Jap Herron: A Novel Mark Twain Wrote After His Death
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 25, 2019
Mark twain died in 1910. Seven years later he wrote his last novel, Jap Herron —so claims St. Louis journalist and author Emily Grant Hutch...
Showing posts with the label Featured
The Japanese Fishing Boat Whose Lethal Encounter With An Atomic Bomb Inspired Godzilla
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 24, 2019
Tucked away in a corner of Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo, a ten-minute-walk away from Shin Kiba Station, is a tall A-frame building. Sitting in...
Crannogs: Neolithic-Era Artificial Islands
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 23, 2019
The Neolithic people of Great Britain were prolific builders. Just look at the British Isles—they are studded with countless ancient megalit...
The Rotating Solariums of Jean Saidman
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 22, 2019
The importance of sunlight to human health is well understood, and that understanding developed in the late 19th century when it was discov...
The Mahogany Ship: An Australian Maritime Mystery
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 20, 2019
One of Australia's most enduring maritime mysteries is a shipwreck known as the “Mahogany Ship”. It was first spotted in 1836 by a party...
Wainhouse Tower: The Tallest Folly
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 18, 2019
Wainhouse Tower, standing high on a hill in the King Cross area of Halifax, is the tallest structure in Calderdale and a prominent landmark ...
Via Cava: The Cave Roads of Tuscany
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 17, 2019
In southern Tuscany, there is a mysterious network of old pathways deeply entranced into massive rocks appearing like narrow canyons flanked...
The Legend of Bingen’s Mouse Tower
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 16, 2019
On a small island in the Rhine river, outside Bingen am Rhein, in Germany, stands a 10th century stone tower with a macabre legend associate...
Dresden’s Tobacco Mosque
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 15, 2019
Standing on the banks of the Elbe river, in the German city of Dresden, is a monumental building with a multicolored glass dome and high-ri...
Linnaeus's Flower Clock: Keeping Time With Flowers
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 3, 2019
Who needs a watch to tell time when we got flowers? Many species of flowering plants open and close their flowers at specific times through...
That Time When America Air-Dropped Pianos For Troops in Battlefields
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 2, 2019
You thought pianos dropping from the sky is a gag for cartoons? Then hear this story out. During World War Two, all kinds of production inv...
Hellburner: The 16th Century Weapon of Mass Destruction
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 29, 2019
In the age of sail, when ships were made of wood, fire was the number one enemy of sailors, and this fearsome tool was used in diabolic ways...
The Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 27, 2019
Like many rulers, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I had a fascination for large monuments, but instead of actually building them he roman...
The Longest Papal Election in History
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 26, 2019
The main attraction in the ancient city of Viterbo, in central Italy, is a 13th century palace built to serve as the country residence for t...
The World’s First Parachute Jump
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 25, 2019
On December 26, 1783, a crowd gathered outside the observatory in Montpellier, a French city near the south coast on the Mediterranean Sea. ...
Hermits As Garden Ornaments
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 24, 2019
Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, a certain reproachful and voyeuristic trend emerged among wealthy British landowners. Not content w...
Thomas Edison’s Forgotten Passion: Building Concrete Houses
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 21, 2019
Of all things Thomas Alva Edison is known for, concrete is not one of them. It was one of Edison's less successful ventures, but not one...
François Coignet’s Reinforced Concrete House
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 20, 2019
In a quiet suburb, north of Paris, by the River Seine, stands a derelict four-story building. Its windows and doors are broken, some are bar...
The Galloping Horse Problem And The World’s First Motion Picture
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 19, 2019
“The 1821 Derby at Epsom” by Théodore Géricault Horses have appeared in works of art throughout history. They have appeared in prehistoric...
Mocha Dick: The Whale That Inspired Moby Dick
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 15, 2019
About thirty kilometers off the coast of Chile is a small teardrop-shaped island called Mocha, inhabited by the indigenous Mapuche people. ...
