PODCAST: HISTORY UNPLUGGED
J. Edgar Hoover’s 50-Year Career of Blackmail, Entrapment, and Taking Down Communist Spies
All esoteric and random information about the past can be found here.
All esoteric and random information about the past can be found here.
Scotsman James Watt is best known for the invention of the steam machine - his invention was the engineering power that made the industrial revolution possible and forever changed the world as we know it. But he didn't actually invent the steam engine as many believe - he was, in…
A representative democracy is a system where citizens of a country vote for government representatives to handle legislation and ruling the country on their behalf. It is the opposite of direct democracy, where the public gets to vote on laws to be passed and other issues; and autocracy, where a…
The counter reformation was started by the Roman Catholic Church in reaction to the Protestant reformation. The main goals of the Counter Reformation were to get church members to remain loyal by increasing their faith, to eliminate some of the abuses the protestants criticised and to reaffirm principles that the…
A two-party system is when a country’s politics is dominated by two major parties. One party usually holds the majority in government while the opposition is called the minority party. Other parties do exist in most two-party systems, but there are only two major parties that dominate government. In the…
Although the very first plastics, made from natural plastic materials such as rubber, chewing gum and shellac were already made and used as early as 1600 BC (by Mesoamericans) and the Middle Ages, the invention of modern, synthetic plastic only started in the 1800s. Some Important Dates in The Invention…
Who invented the atomic bomb? The question is a bit misleading, as modern scientific research did not progress as it did in the days of Archimedes, with one scientist shouting "Eureka!" upon his discovery after laboring for months in solitude. As with many other inventions, the development of the atomic…
The president of the United States has various powers and duties, which are specified in the Constitution in Article II. Although the president still has to answer to Congress, the vagueness and ambiguity of Article II have made it possible in the past for presidents to expand their authority beyond…
There is not an easy answer to who invented the television. The idea of having something that transmits moving images existed long before the first television was built. In the late 19th century, a couple of scientists made pivotal discoveries, without which the first television would not have existed. In…
There were so many great famous speeches by women that have made an impact on the world, that it is hard to single out a few. Here are some examples of excellent speeches by women that made people think. "Aint I a Woman?" Sojourner Truth, a born slave woman, delivered…
The United States has played an important role in several large historical events, many of which changed our world as we know it today. This makes it hard to single out the most important events in American history, but we nevertheless attempted to make a list of events, good and…
