Month: February 2017

Last year it was all supermoons, all the time. This year it’s going to be eclipses. There’s the big one on August 21—start planning your trip now!—and leading up to it are a couple of smaller events, starting with a penumbral lunar eclipse tonight, and an annular solar eclipse later this month. The eclipse tomorrow night, February 10, will occur during a “Snow Moon,” and if you stay up a little bit longer, you might even be able to spot a comet. In other words, if you’re looking for cheap date ideas for the last Friday before Valentine’s Day, you’ve come to the right place.

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH THE SNOW MOON

Full moons have names. They survive largely through the pages of the Farmer’s Almanac, a 99-year-old annual best known for its weather predictions. You might recall the Hunter’s Moon, or the Harvest Moon, and who could forget the Beaver Moon?

Tonight’s moon is called the Snow Moon, named by the American Indians for the obvious reason: February is the snowiest month. (This moon was also sometimes called the “Hunger Moon,” for the same reason, and the “Shoulder to Shoulder Around the Fire Moon.”) Generally speaking, you get only one full moon per month. In fact, the word “month” is derived from “moon,” referring to a full cycle of its phases. Next month is the Worm Moon, because with the onset of spring, you have the wormiest month. And so on.

If you decide to have a moonlit picnic with your sweetheart, that kind of trivia is solid gold.

THE SOFTER SIDE OF A LUNAR ECLIPSE

So what of this eclipse business? You might notice also that the moon seems a little … off. I don’t want to get your hopes up here: You will not see a Pacman-like chomp taken out of the moon, nor any well-defined line that you can point at and say, “See that? That is the edge of the Earth’s shadow.”

Penumbral eclipses are a bit subtler than that. What you’ll want to look for is a darker hue to pass across the lunar surface. That’s it, but it’s still really cool. What’s happening is this. Shadows have two elements: the umbra and the penumbra. The umbra is the darkest part of a shadow. (The red super harvest moon in 2015 was caused by the Moon passing into the umbra of the Earth’s shadow.) The penumbra is the much gentler, much blurrier shadow that surrounds the umbra. It’s the place where the light source (in this case the Sun) is partially blocked, but not entirely. That’s the part of the Earth’s shadow that the Moon will be passing through tonight. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you should enjoy the show.

(There’s also the antumbra, in which the object being shadowed is fully contained in the light source—we’ll talk more about that on February 26, when the Moon as seen from the Southern hemisphere will become a giant, terrifying ring of fire.)

If you live in North America, you can watch the penumbral eclipse on February 10 at precisely 7:43 p.m. EST.

THE TEAL COMET NEAR HERCULES

There will also be a comet out for your pre-Valentines Friday date night viewing pleasure. Its full name is Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková, but its friends call it “45P.” It will be visible around 3:00 a.m. EST. This particular comet visits us every five years, and tonight is its closest approach to Earth in its orbit. You’ll be gazing in the vicinity of the constellation Hercules, and looking specifically for a teal dot with a tail.

Realistically speaking, though, will you be able to see it? If the light pollution in your area is nil, and if your eyes are well adjusted, there’s a very slim chance you’ll be able to spot it with your naked eyes. I would not risk a disappointing end to a date night, however. After checking out the eclipse, head inside where it’s warm and go to Slooh. At 10:30 p.m. EST, astronomers will begin coverage of the comet, and use telescopes to give you a much better view than you’ll find in the backyard. If you have a fireplace, all the better for setting the mood. It is a Shoulder to Shoulder Around the Fire Moon, after all.

Today’s world was shaped by yesterday’s weapons. Mankind’s ever-evolving arsenal is constantly reshaping our technologies, our political climate, and our relationship with nature. Here are 10 key developments that transformed the planet we call home.    

1. SPEAR-THROWING DEVICES REVOLUTIONIZED HUNTING.

The spear is one of the oldest known tools; in fact, it might even pre-date our species. In 2012, archaeologists recovered the stone tips from some models in South Africa, leading them to conclude that spears were likely invented around 500,000 years ago. Given their extreme age, these were most likely made by Homo heidelbergensis, the ancestor of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Eventually, primitive man paired this ancient weapon with a device that made spears faster, deadlier, and more accurate than ever before. The atlatl—or “spear-thrower”—is an unassuming stick carved out of wood or bone. A hook projects upwards from the rear end while the front comes with a handgrip on the underside. Primitive hunters would grab the handle, place a spear on top of the gadget, and aim it at their target. Then, using a precise sweeping motion, they’d fling the spear forward. By creating extra leverage, the atlatl enabled people to throw these projectiles more forcefully than an unassisted human arm ever could—meaning our ancestors were now free to initiate attacks on dangerous game animals like mammoths and whales from a fair distance away. (The oldest atlatls on record were built in France around 17,500 years ago.)

2. BRONZE WEAPONS ONCE CONQUERED EGYPT.

The Hyksos, a group of conquerors hailing from what is now Palestine, began a gradual takeover of Egypt in about 1700 BCE, thanks in part to their superior technology [PDF]. Their Bronze Age weapons had, by and large, never before been seen in Egypt. The Hyksos introduced the Egyptians to bronze armor and the chariot, and brought with them state-of-the-art axes whose metal heads were affixed to the shaft via a socket. In contrast, Egyptian soldiers still relied on an outdated axe-making technique which involved splitting the axe shaft and then riveting on the head. This put the locals at a big disadvantage because while their axe blades were liable to fly off mid-swing, those of the Hyksos remained firmly attached. Ironically, the Hyksos’s advanced weaponry was later used by southern Egyptian rebels to drive them out once and for all in 1521 BCE.

