“According to a beautiful comic by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the Dahomey Warriors first appeared as part of the entourage of the King of…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

May 4, 2019

“Eucalyptus: How California’s Most Hated Tree Took Root”

“Besides the practical need to plant more trees, settlers who were used to dense forests also felt that the lack of trees in California’s grassy, marshy, scrubby landscape made it feel incomplete. So within a few years, nurseries in…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jan 23, 2019

“How the sandwich consumed Britain”

“If you have been eating a packaged sandwich while reading this, you will have probably finished it by now. One industry estimate says that, on average, they take 3.5 minutes to consume. But no one really knows, because no one pays attention. One of the great…

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Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jan 10, 2019

“Christians were strangers”

“Apart from the small and ethnically circumscribed exception of the Jews, the ancient world had never known an exclusivist faith, so the rapid success of early Christianity is a historical anomaly. Moreover, because some form of Christianity is a foundational part of so many…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Dec 21, 2018

“Playing with History: What Sid Meier’s Video Game Empire Got Right and Wrong About ‘Civilization’”

“Fidelity to history is not the aim of Civilization. “The history that we know is only one possible path,” Meier said. “There are so many other possibilities.”…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Oct 15, 2018

“From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones”

“With the help of a state librarian, she and another inmate realized that a Catholic laundry house that opened around that time in Indianapolis was actually a reformatory for “fallen women” — those convicted…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Oct 2, 2018

“America’s hidden philosophy”

“The core of it ran like this: members of the Communist Party have abandoned reason, the impartial search for truth, and merely parrot the Moscow line. They should not be allowed to teach, not because they are Marxists — that would indeed be censorship — but because they are…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jul 22, 2018

“Hebrew was the only language ever to be revived from extinction. There may soon be another”

“Most language experts are unaware of the extent of this renaissance. Cornish is one of nine languages that Ethnologue, the standard reference guide to all the world’s…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jun 6, 2018

“Does Chinese Civilization Come From Ancient Egypt?”

“In the past year, Sun, a highly decorated scientist, has ignited a passionate online debate with claims that the founders of Chinese civilization were not in any sense Chinese but actually migrants from Egypt. He conceived of this…

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