Dec 27, 2020 07:13 AM
(This post was last modified: Dec 27, 2020 07:43 AM by C C.)
The Worst Year in History: Is 2020 a Contender?
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-...-contender
EXCERPTS: The year 2020 will undoubtedly go down in history as the worst year ever — at least to those of us living in it. It started with Australia on fire. [...] Then racial unrest broke out in the U.S. (and quickly spread elsewhere) ... Hurricane season broke a slew of records. Meanwhile, as if inspired by Australia’s fire season, much of the Western U.S. went up in flames. And, oh yeah, a pandemic raged across the planet, killing more than a million and a half people worldwide (so far) and more than 300,000 in the U.S., where it has also caused a recession...
No doubt about it, 2020 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. But the worst year ever? Not so fast. The world has witnessed some pretty lousy years — too many downright awful ones to mention in a single article. But here are a few that could give 2020 a run for the title...
536 ... a volcanic eruption in Iceland threw up so much ash that much of the world was enveloped in a sun-blocking fog. ... The darkness lasted for 18 months. ... Temperatures plummeted, crops failed and famine was widespread. ... bubonic plague ... wiped out between 25 to 50 percent of the Roman Empire's population.
1520 ... When Spanish explorers landed in what is now Veracruz, Mexico in April of 1520, they carried a stowaway: smallpox. ... Native populations had zero immunity to smallpox. By mid-October, the virus had marched through the city, killing nearly half the residents. ... Smallpox spread throughout the new world ... as much as 90 percent of the population of the Americas [over the perished from smallpox...
1918 ... Unlike the current pandemic, the 1918 flu hit children under five and adults between 20 and 40 especially hard. There was no vaccine and attempts to limit gatherings and encourage good hygiene practices and mask-wearing had mixed results. Public health messaging wasn’t helped by the fact that President Woodrow Wilson’s administration downplayed the pandemic. ... The 1918 flu killed at least 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the U.S. — but recording keeping wasn’t as good back then, so the death toll could be higher...
1933 ... In 1933, Hitler took advantage of a fire in Germany's parliament building to arrest his political enemies and seize emergency powers. ... Next, Hitler proceeded to dismantle the country’s democratic institutions and maneuver himself into a position of supreme authority...
Year Unknown ... Perhaps the strongest contender for worst year ever is an uncounted year around 65 million years ago, when an asteroid slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, leading to a chain of events that wiped out 75 percent of life on Earth... (MORE - details)
Pompeii fast-food place unearthed, reveals local tastes
https://www.usnews.com/news/entertainmen...als-tastes
INTRO: A fast-food eatery at Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular for the citizens of the ancient Roman city who were partial to eating out. Pompeii Archaeological Park’s longtime chief, Massimo Osanna said Saturday that while some 80 such fast-foods have been found at Pompeii, it is the first time such a hot-food-drink eatery — known as a thermopolium — was completely unearthed... (MORE)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/eDwOyK8kAhU
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-...-contender
EXCERPTS: The year 2020 will undoubtedly go down in history as the worst year ever — at least to those of us living in it. It started with Australia on fire. [...] Then racial unrest broke out in the U.S. (and quickly spread elsewhere) ... Hurricane season broke a slew of records. Meanwhile, as if inspired by Australia’s fire season, much of the Western U.S. went up in flames. And, oh yeah, a pandemic raged across the planet, killing more than a million and a half people worldwide (so far) and more than 300,000 in the U.S., where it has also caused a recession...
No doubt about it, 2020 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. But the worst year ever? Not so fast. The world has witnessed some pretty lousy years — too many downright awful ones to mention in a single article. But here are a few that could give 2020 a run for the title...
536 ... a volcanic eruption in Iceland threw up so much ash that much of the world was enveloped in a sun-blocking fog. ... The darkness lasted for 18 months. ... Temperatures plummeted, crops failed and famine was widespread. ... bubonic plague ... wiped out between 25 to 50 percent of the Roman Empire's population.
1520 ... When Spanish explorers landed in what is now Veracruz, Mexico in April of 1520, they carried a stowaway: smallpox. ... Native populations had zero immunity to smallpox. By mid-October, the virus had marched through the city, killing nearly half the residents. ... Smallpox spread throughout the new world ... as much as 90 percent of the population of the Americas [over the perished from smallpox...
1918 ... Unlike the current pandemic, the 1918 flu hit children under five and adults between 20 and 40 especially hard. There was no vaccine and attempts to limit gatherings and encourage good hygiene practices and mask-wearing had mixed results. Public health messaging wasn’t helped by the fact that President Woodrow Wilson’s administration downplayed the pandemic. ... The 1918 flu killed at least 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the U.S. — but recording keeping wasn’t as good back then, so the death toll could be higher...
1933 ... In 1933, Hitler took advantage of a fire in Germany's parliament building to arrest his political enemies and seize emergency powers. ... Next, Hitler proceeded to dismantle the country’s democratic institutions and maneuver himself into a position of supreme authority...
Year Unknown ... Perhaps the strongest contender for worst year ever is an uncounted year around 65 million years ago, when an asteroid slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, leading to a chain of events that wiped out 75 percent of life on Earth... (MORE - details)
Pompeii fast-food place unearthed, reveals local tastes
https://www.usnews.com/news/entertainmen...als-tastes
INTRO: A fast-food eatery at Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular for the citizens of the ancient Roman city who were partial to eating out. Pompeii Archaeological Park’s longtime chief, Massimo Osanna said Saturday that while some 80 such fast-foods have been found at Pompeii, it is the first time such a hot-food-drink eatery — known as a thermopolium — was completely unearthed... (MORE)