This is a story that has nothing to do with the internet. It has to do with health, safety, and quality of life. And, if you’re like me, you’ve enjoyed the benefits of a networked house for a long time. “Back in the Day” You used candles and kerosene lanterns for light at night. If…
Germany started flying rigid airships when they launched the Zeppelin line in 1910 and successfully carried passengers globally for thousands of flights. This form of civilian air travel was interrupted by WWI but resumed after the war. In 1928 the Graf Zeppelin took passengers on a 112-hour non-stop flight from Germany to New Jersey. Over…
The search for effective pain medications was urgent in the late 1880s. We still had many Civil War veterans who has suffered horrible wounds and amputations. Many of them had been given morphine for their pain and now found themselves addicted to the drug. Cities had been growing and the air was polluted with dust,…
Who knew a mouthwash could do so much.
Long ago and far away… ….there was a group that we called “newspaper journalists.” They were the reporters that concerned citizens counted on for information that was used for learning, personal judgement, and decision making. According to Wikipedia (don’t laugh, it’s a well vetted source these days) a journalist is “a person who collects, writes,…
Who was Captain John Edward Smith and what can we learn from him and his fateful decision? Well Captain Smith was the most senior White Star Line captain in 1912. He was also the first and last captain of the RMS Titanic and he died with his ship when it sank. Was he experienced? Yes….
No, of course you don’t remember. The pollution was the stink and slime of horse manure, and the year was 1890. Horses, those hay burning engines of transportation, produce 15 to 30 pounds of manure per day. Gosh, you need a big baggie to pick up your horse’s droppings when you take it for a…
Two nasty diseases, malaria and yellow fever, held sway in hot, low-lying, tropical and sub-tropical areas for centuries. These areas had high humidity and rapid decomposition of vegetation and when people came down with high fevers that often killed them, they (wrongly) believed that the killer was mal-aria (bad air). The putrid winds from the…
No, this is not the start of a corny joke; it’s the progression of people who worked to bring you the lowly “disposable” battery that seems to be everywhere. The stories Alessandro Volta made the first battery in 1798 by stacking sheets of zinc, acid-moistened cardboard, and copper. In 1836 the English chemist John Frederic…
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