3. GREEK FIRE HELPED PROTECT THE BYZANTINES.

Many historians credit the Byzantine Empire with shielding western Europe from Arabic and Turkish advances. It fended off enemies thanks, in part, to antiquity’s most mysterious chemical weapon: Greek fire. The composition of this substance was a well-guarded secret; today’s experts can only speculate about what its ingredients might have been. Potent enough to burn on the ocean’s surface, it was almost impossible to extinguish. In 941 CE, the Byzantines used this magic elixir to decimate a Rus naval fleet on the Black Sea. Similarly, in the eighth century CE, Greek fire helped thwart an attempted Arabic naval siege of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire’s capital city. To launch and ignite the incendiary mixture, Byzantine troops could pump it into clay or ceramic containers which—like modern grenades—violently exploded when hurled against a target. Another delivery method involved expelling jets of Greek fire-induced blazes through an early kind of flamethrower.

4. LONGBOWS BROUGHT ABOUT THE END OF AN ERA.

Medieval history buffs love to talk about the game-changing Battle of Crecy. Waged in a French village of the same name on August 26, 1346, the contest pitted about 10,000 Englishmen against a Gallic force of 40,000 to 50,000. Although they were outnumbered, the English managed to keep their own casualties down to roughly 300 soldiers while the French lost somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 men—along with the battle. The key to England’s success was a newly-adopted weapon: the dreaded longbow. Originally designed by the Welsh, the English army first began using them in the 1330s, during the reign of King Edward III. At a time when most bows didn’t exceed four feet in length, the typical longbow stretched six feet from end to end, and could easily shoot down opponents from 180 yards away with enough force to penetrate chain mail. Because of its power, the introduction of the longbow changed the rules of European warfare. Previously, mounted cavalries had been considered the most important part of a medieval military campaign. But longbows were a good deal cheaper than—and tended to make short work of—horses. As a result, equestrian knights gradually found themselves replaced by skilled archers and foot soldiers, who were mostly peasants—a fact that would profoundly affect the continent’s economic future.

5. GUNPOWDER CONQUERED CONTINENTS …

You’d be hard-pressed to name an invention that’s had as big an impact on the course of human events. Gunpowder was born in China at some point during the ninth century CE. It’s generally thought that the substance was first produced when local alchemists mixed charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate as part of a medical experiment. “In China, you still see people who sometimes use gunpowder as a medicine,” says historian Laichen Sun, who adds, “It didn’t take long for the Chinese to see that this new elixir also could have a practical application in war.” Indeed, by the year 1232 CE, China had started using primitive, gunpowder-based grenades and landmines to ward off Mongolian invaders. (The Mongols, in turn, are often credited with introducing the material to India, Europe, and the Middle East.) Within the next few centuries, handheld firearms—the tools that, among many other things, enabled European explorers to conquer the Americas—had also come into being.  

6. … AND CANNONFIRE SHAPED BORDERS. 

In medieval Europe, noble families often lived behind castle walls, which had the effect of handicapping any attempt at centralized governance. If, say, a French baron were to disregard his king’s orders, he could avoid suffering any consequences simply by hiding behind the walls of his estate. Back then, laying siege to one of these buildings was a difficult and time-consuming task with a miniscule chance of success, even for the biggest medieval forces. But when large gunpowder weapons started to appear on the continent, they changed this whole equation. During the 15th and 16th centuries, massive cannons—along with strategically-placed mines—efficiently breached previously impenetrable castle walls. To defend themselves from such assaults, noblemen now had to rely on standing armies. Paying for all those troops required enormous tax bases—the kind that only large, centralized governments could preside over. This incentivized monarchs to start consolidating power within their kingdoms and develop the first European nation-states.

7. “MINIE BALLS” POPULARIZED RIFLES.

Although rifles have been around since the 1400s, they didn’t become popular combat weapons until fairly recently. That’s because, for centuries, loading them was a real pain. Early rifle ammo had to have the same diameter as the barrel’s interior, meaning soldiers would need to forcefully ram every bullet down the rifle’s shaft. Then along came Claude-Étienne Minié, a French army captain who changed rifle usage forever. In 1849, Minié created a lead, conical bullet with an opening at the base. Unlike most rifle ammo, he designed these to be a bit smaller in diameter than the barrels they were intended for, meaning a soldier could drop one into his gun with ease. Once the trigger was pulled, the bullet’s bottom would expand—at which point, it’d catch the grooves and start spiraling. Just like that, Minié made rifles a lot more user-friendly. His new bullets, referred to as “Minié balls,” offered reliable, long-range accuracy, which was first capitalized on by the British during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Later on, both Union and Confederate forces adopted them in the American Civil War, which contributed to the conflict’s utter devastation.

