Amusing Planet - Exploring Curiosities

The year 1967 held special significance for Soviet Union—it was the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, as well as the 10th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet...

If the first map to represent the American continent is that of Juan de la Cosa, made in the year 1500, and the first in which the name America appears to identify it is the so-called Universalis Cosmographia of Martin Waldseemüller, of 1507, the first...

“It is far better to face the bullets than to be killed at home by a bomb,” proclaimed a British Army recruitment poster publicized during World War 1. The poster was alluding to air attacks that Britain was being subjected to.
At the start of World War One, Britain found itself totally ill-prepared to deal with the threat from enemy airships called Zeppelins, which are practically large bags filled with hydrogen gas. Floating at thousands of feet, Zeppelins could turn off...

Before the invention of matches, making fire was a tedious business, so people often shared fires from already existing flames. Whenever a new fire had to be lit, a variety of different techniques were used, all of which involved rubbing one material...