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Before becoming the homepage editor at HowStuffWorks.com, Deblina Chakraborty studied publishing and writing at Emerson College and worked as a writer and editor in both Boston and Mobile, Ala. When she's not writing and editing stuff (and sometimes even when she is), she's usually daydreaming about her next travel adventure -- though you might also find her playing or watching soccer or adding to her collection of kung fu flicks. You can find Deblina on Twitter at @MissedinHistory and on Facebook at the official Stuff You Missed in History Class page.
Most Recent: Deblina Chakraborty Postings
Rewriting history is no easy feat, but this week, two guys sought to do just that. They came out with a theory based on the supposition that the infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy didn’t die in a 1908 shootout in Bolivia, as most scholars think, but instead lived quietly to old age. It’s an idea based off of a newly discovered 200-page manuscript from 1934 entitled “Bandit Invincible: The Story of Butch Cassidy,” but their hypothesis goes beyond what’s printed on the page.
Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
by Deblina Chakraborty | August 13, 2011
The FBI says the case of airline hijacker D.B. Cooper isn’t a high priority, but you wouldn’t know it. For past couple of weeks, this 40-year-old story of the guy who parachuted out of a plane with a $200,000 ransom, never to be seen again, has been the historical mystery du jour — even though the latest lead in the investigation has proven to be something of a bust.
When it comes to the history of politics, Sarah and I never tire of covering the more, shall we say, “unique” characters who defy the mainstream in promoting their agendas. A new piece on Constitution Daily points out some of the most unusual political parties the world has ever seen.
If “Stuff You Missed in History Class” could only include “stuff schools don’t teach,” California would’ve just made our jobs a little tougher. Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill ensuring that, come January 2012, there will be at least one aspect of the past students in the Golden State will definitely not miss: gay history.
Maria Hallett, former lover of pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy, was a central character in the story of the Whydah shipwreck, one of several Sarah and I covered in shipwreck-themed podcast series recently. In fact, she may have been the whole reason the Whydah was in New England on April 26, 1717, when it met that massive storm off the coast of Cape Cod that led to its demise. We didn’t have the chance to talk about Maria’s fate in that episode, so I wanted to do that here.
Book Ban Sells a Great Soul Short
by Deblina Chakraborty | April 15, 2011
How much can a new piece of information change how we view the past? That’s a question that seems to come up a lot in my posts, and it’s one that definitely surrounds the buzz-laden release of Joseph Lelyveld’s book about Mohandas K. Gandhi, “Great Soul.” Lelyveld’s work has caused quite the fuss, mainly because it focuses on Gandhi’s close relationship with a German architect named Hermann Kallenbach — suggesting to some people that the celebrated hero of India’s independence movement might have been bisexual.
As if, on the heels of a devastating earthquake-tsunami combo in Japan, we needed any more reminders of Mother Nature’s destructive power, researchers think they may have finally located a storied city she pummeled ages ago. Perhaps you’ve heard of it — it’s a little place called Atlantis, and according to a team of archeologists led by Connecticut-based professor Richard Freund, it’s sitting somewhere beneath the marshlands of the Dona Ana Park in southern Spain.
By now, some 150 years since his first inauguration, it’s hard to believe there’s anything we don’t know about ol’ Honest Abe. But a new book by a researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax re-examines some of Abraham Lincoln’s more controversial racial views — and reveals that he might have held them longer than some people have thought.
For a gal who’s best-known for disappearing, Amelia Earhart sure has been popping up a lot lately. Google her, and you’re bound to come up with several recent headlines — some of them even claim we may be on our way to finally discovering what happened to the famous aviator in 1937, when she and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific Ocean. But when you get down to it, are researchers really any closer to solving the mystery?
Researchers Pick Away at Manuscript Puzzle
by Deblina Chakraborty | February 18, 2011
Filled with strange characters and weird illustrations, nobody’s been able to make heads or tails of what the Voynich Manuscript is even about. But thanks to the work of some Arizona-based scientists, we now at least have a better idea of when it was made.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Sailing, Takes Me Away…To The Seychelles
- Cute Animal Tuesday: Black Vulture
- Traveling on the Orient Express
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- The Seven Deadlies: Pride Cometh Before the Brain
- Warhammer 40K: 25 Years of Orks in Space
- A Visit to the Tellus Science Museum
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
How-to Stuff
- How to Make the Most of a Gallery Crawl (When You’re on a Shoestring Budget)
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 43: Drag Queens: You Better Work!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 42: Road Trip!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 41: Celebrity Couples
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
