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December 14, 2024
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9 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
Following last week’s killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm, the head of UnitedHealth Group has written an opinion piece...
Following last week’s killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm, the head of UnitedHealth Group has written an opinion piece...
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FREESports Sporty CurioFree1 CQ
That’s quite a ballpark figure. Last Sunday, Juan Soto signed a $765 million, 15-year deal with the New York Mets, the largest contract in MLB history. However, the question of exactly what that means for the Mets remains. By signing with the Mets, Soto will be leaving behind his beloved Yankees while breaking the already staggering $700 million record set by Shohei Ohtani when he signed with the Dodgers. While the Yankees offered a similar offer of $760 million for 16 years, Soto went with the Mets, possibly due to the latter’s offer of a free luxury suite for Soto’s family at Citi Field. Rumors aside, Soto's record-breaking deal isn’t entirely unexpected. Since Steven Cohen became majority owner of the Mets in 2020, the team has been acquiring talent with eye-watering offers. In 2023, they had the largest payroll in the league, but the spending doesn’t seem to have paid off yet. The Mets haven't won the World Series in nearly 40 years, and had a disappointing 2023 season (75–87), though they managed to rally in the last half of 2024 (89–73) for a respectable showing. Maybe Soto’s the last piece of this very pricey puzzle.
That’s quite a ballpark figure. Last Sunday, Juan Soto signed a $765 million, 15-year deal with the New York Mets, the largest contract in MLB history. However, the question of exactly what that means for the Mets remains. By signing with the Mets, Soto will be leaving behind his beloved Yankees while breaking the already staggering $700 million record set by Shohei Ohtani when he signed with the Dodgers. While the Yankees offered a similar offer of $760 million for 16 years, Soto went with the Mets, possibly due to the latter’s offer of a free luxury suite for Soto’s family at Citi Field. Rumors aside, Soto's record-breaking deal isn’t entirely unexpected. Since Steven Cohen became majority owner of the Mets in 2020, the team has been acquiring talent with eye-watering offers. In 2023, they had the largest payroll in the league, but the spending doesn’t seem to have paid off yet. The Mets haven't won the World Series in nearly 40 years, and had a disappointing 2023 season (75–87), though they managed to rally in the last half of 2024 (89–73) for a respectable showing. Maybe Soto’s the last piece of this very pricey puzzle.
December 13, 2024
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
From the BBC World Service: Mark Rutte, the head of the Western military alliance NATO, has said member countries must spend more on defense and shouldn’t un...
From the BBC World Service: Mark Rutte, the head of the Western military alliance NATO, has said member countries must spend more on defense and shouldn’t un...
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: December 13, 2024\ih-MENSS\ adjective
What It Means
Something described as immense is very great in size, degree, or amount...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: December 13, 2024\ih-MENSS\ adjective
What It Means
Something described as immense is very great in size, degree, or amount...
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FREEMind + Body Daily CurioFree1 CQ
Tall, puffy, and perfect for the holidays! Panettone has been an Italian staple this time of year for centuries. Some consider it a bread, while others call it a cake, but whether it’s one or the other (or a bit of both) there’s no doubt that this dessert is popular the world over…despite being somewhat difficult to make.
Panettone is a pastry with a fluffy, bread-like texture, but it’s also sweet and filled with candied citrus fruits and raisins, like a fruitcake. Though panettones come in several shapes, the tall, cylindrical version is the most famous. It’s sometimes served with crema al mascarpone, which is made with mascarpone, eggs, and sweet liqueur. Like European and American fruitcake, panettone is especially popular during winter holidays, and is often served at Christmas.
It’s widely accepted that panettone originated in Milan, Italy, but no one knows for certain who made the first one. The first written record of panettone is, fittingly, a 1599 register of expenses for a Christmas lunch at a northern Italian college. Panettone wasn’t particularly popular outside of Milan until 1919, when Italian businessman Angelo Motta began producing panettones on a wide scale throughout the country. Soon, his brand of panettones (which still exists today) spread throughout Europe. Italian immigrants in South America had already brought panettone to countries like Brazil, Columbia, and Ecuador by then, and the dessert is still especially popular in South America today.
Panettone’s name means “large bread”, and making one is, indeed, a big undertaking. The dough takes several days to make, as it uses a natural yeast starter and must be properly fermented and bathed regularly to maintain the right pH balance. Only with proper dough-making technique will a panettone rise to the correct, cylindrical shape and have the perfect, fluffy texture. Europe and South America agree: this extravagant holiday delicacy is worth the effort.
