On May 14, 1607, a group of about 100 English settlers stepped off their ships and onto the muddy banks of what would become Jamestown, Virginia — the first permanent English settlement in North America. They were sent by the Virginia Company, a business venture backed by investors hoping to strike gold, find new trade routes, and expand English power in the New World. What they found instead was swampland, bugs, and a whole lotta hardship.

The settlers had sailed across the Atlantic on three ships — the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery — and chose the Jamestown site because it was far enough inland to hide from Spanish ships, but close enough to the water for supplies and escape if needed. Problem was, the land was marshy, the water was brackish, and they’d arrived right in the middle of a drought. Between disease, salty water, and poor planning, most of the settlers didn’t survive their first year.

Relations with the local Powhatan people were tense from the jump. At times, there was trade and uneasy peace — other times, it broke out into violence. One of the few things that kept Jamestown from collapsing completely was Captain John Smith, who took charge and laid down a simple rule: “He that will not work shall not eat.” His leadership helped stabilize the colony — at least for a while.

Though it was a rough beginning, Jamestown eventually laid the groundwork for the English colonization of North America. Tobacco farming would later bring wealth to the region, and Jamestown became the model — both good and bad — for future settlements. But it all started on May 14, 1607, when a few worn-out souls set foot on a stretch of Virginia dirt, lookin’ for gold but findin’ a whole new world of trouble.

On May 14, 1973, NASA launched Skylab, America’s very first space station, into orbit. After years of moon landings and splashdowns, this marked a shift — instead of just visiting space, the U.S. was now lookin’ to live and work up there for the long haul. Skylab was built using leftover hardware from the Apollo program, and it was packed with science labs, cameras, and living quarters — basically a big ol’ orbiting RV for astronauts.

The station was launched aboard a Saturn V rocket, the same kind used to send folks to the Moon. But not everything went smooth. During launch, Skylab’s micrometeoroid shield tore off, taking one of its main solar panels with it and jamming the other. That meant once it got into orbit, the station started overheating real quick and had barely enough power to run its systems. For a minute there, folks thought the mission might be dead on arrival.

But NASA got to work, and when the first crew — Skylab 2, led by astronaut Pete Conrad — arrived 10 days later, they pulled off a space repair job that would go down in history. They deployed a sunshade to cool the station and managed to free up a stuck solar panel. After that, Skylab was back in business. Over the next year, three crews lived aboard the station, setting records for long-duration spaceflight, running solar experiments, and even taking pictures of early solar flares and Earth weather systems.

Skylab stayed in orbit until 1979, when it finally came back down, scattering debris over parts of Western Australia. But for its time, it proved America could build, live, and do serious science in space. It paved the way for future missions like the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. On May 14, 1973, Skylab launched not just into orbit — but into the history books, as a floating lab that turned problems into progress.

Hair Product🦴
In 17th-century France, powdered wigs were all the rage — the bigger and more dramatic, the better. But what gave them that signature pale, powdery look? Sometimes... crushed bones. Wig powder was usually made from starch, often scented with lavender or orange. But to get that fashionable ghostly white tone, people occasionally added finely ground animal bones (and in some cases, even chalk or lead, which — spoiler — did not age well for their health). This meant that while you were walking around Versailles looking fabulous, your hair might’ve been dusted with a bit of... former livestock. It was high fashion, high maintenance, and slightly haunted.💀💁‍♂️🌬️

Nero’s Giant Selfie🤳
Roman Emperor Nero wasn’t exactly known for subtlety, so naturally, he had a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of himself built in the middle of Rome. It was called the Colossus of Nero, and it was every bit as extra as it sounds. Modeled after sun gods like Apollo, the statue showed Nero with godlike features — because apparently burning down Rome (allegedly) wasn’t enough, he also wanted to loom over it. The statue stood near his luxurious palace, the Domus Aurea, which itself had a rotating dining room, man-made lake, and enough gold leaf to make Fort Knox jealous. After Nero’s death, later emperors modified the statue’s face and repurposed it for their own glory, but the name stuck. In fact, when the nearby amphitheater was built, people started calling it the Colosseum — a nod to Nero’s giant ego still hanging around.🗿🔥🎭

Freud’s Medical Advice🤧
Before he became the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud was just a young doctor experimenting with new treatments — and in the 1880s, he was very excited about one in particular: cocaine. Freud believed cocaine was a miracle drug. He prescribed it for depression, anxiety, indigestion, and even as a cure for morphine addiction (spoiler: it was not). He also used it himself, writing glowing reviews about how it made him feel energized, confident, and sharp. At the time, cocaine was still legal and relatively new to European medicine. No one really understood how highly addictive it was — yet. Eventually, Freud distanced himself from the drug after some of his patients experienced... let’s call them enthusiastic side effects. But for a while there, his medical advice was basically:
“Feeling down? Try a bump.” 💊🧠

Plague vs Garlic🧄
During plague outbreaks — especially the Black Death in the 14th century — people were desperate for protection, and one of the go-to “cures” was garlic. Lots of it. Folks would wear garlic cloves around their necks, hang them in their homes, rub them on their skin, or even stuff them in their mouths thinking it would ward off the disease. Garlic was believed to have purifying properties, and since people thought the plague spread through bad air ("miasma"), the strong smell was seen as a protective barrier. Did it work? Not really. Did people stink? Absolutely. But in an era with no germ theory, smelling like a vampire’s worst nightmare seemed like a solid plan. Garlic: great on bread, not so great against bubonic death. 🧄🚫🦠

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