8. TANKS BECAME A BATTLEFIELD STAPLE.

On September 15, 1916, a World War I standoff between British and German soldiers in northern France became the first battle in history to feature tanks, when the British turned up with 49 of them. Weighing 28 tons apiece, the gargantuan vehicles could each hold a crew of eight men and sported a combination of light machine guns and heavier firearms. At first, they didn’t impress. Though the tanks were built to roll across every obstacle from trenches to barbed wire, all but 22 broke down before reaching the front lines. And of those that did reach their destination, seven stopped working once the fighting began in earnest. Despite these inauspicious beginnings, the tank would go on to play a major role in the Second World War; the 1941 Battle of Brody alone featured 800 Axis-built ones and 3500 Russian models. 

9. AK-47s DEFINED MODERN WARFARE …

Earlier inventors (including Richard Gatling and Hiram Maxim) paved the way for semi-automatic and automatic weapons like Mikhail Kalashnikov’s AK-47. But as author C.J. Chivers argues, none of these devices shaped modern warfare quite like the lightweight, low-cost, easy-to-manufacture Kalashnikov. Its development coincided with nuclear proliferation, and while nuclear weapons “served to freeze borders in place and prevent total war … the Kalashnikov percolated from state to state, army to army, group to group and man to man and became the principle firearm used for modern war and political violence, in all of its many forms,” Chivers says. Because the weapon was given designation as an official Soviet firearm, the gun was produced in huge quantities and shipped all over the USSR—whether people wanted them or not. From there the weapons circulated around the globe, and served as inspiration for countless copycats eager to harness the AK-47’s power for themselves. “The Kalashnikov, in actual practice over the past 60-plus years, has proven much more deadly” than “big-ticket weapons” like submarines or atomic bombs, Chivers points out. “But it gets a lot less official attention.” 

10. … AND NUCLEAR WEAPONRY SHAPED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

No list of history-altering technologies would be complete without acknowledging the first atomic bombs and their ongoing political aftermath. In August 1945, a pair of these weapons were dropped onto the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 people by some estimates. From there, the United States and Soviet Union began their decades-long nuclear arms race which resulted in both superpowers stockpiling enough of these devices to destroy the planet several times over. Today, nine countries are known to have at least one such weapon at their disposal.

Since 2011, an estimated 4.9 million people have fled their homes in Syria to take refuge in other countries. About 656,000 of those refugees are now living in Jordan, where some will find work with an unlikely employer: IKEA. The Swedish home-goods giant is launching a new textiles line that will be crafted in Jordan by Syrian refugees, according to CNN.

The new rugs and textiles, which will hit showrooms in 2019, will provide jobs for about 200 refugees, mostly women. The company is working with local women’s organizations to design the project and make sure that the hours are flexible enough that women who need to care for family members can still work.

The company’s nonprofit arm, the IKEA Foundation, has already been working to assist those fleeing conflict in places like Syria and Sudan. Its flat-pack refugee shelter was awarded the London Design Museum’s award for design of the year in 2016. In November 2016, it also teamed up with the Red Cross to build a replica of the real home of a displaced family in Damascus inside one of its Norwegian stores.

The rugs and other goods will be sold in a limited edition in the Middle East, so they may not make it to your neighborhood IKEA.

[h/t GOOD]

The kings, queens, and captains that populate pop culture are, for the most part, imagined. But then there are those familiar figures who are far from fictional. While unfortunately there’s no evidence there was ever an actual Mother of Dragons, other positions from books, folklore, television, and other cultural channels are (or were) very real, and we’ve got the backstories (and, in some cases, current titleholders) to prove it.

1. THE SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM

He was Robin Hood’s villainous rival in the classic English tale, trying his best to thwart the folk hero’s stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But in real life, the Sheriff of Nottingham’s responsibilities are remarkably less sinister.

Some argue Robin Hood’s sheriff was based on actual Nottingham Sheriff Reginald de Grey, who was tasked with pulling together an army to defeat the outlaws (including possible Robin Hood inspiration Roger Godberd), defying the area royals in the 13th century. Once modern police forces came along, the job had less law enforcement pull. Today, it’s largely ceremonial, with current Sheriff Jackie Morris (who now holds the position for a second time, having also been the predecessor to last year’s sheriff, Mohammed Saghir) trading in the historic hunt for Merry Men for important stuff like supporting the city’s tourism strategy, encouraging residents to utilize all Nottingham has to offer, and “hosting welcome receptions in order to promote the city.”

2. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

Nobody has been able to definitively prove who the Queen of Sheba actually was, but the legendary royal appears in the sacred religious texts and traditions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims, so scholars are pretty sure she must have been based on somebody (though the stuff about her having a goat hoof for a foot is probably less likely). Clues from her various cultural appearances suggest she came from a place rich with gemstones, spices, and incense, which would hint at roots in modern day Ethiopia, Yemen, or Somalia, and her interactions with King Solomon narrow down her lifespan to a few different periods people have assigned to the historic king. While Yemen and other regions still see the Queen of Sheba as their own legend, in Ethiopia she is credited with having a son with the biblical King Solomon named Menelik, who was said to have brought the Ark of the Covenant (yep, the same one Indiana Jones was after) back to their country. Sheba giving birth to Menelik was also believed to have been the start of the Solomonic dynasty, the Ethiopian emperors who ruled the country as recently as the 1970s.

