Michel de Nostradame, usually anglicised to Nostradamus, wrote Les Propheties in 1555, which is a collection of over a thousand quatrains (four line poems) that have often been interpreted as prophecies of future events. Nostradamus rejected the label of “prophet” and disliked astrologers. However, that hasn’t stopped many commentators interpreting the Continue Reading
Countries
S.P.A.M., SPAM, spam (and lobster thermidor)
SPAM luncheon meat was first produced in the Depression era in the United States (1937), by the Hormel Foods Corporation. It was named by Ken Daigneau who had won a contest (and $100). Ken was the brother of a Hormel Vice-President, but that may be entirely coincidental. Hormel insist that the Continue Reading
Richard II’s Sausage and Meatball Pie
The Forme of Cury is a cookbook of about 200 recipes written in the 14th Century by “the Chief Master Cooks of Richard II”. Richard II was an unpopular King but he did like a luxurious lifestyle and taxed the peasants to fund it. He was eventually deposed and died in Continue Reading
The best known UFO conspiracy
On July 8 1947, the Roswell Daily Record newspaper reported that the US Air Force at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) had captured a flying saucer. This was in response to a press release issued by the RAAF on that day: The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality Continue Reading
Top Ten Empires
Largest Empires by Land Area: British Empire Land area: 35.5 million km2 Percentage of world land area: 23.84% (in 1920) Period: 16th to 20th century Mongol Empire Land area: 24.0 million km2 Percentage of world land area: 16.11% Period: 13th/14th century Russian Empire Land area: 22.8 million km2 Percentage of world land area: Continue Reading
Epitaph: Sir Isaac Newton
Mathematician, astronomer and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 to 20 March 1726/7), is buried in Westminster Abbey, London. The Latin inscription on the base of his monument is translated as: Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his Continue Reading
They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance
Union General John Sedgwick was a brave and inspiring figure in the American Civil War. At a skirmish near Spotsylvania Court House, Confederate snipers were causing problems when he was trying to deploy his men. The following report by General McMahon who was at his side, describes his unfortunate last conversation: Continue Reading
The First Computer Virus
In 1971, Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies created a self-replicating program, designed to infect servers on ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. Allegedly named after the Scooby Doo villain, the Creeper Virus infected the remote systems and displayed the message “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!”. Ray Tomlinson, who also Continue Reading
The Metric System was not invented by the French
The Metric System of measures was introduced by the First French Republic in 1799 and has developed into the SI system (International System of Units) recognised as the official measuring system of most countries around the world. However, the system was not invented by the French. John Wilkins, the first Continue Reading
Americans planned to nuke the Moon
On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union took the lead in the Space Race by launching Sputnik I, the first successful artificial satellite. One of several plans by the the US government to reverse this embarrassment, given the failure of the their own Project Vanguard satellites, was to detonate an Continue Reading