For a long time, I mostly read science-fiction stories, but I love film noir and Ed Brubaker’s comics, so I decided to embrace my interest in detective stories. Now, I’m a big Ross Macdonald fan. As I’m exploring the genre, I started to look into its history and, naturally, I wanted to go back to the beginning!
Who is the Author of the First Detective Novel?
There have always been detective stories, apparently. It’s certainly not my field of expertise, but it seems that the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders, located within the Apocrypha of the Protestant Bible, displayed aspects of investigation when Daniel cross-examined witnesses.
Living in France, it’s hard not to have heard of the 2024 Summer Olympics, as they’ll take place in Paris–and all around the city. It’s always an economic nightmare, the construction of equipment is shrouded in controversy, and the social element is particularly important this time here. Well, it’s complicated, it will pass, and someone will have to pay, but it’s another story. Today, I want to look into the history of the games, going back to when it all started!
When did the First Olympics in History Take Place?
Athletes from all around the world come together during the Olympic Games in an atmosphere of friendly competition. It’s not a modern event. In fact, the story started in ancient Greek.
I’m not the bigger hip-hop fan out there, but I found the history of the genre fascinating, mostly because of how it tells a story of America. Being European, I learn a lot about the USA by exploring how its cultural movements emerged.
I recently heard that Hip-Hop is 50 years old and, out of curiosity, I asked myself:
What is considered to be the First Rap Song?
First, let’s begin by stating that the “50 years” comes from the fact that one event has been declared as the starting point of hip-hop culture. that cultural revolution was started in 1973 when DJ Kool Herc ran the turntables at the notorious “Back To School” jam–a party he organized with his sister Cindy.
I’ve been strangely fascinated by the story of the discovery of the Northwest Passage. Not so much by the discovery in fact, but by the fact that people just went towards their icy death with the conviction they’ll find it as it was something that was just speculated. At that time, climate change was not on their side.
Anyway, I don’t know if you know the story of the Terror (I read Dan Simmons’ book and watch the great TV adaptation), but that was what led me here, you know, for the real story–and finding who ended up making the discovery.
Since when do we put our history in public places for the world to visit against a little fee? You go to the museum to learn about the past, but it occurred to me recently that museums are now a creation of the past and I didn’t know why they were created in the first place.
What Is The Meaning of a Museum?
It was in ancient Greece that the word “museum” first appeared. Its origins can be traced back to the Ancient Greek word “mouseion,” which referred to a location or temple honoring the nine Greek mythological Muses, goddesses of the humanities and sciences. Music, poetry, dancing, and philosophy were just a few of the intellectual endeavors that the Muses were thought to protect and inspire.
The first Christmas card was sent in the early 17th century by German physician and alchemist Michael Maier, who wrote to King James I of England and his son, Prince Henry Frederick, in 1611 and said the following:
“A greeting on the birthday of the Sacred King to the most worshipful and energetic lord and most eminent James, King of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the true faith, with a gesture of joyful celebration of the birthday of the Lord. In most joy and fortune, we enter into the new auspicious year 1612.”
On it featured a drawing of a rose, a symbol associated with Rosicrucian imagery, signifying wisdom and cultural heritage passed down through the ages.
I recently had to upgrade my phone. Too old, the apps couldn’t update anymore, and I needed a more recent operating system. That brings back memories as, once upon a time, I had to tweak my config to play games on my PC, forcing it to use only MS-DOS because with Windows it wouldn’t work. Not really nostalgic about any of that.
But while I was thinking about that, I tried to remember what was before DOS and I couldn’t remember the name. Well, I went on and search for:
Last year, I wrote about the first vampire. After that, I thought that I was going to look into the werewolves, but I totally forgot, until I recently saw that one of my favorite werewolf movies was going to be available on Blu-ray–I’m talking about the movie Dog Soldiers with Kevin McKidd. So now, I’m back here, finally looking into:
What are the origins of the First Werewolf?
First of all, what are we talking about? Not a real werewolf of course, but of the mythical creature with the ability to transform from a human into a wolf. Did you know that word “werewolf” has its origins in Old English and Old High German?
