Historical
The Man Behind the Peanut
Peanuts. That’s what most people think of when they think about George Washington Carver, the famed African American scientist and inventor. And while peanuts did play a big part in his life, there’s so much more to Carver’s story than just his work with everyone’s favourite ballpark snack…
By Reuben Blaff5 years ago in FYI
I'll Trade My Stone for your Daughter. Top Story - March 2021.
I’ll trade my stone for your daughter, and I’ll keep your daughter and the stone at my house. This sounds like a line from a fantasy story, but it may also have been an ancient conversation on the island of Yap, a real Micronesian Island.
By Laura DeRue5 years ago in FYI
The Gift that Kept on Brewing
It appears that humans have always had a predilection for drinking beer. It has always been considered a divine, intoxicating substance that was imbibed for reasons stretching from medicinal usages to sheer recreation. No one area of the world or Ancient civilization can boast to have invented the substance, yet where ever one found agricultural practices that involved grain production, there would have been the ability to discover the process required ferment beer. Ancient beer didn’t use hops but instead was probably a product of grains fermenting overtime and then being exposed to natural yeasts in the air. In fact, one interesting factoid to consider is that the first brewers, particularly in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, are thought to have been women. What societal phenomena led to brewing becoming a female-dominated area are unknown. However, as time moved forward, Medieval European monasteries began brewing their own beer for mass consumption and created the Western style of artisanal beers. The Monks, who tweaked the process, undoubtedly were males and their expertise was passed on to exclusively men. From here, there was a massive proliferation of new styles and methods being invented, influencing the cultures of various European countries. Next comes the Industrial Revolution, improving techniques and bringing better machinery, while allowing for mass production and thus, more commercial consumption. Throughout this long history, beer became better, more liquidous—less like the gruel-like substance of the ancient world, and more importantly, a more male-dominated industry. The Prohibition Movement of the American U.S, wiped out the legal beer market in America. Upon its repeal, a watered-down, more regulated, prohibitionist pilsner emerged opening the way for Budweiser, Coors and Miller.
By Robert Burton5 years ago in FYI
And you thought you knew Georgia...
I was born and raised in this great state of Georgia. I was born on Robins Air Force Base in 1973. I love to take road trips and hike so I thought I knew all there was to know about where I lived...boy was I wrong! I would love to share with you some tidbits that I have recently learned. So here goes.
By Amber Smith Hagerman5 years ago in FYI
5 Unexplained Mysteries in History
It is somewhat surreal how some historical events have remained completely shrouded in mystery throughout human intelligence and technology's exponential growth. Some are just unbelievably hard to comprehend, others have given way to countless conspiracy theories, and a few have even been long forgotten and torn from the pages of history.
By ElMehdi ElAzhary5 years ago in FYI
Quick, Call 911
Call 911-The Emergence of EMS Call 911. In minutes an ambulance staffed with trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) arrives at your door, checks your medical status, stabilizes you, puts you on a trolley, loads you into a well equipped ambulance and transports you to the nearest appropriate emergency room where emergency physicians and nurses attend your needs and possibly save your life, all the while communicating electronically as needed between the dispatcher, the ambulance and the hospital. Routine stuff now. But it was not always so. Here is a short history of how that happened through the eyes of one who was there.
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in FYI
Stop Insulting the Irish!
As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, it is time to set something straight. Have you ever noticed that most foreigners speak with an accent? You wouldn’t say “listen to that lilting French brogue”, would you? Why then, do we call Irish and Scottish accents a brogue?
By Amy Cooney5 years ago in FYI
The 5 Oldest Monarchies in the World
In the current 21st century world, less than forty-five monarchies remain. Most of these monarchies do not hold any real power anymore. Only a few of them can be considered absolute monarchies — where the King or Queen has complete authority over their people.
By ElMehdi ElAzhary5 years ago in FYI
King Charles I
We know Charles I as the King who lost his head (literally), but I wonder how many of us know his life story. What sort of a man was he? How was he raised? Why didn’t he give into Parliament to save his own head? It is true to say, we will never have another King like Charles I!
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff5 years ago in FYI
