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Category: North & Central America

By The Generalist Posted on July 30, 2022January 25, 2023

Wordless novels and motionless movies

Novels have words and films move. But some creators have resisted even these conventions, creating novels without writing and films without motion.

Categories: 20th century history, Art, Europe, Film & television, Literature, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on July 5, 2022July 4, 2022

Broken arrow

In 1959, the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was one of the most sophisticated aircraft prototypes in the world. When the project was cancelled, the Canadian government ordered all Arrows, parts, production equipment, and technical data destroyed.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, Technology
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
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 2, 2022January 25, 2023

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
By The Generalist Posted on May 19, 2022May 18, 2022

The band prophecy

In the mid-20th century, Austin Wiggin’s mother predicted that her son would have daughters, and those daughters would form a famous band. He did, and they did, in the most surprising way possible.

Categories: 20th century history, Music, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 17, 2022May 16, 2022

Return of the space dogs

Laika, the first space dog, died in orbit. But the next two – Belka and Strelka – survived. One of Strelka’s puppies was gifted to John F. Kennedy… but not before it was fully scanned for secret listening devices.

Categories: 20th century history, Animals, Astronomy, Europe, North & Central America, North & Central Asia
By The Generalist Posted on May 15, 2022May 14, 2022

The demo

On December 9, 1968, a team led by computer scientist Douglas Engelbart ran a 90 minute tech demo at a San Francisco conference. This “mother of all demos” introduced the world to the computer mouse, windows, hypertext, and collaborative document editors.

Categories: 20th century history, Computer science, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 9, 2022May 8, 2022

Man-lifting war kites

A large enough kite can lift someone off the ground. So, of course, several inventors and aeronauts tried to find a military application for such man-lifting kites.

Categories: 19th century history, 20th century history, Europe, Military, North & Central America, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on May 4, 2022January 25, 2023

Hibernating bird

Several mammals, including rodents and bears, hibernate over the cold winters. But at least one bird does so as well.

Categories: 19th century history, Animals, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on April 29, 2022April 27, 2022

Peaceful nukes

In the 1960s and 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union explored “peaceful” applications of nuclear weapons: excavating earth for lakes and canals, geological research, and extinguishing gas well fires.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, North & Central Asia, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on April 25, 2022April 24, 2022

First free-falling skydiver

Tiny Broadwick was the first person to intentionally jump out of a flying airplane without being tethered to something.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central America, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on April 19, 2022April 18, 2022

Admirals of Nebraska

The US state of Nebraska is landlocked; all the states around it are also landlocked; and all the states around them are also landlocked. And yet, the Governor of Nebraska can grant residents the honorary title of Nebraska Admiral.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on March 8, 2022March 7, 2022

School bus kidnapping

In 1976, twenty-six children riding in a California school bus were kidnapped at gunpoint and hidden inside a truck that was buried in a quarry. Twenty-seven hours later, after sixteen hours underground, they escaped.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on March 1, 2022February 28, 2022

American samurai colony

In 1869, some samurai and their families set up a colony in California. Although it only lasted two years, it was the first permanent Japanese settlement in the United States.

Categories: 19th century history, East Asia, Food & agriculture, Military, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on February 24, 2022January 25, 2023

The scientists of Mars

When asked why we have no proof of extraterrestrial life, the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard joked that Martians were already among us… they just called themselves Hungarians.

Categories: 20th century history, Computer science, Europe, Mathematics & statistics, North & Central America, Physics & chemistry, Technology

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