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Andrew Rader, PhD, is a lot of things. The man is a SpaceX mission manager, MIT-credentialed scientist, game designer, author... And he's also a history fan. In fact, he's so fascinated with the subject, he even created a Twitter account to share the weirdest and most wonderful history-related content he stumbles upon.

Appropriately called 'Weird History', the page regularly features everything from interesting facts to amusing memes you wouldn't normally find in a textbook and has accumulated over 145,000 followers since its inception in 2011. Continue scrolling and check out some of the most popular posts 'Weird History' has had!

More info: Twitter

But why bother with history in the first place? Well, Peter N. Stearns, a professor at George Mason University, said that even though people live in the present and plan for the future, they still need to learn about the past.

"In the first place, history offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave," Stearns wrote. "Understanding the operations of people and societies is difficult, though a number of disciplines make the attempt. An exclusive reliance on current data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace—unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we don't use what we know about experiences in the past?"

The professor highlighted that some social scientists attempt to formulate laws or theories about human behavior but even these recourses depend on historical information, except for in limited, often artificial cases in which experiments can be devised to determine how people act. "Major aspects of a society's operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments. Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings."

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This, fundamentally, is why we can not stay away from history, Stearns said. "It offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives."

So the next time you're browsing 'Weird History', don't think it's just random trivia; it's also broadening your worldview!

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Pixie
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His name is Chiune Sugihara. From Wikipedia: "In 1985, the State of Israel honored Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. He is the only Japanese national to have been so honored. The year 2020 is "The Year of Chiune Sugihara" in Lithuania. It has been estimated as many as 100,000 people alive today are the descendants of the recipients of Sugihara visas."

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love this, I may suggest it at work. My company manages several historical ruins

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Calane E. Vanya
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

legal or not, slavery is still present in many countries around the world. I think I even heard that there are more slaves today than ever in the past. I think not many communities are civilized (for various reasons).

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the painting they’re depicted as father and daughter, not husband and wife as many believe. In reality the woman is the painters sister Nan and the man is their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. No, they didn’t get married.

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Living to be over 90 years old back then was quite the accomplishment. She was already 30 when the Declaration of Independence was signed!

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Olivier Caissy
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also lost a finger, which is why you rarely see Scotty’s right hand

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François Carré
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can imagine the hipsters of theses times, stopping on the street to conspicuously consult it.

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Laugh or not
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. In the 3rd of octobre, they let the balloons fly one by one. It was beautiful.

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EA
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Karen’s have been the plight of customer service since the dawn of time

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WilvanderHeijden
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They didn't stop them but changed the course of the bomb away from London.

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Kady Maree Mcgrath
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact: Zeus's Das ate his brothers and sisters but his mother gave Zeus's dad a rock instead of Zeus and apparently his dad threw up his siblings and they were all grown and dressed (as the legend says)

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Kenneth Pedersen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The fun fact is correct, but the sculpture is not of mr Bluetooth, but Ogier the Dane

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Alex K
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

irrelevant detail. greeks - and other people with similar architecture - painted the temples, so they were quite colorful (the pillars remained white, mostly)

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Missing the bit from the story where he husband was killed and she BOUGHT THE TANK to avenge him.

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Pixie
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His face and the amount of bottles say that he is either very happy, very death, or both

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Andres Mirme
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we can beat that easily. in 2008 we, estonians, spent 980000 USD to our slogan. you guessed it right, let me present our masterpiece: "Welcome to Estonia!". kind of sad, but true story.

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Scagsy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nothing wrong with that - I would too if I could get away with it

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Tiny Dynamine
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No-one could get around the end that's in the sea. Look at all those rocks sticking out the water!

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It would probably cost 100,000 now if you were to purchase it at auction.

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Thomas brennan
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact, more people live in caves at the moment (especially in China) than at any point in history

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm surprised I haven't seen this in Uncharted. What was so precious it needed such an elaborate lock?

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Johanne Hodkinson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health - what have the romans ever done for us?

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Lis Daglish
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wife “Nicholas, just give it a seco.....well now you’ve just ruined it”

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, no. It was James Cameron who thought he was too nice to be a believable killer. He wanted someone more famous. The studio co-founder always had Schwarzenegger down for a role. Cameron auditioned Schwarzenegger for the Kyle Reece role (even though he didn’t want him for it) but on meeting him knew he’d make an excellent Terminator.

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JuJu
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the new nazis, the conspiracists, the covidiots, the Reichsbürger are using this word again - they love it. Oh, and Trump does too.

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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From the Muppet Wiki: "In 2002, Elmo testified before the U.S. Congress. In 2002 he was invited by Duke Cunningham of California to testify before the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee to urge more funding for music research and music education in schools."

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djinnjeannie
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a picture of a longship found in Norway and exhibited at the Viking Museum in Oslo though

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Saint Thomas
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it IS a city from the past... Founded in the tenth century.

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting that they still change the symbol every 10 digits. I assumed it would be every 6.

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Its Persian. Several provinces in Iran also end in ~stan. 'Place of' might be a more accurate translation than 'homeland'. With 'Ostan' meaning county and '~an' being equivalent to ~ton in English

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It comes from the 19th century when Sir Walter Scott used the phrase 'free lance' to describe someone free to choose who they would fight for.

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Mark Howell
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At school I had to summarise 'Romeo & Juliet'. Not being very good at this kind of thing, my teacher got; Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl get married. Boy and girl die. Families cry and build statue. Got 6 out of 10for orininality.

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Everybody Say Love!
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Black Adder, last episode. It captures the 'Push' and the deadly silence in the years that past with a gorgeous scene of the Poppy Fields.

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Mme de Poppadom
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do villains have to timeshare this, or do they just engage in battle over who gets to use it as a lair? Asking for a friend.

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Jon S.
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3 years ago

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I'm surprised modern Egyptian coins carry people's faces, what with it being taboo in some interpretations of Islam. Lovely coin though.

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find this fact highly dubious. The ancient Greeks had forks. And I'm pretty sure forks were designed for spearing meat. Pasta in Italy has a history going back to the Etruscans and no connection with china (it doesn't take a lot of effort to boil flour and egg!). I presume it was eaten as sheets, like bread or with a spoon, like pottage.

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