42's Encyclopædic Journey

I read the encyclopædia so you don't have to. I bring a daily dose of knowledge which is sometimes obscure, but always interesting.

A while back I splurged and paid $700 for an 8 year old set of the Encyclopædia Britannica. I'm reading it cover to cover, page by page.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Didius Julianus - Roman emperor for 9 weeks

Money and politics have always gone hand in hand, but usually there is at least a pretense that it is about something else. Not so in this...

Monday, July 27, 2015

Dick, Philip K. - Total Recall

The movie Total Recall was based on the short story " We Can Remember It For You Wholesale " by Philip K. Dick. The story was or...

Sunday, July 26, 2015

dicastery - juries used to be much larger

In ancient Greece, a dicastery was a group of 6000 citizens that formed a jury pool that was split into groups of 500. A majority vote wa...

Saturday, July 25, 2015

dice - thousands of years old

The forerunner of dice were probably knucklebones (ankle bones of sheep) which were marked on 4 sides. Modern dice have been around for ...

Friday, July 24, 2015

ABO blood group systems - evidence of ancient migrations

A allele in Native Populations B allele in Native Populations O allele in Native Populations Type O blood is near 100% in Americ...

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Ableman v. Booth - federal government rules all. Taney was a false literalist.

Roger B. Taney I love when things intersect. I recently finished the book "Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman" in which forme...

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

abominable snowman - a bear tale

The Abominable Snowman (aka. Yeti) has some history behind it. It's a creature that is supposed to inhabit the Himalayas at about th...

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42 the Encyclopaediologist

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