[Image description: A Panettone cake with a base wrapped in black, patterned paper on a clear plate.] Credit & copyright:
Benoît Prieur (1975–), Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Tall, puffy, and perfect for the holidays! Panettone has been an Italian staple this time of year for centuries. Some consider it a bread, while others call it a cake, but whether it’s one or the other (or a bit of both) there’s no doubt that this dessert is popular the world over…despite being somewhat difficult to make.
Panettone is a pastry with a fluffy, bread-like texture, but it’s also sweet and filled with candied citrus fruits and raisins, like a fruitcake. Though panettones come in several shapes, the tall, cylindrical version is the most famous. It’s sometimes served with crema al mascarpone, which is made with mascarpone, eggs, and sweet liqueur. Like European and American fruitcake, panettone is especially popular during winter holidays, and is often served at Christmas.
It’s widely accepted that panettone originated in Milan, Italy, but no one knows for certain who made the first one. The first written record of panettone is, fittingly, a 1599 register of expenses for a Christmas lunch at a northern Italian college. Panettone wasn’t particularly popular outside of Milan until 1919, when Italian businessman Angelo Motta began producing panettones on a wide scale throughout the country. Soon, his brand of panettones (which still exists today) spread throughout Europe. Italian immigrants in South America had already brought panettone to countries like Brazil, Columbia, and Ecuador by then, and the dessert is still especially popular in South America today.
Panettone’s name means “large bread”, and making one is, indeed, a big undertaking. The dough takes several days to make, as it uses a natural yeast starter and must be properly fermented and bathed regularly to maintain the right pH balance. Only with proper dough-making technique will a panettone rise to the correct, cylindrical shape and have the perfect, fluffy texture. Europe and South America agree: this extravagant holiday delicacy is worth the effort.
[Image description: A Panettone cake with a base wrapped in black, patterned paper on a clear plate.] Credit & copyright:
Benoît Prieur (1975–), Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
December 12, 2024
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9 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
New proposed legislation would make it illegal for one company to own both a pharmacy and a pharmacy-benefit management company. A PBM helps health insurers ...
New proposed legislation would make it illegal for one company to own both a pharmacy and a pharmacy-benefit management company. A PBM helps health insurers ...
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FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
That’s some weather they’ve got there. With its planet-engulfing dust storms, Mars is both terrifyingly violent and awe-inspiringly beautiful. Recently, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have figured out just what gets the Red Planet’s storms going. Photographs taken by rovers on the surface of Mars, while extremely impressive, can be somewhat deceptive. Most of the photos depict a serene, empty landscape of rocks and dirt. What they don’t usually show are the planet’s frequent, massive dust storms that can grow to cover millions of square miles and last for days at a time. Storms of that scale are unheard of on Earth, yet they happen regularly on Mars. Fortunately for the rovers, Mars’ thin atmosphere means that the wind from these seemingly violent storms can’t really knock them over. They can simply bury the rovers in dust, though, rendering them inoperable, as was the case with NASA’s Opportunity rover, which died in 2018. The reason for Mars’ many, enormous dust storms was something of a mystery until recently. But Heshani Pieris and her colleagues at CU Boulder might have found the culprit: high temperatures. Pieris and her team looked at data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over the last 15 Earth years, or 8 Martian years. What they found was that 68 percent of the major dust storms were preceded by periods of rising temperatures, which might allow great quantities of dust to rise up into Mars’ atmosphere. Still, there are more factors than just temperature at play. In a statement through the university, Pieris said, “This study is not the end all be all of predicting storms on Mars. But we hope it’s a step in the right direction.” Today’s forecast: Windy with a lot of dust.
[Image description: A starry sky with some purple visible.] Credit & copyright: Felix Mittermeier, Pexels
That’s some weather they’ve got there. With its planet-engulfing dust storms, Mars is both terrifyingly violent and awe-inspiringly beautiful. Recently, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have figured out just what gets the Red Planet’s storms going. Photographs taken by rovers on the surface of Mars, while extremely impressive, can be somewhat deceptive. Most of the photos depict a serene, empty landscape of rocks and dirt. What they don’t usually show are the planet’s frequent, massive dust storms that can grow to cover millions of square miles and last for days at a time. Storms of that scale are unheard of on Earth, yet they happen regularly on Mars. Fortunately for the rovers, Mars’ thin atmosphere means that the wind from these seemingly violent storms can’t really knock them over. They can simply bury the rovers in dust, though, rendering them inoperable, as was the case with NASA’s Opportunity rover, which died in 2018. The reason for Mars’ many, enormous dust storms was something of a mystery until recently. But Heshani Pieris and her colleagues at CU Boulder might have found the culprit: high temperatures. Pieris and her team looked at data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over the last 15 Earth years, or 8 Martian years. What they found was that 68 percent of the major dust storms were preceded by periods of rising temperatures, which might allow great quantities of dust to rise up into Mars’ atmosphere. Still, there are more factors than just temperature at play. In a statement through the university, Pieris said, “This study is not the end all be all of predicting storms on Mars. But we hope it’s a step in the right direction.” Today’s forecast: Windy with a lot of dust.
