American History
Funding Gaps Have Only Forced Government Shutdowns Since the 1980s
Funding gaps didn't always bring a shut down of the federal government
Listen to the Entire Evolution of the Guitar Solo in Six Minutes
The guitar is a symbol for rock and roll, and the lead guitarist its champion
Be Careful When Taking Pictures of Other People’s Art
The U.S. Postal Service owes the man who sculpted the Korean War memorial nearly $685,000
The U.S. Nearly Nuked North Carolina
North Carolina was saved from nuclear devastation by one little switch
Bagels And Lox Are a Uniquely American Creation
Lox didn't originate in New York City. Nor did bagels. But putting them together, that is a distinctly New York Creation
France Bans Child Beauty Pageants, America Unlikely to Follow
But, even in America, the land of Honey Boo Boo, the question of whether these contests should be banned has been percolating for years
This Engraved Infographic of the Revolutionary War Is From 1871
This engraved infographic from 1871 shows the major events of the Revolutionary War, and some beautiful subtle additions
Bearing Witness to the Aftermath of the Birmingham Church Bombing
On September 15, 1963, four were killed in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama
Remembering 9/11: Maria Cecilia Benavente's Sandals
Maria Cecilia Benavente escaped Tower Two barefoot; in shock, she held onto her sandals
An Assassin’s Bullet Took Three Years to Kill NYC Mayor William Jay Gaynor
Gaynor collapsed and died from a bullet that had been lodged in his throat for three years - put there by an eventually successful assassin
Nobody Knows How to Interpret This Doomsday Stonehenge in Georgia
We know where they are and what they say, but everything else is all hotly debated
A 1928 Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary May Be the First Official Record of “Meh”
The term “meh,” defined as “an expression of indifference or boredom,” entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2008
Obama Isn’t the First Peace Prize Laureate to Support a War
This isn't the first time a Peace Prize winner has pushed for war
This 1970s Underground Bomb Shelter Is Impeccably Designed And For Sale
3970 Spencer St seems pretty normal, until you look more closely that you realize that the trees in the background are fake, and the sky is painted on
How the NSA Stopped Trying to Prevent the Spread of Encryption And Decided to Just Break It Instead
The NSA spent decades trying to stop the spread of encryption technology
See How New Yorkers Celebrated Rosh Hashanah a Century Ago
Photographs from the early 1900s show Rosh Hashanah in New York
Cow Tipping Never Was And Never Will Be a Thing People Actually Do
Scientists have actually taken the time to investigate the idea, and produced some hard numbers that indicated that cow-tipping "has no leg to stand on"
A Reminder From Yosemite’s Massive 1988 Fire: Wildfire Is Largely a Human Problem
This isn't the first time fire has threatened a national park
Why the Smithsonian Just Can’t Quit Studying the Civil War
150 years later, the war is still in focus
What Isaac Asimov Thought 2014 Would Look Like
Past predictions about the future oftentimes fail miserably, but many of Isaac Asimov's futuristic visions were pretty accurate
Page 132 of 179