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WW2: Join the COGS… Children formed their own COG salvage gangs… They scavenged for salvage for the war effort and earnt badges for it…
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Poster – Look What’s Happening To Our Salvage – Join The ‘COGS’ Children were encouraged to help the war effort by collecting metal, paper and rags for recycling. On this poster, soap cartons have been used in the manufacture of artillery shells. Children could earn the red Junior Salvage Steward…
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In January 1987, explorers deep inside a remote New Zealand cave uncovered something extraordinary:
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In January 1987, explorers deep inside a remote New Zealand cave uncovered something extraordinary: the mummified claw of an upland moa, so perfectly preserved it still had muscle, skin, and sinew intact. This flightless bird was believed to have vanished around 600 years ago after humans arrived and hunted it…
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The earliest known use of iron by humans occurred in ancient Egypt and Sumer
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The earliest known use of iron by humans occurred in ancient Egypt and Sumer, where it was used to make spear tips and ornaments. As the process for smelting iron had not yet been invented, the metal was only available from meteorites, making it rare and extremely valuable. Smelting is…
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Velma Barfield – a serial killer.
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Velma Barfield made international headlines when she became the first woman to be executed in America since 1962 and first since the re-introduction of the death penalty in 1976. She was also the first woman to be executed by lethal injection. She was put to death at 2.00 a.m. on…
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The ancient Romans were nothing if not resourceful, even when it came to dental hygiene.
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Believe it or not, they often used stale urine as mouthwash! The key ingredient in urine is ammonia, a potent cleaning agent that helped whiten teeth and combat bad breath. This unusual practice was so common that stale urine became a highly sought-after commodity. The demand grew so much that…
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Just before dawn on August 12, 1967, McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser got a call about a disturbance on a side road just outside of town.
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Though it was early, his wife Pauline decided to accompany him to investigate. As they drove through the small Tennessee town, a car pulled up alongside theirs.Suddenly, the occupants opened fire on the Pussers’ car, killing Pauline and wounding Pusser. Struck by two rounds on the left side of his…
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It’s staggering to think that nearly 97% of our history is lost.
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Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have roamed the Earth for around 200,000 years, but written records only date back about 6,000 years. That’s a whopping 194,000 years of human life undocumented and largely unknown. Ancient tools, scattered artifacts, and prehistoric cave paintings are some of the only clues to what life…
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Nikola Tesla’s prediction of a smartphone, Collier’s magazine interview, 1926:
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“When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and…
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Ethel Merman (16 January 1908 – 15 February 1984)
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*Born as Ethel Agnes Zimmermann. She devised her screen and stage name by removing the first three letters (Zim) and the last letter from her birth name – Zimmermann.*Merman made her debut as a five year old singer at the Astoria, Long Island Republican Club accompanied by her father. Her…
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Women who were involved with German soldiers during the Second World War were subject to persecution and punishment.
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After liberation in 1945, Norway faced the sensitive issue of women who had relationships with German soldiers, often labeled as tyskertøser (German girls). Many faced public shaming, ostracism, and even imprisonment for “collaboration.” Some had their heads forcibly shaved as a humiliating punishment. Children born from these relationships, stigmatized as…