[Image description: A starry sky with some purple visible.] Credit & copyright: Felix Mittermeier, Pexels
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FREEUS History Daily Curio #2994Free1 CQ
There’s nothing worse than a hot lead on a cold case turning out to be a dud. Researchers conducting a deep-water search in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year discovered what they believed to be Amelia Earhart’s crashed airplane. However, their hopes were recently crushed. The search for Earhart’s plane was being conducted by Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a firm based out of South Carolina that uses sonar to scan the depths. Back in January, they announced the discovery of what appeared to be a plane-shaped object 16,400 feet below the surface at a site around 100 miles from Howland Island. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were supposed to make a refueling stop on the island in 1937, but they never reached their destination. Instead, they vanished without a trace, and the pair was declared dead in 1939. The U.S. government concluded that they had crashed into the ocean after running out of fuel.
Not everyone has been satisfied with this explanation. The famed aviator’s disappearance has been the subject of much speculation and even conspiracy theories. Some believe that Earhart and Noonan might have made their way to an uninhabited island where they survived for some time, while more outlandish theories suggest that Earhart was actually a spy for the U.S. government and was captured by the Japanese. When DVS discovered an object so close to Howland Island shaped like Earhart’s famous Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft, it seemed like a breakthrough in piecing together her ultimate fate. Unfortunately, further probing performed in November found the object to be nothing more than a pile of rocks that happened to be arranged in the shape of the plane’s distinct silhouette. As DSV’s CEO Tony Romeo told CNN, “Talk about the cruelest formation ever created by nature.” As Shakespeare once wrote, “Most detestable rocks, by thee beguiled. By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!”There’s nothing worse than a hot lead on a cold case turning out to be a dud. Researchers conducting a deep-water search in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year discovered what they believed to be Amelia Earhart’s crashed airplane. However, their hopes were recently crushed. The search for Earhart’s plane was being conducted by Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a firm based out of South Carolina that uses sonar to scan the depths. Back in January, they announced the discovery of what appeared to be a plane-shaped object 16,400 feet below the surface at a site around 100 miles from Howland Island. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were supposed to make a refueling stop on the island in 1937, but they never reached their destination. Instead, they vanished without a trace, and the pair was declared dead in 1939. The U.S. government concluded that they had crashed into the ocean after running out of fuel.
Not everyone has been satisfied with this explanation. The famed aviator’s disappearance has been the subject of much speculation and even conspiracy theories. Some believe that Earhart and Noonan might have made their way to an uninhabited island where they survived for some time, while more outlandish theories suggest that Earhart was actually a spy for the U.S. government and was captured by the Japanese. When DVS discovered an object so close to Howland Island shaped like Earhart’s famous Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft, it seemed like a breakthrough in piecing together her ultimate fate. Unfortunately, further probing performed in November found the object to be nothing more than a pile of rocks that happened to be arranged in the shape of the plane’s distinct silhouette. As DSV’s CEO Tony Romeo told CNN, “Talk about the cruelest formation ever created by nature.” As Shakespeare once wrote, “Most detestable rocks, by thee beguiled. By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!”
December 11, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: Coffee has hit their highest prices ever, with Arabica beans jumping by 80% this year alone. So will the prices filter through to...
From the BBC World Service: Coffee has hit their highest prices ever, with Arabica beans jumping by 80% this year alone. So will the prices filter through to...
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: December 11, 2024\SUB-luh-mayt\ verb
What It Means
To sublimate something—such as an impulse, desire, or feeling—is to expr...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: December 11, 2024\SUB-luh-mayt\ verb
What It Means
To sublimate something—such as an impulse, desire, or feeling—is to expr...
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FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
You’re not likely to find this bird in a pear tree, but it’s still a holiday celebrity. It’s the perfect time of year to learn about partridges (as in “a partridge in a pear tree” from the Christmas song, 12 Days of Christmas). Despite their portly, soft appearance, these little birds were actually included in the song due to their surprisingly brave demeanor.
There are many species of partridge, but the kind from the Christmas song was likely a gray partridge, which is native to western Asia and Europe. It was introduced to North America in the early 1900s, and still roams the continent despite not being native. Because they were once so plentiful in Hungary, gray partridges are sometimes called Hungarian partridges, or simply “Huns” by hunters. As their name implies, they have mostly gray and white feathers, though there’s a bit of orange around their throats. Like most game birds, gray partridges are large enough to make a decent meal, weighing a little over a pound. Like other members of the pheasant family, they spend most of their time on the ground, in open grasslands, foraging for seeds and insects. Though they’re capable of flight, they typically don’t fly far, and only when threatened. They even sleep on the ground, huddling together with other members of their social group, called a covey, which can include around a dozen birds.
