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Month: June 2022

By The Generalist Posted on June 30, 2022June 29, 2022

Art before art

Humans have been making figurative art for at least forty thousand years – but we may have been carrying “found” art around for much longer.

Categories: Africa, Art, Prehistory
By The Generalist Posted on June 26, 2022June 25, 2022

Lava planets

Earth-like planets that orbit too close to their stars are probably completely covered in lava.

Categories: Astronomy
By The Generalist Posted on June 22, 2022June 21, 2022

Star Wars disco

At the 1978 Grammy Awards, in the category Best Pop Instrumental Performance, John Williams’ famous Star Wars soundtrack faced off against… a disco funk cover of the Star Wars soundtrack that had outsold and out-charted the original.

Categories: 20th century history, Film & television, Music, North & Central America
Parker Solar Probe launch
By The Generalist Posted on June 19, 2022June 18, 2022

From the archives: Fastest

The fastest objects ever made by humans; the water speed record that has stood for forty-four years; the fastest premiere-to-clip-show in TV history; and the fastest-moving plant in the world.

Categories: From the archives
By The Generalist Posted on June 17, 2022June 16, 2022

Small island alliance

For the last thirty-one years, an alliance of nearly forty small island states have campaigned against global warming – because if it is not checked, some of them will be underwater.

Categories: 20th century history, 21st century history, Earth science, Oceania, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on June 15, 2022June 14, 2022

Lava balloons

Imagine glowing, hissing, steaming balls of floating rock up to three metres across emerging from the depths of the ocean – these are lava balloons.

Categories: Earth science, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on June 13, 2022June 13, 2022

Fantasy revised

In the original edition of The Hobbit, Gollum was willing to give up the ring; before 1994 the American and British editions of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were different; Madame Mim was removed from The Sword and the Stone for its 1958 reissue.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Literature
By The Generalist Posted on June 10, 2022June 9, 2022

Almost Everest

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. But three days earlier, two other climbers came within one hundred metres of the top.

Categories: 20th century history, South Asia
By The Generalist Posted on June 7, 2022June 11, 2022

Own-goal football

In a 1994 qualifying match for the Caribbean Cup, both Barbados and Grenada attempted to score deliberate own goals – because it was the best strategy available.

Categories: 20th century history, Games & sport, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on June 5, 2022June 4, 2022

From the archives: Glass

Gorgeous glass replicas of sea life; nearly indestructible glass teardrops; the 19th century princess who believed she had swallowed a glass piano; and the action film prop you can eat.

Categories: From the archives
By The Generalist Posted on June 2, 2022May 31, 2022

Happiest meal

McDonald’s iconic Happy Meal came to us via a Chilean-Guatemalan restauranteur, a Missouri advertising agent, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Categories: 20th century history, Economics & business, Film & television, Food & agriculture, North & Central America

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