Category Archives: history

history, memes

September Quiz Questions

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Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month.
As always, they’re designed to be tricky but not impossible, so it’s unlikely everyone will know all the answers – just have a bit of fun.

Classical & Ancient World

  1. In Greek mythology, who is the muse of sacred poetry?
  2. What Roman holiday held from 17 to 23 December had a large influence on how Christmas was celebrated?
  3. What ancient wonder was located in the city of Alexandria in Egypt?
  4. What’s the name of the paradise warriors go to after death?
  5. Anubis, the Ancient Egyptian God of Death, had the head of what?
  6. What is the title of the classic Greek epic attributed to Homer, telling the story of the Trojan War?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

September 1926

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Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

3. Birth. Alison Lurie, American author and academic (d.2020)

8. The German Weimar Republic joins the League of Nations.

11. In Rome, Gino Lucetti throws a bomb at Benito Mussolini’s car, but Mussolini is unhurt.

14. The Locarno Treaties of 1926 are ratified in Geneva.

20. The North Side Gang attempts to assassinate Al Capone, then at the apex of his power, spraying his headquarters in Cicero, Illinois with over a thousand rounds of machine gun fire in broad daylight, as Capone is eating there. Capone escapes unharmed.

Al Capone

21. Birth. Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d.2000)

25. The League of Nations Slavery Convention abolishes all types of slavery.

25. Henry Ford announces the 8-hour, 5-day work week.

history, links, medical, natural history, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for August

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We’re at the end of August already, and even my young optician was being concerned about the speed with which the year was disappearing. Anyway here’s episode eight of this year’s monthly links to items you didn’t know you’d missed. As always we start with the heavy stuff …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Astronomers think they’ve discovered a black hole “star”, which would be a new kind of cosmic object.

The venerable Voyager 2 spacecraft, which is now outside the solar system, has done a very risky manoeuvre to save power and keep it working for anther couple of years. [££££]

Down on Earth there are safety concerns as scientists have made the first AI designed viruses.

Another concern, at least for ecologists, is where all the wasps have gone this summer.

While we’re on invertebrates, here are half a dozen somewhat surprising facts about them.

Larry the Cat has recently welcomed yet another new Prime Minister to Downing Street, but how do pets adapt to change?

Why do sleeping cats so often cover their eyes with a paw?

It was 388 years ago that Galileo worked out that physics means that human giants can’t exist. [££££]

Kew Gardens is about to start renovation of the iconic Palm House, but that means many plants have to be moved, and some even sacrificed.

Health, Medicine

Why do heatwaves hit women harder than men?

Research sems to be suggesting that in the final five minutes before death something odd happens with consciousness. [LONG READ]

Sexuality & Relationships

An essay on the importance of the foreskin. [LONG READ]

[NSFW] On the need for females to be fucked for bodily serenity.

Environment & Ecology

On the environmental effects of humans on trees.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Research is showing that long before any evidence of sails European stone age hunter-gatherers made sea voyages to Malta.

Another Ancient Roman shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Sicily – and its fully laden with amphorae.

While on the ancient world, here’s a look at the mysteries surrounding the Antikythera Mechanism. And the author, Isa Grant, has taken a logical look at many unsolved mysteries, so dig around in her Substack.

Many researchers believe that ancient Pictish symbols are actually names, but this is unlikely.

Medievals had a fixation on female pubic anatomy.

Mummified bodies found in Chile have revealed a lost lineage of smallpox. [££££]

London

Here’s a quick look at half a dozen London places associated with Samuel Pepys.

The latest instalment of Matt Brown’s coloured rendition of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London is out on the edge of the East End.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Nobody will admit to having far right beliefs these days, but here’s a checklist to allow you to determine if they really are.

On being more than an attractive photograph, because there’s life behind the frame.

On designing and wearing female attire without the need for underwear.

And finally … a look at the bizarre world of banning pop songs for profanity and what gets missed. [LONG READ]

history

August 1926

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

3. Birth. Tony Bennett, American singer (d.2023)

6. American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, from France to England.

10. Birth. Marie-Claire Alain, French organist (d.2013)

13. Birth. Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and politician (d.2016)

21. Death. Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b.1861)

Ugyen Wangchuk

history, links, medical, natural history, nudism, photography, science

Monthly Links

You really didn’t want to have missed these items …

Science, Technology, Natural World

The latest estimates are that Earth is home to around 20 million species of insect – that’s way more than was previously thought. [££££]

It’s interesting how non-native parrots thrive in cities – and largely don’t compete with native species. [LONG READ]

London’s Kew Gardens has digitised its 7 million plant specimens. [££££]

Here are some surprising facts about aquatic flora, including that seaweeds are not plants!

So what is it that makes about 10% of people left-handed?

Venezuela recently suffered a double earthquake, but why did so many buildings collapse?

Trust the Swiss! They’re pioneering putting solar panels between railway tracks as another way to generate electricity without using too much land for solar panels.

Now away from Earth … astronomers have detected “raspberry sugar” in a dust cloud in our Milky Way galaxy.

Health, Medicine

Drug chemist Derek Lowe looks at the very high failure rate of new drug candidates over the last 50-60 years.

I bet you didn’t know that hospitals routinely use antimatter! [LONG READ]

One academic writes about what it is like inside the UK’s top secret chemical weapons laboratory at Porton Down. [LONG READ]

There’s a new catalogue of viruses revealing which pose the greatest threats.

So now for some real, and scary, surgery: Irish surgeons have been able to remove a brain tumour through an eyelid!