3. THE EARL OF SANDWICH

The greatest thing since sliced bread was clearly the sandwich since it put bread to an even more delicious use—and the real-life man behind everyone’s favorite lunch staple was the Earl of Sandwich, a title that’s lived on for centuries in the quaint English community that shares its name. It was, in fact, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, who developed the edible namesake in the 18th century, apparently so he could keep snacking while he played cards (although people had eaten bread with fillings long before Montagu came along). But generations later, members of the Montagu family continue to use their inventive relative to their personal advantage: The 11th Earl of Sandwich (also named John Montagu) teamed up with Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl in 2004 to launch a restaurant chain named after the family title. And the same Montagu’s son Luke, the heir to the earldom, is married to Julie Montagu, an American yoga instructor who joined the cast of Bravo’s Real Housewives offshoot Ladies of London in 2014; on it, she often mentions her efforts to modernize and promote the family estate, Mapperton, and has told the story of her husband’s ancestor and his favorite snack. The town of Sandwich celebrated the 250th anniversary of its most famous food in 2012.

4. THE KING OF SIAM

When the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King and I returned to Broadway for its 2015 revival, director Bartlett Sher was careful to pay homage to the real people whose lives inspired the musical: Indian-English governess Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut of 19th century Thailand, then known as Siam. Leonowens’s 1870 memoir about her years as a governess at the Siamese court was the work former Christian missionary Margaret Landon based her 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam on. Landon’s book sparked an Oscar-winning movie and the iconic stage production, which led to another Oscar-winning movie, starring Yul Brynner as the king. The real Mongkut’s descendant, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, sat on the Thai throne for 70 years as the world’s longest-reigning living monarch until his death in October 2016 (his son was then crowned in December of that year). As far as we know, no musicals are being penned about Bhumibol—though even if they were, they’d probably be banned in his country, much like the play that made Siam’s king so famous in the first place.

5. LADY GRANTHAM (A.K.A. LADY ALMINA)

Even after Downton Abbey closed its TV doors in 2015, the proper lords and ladies who reside in the real Downton—southern England’s Highclere Castle—aren’t going anywhere. The estate where the popular drama was shot has been home to the aristocratic Carnarvon family for generations, and Downton creator Julian Fellowes has said he finds the real Highclere “very intriguing.” Currently, the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon live part-time on the grounds, but in the early decades of the 20th century when the fictional action of Downton was unfolding, the lady of the manor was Lady Almina, the wife of the estate’s 5th Earl. Almina shared many qualities with the TV show’s Lady Grantham: She was a wealthy American heiress, she turned the house into a makeshift hospital during World War I, and she modernized the property by adding electricity and a telephone line.

6. THE MARQUIS DE SADE

The world has long had mixed feelings about the guy who inspired the word sadism. Born in Paris in 1740, the infamous Marquis de Sade got an understandably bad rep for both his seriously scandalous writings (think violent orgies, prostitution, murder, and more) and his own troubling behavior (he died in an insane asylum). For generations after the marquis’s death, the de Sade family chose to pretend their rebellious relative hadn’t existed at all. It wasn’t until the late 1940s that de Sade descendants started owning their famous forebear. Today, current marquis Elzéar de Sade and his brothers, Hugues and Thibault, have embraced their ancestor and hope others will too via exhibits of family artifacts and, of course, branded merchandise (Marquis de Sade wine, anyone?).

7. THE SOUP NAZI

His title was bestowed by contemporary sitcom writers, not ancient officials, but the so-called Soup Nazi was based on a very real New York soup-slinger with very little patience for those unable to adhere to his strict ordering rules. Initially, Al Yeganeh wasn’t crazy about the classic Seinfeld episode based on his restaurant (and was pretty vocal about it), but in the 20-plus years since the show first aired, Yeganeh and his Original Soupman brand have used the unexpected fame (and the actor who played the Yeganeh-inspired character on the show) to promote their soups and franchises.

8. THE PRINCE OF WALACHIA

You probably know him as Count Dracula. Author Bram Stoker’s fictional, bloodthirsty noble went down in horror history when the eponymous novel was published in 1897. The original Dracula, otherwise known as Vlad III (and better known still as Vlad the Impaler), ruled the southern region of what is now Romania centuries earlier. Stoker likely looked to the 15th-century prince and his legendary brutality as a partial model when he penned his famous book—and there was plenty of reported cruelty to scour, such as Vlad’s proclivity for leaving his enemies on spikes (thus giving him his posthumous nickname) and the legend of his dipping his bread in their blood. Subsequent Romanian royals were a lot more humane. The kingdom of Walachia was dissolved in 1859, and today it’s the president and prime minister that hold the real power in the region, though Britain’s Prince Charles did claim to be a descendent of Vlad a few years back (prompting some to speculate he might take over the Romanian throne) and 95-year-old former monarch King Michael I, who abdicated in 1947, is still known as the king.

In pursuit of their commitment to giving their customers everything from vacation packages to toilet paper to cars, national warehouse chains are constantly rolling out new perks. Sam’s Club’s newest addition: self-service health screening stations.

