Category: History

As a developed nation, the United States doesn’t have a history as long as some of its allies and counterparts, but much has happened in America since its inception. There are certain dates in American history that are ingrained into the minds of every citizen, and even many of those who have never been to the country.

Many of these dates even pop up in the citizenship test, as Americans are mildly obsessed with celebrating anniversaries of certain events. It’s hard to whittle it down to just five dates that really stand out above the rest in terms of importance, but these ones are all dates that every American knows.

July 4, 1776

Every July 4th, Americans celebrate the anniversary of the country’s independence from Great Britain. While the Declaration of Independence was approved two days prior, it was on July 4, 1776, that the colonies adopted the document and it was officially established that the United States was a new nation. Interestingly enough, one of the founding fathers thought that July 2nd should be the day we all celebrate.

John Adams wrote in a message to his wife Abigail that July 2nd would be an annual event where fireworks and parades occur. He had the spirit of the holiday correct thanks to accurately predicting how we would all celebrate, he was just off on what date it would happen. If you ever want to catch the average American in a great mood, July 4th is the day to do it.

January 1, 1863

The President of the United States has the power to issue an executive order, and that’s what Abraham Lincoln did on the first day of 1863 by signing the Emancipation Proclamation. On this date, more than 3 million African Americans who were enslaved were freed with the stroke of a pen. Anyone who refused to free slaves from their property on that date would be considered criminals and enemies of the state.

“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Consitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God,” the document reads. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed during the middle of the Civil War, which began on April 12, 1861 and didn’t come to an end until April 9, 1865.

December 7, 1941

Heading into December 1941, World War II had been almost exclusively fought in Europe and parts of Asia. That would all change on December 7, as Japan launched an attack on the United States by striking the Pearl Habor naval base in Hawaii. The United States had held neutrality as the country was in a phase of isolationism, but would instantly declare war on Japan.

Multiple battleships were sunk with nearly 200 aircraft destroyed. More than 2,300 Americans lost their lives that day with another 1,110 wounded. This began the massive US involvement in World War II, which turned the tide toward an Allied victory. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, December 7, 1941, is “a date which will live in infamy.”

July 20, 1969

While there are no time zones on the moon, we know when Neil Armstrong took the first steps of any human in history. The Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969 marking the most significant mission in the space race. The shuttle was able to successfully land the Americans on the moon, with Armstrong announcing to the world that it was “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The timing couldn’t have been any better for Americans as the decade started with then-President John F. Kennedy declaring that the United States would set foot on the moon by the end of the 1960s. There would be multiple missions that landed on the moon over the next few years, but there hasn’t been one since December 1972.

September 11, 2001

After Pearl Harbor, there was another attack on the United States that changed the course of both American and world history, and it occurred on September 11, 2001. It was an unassuming, warm, and sunny day in New York City and Washington D.C., but several hijackers took control of planes that would crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon while another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers thwarted the terrorists.

Throughout the United States, there are reminders of the date, often accompanied by the words “Never forget.” After determining that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks on the United States, a war in the middle east broke out and culture altogether changed around the world, especially when it came to airline security.

Earning the rank of Four-Star General in the Marines is perhaps the most difficult rank to achieve in any branch of the military. Marine generals have seen a lot of action in the years leading up to the ultimate promotion, and only a few dozen men have been named to the position. Some of them have been influential in political and militaristic strategy, though some have very short terms. Then, there are men who served over six years as a Four-Star General. There are only five of them, but these men were the ones that held the rank the longest before retiring.

James E. Cartwright

James “Hoss” Cartwright joined the Marines in 1971 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Over the years, Cartwright moved his way up the ranks and was assigned as Commanding General, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from 2000 to 2002. In the summer of 2004, Cartwright was the Acting Commander, United States Strategic Command and was sworn in as full-time Commander on September 1 that year.

On the same day, Cartwright became the 40th Four-Star General as part of the USSC. He played a big part in the War on Terror during the Bush administration and served as a Four-Star General for seven years, retiring on August 3, 2011. Cartwright then pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2016 during an investigation on leaked classified info but was pardoned by Barack Obama the following year.