I was barely a teen when Jurassic Park hit the theater. I just loved it and, like a lot of kids, it was for me the beginning of a passion for dinosaurs. It was not a long one, I must say. Truth is, the movie did more for my passion for cinema. But I read a lot on the subject anyway and I’m still quite intrigued by those creatures from another time. I recently realized though, that there’s one question I never asked myself:
Who Discovered the First Dinosaur Bone?
Like a lot of important discoveries, nobody really knew what it was at first. In fact, it seems that ancient peoples unknowingly stumbled upon dinosaur bones, but it was not until the seventeenth century that the first inklings of their existence began to emerge. Apparently, a reference to “dragon” bones in China dating from over 2,000 years ago could possibly be about dinosaurs!
Is This a Giant Human or What?
In 1677, a curator of an English museum named Robert Plot discovered what would later be recognized as the first dinosaur bone. At the time, Plot’s interpretation was that the bone belonged to a gigantic human. Nevertheless, Plot’s findings opened the door and others would investigate.
1824. Megalosaurus, the First Bones of Dinosaur Discovered by William Buckland
The first professor of geology at Oxford University, the eccentric William Buckland, embarked on his mission to expand the frontiers of knowledge, combining his role as a professor with his unofficial curatorship of the university museum. In 1815, during his travels, he stumbled upon the bones of an animal previously discovered by Plot. Analyzing the teeth, jaw, and limbs, Buckland concluded in 1824 that these remains belonged to an extinct, carnivorous lizard. He named this ancient creature “Megalosaurus,” becoming the first person to assign a name to a dinosaur species.
After Buckland, Mary Ann Mantell, wife of geologist Gideon Mantell, made an interesting discovery during a walk in Sussex, England, in 1822. It was fossilized bones that closely resembled those of an iguana skeleton. This “fossil reptile” was aptly named Iguanodon, becoming the second dinosaur species to be formally identified.
The Birth of “Dinosauria”
In 1842, a British scientist named Sir Richard Owen was examining the fossil collection of William Devonshire Saull when encountered a fossilized chunk of spine thought to belong to the ancient reptile known as “Iguanodon.” Through comparative analysis, Owen made two remarkable conclusions: the fossils represented similar creatures and these creatures were distinct from any living species. That’s when he coined the term “dinosaurs,” meaning “terrible lizards,” forever marking these ancient beings as a distinct group.
Sir Richard Owen coined the term “dinosaurs” in 1842.
While the study of dinosaurs received a significant boost with Owen’s work, it was not until the late 1800s that a wealth of new evidence emerged. A fierce rivalry between American scientists Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope took center stage—it is known as The Bone Wars. These wealthy and competitive researchers ventured into the Rocky Mountains, unearthing a plethora of dinosaur bones from various sites. Their intense competition led to the discovery of 136 new dinosaur species, igniting global fascination and inspiring scientists and prestigious institutions worldwide to delve into the study of dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs were always here, waiting to be discovered. It just took a lot of time and studying them will keep revealing incredible new information for a long while too.
I was recently reading that the World Health Organisation has decided that aspartame was possibly carcinogenic, which was surprising–the timing, not the news, as I heard about that years ago.
To make it relatable for the consumer, the news outlet explained that this softener was used in drinks like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. I remembered watching a mini-doc about the history of those brands and, instead of finding it again, I stumbled onto this history of soda.
The other day, I saw on my Twitter timeline a joke about the invention of the dictionary, proving once more that you really can laugh at everything! I won’t go further on that joke, because I decided to educate myself a little bit on the subject, and, as usual, I’m sharing with you my findings.
Who Invented The Dictionary?
The concept of dictionaries can be traced back over 4,000 years to ancient civilizations. In Mesopotamia, bilingual glossaries were created around 2300 BCE, serving as valuable translation tools. Similarly, the Chinese Erya, dating back to the third century BCE, encompassed glosses, definitions, and encyclopedic entries, establishing a comprehensive linguistic reference work.
I’m not a driver, but I’m living in a city whose history is linked to the automobile. And, let’s be honest, there are cars everywhere. But I hope they’ll make less noise in the future. The electric car seems to go this way at least.
I don’t know if you remember but, like 20 years ago, there was this story going around about the fact that a guy invented a car using water, not oil, and was killed in South America (Apparently, it was a hoax). I don’t know if there’s a bit of truth there, but it seems that the inventor of the electric car had a better chance… or does it? I don’t know who he is, but I’ll find out by trying to discover…