Mother gray partridges are famously protective of their young. Nesting on the ground leaves them vulnerable to many predators, like foxes and birds of prey, all of which are larger than partridges. Despite the size imbalance, mother gray partridges will claw and peck at any adversary. Since they're willing to give their lives in defense of their young, 12 Days of Christmas uses a partridge as a metaphor for the Christian figure of Jesus. Other birds in the song also serve as Christian references, such as the two turtle doves, which represent the bible’s two testaments. Metaphorical or not, live birds don’t really make the best Christmas gifts—especially not 184 of them in the span of 12 days.
[Image description: An illustration of a gray partridge, a bird with gray and white feathers, with an beak and feet.] Credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the American Foundation for the Maud E. and Warren H. Corning Botanical Collection 1963.594.40.b, Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.You’re not likely to find this bird in a pear tree, but it’s still a holiday celebrity. It’s the perfect time of year to learn about partridges (as in “a partridge in a pear tree” from the Christmas song, 12 Days of Christmas). Despite their portly, soft appearance, these little birds were actually included in the song due to their surprisingly brave demeanor.
There are many species of partridge, but the kind from the Christmas song was likely a gray partridge, which is native to western Asia and Europe. It was introduced to North America in the early 1900s, and still roams the continent despite not being native. Because they were once so plentiful in Hungary, gray partridges are sometimes called Hungarian partridges, or simply “Huns” by hunters. As their name implies, they have mostly gray and white feathers, though there’s a bit of orange around their throats. Like most game birds, gray partridges are large enough to make a decent meal, weighing a little over a pound. Like other members of the pheasant family, they spend most of their time on the ground, in open grasslands, foraging for seeds and insects. Though they’re capable of flight, they typically don’t fly far, and only when threatened. They even sleep on the ground, huddling together with other members of their social group, called a covey, which can include around a dozen birds.
Mother gray partridges are famously protective of their young. Nesting on the ground leaves them vulnerable to many predators, like foxes and birds of prey, all of which are larger than partridges. Despite the size imbalance, mother gray partridges will claw and peck at any adversary. Since they're willing to give their lives in defense of their young, 12 Days of Christmas uses a partridge as a metaphor for the Christian figure of Jesus. Other birds in the song also serve as Christian references, such as the two turtle doves, which represent the bible’s two testaments. Metaphorical or not, live birds don’t really make the best Christmas gifts—especially not 184 of them in the span of 12 days.
[Image description: An illustration of a gray partridge, a bird with gray and white feathers, with an beak and feet.] Credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the American Foundation for the Maud E. and Warren H. Corning Botanical Collection 1963.594.40.b, Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation. -
FREESTEM Daily Curio #2993Free1 CQ
Cancer treatments have come a long way, but this new one goes back in time. Scientists at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia have developed a new way to treat ovarian cancer using a nearly-forgotten technique from over a hundred years ago. Any type of cancer can be unpredictable, but ovarian cancer is exceptionally difficult to treat. It has the lowest survival rates among gynecological cancers due to its resistance to chemotherapy. Once ovarian cancer metastasizes, or spreads to other parts of the body, it tends to straight for the peritoneal cavity to the stomach and intestines, where the body maintains a naturally immunosuppressive state. This means that tumors in those areas are largely unaffected by the body’s immune system and are free to spread further.
When dealing with such an aggressive, treatment-resistant cancer, it would seem that the answer might be ever more advanced, state-of-the-art treatments. However, Wistar Institute’s Nan Zhang, Ph.D. and his colleagues took a different approach. They looked back in time to some of the earliest cancer treatment research from the late 1800s and early 1900s, specifically at the work of William B. Coley. Coley was a renowned surgeon in his time and is known today as the father of immunotherapy. His most notable work was his revolutionary treatment of bone cancers at New York Cancer Hospital, where he injected patients with “Coley’s toxins.” The “toxins” were a mix of dead pathogens that, when injected into the tumor, had a cure rate of around ten percent. That might not sound like much, but before Coley’s treatment came along, there were no viable treatments at all for many types of cancer. After his toxins were proven to work, they became the go-to treatment for thirty years, until the advent of radiation therapy. Scientists have known for a while that Coley’s toxins worked by activating myeloid cells, which play a key part in immunity, essentially “waking them up to the cancer’s presence. These cells happen to be plentiful in the peritoneal cavity. Researchers are using their own “toxins”, namely pathogen-derived β-glucan and interferon-gamma (IFNγ), to activate the myeloid cells. Now if we could just come up with a more palatable name than “toxins.”Cancer treatments have come a long way, but this new one goes back in time. Scientists at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia have developed a new way to treat ovarian cancer using a nearly-forgotten technique from over a hundred years ago. Any type of cancer can be unpredictable, but ovarian cancer is exceptionally difficult to treat. It has the lowest survival rates among gynecological cancers due to its resistance to chemotherapy. Once ovarian cancer metastasizes, or spreads to other parts of the body, it tends to straight for the peritoneal cavity to the stomach and intestines, where the body maintains a naturally immunosuppressive state. This means that tumors in those areas are largely unaffected by the body’s immune system and are free to spread further.
