Analog Nation

• On June 8, 1654, Louis XIV celebrated his coronation as King of France by kicking off a feast that lasted 94 days. For the duration of the feast, the sixteen-year-old monarch rose from his chair only to relieve himself, returning swiftly to his place at the head of the table. He slept in short [...]

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• On May 11, 1071, Lord Archibald Renton first proposed the theory that humans need to breathe air. Renton, who was court physician to William the Conqueror, broke from standard medical theory of the time, which held that the purpose of breathing was to expel dark vapors from the body. Such vapors were considered [...]

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• On April 20, 1998, physicists at the International Slumber Research Center broke the 5,000 thread count barrier. Bedding of such magnitude was previously thought to be impossible. Early experiments yielded sheets that remained stable for mere fractions of a second, and required the use of massive hyperbaric chambers. It wasn’t until the ISRC [...]

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In honor of Opening Day, we present an all-baseball edition of “This Week.”
• On April 5, 1985, the San Diego Zoo placed a lifelong ban on Goose Gossage, on the same day that the zoo’s entire giraffe population was found slaughtered and half-devoured. When asked about a possible connection, both parties refused to comment. [...]

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