In a dim corner of Fire Station #6 in Livermore California hangs a truly extraordinary object…a lightbulb. But this is no ordinary lightbulb. First installed in 1901, it has been burning almost continuously ever since, having only been switched off a handful of times in nearly 120 years. The Livermore Centennial Bulb has become something of a local celebrity, with […]

330 kilometers northwest of the Canadian capital of Ottawa lies the town of Carp. At first glance the place  might seem unremarkable, no different from the countless other sleepy little towns dotted across rural Ontario. But Carp is a small town with a big secret. For 35 years it was the site of a vital piece of Cold War infrastructure, […]

If you have been out and about recently, you likely have seen signs asking you to pay with exact change, letting you know that there is a coin shortage. The problem with physical money is that there is a precise amount of it at any given time. If you have four quarters, two pennies, and a dime in your pocket, […]

Following World War II, the United States military expended great efforts to harness the power of the atom. Military planners were enamored with the promise of cheap, long-term power offered by a nuclear reactor, and efforts were in full swing in the 1950’s to develop nuclear reactors to support the military. Before satellites were available to monitor for impending attack, […]

Regarding the reception of World War II, especially within the educational system of countries that participated in the war, one would expect that many broad facts are common knowledge and, as happens with most all wars in history, each nation biases things a bit to make themselves look better in their own history books, regardless of what actually happened. As […]

At 11:30 AM on May 12, 1913, a man was taken from his cell at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City and lead out into the prison yard. There, he was strapped into a chair in front of a wall of sandbags and prepared for execution by firing squad. But instead of a group of trained marksmen, the man […]

When we think of weapons of war doing damage to physical things, we tend to think of solid objects, whether they be spears, swords, guns, bombs, tanks, or aircraft. But in June of 2010, a group of computer programmers stumbled on one of the most innovative of a new type of weapon that had recently emerged: one made up of […]

Joseph Stalin was born in December 1878 to a Georgian family and served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1952. After the death of Lenin, he initially shared power over the Soviet Union with other officials, but he managed to gradually consolidate his position and by the 1930s became the country’s […]

A good hat can be very hard to come by. A good example of this comes from H.G. Wells, who once stole the Mayor of Cambridge’s hat, leaving a note that said: “I stole your hat. I like your hat. I shall keep your hat”. This all brings us to 9th century Scandinavia and a king called Erik Anundsson, sometimes […]

When one thinks of Roman Emperors, often two kinds come to mind- the heroic generals and brilliant philosophers, like Caesar Augustus and Marcus Aurelius, or the insane and depraved despots like Nero and Commodus. The latter two are well known for their long list of antics, for a video on Nero’s famous fiddle incident and the truth about all that, […]