Peter Pace

Born in New York City, Peter Pace grew up in New Jersey and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1967. Pace earned a dozen medals during his career in the Marines, including his time as Commander during the late 1990s. On September 8, 2000, he was promoted to the rank of Four-Star General and maintained the position until retiring on June 8, 2007.

Pace made headlines due to his hearings in Congress where things became contentious, leading to his retirement. Still, he was able to serve for just under seven years and was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since then, he has been in the business world while also getting into political interests, nearly becoming Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor.

James L. Jones

James L. Jones was born in Kansas City, Missouri 1943 to a father who was a highly-decorated Marine during World War II and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps at the start of the Vietnam War. Jones had attended Georgetown University prior to joining the Marines and was assigned to Camp Pendleton in 1968. Jones remained in the Marines for 40 years, earning several awards along the way.

In 1999, Jones was up for the nomination to become the newest general in the Marines, and on July 1 he assumed the position. Jones maintained the position of Four-Star General until his retirement on February 1, 2007. As General, he was the 14th Supreme Allied Commander Europe and after his retirement became the U.S. National Security Advisor under Barack Obama.

Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.

After he was born in Norfolk, Virginia on February 10, 1896, Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr. stayed in the state and attended the Virginia Military Institute. Shepherd was an early graduate, joining the Marines during World War I. He fought at the Battle of Belleau Wood, and afterward moved up the ranks of the Marines.

Shepherd also fought in World War II, earning himself another long list of medals, and was part of the Battle of Okinawa. During the Korean War, Harry Truman named Shepherd the Commandant of the Marine Corps, earning him the rank of Four-Star General, and was just the third man to hold that honor. In September 1959, Shepherd retired after nearly eight years as general and spent a quiet retirement in California until passing away in 1990 at 94 years old.

Joseph F. Dunford Jr.

Boston, Massachusetts native Joseph Dunford graduated from several schools and academies, including Georgetown University and the United States Army War College early in his life. Dunford joined the Marine Corps in 1977 in a time without a lot of conflict around the world. Dunford quickly earned promotions and was given the nickname “Fighting Joe” during this time.

Robert Gates nominated Dunford to become the newest Four-Star General in the ranks and was approved in 2010, taking the position on October 23. Dunford became the longest-serving Four-Star General with nine years under his belt before retiring on November 1, 2019. Since then, he has joined the board of directors with Argentina-based satellite company Satellogic.

Despite the efforts of some conspiracy theorists around the globe, we know that the Earth is round. It wasn’t just a theory at one point, though, as it was widely accepted by many that the world was flat in various ancient cultures. It wasn’t until the likes of Plato and Aristotle came around and showed that the Earth was round, and since then has been recognized as scientific fact.

There were varying theories about the Earth’s flatness, with some saying that the Earth floated in the ocean as if it were a log. Others said that the Earth was a circle within a large square that sat completely stationary in space while the Sun revolved around us. It’s strange to think about these theories now, especially as humans have not only looked into but have gone into space, seeing the full scope.

During the 4th century, it became more widely accepted that the Earth was round, but how did these ancient cultures finally accept this? For generations, they believed that the Earth was flat and nobody had been into space. Did they just trust those they felt were the smartest people and ran with the idea? 

For many, they didn’t have to simply trust the scientists as they were able to see it for themselves when they were navigating. The curvature of the Earth is seen point blank when you’re traveling by air, but those in that time were typically traveling by sea and were able to see objects that were once close by disappear over the horizon.

To the naked eye of someone that hasn’t traveled by sea or air, it can be easy to see why the Earth could be considered flat. Your vision can only see so far, and it appears that the world simply ends at one point when looking out to the edge. Over time, we proved that this wasn’t the “edge” of the world, though, but rather your eyes being able to see far enough to process curvature from a distance.

There was one man who was instrumental in proving that the Earth was round. Not only did he do this, but he was able to measure the circumference of the Earth in one of the most impressive scientific processes known to mankind. We’re talking about Eratosthenes, whose experiment showed that the Earth was just over 40,000 kilometers in circumference.

