William Newton Byers, that paragon of pioneer pluck, burst forth from his motherâs womb on February 22, 1831, in West Jefferson, Madison County, Ohio. This wasnât just any birth â it was a cosmic event that would shape the very fabric of the American West. His parents, Moses Watson Byers andContinue Reading
The Capuchin Crypt is a small space comprising several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini in Rome, Italy. It contains the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order. The Catholic order insists that the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silentContinue Reading
A lagniappe is “a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase” (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, “something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.” It can be used more generally as meaning any extraContinue Reading
Denunciation (from Latin denuntiare, “to denounce”) is the act of publicly assigning to a person the blame for a perceived wrongdoing with the hope of bringing attention to it. Notably, centralized social control in authoritarian states requires some level of cooperation from the populace. Denunciation boxes, or bocche di leone (lionsâ mouths), were scattered throughout Venice, fromContinue Reading
He was also the author of several scientific, educational and religious works. Wiggins wrote the “Architecture of the Heavens containing a new theory of the universe and the extent of the deluge, and testimony of the Bible and geology in opposition to the views of Dr. Colenso“. Wiggins’ theorized that storms,Continue Reading
