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May 18, 2024
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FREESports Sporty CurioFree1 CQ
It’s the ultimate test of digit-al strength! Last week, 150 men gathered in the Bavarian town of Bernbeuren to compete in the national Fingerhakeln championship, one of the world’s strangest sporting events, hands down. Fingerhakeln, also called finger wrestling in English, is a serious athletic tradition developed in the Alpine communities of Bavaria and Austria. Originally, Fingerhakeln was a means to settle disputes, but it evolved into a competitive sport over time. The rules are simple: each round sees two finger wrestlers facing off, with each hooking one finger through a leather loop. They then pull as hard as they can, hoping to hold on longer than their opponent. Competitors usually use their middle fingers, and it’s common for fingers to get pulled out of their joints. Whoever wins moves on to another round, and the rounds continue until one man is crowned champion. Many competitors, like this year’s champion Luis Koegel, take the sport very seriously, and it’s not uncommon for men to train by hanging weights from their fingers. Finger wrestlers come in a wide range of ages, with the youngest and oldest competitors this year being 15 and 70. However, there were no competitors from outside Bavaria this year, as the region handily dominates the sport in Germany.
It’s the ultimate test of digit-al strength! Last week, 150 men gathered in the Bavarian town of Bernbeuren to compete in the national Fingerhakeln championship, one of the world’s strangest sporting events, hands down. Fingerhakeln, also called finger wrestling in English, is a serious athletic tradition developed in the Alpine communities of Bavaria and Austria. Originally, Fingerhakeln was a means to settle disputes, but it evolved into a competitive sport over time. The rules are simple: each round sees two finger wrestlers facing off, with each hooking one finger through a leather loop. They then pull as hard as they can, hoping to hold on longer than their opponent. Competitors usually use their middle fingers, and it’s common for fingers to get pulled out of their joints. Whoever wins moves on to another round, and the rounds continue until one man is crowned champion. Many competitors, like this year’s champion Luis Koegel, take the sport very seriously, and it’s not uncommon for men to train by hanging weights from their fingers. Finger wrestlers come in a wide range of ages, with the youngest and oldest competitors this year being 15 and 70. However, there were no competitors from outside Bavaria this year, as the region handily dominates the sport in Germany.
May 17, 2024
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FREEUS History Daily CurioFree1 CQ
This may just be the most comforting of all comfort foods. Good old macaroni and cheese has been an ooey-gooey American staple for centuries. It exists in all sorts of forms, from boxed pasta with powdered cheese to fancy restaurant-grade dishes with herbs and meat mixed in. They all have an interesting history though, stretching all the way back to America's earliest days...and beyond.
Macaroni and cheese is a pasta dish of macaroni noodles (noodles shaped like small tubes) and cheese sauce. This sauce is usually made with cheddar cheese to give it a tangy quality, combined with ingredients like butter, milk, or cream. Traditionally, macaroni and cheese is baked in the oven as a casserole (sometimes topped with shredded cheese or bread crumbs) but many variations don’t require the use of an oven. In fact, one of the most common forms of macaroni and cheese is the prepackaged variety, which requires that noodles be boiled and powdered cheese be made on the stove top or in the microwave. Either way, macaroni and cheese is a creamy, tangy, easy-to-make dish.
As with any popular food, there are plenty of stories about where, exactly, macaroni and cheese came from. Combinations of cheese and pasta have existed since at least 160 BCE, when Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato wrote down a recipe for a dish made with whole grain dough and layers of cheese. Such dishes remained common in Italy for centuries, and eventually spread throughout Europe, becoming especially popular in France. As for how macaroni and cheese made its way to America, we likely have James Hemings, a man born into slavery in 1765, to thank for that. At age eight, Hemings was purchased by Thomas Jefferson, who also owned several other members of his family. When Jefferson was appointed Minister to France in 1785, he brought Hemings with him to Paris and paid for him to attend culinary classes. Hemings proved himself a talented cook, and soon began working as Jefferson’s personal chef, serving French dishes at Jefferson’s lavish dinner parties. Hemings’ cooking helped popularize several French dishes in the American South, including macaroni and cheese. In 1796, Hemings was able to negotiate with Jefferson for his freedom and went on to work as a professional cook in Philadelphia.