The company has just announced the arrival of these interactive stations for use by customers who want to perform an independent evaluation of some basic vitals. The station, made by health care supplier higi, measures blood pressure, pulse, body mass index (BMI), and weight. Users can monitor these statistics over time and share data with health trackers.

Although the stations are autonomous, Sam’s Club remains committed to more conventional health screenings. From January through October, the company holds monthly evaluations that are open to both members and non-members. On Saturday, February 11, they’ll be hosting a heart health event that will offer free cholesterol, vision, and hearing check-ups. Both the screenings and the self-service stations are available in most every Sam’s Club location that houses a pharmacy.

If you believe the foundation of a strong marriage is a shared love of pizza, Domino’s has good news: The chain has unveiled a wedding registry that swaps out stuffy silverware for Domino’s eGift cards.

Engaged couples can register at dominosweddingregistry.com to receive an array of pizza gift packages. Wedding guests can select the “2 a.m. Bachelor Party Feast” to treat the groom before his big day, or the “Dancing with My Slice” option for some post-reception pies. The list also includes plenty of gifts for pairs to enjoy after the wedding, like gift cards to spend on the “Thank You Card-a-thon,” the “Post-Honeymoon Adjustment to Real Life,” and the “Low-key Date Night.”

“Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so we wanted to give recently engaged couples that are passionate about pizza the chance to register for something they both truly love as much as their partner,” Domino’s spokesperson Jenny Fouracre said in a press release. “We wanted to make it easier for people to ask for and receive something that they’ll really use.”

After receiving their gifts, all newlyweds need are matching wipeable Domino’s onesies to complete the transition into married life.

Born on February 9, 1737 (according to the Gregorian calendar), Paine was a brilliant essayist whose polarizing pen brought him praise and scorn on both sides of the Atlantic. Here are a few things you might not have known about the man John Adams once called “a mongrel between pig and puppy, begotten by a wild boar on a bitch wolf.”

1. HE ARRIVED IN AMERICA WITH A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FROM BEN FRANKLIN.

The first half of Thomas Paine’s life was marred by setbacks and sorrow. Born and raised in Norfolk, England, his formal education consisted of a five-year stint at Thetford Grammar School which ended when he began apprenticing under his father—a stay-maker—at age 13. By the time Paine turned 38, he’d suffered the death of his first wife and child, parted ways with his second one, and had twice been dismissed from his post at the English Excise Service. But around that time, Paine was introduced to Benjamin Franklin by their mutual friend, mathematician George Lewis Scott. Franklin encouraged Paine to emigrate to the American colonies, and in 1774, Paine set sail for Philadelphia with a letter of recommendation from Franklin. It instructed Paine to show the document to Franklin’s son-in-law, Pennsylvania businessman Richard Bache.

“The bearer, Mr. Thomas Paine, is very well recommended to me as an ingenious worthy young man,” Franklin wrote. “He goes to Pennsylvania with a view of settling there. I request you give him your best advice and countenance, as he is quite a stranger there. If you can put him in a way of obtaining employment … you will do well, and much oblige your affectionate father.”

At the end of a long and arduous journey, Paine arrived in the new world on November 30, 1774. As instructed, he showed the letter to Bache, who obligingly found him a tutoring job. The following year, Paine was hired as the executive editor of Pennsylvania Magazine, a monthly periodical, and within three months, Paine’s provocative essays on various social issues had driven the number of subscribers up from 600 to 1500.

2. JOHN ADAMS WAS RUMORED TO BE THE REAL AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE.

Paine is primarily remembered, at least in the U.S., for writing Common Sense. Released on January 9 or 10, 1776 (sources differ), the essay championed the idea of American independence and the establishment of a New World republic—two subjects which, by and large, hadn’t been taken seriously in the colonies. Paine later said that the pamphlet sold anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 copies, but modern historians doubt that.

At first, Common Sense was published anonymously, which led to speculation about who the author might be. In Boston, it was rumored that John Adams had penned the manifesto—but Adams didn’t fully agree with the premise of Common Sense, which he once referred to as a “poor ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, Crapulous Mass.” His biggest criticism involved the author’s call for a new American republic overseen by a unicameral (i.e.: “one-house”) legislature. To rebut Common Sense, Adams anonymously published a pamphlet of his own, titled Thoughts on Government, which advocated the creation of a bicameral legislature as one component of a three-pronged governmental system that would also include a judiciary branch and an elected governor. (Sound familiar?) Paine’s identity as the author of Common Sense was revealed on March 30, and Adams, who instantly regretted publishing his tract anonymously, also attached his name in later printings.

3. HE (BRIEFLY) WORKED FOR THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.   

Specifically, Paine was brought onboard in April 1777 to serve as the organization’s Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs. Paine was paid $70 a month, and his job consisted of maintaining the committee’s records and drafting letters to American diplomats stationed overseas. But he continued to write essays in support of the revolution on the side, which got him into serious trouble when he publicly mentioned top-secret negotiations with the French. He also made some powerful enemies by accusing diplomat Silas Deane of war-profiteering. In January 1779 Congress began taking steps to remove Paine from his position, but Paine voluntarily resigned.

4. PAINE ONCE DESIGNED AN EXPERIMENTAL KIND OF BRIDGE.

Like Franklin, Paine loved tinkering and was known to invent the occasional product (for example, a “smokeless candle”)—and when the Revolutionary War ended, he turned the world of infrastructure upside down with an inspired new bridge design.

