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Articles on History

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A team photograph of the 1919 Chicago White Sox squad, many of whom would be implicated in throwing that year’s World Series. Heritage Auctions

How gambling built baseball – and then almost destroyed it

Up until the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, gambling and baseball had a marriage of convenience. A century later, gambling is again being seen as a solution to the sport’s woes.
Did ancient Egyptian parents worry their kids might get addicted to this game, called senet? Keith Schengili-Roberts/Wikimedia Commons

Games blamed for moral decline and addiction throughout history

Somewhere between the early Buddhist times and today, worries about game addiction have given way to scientific understanding of the benefits of play, rather than its detriments.
Clifford Berry stands by the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. Courtesy of Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives

What was the first computer?

The first computer, named the ABC, was built at Iowa State University. But for a long time, few had heard of it.
For centuries, people thought nothing of crowding family members or friends into the same bed. miniwide/Shutterstock.com

The bizarre social history of beds

Today’s beds are thought of as bastions of privacy. But not long ago, they were the perches from which kings ruled and places where travelers hunkered down with complete strangers.
It’s a simple word with a strange history. Andrii Oleksiienko/shutterstock.com

Why do we say ‘OK’?

The word ‘OK’ has only been around for 180 years, but it’s become the most spoken word on the planet.
Have you ever wondered why U.S. money is green? Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock.com

Why are dollar bills green?

The color of American money goes back to the British colonies.

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