When dealing with such an aggressive, treatment-resistant cancer, it would seem that the answer might be ever more advanced, state-of-the-art treatments. However, Wistar Institute’s Nan Zhang, Ph.D. and his colleagues took a different approach. They looked back in time to some of the earliest cancer treatment research from the late 1800s and early 1900s, specifically at the work of William B. Coley. Coley was a renowned surgeon in his time and is known today as the father of immunotherapy. His most notable work was his revolutionary treatment of bone cancers at New York Cancer Hospital, where he injected patients with “Coley’s toxins.” The “toxins” were a mix of dead pathogens that, when injected into the tumor, had a cure rate of around ten percent. That might not sound like much, but before Coley’s treatment came along, there were no viable treatments at all for many types of cancer. After his toxins were proven to work, they became the go-to treatment for thirty years, until the advent of radiation therapy. Scientists have known for a while that Coley’s toxins worked by activating myeloid cells, which play a key part in immunity, essentially “waking them up to the cancer’s presence. These cells happen to be plentiful in the peritoneal cavity. Researchers are using their own “toxins”, namely pathogen-derived β-glucan and interferon-gamma (IFNγ), to activate the myeloid cells. Now if we could just come up with a more palatable name than “toxins.”
December 10, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: The company owned by the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, says they’re in good shape to handle their debts, despite some serious ...
From the BBC World Service: The company owned by the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, says they’re in good shape to handle their debts, despite some serious ...
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3 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: November 24, 2024\LEEN-yunt\ adjective
What It Means
Someone or something described as lenient is not harsh, severe, or str...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: November 24, 2024\LEEN-yunt\ adjective
What It Means
Someone or something described as lenient is not harsh, severe, or str...
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FREEMusic Appreciation Song CurioFree2 CQ
Pop goes the weasel, but monkees can perform in any genre! American musician Mike Nesmith, who passed away on this day in 2021, achieved fame as a member of The Monkees. Formed in 1966, The Monkees served as a sort of American answer to The Beatles throughout the late 1960s. But Nesmith was writing songs long before he joined The Monkees. In fact, one of his most successful songs was never performed by them at all. Different Drum, a folk song in which the narrator rejects any love that would tie them down, is a far cry from The Monkees’ flashy, pop-rock hits. Nesmith wrote it for his first band, a bluegrass group called The Greenbriar Boys. With its acoustic instrumentation, including a jangling tambourine, it’s no surprise that Different Drum was picked up by the folk-rock trio The Stone Poneys. Nesmith did try to pitch Different Drum to The Monkees, but producers turned it down, saying that it didn’t fit the band’s image. Surely there are worse images to have than that of a genre-spanning hitmaker.
Pop goes the weasel, but monkees can perform in any genre! American musician Mike Nesmith, who passed away on this day in 2021, achieved fame as a member of The Monkees. Formed in 1966, The Monkees served as a sort of American answer to The Beatles throughout the late 1960s. But Nesmith was writing songs long before he joined The Monkees. In fact, one of his most successful songs was never performed by them at all. Different Drum, a folk song in which the narrator rejects any love that would tie them down, is a far cry from The Monkees’ flashy, pop-rock hits. Nesmith wrote it for his first band, a bluegrass group called The Greenbriar Boys. With its acoustic instrumentation, including a jangling tambourine, it’s no surprise that Different Drum was picked up by the folk-rock trio The Stone Poneys. Nesmith did try to pitch Different Drum to The Monkees, but producers turned it down, saying that it didn’t fit the band’s image. Surely there are worse images to have than that of a genre-spanning hitmaker.
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FREEHumanities Daily Curio #2992Free1 CQ
Finally, a way to brush up on our ancient Syrian spelling. Researchers at the famed Syrian archaeological site of Tell Umm el-Marra recently unearthed evidence of the world’s oldest-known alphabet. Letters stamped on clay cylinders inside a tomb from the Early Bronze Age seemed to be some form of Semitic alphabet. Semitic alphabets are an ancestor of many other alphabets still in use around the world today. Amazingly, when the cylinders containing the stamped letters were carbon dated, they were shown to be over 4,000 years old, and at least 500 years older than any other known alphabet.