During the late 18th century, the average bridge was constructed mainly out of stones and wood and was typically built with half-circle arches that allowed tall ships to pass beneath them. Unfortunately, steep arches like that forced architects to steeply incline both ends of the road on top of the bridge—a major inconvenience for pedestrians and carriages. It was possible to construct a bridge with support piers in the middle of the span, but ice routinely destroyed these bridges.

Paine came up with a radical alternative. In 1787, he sketched out the blueprint for a bridge with an incline free road made possible by an underlying arch that didn’t curve upwards so sharply. And for resiliency’s sake, he designed the whole thing to be made of iron. Since visual aids are always helpful, Paine built a 13-foot model that he showed off to Pennsylvania statesmen. Hoping to generate more interest, Paine returned to his native England, where he received a government patent for the design.

5. IN THE U.K., SEVERAL PRINTERS WERE ARRESTED FOR SELLING COPIES OF RIGHTS OF MAN.

When France’s revolution began in 1789, Paine—who had returned to England—vocally supported the uprising. But of course, not everyone shared his enthusiasm. In 1790, Irish-born politician Edmund Burke released the widely-read pamphlet Reflections on the Revolution in France, wherein he denounced the revolution as a risky and destructive political gamble. In response, Paine began working on Rights of Man, a fervent defense of the rebel cause. (The two-part essay was published in 1791 and 1792.) With its anti-monarchical sentiments, the treatise infuriated Britain’s government—so much so, in fact, that the authorities actually jailed printers who sold The Rights of Man within Great Britain. The prison sentences for guilty parties ranged from a couple of days to seven years in length.

6. THE AGE OF REASON WAS PARTIALLY COMPOSED IN A (RATHER LUXURIOUS) PRISON.  

Controversial as it was in Britain, Rights of Man was wildly popular in France. So when Paine fled there in 1792, he was greeted with open arms—at first. Shortly after his arrival, Paine was elected as a member of the country’s National Assembly, but he was soon stirring up controversy. Paine spoke out against guillotine usage and King Louis XVI’s execution, and on December 28, 1793, the political thinker was charged with treason, probably because of his stance on capital punishment (though the rationale behind this accusation remains unclear). Paine was taken to Luxembourg Prison, a palace-turned-jail where he was given a spacious room and free rein to explore the rest of the building during daylight hours. Inside, he busied himself with a new pamphlet he’d begun writing before his arrest: The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology.A critique of organized religion. The two-part document questioned the Bible’s legitimacy and made the case for Deism, the belief in a creator-God who doesn’t interfere with world affairs or the lives of individual people. Naturally, the text triggered passionate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, and still does so today.   

7. HE OPENLY CRITICIZED THE WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION.  

James Monroe, then America’s minister to France, arranged to have Paine released from the Luxembourg in November 1794. While in prison, Paine had developed a grudge against President Washington, whom he’d admired during the American Revolution. As Monroe informed James Madison, “He thinks the president winked at his imprisonment and wished he might die in gaol [jail], and bears his resentment for it; also he is preparing an attack upon him of the most virulent kind.”

Just as Monroe said, Paine wrote a blistering open letter to Washington in 1796. Lambasting the president for not interceding on his behalf when the French seized him, Paine went on to accuse America’s chief executive of being a closeted monarchist. “Monopolies of every kind marked your administration almost in the moment of its commencement,” the pamphleteer charged. “The lands obtained by the Revolution were lavished upon partisans; the interest of the disbanded soldier was sold to the speculator … In what fraudulent light must Mr. Washington’s character appear in the world, when his declarations and his conduct are compared together!”

Americans of just about every political stripe were outraged by Paine’s statements. Combined with a strong backlash to The Age of Reason, the anti-Washington tirade brought Paine’s popularity to an all-time low in the states.

8. HE CALLED FOR AN EARLY VERSION OF SOCIAL SECURITY.

Paine spent the winter of 1795-’96 at Monroe’s home in Paris, where he authored what’s often considered his last great pamphlet, Agrarian Justice. In it, he recommended the establishment of a “National Fund” financed by 10 percent tax on inherited property. Money from this fund would then be redistributed: All citizens (of both genders) above the age of 50 or with disabilities were to receive a yearly stipend. Furthermore, every single citizen could also expect a one-time payment of 15 pounds sterling upon turning 21. “It is not a charity but a right,” Paine declared, “not bounty but justice.”

9. MOST OF HIS REMAINS ARE UNACCOUNTED FOR.

In 1802, at the invitation of President Jefferson, Paine returned to the U.S. For a time, he resided at a 277-acre farm in New Rochelle that had been gifted to him by the New York State Legislature in 1784. Unhappy with his life there, Paine relocated to Manhattan, where he died on June 8, 1809.

Paine was laid to rest on his New Rochelle farm without much fanfare; in fact, the service may have been attended by as few as five people. Strangely, though, Paine’s travels hadn’t ended yet. In 1819, a British admirer by the name of William Cobbett snuck onto the property and dug up the dead author’s body. Believing that Paine deserved to be buried in his birthland, Cobbett boxed up bones and took them back to London. But after years of trying to build a suitable memorial, Cobbett died himself. Paine’s bones were gradually sold off, and their current whereabouts remain a mystery. (However, the Thomas Paine Museum in New Rochelle does have a few strands of his hair under lock and key, and his mummified brain stem has been buried there in an undisclosed location.)

