The Ezilis

Rada vs Petwo: The Complexities of the Nasyons of Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou is a religion born at a crossroads of culture. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, West and West-Central Africans were taken from their homelands to work the plantations of the Caribbean. Their beliefs merged not only with each others, but with those … Read more

Commercial Aviation – First 100 Years

1914 – 2014 Another Almandsmith Human flight has long been a dream for the inventive and the adventurous. Several ancient cultures experimented with gliders and manned kites, with varying levels of success. Leonardo da Vinci famously sketched several designs for flying machines. Lighter-than-air craft, such as hot air balloons and airships (a category consisting of … Read more

City to Metropolis to Megalopolis

Urban Growth via Chicago and Los AngelesAnother Almandsmith The Industrial Revolution spawned cities of manufacturing all over the world. The first wave of large American cities were built during the industrial period in North America, becoming many of the USA’s major metropolises of the early twentieth century. The Chicago School of urban sociology, as proposed … Read more

The Rise of the Bat People

From Wnt7a to Human WingsorAn Exploration of Embryonic Limb DevelopmentThrough a Lens of Mad Science Another Almandsmith Preamble: Man has, in many ways, shapes, and means, always wanted to fly—from the myth of Daedalus and Icarus to the Wright brothers. A whole mythos exists dedicated to winged humans, especially those sprouting bird-like feathered wings from … Read more