Eratosthenes conducted his experiment using shadows and found that at noon during the summer solstice, there was no shadow on his stick in the city of Syene, Libya. He then measured out the distance between Syene and Alexandria by foot and found that at the same time of day, the shadow appeared at a seven-degree angle in Alexandria.

This allowed Eratosthenes to conclude that the Earth was a 360-degree sphere and that the difference in latitude between the two cities was seven degrees. Though this was pretty concrete evidence of a round Earth, it would still take some more time before it became widely accepted. Eventually, as we worked out way toward the AD, a vast majority of people around the world knew that the Earth was round.

It wasn’t until the late 19th century that there were some people who became more vocal about their belief that the Earth is flat. Much of this had to do with religious beliefs and an increase in extremist views. Religious people were becoming more contentious toward those who followed science, which is something that we still see today, perhaps more than ever.

For many modern scientists, it has been very discouraging to see the increase in people who believe that the Earth is flat. It took centuries to not only discover that it was round but to have people find out for themselves and know that it’s true. It doesn’t help that many prominent celebrities have pushed the flat earth narrative, including basketball star Kyrie Irving and reality television star Tila Tequila.

However, we know (and have known) that the Earth is round. The empirical evidence is all around us, from the changing amount of sunlight that we get on a daily basis, to using airplanes to see multiple sunsets in one day. So why are flat earthers so adamant about their belief? Where’s the advantage? For many, it simply comes down to thinking that the “government” or other “powers that be” are lying to them about everything, and the concept of a flat Earth is the easiest straw to grasp in hopes of being a contrarian.

Memory is something that varies by person more than just about anything else. Some of us can’t remember what we ate for breakfast, while others can remember a lot of details about their lives dating back to when they were just a couple of years old. It’s quite remarkable to see how much some people can remember, and having a photographic memory helps these people remember important details.

This can help them in both their professional and personal lives, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are some people that can remember things that are so detailed that you would think they had it written down in front of them. Here are five of the most impressive memory feats ever performed by human beings.

Rajveer Meena

Most of us are familiar with Pi, but can usually only name a couple of numbers. Most people can only get to 3.14 and then tail off from there. That’s not the case for Indian native Rajveer Meena. On March 21, 2015, he collected witnesses from the Guinness Book of World Records and sat himself down in a chair, completely blindfolded.

He then started to rattle off the numbers of Pi to those who were marking down his progress and making sure he was correct. Meena didn’t just get 100 places or even 1,000. He went all the way to 70,000 places of Pi, giving him the new record. It wasn’t a short display of his memory, either, as Meena spent nearly 10 hours accomplishing this feat.

Bartholomew Bidder

These days, almost all records are stored digitally and backed up into some sort of cloud storage. That wasn’t always the case, though, as many records and files were kept in physical paper form, even for large businesses. The Royal Exchange Assurance Company was one of these businesses that relied on physical files in 1838, and the company, unfortunately, suffered a fire in which all of the files were lost.

On the fortunate side, though, they were employing Bartholomew Parker Bidder at the time. Bidder was able to remember everything that was in the company’s files. It took him half a year to get everything from his memory banks, but he was able to pull it off. There hasn’t been a company of that size to have their files pulled straight from memory ever since.

Kim Peek

At the Academy Awards in 1989, Dustin Hoffman won the award for Best Actor thanks to his role in the film “Rain Man”. In the movie, he plays a character named Raymond Babbitt. However, Raymond Babbitt is not a real person. Kim Peek is a real person, though, and and writer Barry Morrow came up with the script for “Rain Man” after meeting him.

The late Kim Peek was what was known as a “megasavant” and was thought to have FG syndrome. He had a memory that was nearly unmatched by anyone in his time, and he was able to memorize books, magazines, and any other visual media as soon as he saw it just once. While he lacked physical skills due to his condition, Peek memorized over 12,000 books and was able to recite just about the entirety of the Salt Lake City Public Library.

Stephen Wiltshire

There are certain landmarks that we try to remember so that we can figure our way out around a city. In the case of Stephen Wiltshire, though, he simply needs to look at a city just once and he can draw the entire thing from memory. Wiltshire, a London native, was diagnosed with autism when he was just three years old and had to grow up without his father.

Wiltshire showed a penchant for drawing as a young boy and began sketching buildings in his home city. After a couple of years, Wiltshire was drawing entire cities, with people putting him to the test by simply showing him a picture of a city for a short period. From there, he could draw the cityscape and it earned him membership to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Boris Konrad

Boris Konrad is one of the most modern examples of amazing memory as he gives public speeches around the world about improving memory. He’s a neuroscientist who has been able to demonstrate his ability to remember words and names in the span of just a few minutes.

In fact, Konrad holds four titles in the Guinness Book of World Records in the memory category. One of the most impressive was when he was given the names and faces of over 200 people and had just 15 minutes to memorize them. Konrad was able to do it successfully, wowing everyone in attendance.

When we think of cutting-edge technology, our brains tend to gravitate toward some of the newest innovations that we’ve seen in the past few years. However, some of the amazing technology that we know about today has been around for much longer than you think. We’re not talking about just a couple of decades, or even centuries, we’re talking about an entire millennium or even longer.

Though the average person might think that ancient civilizations didn’t have much knowledge or formal education, there were still some brilliant scientists that created technology that changed the world. Let’s take a look at five of those ancient technologies that show the ingenuity of humans and how we use that technology today.

Pyramids of Giza

There are some people who are so enthralled by the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt that they believe that the pyramids were built by aliens. It’s truly a marvel that dates back thousands of years, and the pyramids were believed to have been built as tombs for Pharaohs of the time. Scientists have tried to figure out the specifics and think that it took 20 years to finish the pyramids and around 20,000 workers.

That might sound like a lot of people, but over the course of 20 years, it really isn’t that much. The rope and pulley system helped to get the pieces in place, or at least that’s our best guess. After all, the pyramids are almost perfectly facing in all four cardinal directions, and that would have been hard to pull off with the technology at the time. The shafts and heat spots have left people wondering for millennia how the Egyptians pulled off such an impressive feat.

Archimedes Steam Cannon

Archimedes of Syracuse was one of the best scientists in the world during his time in the 3rd century BC. Archimedes helped to form modern mathematics and science, and that even spilled over into the world of weaponry. During the Siege of Syracuse, Archimedes created the steam cannon, a weapon that only needed heat and water to operate.

A copper tube was put into a furnace, and when it became hot enough, only a small amount of water was needed to launch a projectile. This proved to be a very effective weapon and would continue to be in use for the centuries that followed. Even during World War II, a newer version of Archimedes’ cannon was used by the United States.

Roman Concrete

Anyone who lives in an area where there’s both hot and cold weather knows just how annoying it can be to deal with potholes. It seems that throughout the summer, potholes are patched up, but plenty more pop up throughout the winter and the spring to make it an endless battle. Many of us that deal with this wonder why modern concrete doesn’t seem to be as effective as the concrete in ancient Rome.

The concrete that was used at the time was found to actually become stronger as time goes on. That’s because Roman concrete was made with a mixture of lime, seawater, and volcanic ash. This combination reacts to the environment that surrounds it, and even something like seawater helps to fortify the concrete rather than cause it to erode.

Batteries Over Baghdad

It probably wouldn’t be too surprising to hear that the first known batteries came from Baghdad, Iraq, but you probably wouldn’t guess how old they are. In the 1930s, scientists discovered a ceramic pot that also contained a copper tub and iron rod. This turned out to be the first battery known to man and stood at an impressive height of six feet.

There have been several theories as to how the battery worked, with some claiming that there’s no way that it could’ve worked without electricity. Some have said that it could electroplate gold and silver, while others have said that it was used for electrotherapy. Either way, it appears to be a one-of-a-kind technology for its time.

Flexible Glass

One of those things that still boggles the average mind to this day is flexible glass, especially when you see it on modern smartphones. It’s not clear exactly who it was that invented flexible glass, but records show that it dates back to the 1st century AD and was during the time of Tiberius Caesar.

The story of the flexible glass would become a thing of legend but wasn’t widely used for many years. These days, flexible glass is just about everywhere from our fiber optics to the previously mentioned smartphone screens. This is not to be confused with the less flexible plexiglass, which was created in the mid-19th century.

For those of us that live in North America, there are plenty of old buildings that date back a century or two. Very rarely do we see any buildings still standing after over a millennium of use. When you’re talking about Europe, though, there seems to be one every couple hundred feet. Many of these fortresses were built for medieval wars and homes to royalty.

These days, most of the old castles and fortresses are no longer in use outside of tourist spots, but it’s still impressive to see them standing after such a long time. If you want to see some of the oldest fortresses in the world, check out these five incredible ones that are over 1,000 years old.

Rochester Castle

Construction started at the beginning of the 11th century on Rochester Castle, which sits right off of the River Medway. Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, was tasked with establishing the stronghold so that England could stave off any potential invasion. The castle did its job over the years, with some of the original structure still standing.

The first couple of centuries saw heavy use for Rochester Castle, and it became a significant figure in the reigns of King John and Henry III. Some of the castle still stands today, reaching a height of over 110 feet, and is now open to the public. Rochester Castle is a protected building and monument by the English Heritage.

Aleppo Citadel

The oldest fortress on the list is in the city of Aleppo, Syria. The Citadel of Aleppo (or Aleppo Citadel) has a history that dates all the way back to the 3rd millennium BC. There have been a lot of people occupying the castle since then, including the Byzantines and Ottomans. It would take a long time to describe the history of the Aleppo Citadel, but it wasn’t complete until the 12th century, showing how long it has been relevant.

In the modern era, the Aleppo Citadel has been restored as an attraction but was used as a fortress once again during the Syrian Civil War. The result was significant damage that left the Aleppo Citadel partially ruined. Hopefully, in the coming years, it can be restored to its former glory.

Prague Castle

You have to go all the way back to the 9th century to find the origin of the Prague Castle, which serves as the office of the President of the Czech Republic. The first walls of the building were put up in 870, and expanded over the years. There have been times during the castle’s lifespan when it went completely uninhabited, including the Hussite Wars.

There has been a lot of rebuilding over the years due to damage from various conflicts, with World War II and the 1948 Czechoslovakian coup being the most recent ones. The castle, as it stands, has several churches, palaces, towers, and gardens (among other structures). It would be hard to even picture Prague without the castle, and nearly 2 million people visit it each year.

Warwick Castle

William the Conqueror needed a strong wooden fort to keep himself safe, and the original foundation of Warwick Castle was born in the early 11th century. After seeing a lot of battles over the following years, the castle was almost completely rebuilt as all of the wood was replaced by stone. It underwent another fortifying during the Hundred Years War, becoming what we know today.

Warwick Castle was in full-time use until the 1600s when it was given to Sir Fulke Greville, and went widely unused for centuries. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the castle was purchased and turned into a tourist attraction. Now, Warwick Castle is open to the public and operated by Merlin Entertainments, a company that specializes in attractions.

Edinburgh Castle

Located in the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle has some mysterious origins. Though history says that it dates back to the 11th century, there are plenty of people who think that the castle was in use long before then. Edinburgh Castle’s documented history starts during the reign of David I and was the home to Scotland’s royalty until the 17th century.

Edinburgh Castle is an absolute stronghold and was in full use during multiple wars, including the Jacobite rising. Over time, Scotland moved away from housing royalty within the castle and used Edinburgh as a home for military operations. Eventually, the castle started to see bad signs of aging but has since been restored as a historical monument. Now, there are more than 2.2 million people who visit Edinburgh Castle each year, and it became a designated monument in 1993.

There are a lot of us in the world who couldn’t learn math even if we had the best and brightest minds teaching us for several hours per day. Then, there are those that can simply open up a math book and figure out equations without any formal education. It seems unfair, but when this happens, that person is an autodidact. This is the art of teaching yourself a particular topic, and math can be the hardest to learn.

Throughout the course of history, there have been many notable math autodidacts. Many of them have gone on to change the way we think about and study mathematics to this day. Let’s take a look at five of those self-taught mathematicians who blitzed the academic world, leaving it better off.

George Green

Nottingham, England native George Green was born toward the end of the 18th century and only had one year of schooling as a child. Green taught himself pretty much everything that he knew when it came to academics. When he attended school for that year, teachers said they taught him all they could. He spent much of the 1820s working as a miller with his father while working in math on his own.

In 1828, he published “An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism”. The following year, his father passed away and left Green a hefty sum of money. This allowed Green to focus all of his time on mathematics and he attended college at nearly 40 years old. He continued to churn out publishings and by the time of his death in 1841, Green had become quite accomplished.

Susan Fowler

We now go from someone born in the 1790s to someone born in the 1990s. Susan Fowler is an Arizona native who was homeschooled while her father worked as a preacher. Wanting to get away from the homeschool structure that was based around religion, Fowler spent much of her free time in the public library teaching herself mathematics.

Because of this, Fowler was able to learn enough to ace her college entrance exams and attended Arizona State University before transferring to the Ivy League school Penn where she finished her degree before it was rescinded. Fowler used her mathematics skills to become an engineer for Plaid, PubNubu, and Uber, helping to put all three companies on the map.

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Our next genius is Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian native who had just about zero training in math but still went on to become one of the greatest in the field during the past couple of centuries. Though he lived to be just 32 years old, Ramanujan accomplished more than just about anyone else had at that time.

Ramanujan would put himself in isolation to study math and what he came up with was so revolutionary that even experts couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing. There were a lot of new pieces of math which were named after Ramanujan, including the Ramanujan sum and Ramanujam prime. At just 30 years old, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Out of the hairdos on the list, it would be hard to top Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz of Leipzig. It wasn’t just mathematics that Leibniz excelled in, but also philosophy. As for the former category, Leibniz developed the base of integral and differential calculus, even forming a more widely-accepted theory than that of Isaac Newton.

Leibniz was born in 1646 and lived a long life at that time, making it to 70 years old. Leibniz received very little formal training but was able to develop parts of a curve including the abscissa and tangent. What truly made him memorable was that Leibniz invented one of the first mechanical calculators, saving mankind countless hours working on mathematical problems both simple and complex.

Mary Everest Boole

Born in Wickwar, England in 1832, Mary Everest Boole was the niece of George Everest. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Mt. Everest was named after him. As for Boole, she had a private tutor during her early years, but after the age of 10, she began teaching herself mathematics and eventually worked with her future husband George Boole.

Following his death, Mary was just 32 years old and took on a job as a librarian while continuing her mathematical studies. She lived to be 84 years old, and throughout her adult life, she taught many people how to do math. She even created curve stitching (or string geometry) as a teaching tool. Without Boole, the modern education system would look much different today.

The San Francisco Bay is one of the most well-known hubs of the United States, serving host to a massive metro area that includes the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Though most people from out of the state simply know the Bay Area as the place that has the Golden Gate Bridge and various sports teams, there’s a lot more to the region than just that.

Those that have lived in the Bay Area for a couple of decades know first-hand just how much it has changed over the years. Some changes have been very obvious, while others have been extremely subtle. Let’s take a look at some of the surprising ways that the Bay Area has changed over the past 30 years and what the outlook is like for the next 30.

The Population Swell

Back in 1960, the population of the entire Bay Area was only around 3.6 million people. Even at the time, the area was already feeling a little bit crowded, but it has only gotten more crowded over the years. By the time 1980 rolled along, the population had swelled to almost 5.2 million and then saw a continuous climb into the mid-1990s when the population reached 6.3 million people.

Things would level off a bit during the early 2000s, but the later part of the decade and the 2010s saw a massive spike in population. Now, there are nearly 8 million people living in the Bay Area, and that number figures to only keep climbing. As a result, traffic has gotten more backed up and housing is harder to come by, which leads to our next change in the Bay Area.

Housing Prices

It’s no secret that housing prices have gone up drastically across the United States, but no region has seen prices go up quite as they have in the Bay Area. There’s only one other metro area that has more expensive housing, and that’s New York City. The Bay Area has an average rent of over $3,800 per month, which is nearly double that price that you would find in cities like Baltimore, Maryland, or Phoenix, Arizona.

There was a time when living in the Bay Area wasn’t so expensive, though. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that housing really started to skyrocket, and those prices have climbed faster than any other region despite the 1989 earthquake, the dot-com bubble burst, and the recession of the late 2000s.

Oakland Sports

Over the past 30 years, the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants have gotten shiny new stadiums and have had a lot of success in their new homes. As for Oakland, two of their teams have left the city while one seems to have one foot out the door. The NBA’s Warriors moved from Oracle Arena in Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco after experiencing a ton of success.

The Raiders couldn’t get funding for a new stadium in Oakland, so they left the Coliseum and headed for Las Vegas to play at the new Allegiant Stadium on the Strip. As for the Athletics, they are somewhat stuck at the Coliseum and may end up following the Raiders to Sin City. 30 years ago, Oakland had three sports teams with a lot of success, and they may soon have zero teams altogether.

No More Room

Those that grew up in the Bay Area during the 1970s or 1980s were able to spot a lot of open areas that included trees that extended for long stretches. Those days are gone, though, as Bay Area real estate has become so lucrative that almost all of it is taken up. Residents these days note that there’s just no open space, and that’s a product of the population boom.

Sure, there are still some parks around the Bay Area, but nothing like the wide-open orchards that used to be a staple of the Bay Area. A lot of tech companies moved into the region, and space was becoming a premium with these massive buildings opening up.

Crime Came and Went

There are people that say the Bay Area is more violent now than it has ever been. Those people are actually incredibly wrong. Crime was low during the early 1960s in the Bay Area, then peaked around 1980 in terms of property crime and in the early 1990s for violent crime.

Since then, the Bay Area has seen a massive drop in both property and violent crimes, with numbers lower now than they have been since the start of the 1960s. When you see the news, though, you might think that the Bay Area has become a warzone.

Mastodon is free and open-source software (FOOS) that anyone can use. Mastodon is a system of federated (linked) microblogging websites. Eugen Rochko wrote the software. He was born in Russia and now lives in Germany.

Here is the historical timeline.

Early 2016

Eugen Rochko started working on Mastodon as a side project while in school studying for his computer science degree from a German University.

Late 2016

A few months after graduating, 24-year-old Rochko released his first version, 0.1.0 of Mastodon, on Oct. 6, 2016. The first instance of the software runs on the server at the website Mastodon.social. It began with 45 users. (Note: The original server maxed out at 200,000 users, but new Mastodon users can join any of the many other interlinked servers).

2017

Mastodon starts to get media attention and is described by some as a “Twitter Killer.”

In April 2017, the administrator, nullkal, created the first Japanese server, mstdn.jp, in his apartment. The news went viral, and the server had tens of thousands of new accounts within a few days.

2018

In May 2018, after new laws were passed in the US, Assembly Four founded switter.at, a Mastodon server for sex workers. It grew quickly to over 400,000 accounts. (Note: The site shut down on Mar. 14, 2022, due to legal pressures.)

Sept. 5, 2018, Mastodon version 2.5 was released. It is the 100^th version of the software.

On Oct. 6, 2018, Mastodon celebrated its second anniversary. The network had grown to 1,627,557 registered users, with Mastodon instances running on 3,460 independently-administrated servers.

Mastodon servers are part of the federated network and connect to other servers using ActivityPub, a decentralized social media networking protocol.

Media coverage includes:

• Autostraddle
• Esquire
• Forbes
• Motherboard
• NPR
• The New York Times
• The Outline
• The Verge
• The Washington Post
• Wired

2019

Apr. 10, 2019, Mastodon 2.8 released.

2021

Rochko formed Mastodon gGmbH as a German nonprofit organization. The first annual report for Mastondon says he was still living with his parents, working 14 hours per day, and earning about 2,400 Euros per month from Patreon supporters.

Mar. 29, 2021, Mastodon for Android beta version released.

Nov. 3, 2021, Mastodon iOS, iPad beta version released.

2022

Patreon support increased to around $33,000 per month from over 9,000 Patreon supporters. The support pays for six software developers.

Mar. 30, 2022, Mastodon 3.5 released.

Apr. 21, 2022, official iOS and Android apps were released.

The latest stable Mastodon 4.0.2 release was in November 2022.

In October 2022, when Elon Musk took over Twitter, some users went to Mastodon. There were 230,000 new Mastodon users in the first week of November and one million more by mid-December.

On Dec. 20, 2022, Twitter suspended the join Mastodon account and blocked anyone on Twitter from sharing Mastodon links. Musk said he wanted to promote free speech by buying Twitter.

Rochko said, “This is a stark reminder that centralized platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and can’t say. The future of social media doesn’t have to belong to a billionaire; it can be in the hands of its users.”

Conclusion

Mastodon has approximately 2.5 million users compared to 300 million on Twitter. Mastodon is an interesting new way to develop a social media platform. The Mastodon interface is not as user-friendly as it could be. The posts are only organized by a timeline, so there is no way to gain much viral traction. It can be quite good for chatting with a close-knit group of friends and family if you set up a server.

There is a long way to go for Mastodon to be anywhere close to a Twitter Killer. Maybe some of the 3,600+ fired Twitter employees can now join the Mastodon open-source software programming effort.

The basic economic law of supply and demand applies as much to national currencies as it does to rare natural resources and popular market products. As governments mint more coins and print more banknotes, this legal tender tends to have less and less worth.

Expanding the supply of money may be quite necessary, particularly in emergency situations. However, financial leaders must be aware that flooding the economy with currency is likely to have a pronounced negative effect on its relative value.

When a currency devalues too dramatically or too quickly, it can often spell economic disaster. In an effort to learn from history lest we repeat it, let’s briefly examine the five biggest currency collapses in history.

1. The Zimbabwean Dollar

After achieving independence in 1980, the African country of Zimbabwe established a strong dollar with a value that exceeded the US dollar by roughly 25 percent. But over the next several years, political corruption, economic mismanagement, race-based land seizures, and foreign sanctions led to an overproduction of the Zimbabwean dollar and rampant inflation nationwide. By 2004, this hyperinflation reached a record high of 624 percent. The Zimbabwe government effectively abandoned the dollar as its official currency in 2009. Since that time, Zimbabwe has recognized a range of foreign currencies as well as the new Zimbabwean dollar (also known as the (Real Time Gross Settlement) RTGS dollar.

2. The Peruvian Sol

To court foreign investment in the early 1980s, Peru embraced economic policies that stressed trade liberalization and increased public spending. As part of these policies, the Peruvian government began printing large amounts of the national currency: the sol. Unfortunately, government officials failed to adequately plan for the resulting inflation and debt. When overseas investors began to flee, the government decided to replace the sol with a new currency called the inti at the exchange rate of 1,000 to 1. However, inflation continued to rise under the inti, reaching a rate of 400 by 1990. In 1991, Peru abandoned the inti, returning to the sol (now the new or “neuvo” sol) at the staggering exchange rate of 1,000,000,000 to 1.

3. The Argentinian Peso

The economy of Argentina was enjoying record growth before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) created worldwide financial turmoil with its mid-1970s oil embargo. While coping with civil and political unrest, the Argentinian government faced severe budgetary and trade deficits. To avoid a devastating recession, it began printing money, thereby spiking inflation and destroying the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Between 1983 and 1992, Argentina would replace its national currency three times, exchanging 10,000 original pesos for one peso Argentino, then 10,000 peso Argentinos for one austral, and then, finally, 10,000 australs for one new peso.

4. The Chilian Escudo

When Marxist Salvador Allende became president of Chile in 1970, he began printing legal tender to make good on his promises of increased social spending and wealth redistribution to poor populations. Unfortunately, this practice had contributed to rampant hyperinflation that reached 600 percent by 1972 and 1200 percent by 1973. After the overthrow of the Allende government later that year, the Chilean escudo partially recovered but continued to experience fluctuations for more than a decade. It was ultimately replaced by the new Chilean peso in 1985 at a rate of 1,000 to 1.

5. The German Papiermark

Described by Forbes as “the original poster child for failed currencies,” the fall of the German papiermark occurred at the end of World War I. As a condition of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay war reparations to the allied nations. Among other pressing economic issues, this pressured Germany to print more and more papiermarks, triggering hyperinflation to the point that the currency was essentially worthless. In fact, when Germany replaced the papiermark with the reichsmark in 1924, the annal inflation rate was roughly 325,000,000 percent and the exchange rate was an astounding trillion to one.