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Jun 2024
11m 42s

The Vatican's Naughty Library

The Retrospectors
About this episode
Rerun: Circulated in some form since the 16th century, the ‘Index of Forbidden Books’ was quietly discontinued by Pope Paul VI on 14th June, 1966. In its 400-year+ history, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum had censored hundreds of authors including the German astrologer Keppler, the philosopher Kant, and Protestant theologians Martin Luther and John Calvin. B ... Show More
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Today
What Caused The Black Death?
The bubonic plague was blamed on witches, Jews, God’s wrath, and, on 20th March 1345, in a new theory propagated by the King of France, the rare planetary alignment between Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in Aquarius. Of course, the real cause of the Black Death lay in the microscopic ... Show More
12m 8s
Yesterday
The Horse Bus
Blaise Pascal created the first organised public transport system: the carrosses à cinq sols (“five-sou carriages”), which had its first full day of service in Paris on 19th March, 1662. Like a modern bus, the horse-drawn carriages followed fixed routes and scheduled departures, ... Show More
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Mar 18
Braille For Your Feet
Tenji blocks (点字ブロック) - small raised shapes in the pavement to assist visually impaired people in crossing the road - were first installed near the Okayama School for the Blind in Japan on March 18th, 1967. Designed by Seiichi Miyake (三宅精一), the innovation gained traction in urba ... Show More
11m 46s
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