10. MARK TWAIN WAS AN ADMIRER.

Despite his contributions to the country’s revolution, most Americans held Paine in low regard throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. When he died, the New York Post Evening Post helped set the tone with a eulogy that read “he had lived long, done some good and much harm.” Other posthumous statements about Paine were even less charitable: Theodore Roosevelt famously called him a “filthy little atheist.” In the Gilded Age, he was so widely disliked that when a freethinking sculptor gifted Philadelphia’s Independence Hall with a marble Paine bust in 1876, the city refused to accept it.

Nevertheless, he still maintained an underground fan base in those days. One of the most famous Paine enthusiasts of all time was Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. A celebrated critic of organized religion, Clemens was particularly keen on the ever-controversial Age of Reason. In his words, “It took a brave man before the Civil War to confess he had read” the pamphlet. Paine’s pro-deism treatise made an appearance in Those Extraordinary Twins (1894), one of Twain’s manuscripts that centered on a pair of conjoined brothers with wildly different personalities. To help accentuate their dissimilarities, the very first chapter sees one of them reading Christian devotionals while his counterpart flips through The Age of Reason.

11. THOMAS EDISON HELPED BREAK GROUND ON THE THOMAS PAINE MEMORIAL MUSEUM.   

In 1884, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association was founded, and in 1925, Edison became vice president of the group. “Paine’s teachings have been debarred from schools everywhere and his views of life misrepresented until his memory is hidden in shadows, or he is looked upon as of unsound mind,” Edison said. “We never had a sounder intelligence in this Republic [than Paine]. He was the equal of Washington in making American liberty possible. Where Washington performed, Paine devised and wrote. The deeds of one in the Weld were matched by the deeds of the other with his pen.”

Today, the association maintains the cottage Paine owned in New Rochelle along with the nearby Thomas Paine Memorial Museum. Construction on the latter began in the spring of 1925—and once the project broke ground, it was Edison who had the honor of turning the first shovel of dirt. Since then, Paine’s reputation in America and elsewhere has considerably improved. Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan both admiringly quoted him in their presidential addresses. A golden Paine statue has been erected in Thetford, England. And in 2002, he was ranked number 34 on the BBC’s list of the 100 greatest Britons of all time. 

When looking for a place to stay during a ski vacation, most people might think of rustic lodges with decor accents inspired by the pioneer days. Finnish architect Matti Suuronen had a different era in mind when he designed the Futuro Home in the 1960s: quirky, futuristic structures that looked like the flying saucers pictured in cartoons. At least 64 of these UFOs for humans can be found scattered across the globe, confusing passersby and intriguing lovers of retrofuturism.

The project to build these Jetsons-esque ski chalets was commissioned by Dr. Jaakko Hiidenkari, who was looking for buildings that could be built in Finland and relocated to rocky, mountainous areas. Taking inspiration from the alien-obsessed culture of the time, Suuronen decided to make round homes with built-in seating and a hatch entrance at the bottom.

Despite the lack of corners or hard edges, each Futuro Home still has a bedroom, bathroom, fireplace, and living room. And although there’s only one bedroom, each home can reasonably fit eight people, if the guests are willing to sleep in the living room. The shape allows for an electric heating system to heat the home from -20°F to 60°F in half an hour, according to Curbed. There’s also a fireplace in the living room for extra warmth and ambience.

The small homes may have had some amenities and a space-age aesthetic, but the true selling point was how the design could be mass-produced quickly and cheaply; the first Futuro Home only cost between $12,000 and $14,000 to slap together, which made it an economically appealing alternative to ski lodges. Each structure is made up of 16 prefab pieces that can be transported and assembled on-site, similar to IKEA furniture. Raised legs—another distinct UFO feature—allow the buildings to stand up on all terrain.

Unfortunately, the oil crisis of 1973 proved to be a formidable obstacle—it caused a major spike in the cost of plastic, which is a key ingredient in the homes. With an inflated price tag, the homes lost their appeal.

Futuro Home production might have ended a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean people have forgotten about the charming lodging. TheFuturoHouse.com documents the locations of these homes. According to their website, at least 80 to 100 of these unusual buildings were created. Though some have been destroyed and others are still hidden, about 64 Futuro Homes are still around, and at least 15 of those are in the United States.

While this architectural wonder might not have taken off, you can see other attempts at capturing alien chic, like with these bauble homes in Holland.

[h/t Curbed]

Yesterday, Netflix announced that it was renewing Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s controversial show The OA for a second season, and released a teaser trailer that has glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge and the word survived in Braille: 

It’s an appropriately mysterious peek at a show that left viewers guessing about whether or not the tale Prairie (Marling) told—which included near-death experiences, being held captive against her will, movements that open a door to another dimension, and angels—was even real. Will we see Homer again, find out if there’s an FBI conspiracy, or learn more movements in season two? Most importantly, will mental_floss make another cameo? So far, Marling and Batmanglij aren’t saying much. Here’s what we do know.

