by Fred Ray
July 24, 2020
One of the guns from what was probably Clint Eastwood’s best Western is up for auction. Set in Missouri during and just after the Civil War, it chronicles the flight of an ex-Confederate guerilla to escape a vengeful Union. “Well, you gonna pull those pistols or whistle ‘Dixie’?” Moments after delivering this line in the […]
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by Fred Ray
July 23, 2020
Smallpox, unlike the Minié ball, was an indiscriminate, equal-opportunity killer that killed about 30% of those it infected. Although there was no cure, English physician Edward Jenner had devised a vaccine of sorts. He noticed that milkmaids often contracted cowpox, which resembled smallpox but was much less virulent, and were thereafter immune to smallpox. He […]
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