I learned this today. Julius Caesar is supposed to have burned the library of Alexandria down in 48 BC, but it appears that it wasn’t destroyed and probably survived for another three hundred years before fading away. The city of Alexandria is about 150 km to the Northwest of Cairo, in Egypt, on the coast […]
#254 Who burned down the Library of Alexandria? Read More »
I learned this today. It is impossible to know if the emperor Nero was as bad as people say because all of the contemporary sources were destroyed. Nero became emperor of the Roman Empire in 54 AD. He was the adopted son of Emperor Claudius and came to the throne on the death of Claudius.
#250 Was Nero as bad as people say? Read More »
I learned this today. There is some evidence that paleolithic people were the first to use coal. Humans have been using fire since about 400,000 years ago. Evidence for this was found in Qesem Cave in Israel. Archeologists discovered large quantities of burned bone and moderately heated soil lumps. A 300,000-year-old hearth was also found.
#249 When did people start using coal? Read More »
I learned this today. The expression “mayday” was first used in February 1923. Mayday is used when a plane or a ship is undergoing a life-threatening emergency. The procedure is to say the word three times, “Mayday, mayday, mayday.” This is so that it can’t be issued by mistake. The expression “mayday” was concocted by
#247 When was the expression “mayday” first used? Read More »
I learned this today. Headlamps were first used on horse drawn carriages and then transitioned to the first horseless carriages. The first gas headlamps were used in the late 1880s. I have used the word “headlight”, but the correct term is “headlamp”. The headlamp is the device that emits the light and the beam of
#246 When did cars start using headlights (headlamps)? Read More »
I learned this today. The British and American accents are different because the UK accents dropped a few things that the US kept. It is obviously difficult to generalize about UK and US accents because there are wildly different accents within each country. So, why do accents form? Accents form because of the history and
#245 Why are American and British accents different? Read More »
I learned this today. The idea that manslaughter is different to murder was introduced in Athens in 409 BC. This is a difficult question because the laws of different countries are extremely different and many different societies developed different laws at different times. Some of those laws and societies have disappeared and some of those
#244 When did the law of manslaughter start? Read More »
I learned this today. The Ottoman Empire ended due to revolt, general decline, and defeat in World War 1. The Ottoman Empire began in the 13th century. Osman I, a Turkish tribal leader, managed to conquer a few of the territories near to his own on the border of the Byzantine Empire. The name “Ottoman”
#243 Why did the Ottoman Empire end? Read More »
I learned this today. The creation of the term “pope” to mean the head of the Roman Catholic church started in the 11th century. The word “pope” comes from the Greek word pappas, meaning father. The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic church and is known as the Bishop of Rome or the
#238 Who was the first pope? Read More »
I learned this today. Rationing in the UK during World War 2 started in September 1939 and ended on July 4th, 1954. Rationing is not an idea that started in the Second World War. People have always rationed when food is scarce. Often, during battles, towns were besieged. The idea would be to starve the
#235 When did rationing in the UK end after World War 2? Read More »