Hemings’ macaroni and cheese was made the French way, with gruyere cheese and other expensive ingredients, but the dish’s popularity could not be contained. Over the next century, thanks to the prolific publication of American cookbooks, the dish went from being a food of the elite to a food of the people, going from titles like “Macaroni a la Sauce Blanche” to simply “Macaroni.” Fancy cheeses were substituted for easier-to-find cheddar, and fancy seasonings were often held in favor of simple salt and pepper. By the time Canadian businessman James Kraft introduced his Kraft Dinner (aka boxed macaroni and cheese) in 1937, macaroni and cheese was already one of the most popular foods in America. Today, it remains a staple of children’s menus and adult dinner tables alike. It’s hard to go wrong when there’s cheese involved.
[Image description: Macaroni and cheese with a few bacon bits on top.] Credit & copyright: Florentino Floro, Judgefloro, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide.This may just be the most comforting of all comfort foods. Good old macaroni and cheese has been an ooey-gooey American staple for centuries. It exists in all sorts of forms, from boxed pasta with powdered cheese to fancy restaurant-grade dishes with herbs and meat mixed in. They all have an interesting history though, stretching all the way back to America's earliest days...and beyond.
Macaroni and cheese is a pasta dish of macaroni noodles (noodles shaped like small tubes) and cheese sauce. This sauce is usually made with cheddar cheese to give it a tangy quality, combined with ingredients like butter, milk, or cream. Traditionally, macaroni and cheese is baked in the oven as a casserole (sometimes topped with shredded cheese or bread crumbs) but many variations don’t require the use of an oven. In fact, one of the most common forms of macaroni and cheese is the prepackaged variety, which requires that noodles be boiled and powdered cheese be made on the stove top or in the microwave. Either way, macaroni and cheese is a creamy, tangy, easy-to-make dish.
As with any popular food, there are plenty of stories about where, exactly, macaroni and cheese came from. Combinations of cheese and pasta have existed since at least 160 BCE, when Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato wrote down a recipe for a dish made with whole grain dough and layers of cheese. Such dishes remained common in Italy for centuries, and eventually spread throughout Europe, becoming especially popular in France. As for how macaroni and cheese made its way to America, we likely have James Hemings, a man born into slavery in 1765, to thank for that. At age eight, Hemings was purchased by Thomas Jefferson, who also owned several other members of his family. When Jefferson was appointed Minister to France in 1785, he brought Hemings with him to Paris and paid for him to attend culinary classes. Hemings proved himself a talented cook, and soon began working as Jefferson’s personal chef, serving French dishes at Jefferson’s lavish dinner parties. Hemings’ cooking helped popularize several French dishes in the American South, including macaroni and cheese. In 1796, Hemings was able to negotiate with Jefferson for his freedom and went on to work as a professional cook in Philadelphia.
Hemings’ macaroni and cheese was made the French way, with gruyere cheese and other expensive ingredients, but the dish’s popularity could not be contained. Over the next century, thanks to the prolific publication of American cookbooks, the dish went from being a food of the elite to a food of the people, going from titles like “Macaroni a la Sauce Blanche” to simply “Macaroni.” Fancy cheeses were substituted for easier-to-find cheddar, and fancy seasonings were often held in favor of simple salt and pepper. By the time Canadian businessman James Kraft introduced his Kraft Dinner (aka boxed macaroni and cheese) in 1937, macaroni and cheese was already one of the most popular foods in America. Today, it remains a staple of children’s menus and adult dinner tables alike. It’s hard to go wrong when there’s cheese involved.
[Image description: Macaroni and cheese with a few bacon bits on top.] Credit & copyright: Florentino Floro, Judgefloro, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide.
May 16, 2024
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FREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Get the lead out of your pants and pipes! With health professionals now saying that there is no safe level of lead exposure, more and more people are taking precautions against its presence in drinking water. While testing for lead can be costly and time consuming, a new device created by engineers at MIT, Nanytang Technological University, and several private companies might make the process as easy as turning on the tap, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. After Flint, Michigan, made headlines for its lead contaminated water in 2016, the issue of lead in drinking water hasn’t left the American public consciousness. Like many American cities, Flint’s drinking water system was largely composed of lead pipes. The malleable, durable metal has been used in plumbing for millennia, dating back to the ancient Romans. Unfortunately, reliance on this toxic metal has left around 56 percent of the U.S. with contaminated water. Testing for lead typically involves gathering samples and testing them for about $50 each in a lab, and it can take several tests to ensure accuracy. But cheap, frequent testing might be possible in the near future, thanks to researchers who developed a photonic chip that can detect lead in concentrations as low as 1 part per billion. Photonic chips rely on light to detect the presence of certain chemicals, and these chips use crown ethers (ring-shaped molecules composed of ether groups) embedded on the surface that trap lead ions. As of now, there isn’t a finished product on the market, but this innovation could make handheld lead detection devices a possibility. Anything to stop lead dead in the water.
