In a climate-controlled 21st century home so accustomed to 24/7 central heating throughout the colder months, suddenly having to do without any heating at all can be quite a nasty shock. You may roll your eyes at your grandparents’ lectures of how ‘your generation doesn’t know how easy you have it’ and how ‘when I was young, we had frost on the inside of the windowpanes’, but they may actually have a point. How on earth did people manage to get through the winter before double glazing, effective insulation, or electric heating were invented?
A Brief History of the term ‘Black Friday’
I’m sure we have all heard of Black Friday, whether you use the day to score an amazing deal on something you will never use, or get a head start on your Christmas shopping (though who is actually this organised..), but have you ever stopped to think where the seemingly sinister term actually originated from?
The Problematic History of the IQ Test
High IQs have often been compared equally to having a high intelligence. In the media, ‘Nerds with high IQs’ often appear to show an almost superhero levels of genius that dazzle the people around them. IQ tests have provided the basis for standardised testing in schools, they are qualifying factor in being able to join intellectual societies in Mensa, and they have been a factor in Western society for over a century. Yet the real history of the IQ tests is often glossed over and is allowed to be swept under the rug. So, how did it become so prevalent, resulting in a century of bias against minority racial groups and neurodivergence?
Ukraine: The Story Continues
A continuation of the history of Ukraine’s culture, starting from 1986. Read Part 1: Ukraine and its Never-Ending Quest to Prove its Independent Existence.