When George S. Patton Bombed A Volcano
Today in 1935, a military mission you sure don’t see every day: at the direction of then-Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton, American planes carried out a series of bombing runs in Hawaii to stop a volcano.
How High-Tech Garbage Trucks Can Help Maintain A City
A new project using smart cameras could help keep our neighborhoods in proper working order, and it’s all based around garbage trucks.
AI Phone Bots Foil Scammers By Wasting Their Time
Some experts are worried AI could undo human civilization, but some of it is trying to help people. Like a project that uses AI phone bots to keep phone scammers from scamming people.
The “Wicked Bible” Suggested People Break Some Of The Ten Commandments
What do you have when you have a book that tells people "thou SHALT commit adultery"? You have what's known as the Wicked Bible or the Sinners' Bible, though who was encouraging all that sinning is something of a mystery.
Each Year, London Pays Rent To The Crown For Land That’s… Somewhere
The UK has lots of traditions. Here's another one: once a year, sometime between about now and mid November, the city of London pays rent to the Crown for several pieces of land in what’s called the Ceremony of Quit Rents.
Solar-Powered Cribs Are A Bright Idea To Stop Jaundice
Jaundice is treatable with phototherapy, but not all places have access to light therapy machines. A startup in Nigeria is building solar-powered phototherapy machines to fill that gap.
A Bar Owner Invented The Cash Register Because He Didn’t Trust His Bartenders
Today in 1879, a bar owner in Ohio received a patent for an invention that changed the way we buy and sell things: the cash register. He did it to thwart his bartenders, who he suspected of putting money meant for him in their own pockets.
Fort Blunder, The Military Installation Built In The Wrong Country
Today in 1816, the US military awarded to built a contract for a fort next to Lake Champlain, near the border with Canada. For years crews worked to make the fort strong, until one day when they realized there was a big problem.
There’s A Farm In The Middle Of A British Highway
Stott Hall Farm is an unusual place; on either side of the place, there's the UK's M62 highway. We'll explain how it happened.
Why A Stormtrooper Walked Helmet-First Into A Door In The Original “Star Wars”
Today in 1977, "Star Wars" premiered in movie theaters, and became a movie, pop culture and merchandising phenomenon. But how is it that, in one scene, an Imperial Stormtrooper walks helmet-first into an overhead door?