[Image description: An 1838 illustration of a lead pipe rolling machine.] Credit & copyright: Department of the Interior. Patent Office (1849 - 1925). Robt [Robert] M. Scydle and Lewis Ward's Lead pipe Roller. This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by National Archives and Records Administration. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America, via its partner Digital Public Library of America. Public Domain.
Get the lead out of your pants and pipes! With health professionals now saying that there is no safe level of lead exposure, more and more people are taking precautions against its presence in drinking water. While testing for lead can be costly and time consuming, a new device created by engineers at MIT, Nanytang Technological University, and several private companies might make the process as easy as turning on the tap, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. After Flint, Michigan, made headlines for its lead contaminated water in 2016, the issue of lead in drinking water hasn’t left the American public consciousness. Like many American cities, Flint’s drinking water system was largely composed of lead pipes. The malleable, durable metal has been used in plumbing for millennia, dating back to the ancient Romans. Unfortunately, reliance on this toxic metal has left around 56 percent of the U.S. with contaminated water. Testing for lead typically involves gathering samples and testing them for about $50 each in a lab, and it can take several tests to ensure accuracy. But cheap, frequent testing might be possible in the near future, thanks to researchers who developed a photonic chip that can detect lead in concentrations as low as 1 part per billion. Photonic chips rely on light to detect the presence of certain chemicals, and these chips use crown ethers (ring-shaped molecules composed of ether groups) embedded on the surface that trap lead ions. As of now, there isn’t a finished product on the market, but this innovation could make handheld lead detection devices a possibility. Anything to stop lead dead in the water.
[Image description: An 1838 illustration of a lead pipe rolling machine.] Credit & copyright: Department of the Interior. Patent Office (1849 - 1925). Robt [Robert] M. Scydle and Lewis Ward's Lead pipe Roller. This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by National Archives and Records Administration. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America, via its partner Digital Public Library of America. Public Domain.
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FREESTEM Daily Curio #2874Free1 CQ
Truly, it was one of the darkest days in history. This month in 1978, the first instance of the digital scourge known as digital spam was sent via email. Gary Thuerk, a marketing representative at Digital Equipment Corporation, sent the email on May 3, 1978. He was trying to sell a new computer system, but instead of reaching out to potential customers on an individual basis, Thuerk had his assistant send out a mass email to every user then on ARPANET, the early precursor to today’s internet. Granted, there were only 393 of them (although some sources report the number to exceed 400), but it nevertheless was the first-ever bulk email sent for commercial purposes. Most sources from the time state that the response to Thuerk’s digital outreach was quite negative, but that didn’t stop imitators down the line. Decades later, on the online discussion platform USENET, a law firm named Canter & Siegel began what is largely considered to be the first mass email campaign when they advertised their services to over 6,000 newsgroups. It was all downhill from there.
As for the origin of the term “spam”, it’s a reference to a sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In the sketch, a diner waitress rattles off the establishment’s offerings to a confused couple, with the joke being that every menu item contains SPAM—even the lobster thermidor. Understandably, the makers of the canned ham, Hormel Foods Corp, weren’t crazy about their brand’s association with electronic junk mail. While they’ve mostly given up on taking legal action against organizations that refer to junk mail as “spam,” they’ve differentiated their product from the digital detritus by using all capital letters for SPAM, the food. Personally, we’d much rather get a can of luncheon meat in the mail than any more random fliers.
[Image description: A digital illustration of a word bubble with the word “spam” inside a red “no” symbol.] Credit & copyright: Author’s own work. CC0 Public Domain Dedication.Truly, it was one of the darkest days in history. This month in 1978, the first instance of the digital scourge known as digital spam was sent via email. Gary Thuerk, a marketing representative at Digital Equipment Corporation, sent the email on May 3, 1978. He was trying to sell a new computer system, but instead of reaching out to potential customers on an individual basis, Thuerk had his assistant send out a mass email to every user then on ARPANET, the early precursor to today’s internet. Granted, there were only 393 of them (although some sources report the number to exceed 400), but it nevertheless was the first-ever bulk email sent for commercial purposes. Most sources from the time state that the response to Thuerk’s digital outreach was quite negative, but that didn’t stop imitators down the line. Decades later, on the online discussion platform USENET, a law firm named Canter & Siegel began what is largely considered to be the first mass email campaign when they advertised their services to over 6,000 newsgroups. It was all downhill from there.
