Tag: Discover,wordpress,blog,the wordpress.com blog

• August 7, 2020

  Bedlam

  The word “bedlam” is not used much anymore, but has the meaning of uproar, mayhem and the chaotic.  The word comes from a very particular place, the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital. Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, which goes back to the year 1247. It is also known as St. Maty Bethlehem. The word “Bedlam” comes…
• August 3, 2020

  Carry Nation

  Carry Nation, sometimes spelled Carrie Nation (1846-1911) was a radical member of the Temperance movement. She married a man who turned out to be an alcoholic. After he died from alcoholism, she married an older man, a widower.  She was apparently a good businesswoman, managing hotels in Kansas and elsewhere. Her husband became a preacher,…
• July 29, 2020

  New Amsterdam to New York City

  The Dutch controlled what is now New York City and the Hudson Valley only for a generation, from 1624 to 1664, but their impact was large. There were few Dutch who wanted to settle in New Amsterdam, so the Dutch had to recruit resident from all over Europe. There were Germans and Scots and English.…
• July 29, 2020

  The Puzzle of Ball Lightning

  Ball lightning refers to a very rare phenomenon generally associated with severe lightning storms. Think of lightning as a glowing basketball of energy rather than a lightning stroke. Anecdotes about ball lightning go back many centuries, but until quite recently, it was dismissed by scientists. They now recognize ball lightning as a real occurrence, but…
• July 26, 2020

  Mocha, Java, Joe

  Coffee is a predominant feature of American culture, regardless of ethnicity, income level or region. There are tens of thousands of coffee houses and other spaces devoted to the caffeine-laden drink (or to decaffeinated).  Millions of people buy expensive coffees every day at upscale coffee outlets. Millions more grind their own beans. Coffee is almost…