Well, Duh
Polynesians made it to the Americas long before Europeans. How could they have covered that much ocean without also hitting the Americas? Unpossible!
Technology
William Leitch
Scottish-Canadian scientist William Leitch was the first to describe rocket space flight, easily predating Goddard and Tsiolkovsky. We’re talking 1861! Then in book form a year later. As the article notes, this even predated the science fiction of Verne that inspired the later pioneers.
Reardon Metal
Or something like it, has been created by the State Science Institute Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.
Books, Humor, Science, Technology, World
Photo and Video History
There exists a photo of someone who crossed the Delaware with Washington, the earliest born person ever photographed. There also exists video of someone born in the 1700s. Amazing! Have a look.
Science Heroes
Who aved the most lives in history? Fascinating list. I tend to think of Borlaug as the biggie, credited with saving perhaps billions, but he is in sixth. Of course, numbers like these are always going to be estimated and conjectured. Still, these are some impressive people. Big Damn Heroes, in fact.
Fracking
This is a great fracking rant. I especially liked:
“Imagine complaining to your electrician when your home’s plumbing leaks.”
Up With Down
I had no idea the down jacket was so recent, or that it had been invented by Eddie Bauer. Heck, I had no idea Eddie Bauer was a person and not a name made up to be a brand.
Almost Losing Columbia Early
Here’s the fascinating story of how the shuttle was almost lost in 1999.
Bad Judge on “the place to avoid in Cap-Ferret: Il Giardino”
I know, it’s France and what would a French court know about how the Internet works, but still, what an absurd decision. Write a review, get high search result placement, get fined?
Well, maybe not that absurd. I once wrote elsewhere about local news, a matter of public record, and thought I would get an offer I couldn’t refuse when Google didn’t clear the results out of cache fast enough, even after I promptly took it down in fear for my safety. And that was a case of people simply not understanding how the Internet worked, and how Google worked. At least that’s just people, not a judge or other legal authority.
Culture, Food, Law, Technology, World
Deja News
Anyone remember Deja News? You wouldn’t, if you were never active on Usenet, which was a big part of the Internet before the web was developed (announced on Usenet, mind you) and became, to most mind, “the Internet.” It was a web site that could be used to access and to search Usenet. Search being the big deal, though it was handy to have something that didn’t require a news reader program.
Google bought Deja News eons ago, which drew mixed expectations that leaned, if I recall correctly, negative. Still, they made some improvements for a while, and used it to promote non-Usenet “groups.” There had been various companies offering those. Ultimately it came down mainly to Yahoo, and groups were and are essentially mailing lists that also have a web archive/interface. Which isn’t so hard to do. I run a little-used mailing list of former colleagues, using a common mailing list program, and it keeps a web archive/interface members can access, if they know and remember they can. But I digress.
Google has increasingly downplayed Groups, their own and especially Usenet, perhaps even to the point of helping Usenet be forgotten. First you take over an important access point and tool, then you make it obscure…
As it turns out, there is still an alternate Deja search interface out there that can get you the results that may no longer be easy to search for otherwise. Worth knowing about, if you want to take a look back.