1. IT’S CALLED “PART TWO.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Batmanglij explained that The OA’s unusual format—which features episodes of varying lengths—was inspired by novels. “We wanted to take what we love about a novel and the novelistic experience and put it on the long-format series experience—not having all the characters in the first hour, not having all the chapters be the same length,” he said. “Could you imagine if the chapters of a book were all the same length? It would be funny. So we thought to ourselves about those constraints. Also, novels are often about something. They have an intention that the writer is trying to get across, and I think both Brit and I felt that we wanted to do that, too. We wanted to try to say something that we believed in.” He told Esquire that, “I think the novel analogy works really well; it’s a novel, but it could easily be a series of novels. And I think it would be best as a series of novels!”

That helped guide the co-creators when they decided what to call the second season. “We always thought of [the parts of the OA] almost like books, and there could be many different volumes,” Marling said in an interview with Vulture when asked about why the new season would be called “Part Two.”

2. THEY KNOW HOW THE SECOND SEASON WILL START—AND END.

Shortly after the first season of The OA debuted without warning on Netflix, Batmanglij told Esquire that, although he and Marling “wanted [season one] to be its own standalone piece,” they “didn’t want to go into it without having the larger picture planned out—I think the audience can always tell that, or feel it.” As he told THR, “This is a story that’s carefully planned … When we started, Brit and I spent two or three years conceiving of a whole world before we brought it to anybody, before it ever left our bedrooms.”

Marling assured THR—and fans of the show—that “there is an answer to every riddle and nothing is done to just be sound and fury going nowhere. It all goes somewhere.”

The goal, she explained to Entertainment Weekly, was to create a show that could stand up to the scrutiny of the Internet age. “Now you can stop and start, you can watch it three times, you can screengrab and share it and be on Reddit,” she said. “So you have to have a narrative that’s robust enough to live up to that expectation. So we really tried to think about that and make sure every image and every frame was honest, and if we should get more than one season out, you could go back and watch the first season again and go, ‘It was all there.’”

Which, of course, meant they had a clear picture of the second season: “There is a place that season two already begins in our minds and a place in which it ends,” she said. Hopefully this means we won’t have to wait too long for it!

3. IT WILL LIKELY EXPLORE THE FIRST SEASON’S SCIENCE FICTION ELEMENTS MORE DEEPLY.

“The first part is the story of a young woman who is traumatized and tells a group of boys this story and in so doing, allows them to face a moment of their own crisis at the end,” Marling explained to Vulture. “That is the self-contained story, but the more science fiction metaphysical threads are open-ended, so there can be a part 2 in which we can dive into those spaces.”

4. THERE WILL BE ANSWERS TO SOME OF THE SERIES’ MOST PRESSING QUESTIONS.

Marling told Marie Claire that “there are answers to all of the questions. That’s the delicious thing about the gap between seasons. People watch and take it in, revel in the mystery, argue about it online. And then, if they should be so lucky, the storytellers get to meet the audience when the story continues.”

But don’t expect any hints from either Marling or Batmanglij. When asked by Rolling Stone about some of the most discussed questions left lingering from season one, Batmanglij was coy. Kahtun’s realm is “not purgatory—or maybe it is. It’s supposed to be something specific … I don’t think anyone’s picked up on what it is just quite yet.” Was the FBI agent who randomly shows up in the Johnsons’ home in the last episode planting evidence? “I’m just glad people are asking that question. I was hoping they would be, and they are. [But] I can’t tell you just yet.” Are the books under Prairie’s bed an indication that she’s lying? “There are two obvious options and unlimited other options why those exist. One is, if you’re traumatized by something, you might read up on it. But there’s also a more cynical perspective that she was using those books to tell a story.”

Translation: You’re just going to have to tune in to find out.

5. MOST OF THE CAST DOESN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT (OR IF THEY DO, THEY’RE NOT TALKING).

The cast had to sign standard seven season-long contracts, but that doesn’t mean they were all necessarily clued in to what would happen after the first season. Sharon Van Etten, who plays Rachel, one of Prairie’s fellow captives, told Billboard that “I can honestly say that they haven’t told me anything. I don’t know if anything happens next or what happens next. If they do something, I would love to be a part of it. I definitely want to know what happens to my character.” Brendan Meyer, who plays Jesse, tweeted, “I actually know very little about where the story is going!”

But some of the actors have theories: Patrick Gibson, who plays Steve, told Newsweek, “I fully geeked out and became a complete nerd on this. When I watched it, I’m like: ‘What does this mean?’ I’ve got my own theory but I’ll keep it close to my chest.” Phyllis Smith, who plays teacher Betty Broderick-Allen, told Vulture, “Who knows what the second season will be, if we have a second season, but my stance is that [Brit Marling’s character] truly was an angel and we’ll see how it goes from there.”

6. THEY HAVEN’T STARTED WORKING ON IT YET.

Netflix hasn’t announced a timeline for the release of the second season, and Batmanglij said that work on it hasn’t yet begun. But according to Jason Isaacs, who plays Hap, our parallel universe-living selves are much luckier:

In a parallel world you’ve already seen it. https://t.co/U9anaP82OQ

— Jason Isaacs (@jasonsfolly) February 8, 2017