Sexuality & Relationships

OK, boys, understand this … your ejaculate is not a waste product

Is it acceptable to state a preference over your partner’s pubic hair?

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Here’s an article on iconic and revolutionary Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki (above).

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have at last managed to decipher 4000-year-old Linear Elamite from ancient Iran.

Back at home in the UK, archaeologists continue to rewrite what we thought we knew about Stonehenge.

An entire Byzantine town has been found in Egypt’s Western Desert

Back at home again, medieval football could end up getting you killed.

And now the story of the 17th-century siege of Basing House. [LONG READ]

London

And at last we journey to London to hear the story of Westminster Cathedral. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Here’ are some thoughts about the human body and why for some naturism feels right.

And then here are some thoughts on sleeping naked. [LONG READ]

And finally I’ll leave you with a look at some of the world’s strangest nude traditions.

history

July Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

General History

  1. In what year did the Battle of Waterloo occur? 1815
  2. Which ancient civilization built the city of Machu Picchu? Inca
  3. Which famous historical document begins with the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident”? The Declaration of Independence
  4. The Aztecs even used cocoa beans as what? Currency
  5. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall? 1989
  6. What event marked the beginning of World War I? The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2025.

history, memes

July Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month.
As always, they’re designed to be tricky but not impossible, so it’s unlikely everyone will know all the answers – just have a bit of fun.

General History

  1. In what year did the Battle of Waterloo occur?
  2. Which ancient civilization built the city of Machu Picchu?
  3. Which famous historical document begins with the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident”?
  4. The Aztecs even used cocoa beans as what?
  5. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?
  6. What event marked the beginning of World War I?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

July 1926

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Birth. Hans Werner Henze, German composer (d.2012)

9. In Portugal, General Óscar Carmona takes power in a military coup.

10. A bolt of lightning strikes Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey; the resulting fire causes several million pounds of explosives to blow up in the next 2-3 days.

Picatinny

food+drink, history, links, medical, nudism, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for June

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So here we are with this month’s bumper bundle of links to items you didn’t know you shouldn’t have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

As usual let’s start at the bottom … Really, just how many elementary particles are there? Pick a number! [LONG READ]

At the other extremes … Space is unimaginably bigger than you think.

And if your brain wasn’t fried enough already, there’s a suggestion that light is the shadow of a dimension we can’t see.

Now to the relatively mundane … for a long time scientists have been trying to understand the mysterious creatures of the deep oceans. [LONG READ]

Which just shows we really do not understand biology … There are some mysterious blobs in cells – even after 100 years scientists are only now beginning to understand what they are and their importance for life. [££££]

How do societies survive power struggles? Ask the wasps.

So why do cats sit in that “loaf position“?

From cats to dogs … scientists have recently discovered the rare and elusive Amazonian Short-Eared Dog in the forests of Bolivia and Peru.

Good grief! Japan’s 2011 “Fukushima” earthquake was so powerful it moved the location of the whole of Japan! [££££}

Health, Medicine

Well, yes … we could indeed at this moment be living through a hantavirus pandemic, but thanks to a lot of quick action by many countries we have avoided it. Which is exactly how public health should work.

What does body odour tell us, and why do we care about it so much?

Here’s (yet another) look at the health and history of pubic hair. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile here’s a look at sunscreen, what it is and how it works. [LONG READ]

Sexuality & Relationships

A cultural look at various aspects of the vagina.

Followed by the new craze of the Vaginus Maximus.

Now here’s an interesting one … an only slightly surprising suggestion of Viagra for women. Read the follow-on articles too. [LONG READ]

And then there’s a look at sexual burnout and bridging the resulting intimacy gaps.

[Images very NSFW] It’s the rarity factor! A look at why we’re biologically wired to desire redheads.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A select group of researcher are allowed access to Spain’s amazing cave paintings and one lucky writer gets a personal tour. [LONG READ]

Archaeologists believe they have discovered a simpler, and older, version of Stonehenge.

Amongst other things it seems that Bronze Age people were also pigeon fanciers.

I just don’t know how they do this … the charred scrolls from Herculaneum are being deciphered.

A metal detectorist in Somerset has found a stunning gold Roman ring.

A medieval manuscript containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends, which has remained in private hands for 700 years, is being auctioned by Christie’s.

So to put the record straight, here’s everything you need to know about the Black Death.

London

The Lions of London

Here are some 1920s London Tube Maps, from before its current Harry Beck iconic design.

Greater London has a surprising number of overlooked Art Deco railway stations. (No, not the tube stations!) [LONG READ]

What was the mysterious Whitechapel Mount?

Food, Drink

Why does beer taste different on draught, in a can, or from a bottle?

Scientists are at last starting to unravel the importance of cork to the chemistry of wine. [££££]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

DDA banding. It’s an accessibility thing.

A naturist’s look at what people’s arguments against nudity are really saying. [LONG READ]

What if seeing naked women actually reduced objectification? (Men too?) [LONG READ]

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

And finally in New Scientist “Feedback” discovers Halupedia, an online encyclopaedia that is 100% AI generated. [££££]

Enjoy!

history

June 1926

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Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Birth. Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d.1962)

Marilyn Monroe

3. Birth. Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d.1997)

4. Death. Fred Spofforth, Australian cricketer (b.1853)

5. Birth. Paul Soros, Hungarian-born American mechanical engineer, inventor, businessman and philanthropist (d.2013)

10. Death. Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect (b.1852)

28. Birth. Mel Brooks, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter