September 13–14 is the the anniversary of the 1814 battle of Baltimore, inspiration for the Star-Spangled Banner.

The code breakers of Renaissance Venice. The History of Tater Tots.

September 14, 1861 was the Night of the Flaming Ballerinas.

How Did the Ancient Romans Manage to Build Perfectly Straight, Ultra Durable Roads?

Mud Maker: The Man Behind MLB’s Essential Secret Sauce — the third generation of a family that collects the mud that is used to treat every single regulation major league baseball, roughly 240,000 per season.


ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include strategies for fighting multiple assailants, the accidental invention of the Slinky, glamorous 1920s beach parties, and the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino (on which War and Peace and the 1812 Overture are based).