Town in Style
A little over one hundred years ago, there were more horse drawn carriages on city streets than cars. For the greater part of history, horse drawn carriages were the major means of transportation; "we have had six thousand years of history with the domesticated horse and only a little over one hundred years with the automobile!" Gloria Austin, Equine Heritage Institute
By Mary Chris Foxworthy5 years ago in FYI
What you didn't know about the Village Blacksmith
What you didn’t know, about the Village Blacksmith… In the early part of human history, blacksmith shops were normally on the outskirts of the villages or towns, The towns folk believed they were dealing in witchcraft or the dark arts because they used fire to make weapons, tools and utensils out of something that came from the earth. Include the fact that the blacksmith smithy was dark except for the hot forge fire and a couple windows covered in soot.
By Daniel Bell5 years ago in FYI
Talking to the Dead
Local lore says it was a cold winter night in 1847 when two young farm girls from Hydesville, New York plotted to scare the wits out of their mother by making ghost noises. The young pranksters were Maggie and Kate Fox. The prank went so far that by March 31st, 1848 a nationwide spiritualism movement was born.
By Laura DeRue5 years ago in FYI
Dinosaurs: The Earth's GOAT
The Stegosaurus lived longer before the Tyrannosaurus Rex than the T-Rex lived before us. Think about the implications of that for a minute. Stegosaurus roamed the earth around 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period. That was already the second geologic period of the dinosaurs. (The Triassic kicked off 100 million years before ol' Stegs popped up). T-Rex didn't appear until the end of the Cretaceous period 85 million years later. And then us homo sapiens, the planet's snot-nosed Gen-Zers, rolled in less than three hundred thousand years ago, 65 million years after the final episode of Dinosaurs. Even including Neanderthals and other hominids only gets us about half a million years closer. If you go with the broadest possible definition and say mammals, our species has only been on top since well after the dinosaurs got meteored.
By William Reid5 years ago in FYI
It's that time- St. Paddy's Day has arrived!
Saint Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. Or as we call it- St. Paddy’s Day. Rivers are going to be dyed green. 5k and 10k’s of little green men and women wearing top hats and tutu’s will be held during the month. Wal-Mart started selling ‘Pinch me, I am Irish’ shirts on Valentine’s day. And bars are receiving their shipment of extra glasses from Amazon in anticipation of the biggest holiday for beer. I am already planning my meal of Corned Beef and Cabbage with Soda bread- which is currently all on sell at Fred Meyer’s if you are interested.
By Rose Loren Geer-Robbins5 years ago in FYI
Strange Origins of the Jack-in-the-box
For many, the jack-in-the-box is known as an amusing and harmless children’s toy, but its origins often convey a much darker story. To the casual observer the object is usually regarded as consisting of a clown rigged to a coiled spring that pops out for an entertaining display. However original jack-in-the-boxes actually contained a very particular variety of joker, augustes. Whilst most clowns don a face of white makeup, often attired in pointy hats and ruffled collars, augustes have the large red noses and are clothed in oversized trousers, often with squirty flowers in their buttonholes. While the Jack character certainly looks like a comical figure, his purpose wasn’t always amusement.
By M.R. Cameo5 years ago in FYI