Even though humans have used spoken languages since prehistoric times, alphabets took much longer to develop. For centuries, people passed down knowledge only through speaking, or by “writing” instructions and stories via images and symbols, such as hieroglyphs. In most modern alphabets, each letter symbolizes a sound, a system known in linguistics as the Rebus Principle. Unlike systems that only used pictures to illustrate ideas, alphabets following the Rebus Principle allow individual words to be spelled out and pronounced by anyone familiar with the letters. For example, a person who speaks English can still pronounce most words in Spanish, German, or French that are spelled out for them, even if they don’t know what the words mean.
It was originally thought that the world’s first alphabet was developed in ancient Egypt sometime around 1900 BCE. But the recently discovered alphabet in Syria turns what we know about the time and location of the alphabet’s development on its head. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to translate this groundbreaking linguistic artifact. Some of the world’s first translated writings relate to business transactions and labels, so it’s possible that the clay cylinders were used for a similar purpose. It’s clear that the ancients had plenty to say, and earlier than we thought…but who knows if we’ll ever figure out what it was.
[Image description: The English alphabet, in rainbow colors, against a black background.] Credit & copyright: Author-created image. Public Domain.Finally, a way to brush up on our ancient Syrian spelling. Researchers at the famed Syrian archaeological site of Tell Umm el-Marra recently unearthed evidence of the world’s oldest-known alphabet. Letters stamped on clay cylinders inside a tomb from the Early Bronze Age seemed to be some form of Semitic alphabet. Semitic alphabets are an ancestor of many other alphabets still in use around the world today. Amazingly, when the cylinders containing the stamped letters were carbon dated, they were shown to be over 4,000 years old, and at least 500 years older than any other known alphabet.
Even though humans have used spoken languages since prehistoric times, alphabets took much longer to develop. For centuries, people passed down knowledge only through speaking, or by “writing” instructions and stories via images and symbols, such as hieroglyphs. In most modern alphabets, each letter symbolizes a sound, a system known in linguistics as the Rebus Principle. Unlike systems that only used pictures to illustrate ideas, alphabets following the Rebus Principle allow individual words to be spelled out and pronounced by anyone familiar with the letters. For example, a person who speaks English can still pronounce most words in Spanish, German, or French that are spelled out for them, even if they don’t know what the words mean.
It was originally thought that the world’s first alphabet was developed in ancient Egypt sometime around 1900 BCE. But the recently discovered alphabet in Syria turns what we know about the time and location of the alphabet’s development on its head. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to translate this groundbreaking linguistic artifact. Some of the world’s first translated writings relate to business transactions and labels, so it’s possible that the clay cylinders were used for a similar purpose. It’s clear that the ancients had plenty to say, and earlier than we thought…but who knows if we’ll ever figure out what it was.
[Image description: The English alphabet, in rainbow colors, against a black background.] Credit & copyright: Author-created image. Public Domain.
December 9, 2024
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FREEArt Appreciation Art CurioFree1 CQ
This is one princess who knew how to get a head. Salome is one of the most notorious figures in the New Testament, and a heavily embellished version of her story is told in German opera composer Richard Strauss’s Salome, which debuted on this day in 1905. The piece above, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, depicts a woman in a European style dress holding a large platter. Below and to the right is a man reaching for a decapitated head. This particular drawing was created by Dutch artist Nicolaus Knupfer in the 1600s, but Salome has captured the imagination of artists and writers for centuries. In the Bible, Salome (though not specifically named) is persuaded by her mother to ask her new stepfather, Herod Antipas, for John the Baptist’s head in retaliation for the latter’s criticism of their marriage. Wilde wrote a play about her in 1891, and that was eventually adapted into an opera by Strauss in 1905. Both iterations were controversial in their time due to their salacious contents, and the opera was even banned in Vienna. It’s not as if the original story was any more family friendly!
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, Nicolaus Knupfer
(Dutch, 1603–1655), c. 1650, Pen and brown ink, brown washes and white heightening (oxidized), over black chalk on antique laid paper, 13.12 x 11 in. (33.4 x 27.9 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art
[Image credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nicolaus Knupfer, John L. Severance Fund 2019.8This is one princess who knew how to get a head. Salome is one of the most notorious figures in the New Testament, and a heavily embellished version of her story is told in German opera composer Richard Strauss’s Salome, which debuted on this day in 1905. The piece above, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, depicts a woman in a European style dress holding a large platter. Below and to the right is a man reaching for a decapitated head. This particular drawing was created by Dutch artist Nicolaus Knupfer in the 1600s, but Salome has captured the imagination of artists and writers for centuries. In the Bible, Salome (though not specifically named) is persuaded by her mother to ask her new stepfather, Herod Antipas, for John the Baptist’s head in retaliation for the latter’s criticism of their marriage. Wilde wrote a play about her in 1891, and that was eventually adapted into an opera by Strauss in 1905. Both iterations were controversial in their time due to their salacious contents, and the opera was even banned in Vienna. It’s not as if the original story was any more family friendly!