As for the origin of the term “spam”, it’s a reference to a sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In the sketch, a diner waitress rattles off the establishment’s offerings to a confused couple, with the joke being that every menu item contains SPAM—even the lobster thermidor. Understandably, the makers of the canned ham, Hormel Foods Corp, weren’t crazy about their brand’s association with electronic junk mail. While they’ve mostly given up on taking legal action against organizations that refer to junk mail as “spam,” they’ve differentiated their product from the digital detritus by using all capital letters for SPAM, the food. Personally, we’d much rather get a can of luncheon meat in the mail than any more random fliers.
[Image description: A digital illustration of a word bubble with the word “spam” inside a red “no” symbol.] Credit & copyright: Author’s own work. CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
May 15, 2024
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FREEWorld History Daily Curio #2873Free1 CQ
Reading ancient texts, deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, and publishing the translations—these may sound like the academic routines of seasoned Egyptologists, but they’re actually one teenager’s unusual hobbies. In fact, 16-year-old Michael Hoffen just helped translate an ancient Egyptian tale that is now available as a book. Co-authored with Egyptologists Christian Casey and Jen Thum, Hoffman is now the proud author of Be a Scribe!, which contains the story of The Instruction of Khety, originally written down on papyrus over 4,000 years ago with hieroglyphs. Contrary to popular belief, Egyptian hieroglyphics were used more like letters than pictographs. Each drawing or symbol had a phonetic value instead of representing an idea, and the writing system was used until the 4th century CE, when it was largely cast aside in favor of Coptic, which used the Greek alphabet.
As for the story in Be a Scribe!, it’s the tale of Khety, an Egyptian miner, who is traveling with his son, Pepi, up the Nile while discussing the child’s future career as a scribe. During their journey, the pair see workers from different trades and how they must toil to survive. Some of the descriptions give readers insight into how the ancient Egyptians viewed various trades and how difficult life was for those who could not secure a prestigious profession. For example, smiths and sculptors have “fingers like crocodiles” while the barber cannot rest “in order to fill his stomach, like a bee working to eat.” Worse still is the sandal-maker “who has the taste of leather in his mouth all day” and the gardener “who only rests when he dies.” On the other hand, Khety tells his son that, “Being a scribe is like nothing on earth. Fortune starts for him when he is only a child, people already seek advice from him.” Perhaps a similar destiny is in store for Hoffman, who first gained an interest in translating ancient texts while he was in middle school. In recognition of his efforts, The Concord Review awarded Hoffman the Emerson Prize for outstanding promise in history, making him the youngest ever recipient of the award. It seems like he didn’t just translate Khety’s advice, he took it too.
[Image description: A close-up photo of an ancient Egyptian seal and hyroglyphs.] Credit & copyright: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Provided under "OA Public Domain" License. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Reading ancient texts, deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, and publishing the translations—these may sound like the academic routines of seasoned Egyptologists, but they’re actually one teenager’s unusual hobbies. In fact, 16-year-old Michael Hoffen just helped translate an ancient Egyptian tale that is now available as a book. Co-authored with Egyptologists Christian Casey and Jen Thum, Hoffman is now the proud author of Be a Scribe!, which contains the story of The Instruction of Khety, originally written down on papyrus over 4,000 years ago with hieroglyphs. Contrary to popular belief, Egyptian hieroglyphics were used more like letters than pictographs. Each drawing or symbol had a phonetic value instead of representing an idea, and the writing system was used until the 4th century CE, when it was largely cast aside in favor of Coptic, which used the Greek alphabet.
As for the story in Be a Scribe!, it’s the tale of Khety, an Egyptian miner, who is traveling with his son, Pepi, up the Nile while discussing the child’s future career as a scribe. During their journey, the pair see workers from different trades and how they must toil to survive. Some of the descriptions give readers insight into how the ancient Egyptians viewed various trades and how difficult life was for those who could not secure a prestigious profession. For example, smiths and sculptors have “fingers like crocodiles” while the barber cannot rest “in order to fill his stomach, like a bee working to eat.” Worse still is the sandal-maker “who has the taste of leather in his mouth all day” and the gardener “who only rests when he dies.” On the other hand, Khety tells his son that, “Being a scribe is like nothing on earth. Fortune starts for him when he is only a child, people already seek advice from him.” Perhaps a similar destiny is in store for Hoffman, who first gained an interest in translating ancient texts while he was in middle school. In recognition of his efforts, The Concord Review awarded Hoffman the Emerson Prize for outstanding promise in history, making him the youngest ever recipient of the award. It seems like he didn’t just translate Khety’s advice, he took it too.
