This year, over 60,000 geeks of all flavors converged on Indianapolis, Indiana for the Gen Con gaming convention, held between July 30 And August 2. It offered over 15,000 different events, most of which were opportunities to play just about every game imaginable, including role-playing games, collectible and non-collectible cardContinue Reading
Every year, the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the Would Has Ever Seen (Gishwhes) invades the lives of thousands of people. For one week, they find time to accomplishing things touching, silly, bizarre, challenging and occasionally moderately embarrassing, with their registration fees going to the Random Acts charity. This gem isContinue Reading
You’ve heard the claim ad nauseam at this point: homosexual marriage is not real marriage. It’s most commonly defended from a Judeo-Christian religious position declaring that God ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman (if one ignores the polygamous bits of the Old Testament). Others, understanding religiousContinue Reading
Sir Nicholas Winton, a quiet civilian hero of World War II, has died at the age of 106. In a time of considerable disinterest in the Jewish plight, Winton rescued 669 Czech Jewish children, most of whom would have otherwise perished. In pre-World War II Europe, Jewish living conditions variedContinue Reading
There’s plenty of people frustrated with Game of Thrones. Over the last five seasons, significant details have changed in comparison to the original Song of Ice and Fire books. Entire plotlines have been dropped, while new ones have developed. Many characters have had their roles vastly diminished, or they’ve beenContinue Reading
History, Interrupted will likely go silent for the next few weeks while I work on edits for a manuscript accepted for publication. Ten years ago, I wrote Finding God in the World: Approaches of the Renaissance Occult Philosophers to the Nature and Value of Matter as my master’s thesis. ItContinue Reading
Everyone has their own flavor of punk. Steampunk. Dieselpunk. Clockpunk. Atompunk. Even bustlepunk. Now, meet Nerfpunk. The brainchild of Austin and Megan Maude Sirkin, Nerfpunk is a tongue-in-cheek attempt to reverse the common trend of steampunking Nerf weapons, which Austin calls the unofficial mascot of steampunk. Instead of repainting brightlyContinue Reading
Warning: Here there be Spoilers The twitterverse exploded this week with @josswhedon being flooded with accusations of misogyny, a bizarre situation considering he’s famous for strong female characters. He did give us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after all, featuring TVs strong female lead since the 1970s Wonder Woman. When someoneContinue Reading
PBS is currently airing the six-part drama Wolf Hall, originally created for BBC2. It’s set during the reign of the Tudor king Henry VIII, a popular topic of British historical dramas, but with a unique focus. Rather than focusing on Henry himself, the focus is on Thomas Cromwell, a middle-classContinue Reading
Let’s take history back from the historians. This is the message of History for All by Hashtag History. Now, I’ve got nothing against popular culture history, so long as it bears some resemblance to actual history (which is why I can enjoy The Tudors but not Sleepy Hollow, for example). Continue Reading