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, Nicolaus Knupfer
(Dutch, 1603–1655), c. 1650, Pen and brown ink, brown washes and white heightening (oxidized), over black chalk on antique laid paper, 13.12 x 11 in. (33.4 x 27.9 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art
[Image credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nicolaus Knupfer, John L. Severance Fund 2019.8 -
FREEEngineering Daily Curio #2991Free1 CQ
These are a lot more useful than your average tattoos. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a spray-on temporary tattoo that might replace conventional electrodes for EEGs. Short for electroencephalogram, an EEG is a test that measures brain activity and is used to diagnose brain injuries, tumors, epilepsy, and a myriad of other conditions related to the brain. Yet, as essential and high-tech as the test is, actually getting an EEG is a cumbersome ordeal for patients. First, electrodes must be attached to the scalp using adhesive gels, but the application process can take hours. Hair can easily get in the way, leading to a sticky mess. On top of all that, the gel used to hold the electrodes in place is only effective for around six hours. After that, the adhesive properties of the gel diminish, which affects the signal delivered through the electrodes. That’s far from ideal when patients might need to be monitored for an extended period, not to mention that it’s awfully uncomfortable.
Enter the electronic tattoo. Developed by researchers at UT Austin, the tattoo uses a biocompatible, conductive polymer ink that can simply be sprayed directly onto the scalp. Since it’s applied as a liquid, it’s not stymied by hair and once it dries in a few minutes, it can carry a reliable signal for around 24 hours. But there’s more than EEGs in the future for these e-tattoos. Researchers believe that the conductive ink could one day be used to create unobtrusive brain-computer interfaces that people with disabilities could use to control prosthetic devices, or computers for communicating through. That sounds like something for the distant future, but similar e-tattoos are already being used by some athletes to monitor biometric information, like heartrates. It may well be an inkling of things to come.
[Image description: A gray brain against a black background.] Credit & copyright: KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA, PexelsThese are a lot more useful than your average tattoos. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a spray-on temporary tattoo that might replace conventional electrodes for EEGs. Short for electroencephalogram, an EEG is a test that measures brain activity and is used to diagnose brain injuries, tumors, epilepsy, and a myriad of other conditions related to the brain. Yet, as essential and high-tech as the test is, actually getting an EEG is a cumbersome ordeal for patients. First, electrodes must be attached to the scalp using adhesive gels, but the application process can take hours. Hair can easily get in the way, leading to a sticky mess. On top of all that, the gel used to hold the electrodes in place is only effective for around six hours. After that, the adhesive properties of the gel diminish, which affects the signal delivered through the electrodes. That’s far from ideal when patients might need to be monitored for an extended period, not to mention that it’s awfully uncomfortable.
Enter the electronic tattoo. Developed by researchers at UT Austin, the tattoo uses a biocompatible, conductive polymer ink that can simply be sprayed directly onto the scalp. Since it’s applied as a liquid, it’s not stymied by hair and once it dries in a few minutes, it can carry a reliable signal for around 24 hours. But there’s more than EEGs in the future for these e-tattoos. Researchers believe that the conductive ink could one day be used to create unobtrusive brain-computer interfaces that people with disabilities could use to control prosthetic devices, or computers for communicating through. That sounds like something for the distant future, but similar e-tattoos are already being used by some athletes to monitor biometric information, like heartrates. It may well be an inkling of things to come.
[Image description: A gray brain against a black background.] Credit & copyright: KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA, Pexels
December 8, 2024
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FREEAlgebra PP&T CurioFree1 CQ
Math and logic are an inseparable pair, right? Well, they weren't always. Mathematics and logic existed separately for thousands of years before the two disciplines ever merged together, but their eventual marriage was possible thanks in part to a man named George Boole. Boole, who died on this day in 1864, is known as the father of binary logic, and by extension, a key figure in the field of modern computing.
Despite his later career as a revolutionary academic and educator, Boole never received much formal education. Instead, his early life was enriched by his father’s personal interest in math and science. Born on November 2, 1815, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, Boole was largely educated by his father, a shoemaker. As a child, he also attended local schools, but most of his knowledge in mathematics was self-taught. When his father’s business began to slow down, Boole started teaching at the young age of 16. By 20, he had opened his own school, and remained a dedicated educator throughout his life. He worked as the headmaster of his school for 15 years, during which time he took it upon himself to continue his own education. Beginning in the 1840s, Boole began to publish papers in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal. In 1849, he began his tenure as a professor of mathematics at Queens College in Cork, Ireland.
