by david allan van nostrand | Apr 27, 2026 | Americana, The Myopia of Experts, The Wayback Machine
The first medicated throat discs date back to Egypt in 1000 BC. They were made from honey and flavored with eucalyptus. The first ones we’d recognize were called Throaties, invented in 1930. Today’s medicated throat discs are commonly used to temporarily treat...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 20, 2026 | Inventions, The Guild System, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
Like so many things from the past, the pretzel comes equipped with lots of stories of how it came to be and what it symbolizes. The favorite story of most pretzel historians features a 7th century Italian monk who designed a cracker for his students. As a reward for...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 13, 2026 | Planning, Strategy, The iterative process
In the 1970s and 1980s, there was one question asked over and over again by men and women alike in every bar in town – from fern bars to discos, pubs, and dive bars. What’s your sign? It was a jumping-off point for mutual seduction that was so popular in the...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 6, 2026 | Fads, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine
The organistrum (the organ I strum) is a stringed musical instrument from the Middle Ages. It was commonly referred to as the “wheel fiddle” and was so large that it took two people to play it. One person turned the crank while another pressed keys that changed the...
