History Comes Out of a Hat

Category Archives: History

Radium Town

Radiation isn’t the best thing to take a bath in if you expect to have a long life, but things that are obvious now weren’t so cut-and-dry when they were first discovered. People still bang on about crystals and magnetism and quantum physics as if they’ll cure you of your shingles — as if we [...]

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Pirate Money

Dollars How much does it cost for a shave and a haircut? Two bits! But when was the last time a bit was legal tender? I’ve seen two dollar bills but I’ve never seen a bit. A bit is actually a remnant of America’s old money from before they invented their own currency. It is [...]

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When Brains Explode

One of my favorite expressions has always been “brain explosion”. When I was in school and the exam results hadn’t come out yet, I used to study the teachers for any early signs that my paper had gone belly-up. One of the worst hints you could get was the teacher giving you a pained look [...]

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