Before Boole, logic was considered part of philosophy. He published a pamphlet in 1847 titled The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, being an Essay towards a Calculus of Deductive Reasoning in which he argued that logic was not a matter of philosophy, but shared a domain with mathematics. He expounded on this idea in An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, which he released in 1854.
With these two works, Boolean algebra was established, wherein math and algebraic symbols could be used to express a binary system of logic. Essentially, Boolean algebra is the mathematical representation of logic using boolean values: the values of true or false, often represented today as 1 and 0 in computer science. Boolean algebra also plays an important role in the theory of probabilities, information theory, and circuit design in digital computers. Boole’s integration of math and logic was a revolution millennia in the making, with much of his work based on Aristotle’s system of logic. Even Boole’s book, The Laws of Thought, was titled after existing fundamental laws of logic used by ancient philosophers.
Thanks to the recognition and acclaim he earned from his works, Boole was given an honorary membership to the Cambridge Philosophical Society and an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1858 and 1859, respectively. Sadly, Boole’s extreme dedication to his profession ultimately led to his death. One day in November of 1864, Boole walked through a cold and torrential downpour to reach his class at Queens College. Once in his classroom, he conducted an entire lecture in drenched clothes. In the following days, Boole contracted pneumonia and passed away at the age of 49, survived by his wife and children.
Even if Boole lived a long and healthy life, he wouldn’t have seen the advent of digital computing that relied on his principles with practical applications. While many programming languages exist today, digital computing is fundamentally based on circuits formed using the boolean values of true and false. Boole’s impact has been left on everything from algebra textbooks to the entire field of digital computing. All that, despite spending much of his life with little formal education. Who said a shoemaker’s son couldn’t accomplish great feats?
[Image description: Rows of white 1s and 0s against a back background.] Credit & copyright: Author’s own photo. The author releases this image into the Public Domain.Math and logic are an inseparable pair, right? Well, they weren't always. Mathematics and logic existed separately for thousands of years before the two disciplines ever merged together, but their eventual marriage was possible thanks in part to a man named George Boole. Boole, who died on this day in 1864, is known as the father of binary logic, and by extension, a key figure in the field of modern computing.
Despite his later career as a revolutionary academic and educator, Boole never received much formal education. Instead, his early life was enriched by his father’s personal interest in math and science. Born on November 2, 1815, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, Boole was largely educated by his father, a shoemaker. As a child, he also attended local schools, but most of his knowledge in mathematics was self-taught. When his father’s business began to slow down, Boole started teaching at the young age of 16. By 20, he had opened his own school, and remained a dedicated educator throughout his life. He worked as the headmaster of his school for 15 years, during which time he took it upon himself to continue his own education. Beginning in the 1840s, Boole began to publish papers in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal. In 1849, he began his tenure as a professor of mathematics at Queens College in Cork, Ireland.
Before Boole, logic was considered part of philosophy. He published a pamphlet in 1847 titled The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, being an Essay towards a Calculus of Deductive Reasoning in which he argued that logic was not a matter of philosophy, but shared a domain with mathematics. He expounded on this idea in An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, which he released in 1854.
With these two works, Boolean algebra was established, wherein math and algebraic symbols could be used to express a binary system of logic. Essentially, Boolean algebra is the mathematical representation of logic using boolean values: the values of true or false, often represented today as 1 and 0 in computer science. Boolean algebra also plays an important role in the theory of probabilities, information theory, and circuit design in digital computers. Boole’s integration of math and logic was a revolution millennia in the making, with much of his work based on Aristotle’s system of logic. Even Boole’s book, The Laws of Thought, was titled after existing fundamental laws of logic used by ancient philosophers.
Thanks to the recognition and acclaim he earned from his works, Boole was given an honorary membership to the Cambridge Philosophical Society and an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1858 and 1859, respectively. Sadly, Boole’s extreme dedication to his profession ultimately led to his death. One day in November of 1864, Boole walked through a cold and torrential downpour to reach his class at Queens College. Once in his classroom, he conducted an entire lecture in drenched clothes. In the following days, Boole contracted pneumonia and passed away at the age of 49, survived by his wife and children.
Even if Boole lived a long and healthy life, he wouldn’t have seen the advent of digital computing that relied on his principles with practical applications. While many programming languages exist today, digital computing is fundamentally based on circuits formed using the boolean values of true and false. Boole’s impact has been left on everything from algebra textbooks to the entire field of digital computing. All that, despite spending much of his life with little formal education. Who said a shoemaker’s son couldn’t accomplish great feats?
[Image description: Rows of white 1s and 0s against a back background.] Credit & copyright: Author’s own photo. The author releases this image into the Public Domain.