Random Knowledge/Interesting Facts

Drop some random knowledge on a topic you find interesting, that maybe a lot of people don't know about.

Examples:


Plague Doctors and Miasma Theory



“What the hell is that thing?” you may be asking. Good question. It’s a person wearing a freakish cloak and mask. It’s also a plague doctor - more specifically, the bubonic plague, or Black Death, doctor.

The first cases of the plague were discovered in the 14th century, and it is considered the most devastating pandemic in the history of mankind. At the time, there was no understanding of germs, as the germ theory of disease had not yet been proposed. The commonly held belief was the miasma theory of disease. This theory held that diseases were caused by a miasma, a noxious form of "bad air", also known as night air. Simply put, people believed that bad odors were the cause of sickness and disease.

Enter: the plague doctor. Plague doctors were hired by local villages to care for those infected by the terrible disease. Their costume was an attempt to prevent their being infected as well. This consisted of a bird-like mask with spectacles, and a long leather or waxed-canvas gown which was from the neck to the ankle. The mask, which featured a “beak” measuring a half-foot to 1-foot in length, had two small nose holes and was a type of respirator which contained aromatic items such as mint leaves, rose petals, camphor, cloves and straw. The idea was that if the doctors could keep out the bad smells, they could prevent the spread of the disease.

The costume also included a wide-brimmed leather hat to indicate their profession. They used wooden canes to point out areas needing attention and to examine patients without touching them. The canes were also used to keep people away, to remove clothing from plague victims without having to touch them, and to take a patient's pulse.



The US half cent



As worthless as a penny is now, imagine your cupholders and center console being filled with half-pennies. The half cent is the smallest denomination of United States coin ever minted. It was first minted in 1793 and last minted in 1857. At the time it was first minted, many Americans made about a dollar a day, and might have been able to purchase a pound of potatoes for 1.5 cents. But as prices went up, the half-cent was quickly proven to be useless. It was retired, and most of the coins were scrapped for their copper.

There have been some discussions recently about doing away with the penny because of its relatively low value. When you look at the measurement of buying power, or the equivalent of what the coin is worth to today's consumer, their might be a strong case for going penniless. According to the Consumer Price Index, the 1857 half-cent was the equivalent of around 10 cents today.



WW1 Body Armor



The Brewster Body Shield or Brewster Body Armor was the first effective body armor developed for the United States Army in World War I. The armor was effective, able to withstand direct fire from large caliber rifles, but it was heavy, weighing nearly 40 pounds. Its problems occurred due to maneuverability being massively reduced and the small issue of the helmet not turning. This led to incredibly poor visibility for the soldier on the inside. The armor wasn't fully developed until the war was nearly over so it saw only limited action.



Vexillology & Flag Similarities

Vexillology is the scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general. Your boy Pecker happens to be something of a flag aficionado. Feel free to test yourself at Flags geography quizzes. If one isn't particularly interested in vexillology, it may be difficult to distinguish between the flags of these countries, as not every country has a flag as unique as the United States:

Romania

Chad


Poland

Monaco


Haiti

Lichtenstein


Ireland

Ivory Coast




The Terror Bird





The Phorusrhacids, or Terror Birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era (~1.8 million years ago). These flightless freaks of nature could reach nearly 10 feet tall and used their large beaks to crush their prey. The terror bird head is the largest known bird skull. It’s about two-and-a-half feet long, an enormous, colossal beast with a very big hook at the end of the beak like an eagle. It's estimated that these birds could run at around 30 mph while chasing down smaller mammals.