[Image description: A close-up photo of an ancient Egyptian seal and hyroglyphs.] Credit & copyright: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Provided under "OA Public Domain" License. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
May 14, 2024
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FREEMusic Song CurioFree2 CQ
It was written on the recommendation of a movie star and named for one of the world’s most iconic rock songs—that’s a lot for one musical! On this day in 2002, We Will Rock You, a musical based on the songs of legendary rock band Queen, opened at London’s Dominion Theatre. Its 12-year run made it the Dominion's longest-running musical. Perhaps more impressive is the way the musical got started. It’s title is obviously based on Queen’s 1977 rock anthem We Will Rock You, a bare-bones yet pulse-pounding song featuring Freddie Mercury’s signature yowling vocals atop rhythmic claps and stomps. As for the musical’s inspiration, it came from a meeting between Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor and actor Robert De Niro, whose daughter was a Queen fan. De Niro asked if the band had ever considered making a musical based on their songs. Afterward, May and Taylor teamed up with playwright Ben Elton to craft a story set 300 years in the future, in which counterculture youths fight to overthrow the corporate overlords that control their society. It seems like just the sort of romantic sci-fi story that Mercury himself would have loved.
It was written on the recommendation of a movie star and named for one of the world’s most iconic rock songs—that’s a lot for one musical! On this day in 2002, We Will Rock You, a musical based on the songs of legendary rock band Queen, opened at London’s Dominion Theatre. Its 12-year run made it the Dominion's longest-running musical. Perhaps more impressive is the way the musical got started. It’s title is obviously based on Queen’s 1977 rock anthem We Will Rock You, a bare-bones yet pulse-pounding song featuring Freddie Mercury’s signature yowling vocals atop rhythmic claps and stomps. As for the musical’s inspiration, it came from a meeting between Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor and actor Robert De Niro, whose daughter was a Queen fan. De Niro asked if the band had ever considered making a musical based on their songs. Afterward, May and Taylor teamed up with playwright Ben Elton to craft a story set 300 years in the future, in which counterculture youths fight to overthrow the corporate overlords that control their society. It seems like just the sort of romantic sci-fi story that Mercury himself would have loved.
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FREEBiology Daily Curio #2872Free1 CQ
The story of Earth isn’t one of life or death, but life and death. Perhaps nothing encapsulates that idea as well as the recent discovery that deadly cosmic radiation was once responsible for giving complex life an evolutionary boost. Life on Earth is partly possible due to the planet’s magnetic field, which prevents dangerous levels of cosmic radiation from entering the atmosphere. But around 590 million years ago, the magnetic field almost collapsed, allowing radiation to pour in and reach the surface of the planet. This weakening of the magnetic field lasted around 26 million years, and the field was one thirtieth the strength it is today. For decades, scientists believed that this should have been catastrophic to early organisms on Earth, and perhaps it was, because biodiversity was in decline during this time. Oddly enough, though, the weakening of the field also coincides with the Ediacaran period, which is defined by a massive leap in the diversity of multicellular life.
It may seem paradoxical, but it’s actually not. According to recent findings by Earth scientists at the University of Rochester, the weak magnetic field led to a boost in the amount of oxygen in the seas and atmosphere by allowing solar winds to knock hydrogen ions loose. With less hydrogen to bond to, more oxygen remained free to be used by increasingly complex, energy-hungry, multicellular organisms. In this oxygen rich environment, a wide variety of multicellular organisms appeared and disappeared in a sort of early evolutionary arms race. For much of the Ediacaran period, biodiversity continued to decline as many evolutionary lines died off, but the survivors of this period came to dominate the Cambrian period, which saw an explosion of diversity. The Cambrian explosion also saw the first insects and early animals, complex lifeforms with high metabolic requirements that could not have been met without the oxygen created in the preceding period. Life really has its ups and downs.
