Margaret Sanger: A Life Devoted To The Birth Control Movement

Margaret Sanger: A Life Devoted To The Birth Control Movement

ByFabien

I never heard about Margaret Sanger before reading the book about the creation of Wonder Woman, The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore. Sanger was the aunt of Olive Byrne who was the “mistress” of William Moulton Marston, inventor of the lie detector and creator of the famous DC Comics superheroine. The book explained why Sanger was shunned from history, in a way. She always was controversial, but her outrages didn’t fit anymore in the feminist narrative, shall we say.

Nevertheless, Sanger was an important figure, one that was certainly complicated, but that didn’t stop her to change a lot of things for the women of America.

Read More “Margaret Sanger: A Life Devoted To The Birth Control Movement”
Who Invented the Violin?

Who Invented the Violin?

ByFabien

Last year, I wrote about the invention of the Piano. Since then, I’m thinking of continuing my exploration of the subject as I thought it was quite interesting. But as time goes on, I wrote about a lot of things, but not much about music-related subjects (I wrote about what was the first rap song recently though). I’m listening to classical music lately when I’m working, and this brings the idea back to the forefront. So today, we are talking about:

Who Created the Violin?

The birth of the violin can be traced back to the Brescia area of Northern Italy in the early 16th century. It was around 1485 that the region became known for its skilled string players and renowned instrument makers, including creators of viols, violas, and other stringed instruments of the Renaissance.

Read More “Who Invented the Violin?”
What Was the First Haunted House?

What Was the First Haunted House?

ByFabien

Apparently, Disney put out a Haunted Mansion movie that nobody went to see… in the middle of July. If the Mouse doesn’t wait until October to sell its spooky mansion story, I can probably explore the subject too!

What Was the First documented Haunted House?

I don’t think it is possible to put a date on the exact moment humans started to believe in ghosts and other types of folkloric tales of the sort. It’s part of every culture. But we apparently can talk about the first documented tale of a haunted house!

Read More “What Was the First Haunted House?”
Who Invented The Dragon?

Who Invented The Dragon?

ByFabien

You probably have heard about the Komodo Dragon. It always bothered me that it was called a “dragon” as its appearance didn’t correspond with what I imagine a dragon looks like. It’s ridiculous to see things like that, but the human brain is strange. Anyway, I was looking into where the name came from, and that led me to read about what I think of when were are talking about “Dragons.”

Who Created The Dragon?

The word “dragon” is dating back to the 13th century when it first entered the English language. It was derived from two ancient languages: Latin and Greek. In Latin, the word “dracōnis” referred to a dragon, and in Greek, it was known as “drakōns.”

Read More “Who Invented The Dragon?”
Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun

Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun

ByFabien

The youngest son in an 11-child family, Howard Carter was born on May 9, 1874, in Brompton, Kensington, London. The Hamond family, the lords of the manor of Swaffham, employed his father, Samuel Carter, and his grandfather, Samuel Carter Senior, as gamekeepers on their estate. Howard developed an interest in sketching and painting because of his father and brother, William Carter, who were both artists.

As the weather in London didn’t suit him, Howard was transferred to live in Swaffham, a market town in Norfolk. Due to his ill health, he only had a meager formal education and was tutored at home privately. His father gave him drawing and painting lessons when he visited Swaffham frequently, laying the groundwork for his future careers as an artist and an archaeologist.

Read More “Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun”
When Was the First UFO Sighting?

When Was the First UFO Sighting?

ByFabien

The Truth is Out There! Yes, I grew up watching The X-Files. Therefore, I’m kinda familiar with UFO conspiracies, in a way. I was surprised though to discover that there are people who are going in front of the American Senate to ask that all the dealings with the alien spaceship and all of that are made public. It just seems surrealist. But anyway, it hit me that all of this was not limited to the realm of science-fiction. So I went on a quick quest to discover:

What is a UFO?

Maybe we should begin with a definition of UFO. An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is also known as an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP). It encompasses any perceived aerial occurrence that defies immediate identification or explanation. Following a thorough investigation, the majority of reported UFOs are eventually identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena. Nonetheless, a small subset of these phenomena remains unexplained, leaving room for ongoing speculation and study.

Read More “When Was the First UFO Sighting?”
Who Wrote the First Detective Novel?

Who Wrote the First Detective Novel?

ByFabien

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.

Read More “Who Wrote the First Detective Novel?”
What is the First Rap Song?

What is the First Rap Song?

ByFabien

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.

Read More “What is the First Rap Song?”
Who Discovered The Northwest Passage?

Who Discovered The Northwest Passage?

ByFabien

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.

Read More “Who Discovered The Northwest Passage?”
What is Pixel Art and Who Invented It?

What is Pixel Art and Who Invented It?

ByFabien

I grew up on 8-bit games and their aesthetic has for me nostalgic values. I’m certainly not alone in that case and it even became an art in itself. I don’t know why I started to think about it recently, but I went online to look into Pixel Art and ended up searching about its origins. So why not report here what I found?

What is called “Pixel Art?”

Pixel art is a form of digital art that utilizes pixels as the sole building block to create images. It is closely associated with the graphics of low-resolution systems like 8-bit and 16-bit computers, arcade consoles, LED displays, and graphing calculators. Each pixel represents a single point of color on a grid, and when combined with other pixels, they form larger compositions.

Read More “What is Pixel Art and Who Invented It?”
Who Designed The Titanic?

Who Designed The Titanic?

ByFabien

A recent tragedy has brought back the Titanic in the news. Beyond people discussing once more about James Cameron’s movie, there were back jokes and some who took the opportunity to educate others about the history of the famous sinking ship. This made me realize that I totally forgot everything I read about it in the late 1990s, so I looked at:

Who Is the Architect of The Titanic?

The most common answer to that question is apparently chief naval architect Thomas Andrews, but it turns out it’s not totally exact. So, let’s take a closer look at the construction of the boat.

Read More “Who Designed The Titanic?”
What Was the First Museum?

What Was the First Museum?

ByFabien

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.

Read More “What Was the First Museum?”