The Atlantic ranks "The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel." Was the moldboard plow really more important than cement? Me-ouch! We're not wading into this hornet's nest!
What If Dick Cheney's First Heart Attack Had Killed Him?
Dick "Dick" Cheney, the defining political figure of 21st century America, is publishing a book next week called Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, about his own health problems. Cheney had the first of his five heart attacks in 1978. What if he had not survived?
Chicago Man Says He'll "Roast" Rare Papers If Harvard Won't Pay Up
A Chicago man who discovered a trunk of rare papers formerly belonging to Harvard University's first black graduate says he plans on burning them all if Harvard doesn't stop lowballing him on the price. Rufus McDonald is not playing around: "I'll roast and burn them," he told the Chicago Sun-Times.
What "Sellouts" Were
Once upon a time not so long ago, there was an idea: that some things in this world should be able to exist free from the influence of money—that these things should be done because of their own intrinsic value. You would be forgiven for scoffing at the notion that this idea was ever taken seriously at all.
The Lizard King Next Door
Every town has its weird history, and even the newest housing tract of wet stucco and green 2x4s has some kind of buried backstory. The island city where I live today is loaded with Gold Rush tales and Victorian mansions, but the fact that Jim Morrison spent his formative years around the block is not something you…
Remembering 9/11: An Educational Pageant
On this September 11, another year further removed from the events of 2001, many Americans have seemingly lost focus on the significance of what happened. As the attacks move toward history's horizon, like the Civil War and Thanksgiving before them, Gawker offers an educational resource to help America's…
10 Sentences We Hope Are In Rush Limbaugh's New Children's Book
Beloved entertainer Rush Limbaugh once again proves he's "king of all media" with his new children's book about America's colonial history. Kids everywhere are excited about the $19.99 storybook, which will "drop" just in time for Halloween, when children will finally get hip to the man lovingly known as Uncle Rush.
The Worst of White Folks
Way back in the day when Twitter was a bootleg reindeer name, David Rozier invented farting during Mass. A few minutes before we marveled at the six Catholics at Holy Family Catholic School sipping out of one gold goblet, and right after Father Joe suggested we offer each other “a sign of peace,” David tapped me on my…
We live in strange, strange times: Germany is now the most positively viewed nation in the world.
Cop-Killing Terror Lady Is First Woman On FBI Terror List
Fugitive cop-killer Joanne Chesimard has become the first woman on America's Most Wanted Terrorists List, joining a previously all male list of super villains. Chesimard, who also goes by the aliases "Sister-Love Chesimard" and "Joan Davis," murdered a New Jersey state trooper 40 years ago today. Chesimard busted out…
Picky Cheater Offers $600 For Solid "Masters Level History" Paper
Do you want to make $600 cash by Tuesday? Then get to work on this rich guy's "Masters Level History" papers. We are not talking about a cut-and-paste from Wikipedia here, this guy is a legitimate grad student who needs to learn about World War II by having you write his well-sourced academic papers. "I've done this…
Teen Girl's Smashed Skull Proves Jamestown Creeps Were Cannibals
Jamestown was a gruesomely failed start to the English colonization of America. The people were malnourished and disease-ridden and too dumb to eat the bountiful fish and fruits all around them. Most of the settlers were dead within the first year, and in the second hungry winter of 1609-10, the starving survivors …
Here's to Rosalind Franklin, whose work to discover the structure of DNA was published by Watson and Crick 60 years ago today.
In case you had any doubt that the campaign to rehabilitate George W. Bush's reputation was phony and corrupt, Lanny Davis has signed on.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum Could Have Been America's Co-President
Newton Leroy Gingrich, a former college professor who co-writes speculative novels about alternative versions of history, has just coauthored the most momentous counterfactual of his career. Forget wondering what would have happened if the Confederates had won at Gettysburg, or if the United States had fought Imperial…
George W. Bush Is An Outsider Artist, Standing Apart From History, Naked
Now we've seen the art of George W. Bush, but have we really seen it? We asked arts blogger Greg Allen, of greg.org, to give the ex-president's works a close reading.
