Authors
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The Peasants Revolt
The Black Death had swept through England taking out great swaths of the population with terrifying efficiency. The only silver lining to be found in this great expanse of death is that it left the survivors in the possession of more wealth and power than their forebearers. Men who had been scratching a living, suddenly became village elites with a bit of money and property as all the other heirs were carried off with plague. Labor for the harvests was scarce and food was scarcer, so those willing to toil were able to charge a wage and not be tied to land as defined by feudal law. However, the lords…
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Typhoid Mary
There were many ways to die in the overcrowded disease ridden cities of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Typhoid was one the most terrifying ones simply because of the speed it could spread through a household. It’s initial symptoms could be anything- fever and some abdominal cramping. Then the fever got higher and blood clots formed under the skin. The patient becomes delirious and the brain and the intestines hemorrhage. The death rate was recorded anywhere from one in ten to three in ten. It was frightening. Doctors were building on the advances in the young science of epidemiology led by pioneers like Dr. John Snow. (For…
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Insula Tiberina- The Island in the Middle of the Tiber
In the center of the Tiber River, the Tiber Island, or Insula Tiberina in Latin, has always been a place connected to the founding of Rome. Legend says that it was created when Roman citizens expelled Tarquinius Superbus , or Tarquin the Proud in Latin. Citizens through the wheat sheaves they had stolen from the the king into the river. Supposedly, the dirt and the silt accumulated around the wheat in the river and formed the island. Another legend says it was built on the ruins of an ancient ship. However, these are just legends as the island was present as a crossing place for the Tiber since prehistoric times.…
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Jalal al-Din Rumi
The latest news is that Beyoncé named one of her new babies after a Persian poet. Everyone is abuzz with discussions of who this man was and what exactly this means. Although the poetry was written in the 13th century, it has gathered popularity in the west beginning in the early 21st century. So who was Jalal al-Din Rumi? Jalal al-Din Rumi was born September 30, 1207 in the city of Balkh, which is is in present day Afghanistan. He lived with his family on this far eastern edge of the Persian Empire, and was raised in the tradition of his family as an Islamic jurist. His father Baha ud-Din…
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The Current Wars
AC/DC- It’s not just a band. It was the culmination of the struggle between two geniuses. In the late 19th century, electricity was the hot new technology. Thomas Edison had begun work with this field and in the 1870’s invented the first practical light bulb. Arc lamps were used in cities on larger scales, but were not suitable for a business or a home. Edison’s light bulb filled that niche. To power all these new electric light bulbs, Edison created the investor-owned Edison Illuminating Company. One problem. These all used direct current or DC, which had a major drawback of a very short transmission range. Customers had to be less…
