
The History of Pig Latin (ig-pay atin-lay)
Everyone's favorite code (it's not a language) has quite a storied history. Learn how Pig Latin became the fastest, most convenient way to sound intelligent when you didn't know any ancient languages....
12 Sep 20179min

Wait, Nixon Was Innocent?—Geoff Shepard
Richard Nixon left the White House over 40 years ago, yet he remains embedded in American pop culture like no other ex-president. He was the body-less leader of Earth in Futurama, the five-time presid...
11 Sep 20171h 44min

How Was Alexander Able to Supply His Army Deep Into Asia?
It's one thing to conquer the known world and beyond without the benefit of modern communications like Alexander the Great did. It's another thing to supply tens of thousands of soldiers deep into hos...
8 Sep 20179min

Daily Life During the Civil War for Non-Combatants
More soldiers died in the Civil War than any other American conflict. But how did non-combatants fare? It depends on where you were and your life station. A northerner may barely know a war was going ...
7 Sep 201713min

Why Gutenberg Didn’t Kick Off the Reformation
Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press was the prime mover of the Renaissance. From his machine came millions of books, leading to the democratization of knowledge, the fall of the papacy, and the r...
6 Sep 20175min

What if Japan Hadn’t Surrendered After Nagasaki?
The Allied Forces hoped the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would finally convince Imperial Japan to end the war. If not, they were prepared to launch Operation Downfall—the proposed plan fo...
5 Sep 20178min

Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, and the Barbarian Empires of the Steppe—Kenneth Harl
Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan loom large in Western popular consciousness as two of history’s most fearsome warrior-leaders. Chroniclers referred to them as “The Scourge of God” and “Universal Lord”...
4 Sep 20171h 1min

Why the Galileo Affair is Completely Misunderstood
There are few episodes in history that are so misunderstood as the condemnation of Galileo. His trial has become a stock argument to show the fundamental clash between science and dogmatism. Turns out...
1 Sep 201711min






















