Category Archives: History
Travel & History: National Geographic — August 2023
Seeking to solve the Arctic’s biggest mystery, they ended up trapped in ice at the top of the world
In 1847, Sir John Franklin and a crew of 128 men disappeared while searching for the fabled Northwest Passage. A National Geographic team sought to find evidence of their fate—but the Arctic doesn’t give up its secrets easily.
BY MARK SYNNOTT
Jacob Keanik scanned his binoculars over the field of ice surrounding our sailboat. He was looking for the polar bear that had been stalking us for the past 24 hours, but all he could see was an undulating carpet of blue-green pack ice that stretched to the horizon. “Winter is coming,” he murmured. Jacob had never seen Game of Thrones and was unaware of the phrase’s reference to the show’s menacing hordes of ice zombies, but to us, the threat posed by this frozen horde was equally dire. Here in remote Pasley Bay, deep in the Canadian Arctic, winter would bring a relentless tide of boat-crushing ice. If we didn’t find a way out soon, it could trap us and destroy our vessel—and perhaps us too.
A MYSTERY LOCKED IN ICE
BY SOREN WALLJASPER,
In 1845, British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men set out in search of the Northwest Passage—a fabled sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific that would hasten trade between Europe and Asia. None of Franklin’s crew survived. The Norwegian ship Gjøa in 1903-06 made the first successful passage. In 2022, a National Geographic team attempted to retrace Franklin’s expedition to find fresh evidence of its undoing.
Food Insider: Why Grade A Maple Syrup Is So Valuable
Farms in the Hudson Valley, New York State, can sell that gallon for over $200, almost 29 times more than popular imitation syrup. Despite the price, Grade A maple syrup is incredibly sought-after. So much so that C$18 million worth of it was stolen in one of the largest heists in Canadian history.
But why is Grade A maple syrup worth so much? And why is it so expensive?
NASA: The ‘Voyager Golden Record’ -1977 Time Capsule
Designed to communicate to possible space-faring civilizations something of the diversity of life and culture on our world, the Golden Record consisted of greetings in 59 human languages and those of the humpback whales, 115 images of life here, the sounds of Earth, and 27 pieces from the world’s musical traditions. It has been called the beginning of the concept of “world music.”
It was Voyager 1 that looked homeward from high above Neptune to take, at Carl Sagan’s behest, the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph. Upon flawlessly completing the first phase of their mission, the NASA Voyagers 1 and 2 made for the open sea of interstellar space, teaching us the actual shape of our solar system as it moves through the galaxy. The Golden Record is an unparalleled document in the history of space exploration and our civilization.
Previews: History Today Magazine – August 2023
HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE (AUGUST 2023) – Queens of the Crusades, What happened to the Lost Vikings of Greenland, When Hitler’s civilians fought the Red Army, and more…
History & Culture: Mont-Saint-Michel At 1000 Years
Since the first stone was laid in 1023, it has been home to monks, monarchs and prisoners; a historic pilgrimage site that welcomes 3 million visitors each year. In this edition we meet some of the people who preserve its magic.
Interviews: ‘Under The Eye Of Power’ Author Colin Dickey – ‘Panic & Paranoia’
The American Scholar (July 14, 2023): In his new book, ‘Under the Eye of Power’, Colin Dickey asks, “What if paranoia, particularly a paranoia of secret, subversive societies, is not just peripheral to the functioning of democracy, but at its very heart?”
The litany of contemporary conspiracy theories runs long: Pizzagate, QAnon, chemtrails, “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams,” “birds aren’t real.”
Some of these are funny—the rumor that Avril Lavigne and/or Paul McCartney have been replaced by doppelgängers—and some have deadly consequences, like the mass murders motivated by replacement theory or the Chronicles of the Elders of Zion.
We might like to think this is a recent phenomenon, but the first American president to espouse a conspiracy theory was actually George Washington, a freemason who believed that the Illuminati caused the French Revolution.
Book Reviews: “A History Of The World In 500 Maps”
Meticulously rendered maps chart the sequence of broad historical trends, from the dispersal of our species across the globe to the colonizing efforts of imperial European powers in the 18th century, as well as exploring moments of particular significance in rich detail.
• Visualizes 7 million years of human history.
• Analyses cities and kingdoms as well as countries and continents.
• Features major technical developments, from the invention of farming in the Fertile Crescent to the Industrial Revolution.
• Charts the spread of major global religions, including Christianity and Islam.
• Explores the increasing interconnectivity of our world through exploration and trade.
• Investigates warfare and battles from across the ages, from Alexander the Great’s conquests to the D-Day offensive.
Louisiana View: History Of The Tabasco Sauce Brand
And most of this process still happens where it all began: Avery Island, Louisiana. Six generations of McIlhennys have lived on the island. But with disappearing marshes and more intense storms along the coast, the family is fighting to protect their, and the hot sauce’s, home.
Culture: Burgundy Wine Cellars Of Beaune, France
One of the oldest cellars in Beaune has been occupied for four generations by the Maison Drouhin. It contains traces of the city’s ancient past. Meanwhile, the cellars of Maison Champy were once frequented by Louis Pasteur and Gustave Eiffel. The much more modern Jadot winery has an unexpected skylight.
Boomers Daily 