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+17 +3
The slow death of the microwave
America is tired of the microwave. Microwave sales have fallen or remained flat every year for nearly a decade in the US. Unit sales have tumbled by 25% since 2000, and 40% since their peak, in 2004. The waning popularity of the American microwave deserves a closer look. For 40 years, Americans bought microwaves by the millions, and more of them each year. Some 90% of American households now own a microwave, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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+13 +5
The Golden Age of Air Crimes
Despite what many young Americans may think, aircraft sabotage did not begin with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has been with us for decades. The following is a list of some of the worst air-related terrorist acts of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
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+24 +6
Your coffee pods' dirty secret
Coffee brewing is in the midst of a revolution, and I'm not talking about the AeroPress. It comes in the form of a small 2-by-2-inch single-serving pod that requires a special machine. Keurig, owned by Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee, makes the most popular pods, called "K-Cups." At the press of a button, the Keurig brewer punctures a small hole into the aluminum lid of an individual plastic cup filled with grounds, flushes it with steaming water, and, voilà! Out comes one hot cup of joe.
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+6 +2
How 1,280 Artworks Stolen by the Nazis were Hidden in a Munich Apartment Until 2012
It was the greatest art theft in history: 650,000 works looted from Europe by the Nazis, many of which were never recovered. But last November the world learned that German authorities had found a trove of 1,280 paintings, drawings, and prints worth more than a billion dollars in the Munich apartment of a haunted white-haired recluse. Amid an international uproar, Alex Shoumatoff follows a century-old trail to reveal the crimes—and obsessions—involved.
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+20 +2
Every Viking ‘Fact’ Is Wrong
Forget the funeral boats burning at sea and tales of the most bloodthirsty warriors in history. In fact, you can forget pretty much everything you think you know about the Vikings—it’s all wrong. Many of the legends associated with the Norse raiders were invented by their victims, whose written accounts dominated the narrative long after the Viking Age.
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+19 +4
A 'chicken from hell' Large feathered dinosaur species discovered
Scientists from Carnegie and Smithsonian museums and the University of Utah today unveiled the discovery, naming and description of a sharp-clawed, 500-pound, bird-like dinosaur that roamed the Dakotas with T. rex 66 million years ago and looked like an 11 ½-foot-long 'chicken from hell.'
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+17 +5
Plane That Crashed Into the Empire State Building
At 9:49 a.m. on Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building.
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+21 +4
Tupac in the Kremlin
How the martyred king of gangsta rap, a bisexual LSD-touting beat poet, and a reclusive alcoholic painter inspire a Moscow apparatchik.
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+31 +6
This is weird Nintendo
If we can glean anything from Nintendo's 124-year history, it's a willingness to experiment. The company, which originally sold playing cards, has at various points owned a taxi company, TV network, and even a love hotel chain. It wasn't until 1966, after over 75 years in business, that Nintendo released its first toy. The Ultra Hand was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, who would go on to make both the Game & Watch and Game Boy systems.
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+20 +2
Oral history: the sexual misadventures of the dental dam
How the surgical tool tried (and failed) to become the face of oral intimacy
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+19 +2
The Illustrated History of Twitter
Eight years ago, Jack Dorsey let the world know he was setting up his "twttr." How did Twitter go from a 140-character experiment to trading on the NYSE? Follow the social network's growth over the years.
1 comments by bradd -
+4 +1
What’s Wrong With Women’s History Month?
We're only recognizing women who have excelled at what are generally thought to be “masculine” pursuits.
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+26 +5
Asbestos Is Still Killing People: A look into 20 years of industry cover-ups and misinformation
A campaign of scientific concealment, distortion, and public misinformation that dates back over 80 years hid—and hides—the dangers of asbestos.
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+18 +4
A Brief History of Techno Music
In my story about the Berlin techno scene in this week’s issue of the magazine, I didn’t spend much space discussing the music itself, partly out of respect for the adage, often attributed incorrectly to Elvis Costello, that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and partly out of a sense of my own limitations. At this point, what I know about techno is what people who know about techno tell me.
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+16 +3
What medieval Europe did with its teenagers
Today, there's often a perception that Asian children are given a hard time by their parents. But a few hundred years ago northern Europe took a particularly harsh line, sending children away to live and work in someone else's home. Not surprisingly, the children didn't always like it.
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+17 +5
Before There Was the Like Button, There Was ... the 'Radiovota'
In the 1930s, an engineer tried to bring two-way communication to mass media.
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+25 +5
Being the Son of a Nazi
In 1975, Rüdiger Heim landed in Egypt with one question on his mind: Was his father a Nazi? Over the next two decades, he found out.
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+6 +2
What medieval Europe did with its teenagers
Today, there's often a perception that Asian children are given a hard time by their parents. But a few hundred years ago northern Europe took a particularly harsh line, sending children away to live and work in someone else's home. Not surprisingly, the children didn't always like it.
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+30 +6
The Murders at the Lake
In 1982 three teenagers were killed near the shores of Lake Waco in a seemingly inexplicable crime. More than three decades later, the tragic and disturbing case still casts a long, dark shadow.
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+31 +4
The Game That Saved March Madness
Princeton’s near-upset of Georgetown in a 1989 first-round game made sure Cinderella would always get invited to the ball.
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