There’s a story about Germany in the 1930s that may or may not be true, although it’s pretty unlikely that anybody is ever going to find out which it is. The story goes that there was an organization called the “Vril Society” (“society” was probably in German) that was involved in — or maybe responsible… Continue reading

The Latin word “fossilis” means to dig up. You’re probably already thinking of the English word “fossil,” which came from “fossilis” for obvious reasons: fossils are dug up. But there’s another, much more obscure English word also derived from “fossilis”: refossion. “Refossion” is the act of digging up, and specifically the act of digging something… Continue reading

The year nineteen hundred and twenty-five is interesting for a few reasons. In the world of art, 1925 was the year that the Paris exposition “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” opened, which nowadays is agreed to have been the beginnings of Art Deco. Literature saw the publication of Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”… Continue reading