[Image description: A fossil from the Ediacaran, the first of three periods that made up Earth’s Neoproterozoic Era.] Credit & copyright: Smthsonian, Tribrachidium heraldicum Glaessner & Daily, 1959. CC0, Public Domain.The story of Earth isn’t one of life or death, but life and death. Perhaps nothing encapsulates that idea as well as the recent discovery that deadly cosmic radiation was once responsible for giving complex life an evolutionary boost. Life on Earth is partly possible due to the planet’s magnetic field, which prevents dangerous levels of cosmic radiation from entering the atmosphere. But around 590 million years ago, the magnetic field almost collapsed, allowing radiation to pour in and reach the surface of the planet. This weakening of the magnetic field lasted around 26 million years, and the field was one thirtieth the strength it is today. For decades, scientists believed that this should have been catastrophic to early organisms on Earth, and perhaps it was, because biodiversity was in decline during this time. Oddly enough, though, the weakening of the field also coincides with the Ediacaran period, which is defined by a massive leap in the diversity of multicellular life.
It may seem paradoxical, but it’s actually not. According to recent findings by Earth scientists at the University of Rochester, the weak magnetic field led to a boost in the amount of oxygen in the seas and atmosphere by allowing solar winds to knock hydrogen ions loose. With less hydrogen to bond to, more oxygen remained free to be used by increasingly complex, energy-hungry, multicellular organisms. In this oxygen rich environment, a wide variety of multicellular organisms appeared and disappeared in a sort of early evolutionary arms race. For much of the Ediacaran period, biodiversity continued to decline as many evolutionary lines died off, but the survivors of this period came to dominate the Cambrian period, which saw an explosion of diversity. The Cambrian explosion also saw the first insects and early animals, complex lifeforms with high metabolic requirements that could not have been met without the oxygen created in the preceding period. Life really has its ups and downs.
[Image description: A fossil from the Ediacaran, the first of three periods that made up Earth’s Neoproterozoic Era.] Credit & copyright: Smthsonian, Tribrachidium heraldicum Glaessner & Daily, 1959. CC0, Public Domain.
May 13, 2024
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FREEArt Appreciation Art CurioFree1 CQ
This sure beats an ID card on a lanyard. During the Ming dynasty (14th to 17th century), Chinese officials were given elaborate, woven badges to show their rank. The piece above depicts a white bird flying over water, surrounded by vibrant flowers hanging from tree branches. The image is made of different colored threads in the overall shape of a square. Rank badges such as these were worn on the front and back of military robes. The image denoted a person’s rank through iconography, with birds representing civil officials and terrestrial animals representing military officials. The red circle on the upper left is the sun, which represents the emperor, and shows the official’s allegiance to him. More than a form of identification, these were also intricate works of textile art. This type of tapestry is called kesi, and dates back to the Tang dynasty (7th to 10th century). Kesi combined silk and metal threads to create detailed images, and some kesi even had different images on both sides. Now those are some sharp threads!
Rank Badge (buzi), 1736–95, Silk, satin weave; silk, gold metal thread, and peacock feather embroidery, 12.25 x 12.25 in., The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright:The Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1948.70. Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.]This sure beats an ID card on a lanyard. During the Ming dynasty (14th to 17th century), Chinese officials were given elaborate, woven badges to show their rank. The piece above depicts a white bird flying over water, surrounded by vibrant flowers hanging from tree branches. The image is made of different colored threads in the overall shape of a square. Rank badges such as these were worn on the front and back of military robes. The image denoted a person’s rank through iconography, with birds representing civil officials and terrestrial animals representing military officials. The red circle on the upper left is the sun, which represents the emperor, and shows the official’s allegiance to him. More than a form of identification, these were also intricate works of textile art. This type of tapestry is called kesi, and dates back to the Tang dynasty (7th to 10th century). Kesi combined silk and metal threads to create detailed images, and some kesi even had different images on both sides. Now those are some sharp threads!
Rank Badge (buzi), 1736–95, Silk, satin weave; silk, gold metal thread, and peacock feather embroidery, 12.25 x 12.25 in., The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright:The Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1948.70. Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.] -
FREEBiology Daily Curio #2871Free1 CQ
If you’re reading this, you certainly know your ABCs, but so might some cetaceans. Sperm whales are known for communicating underwater using a series of clicks and popping sounds, and researchers at Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) have just found that these noises show signs of a complex lexicon that uses an alphabet-like system. Seeing as how they have the biggest brains on the planet, it shouldn’t be any surprise that sperm whales are incredibly smart. Scientists have long wondered, though, whether the complex sounds these animals make could qualify as a type of language. Language itself is defined by its complexity, and a universal trait of language is the way that words can be combined in different ways to convey different meanings. That’s different from, say, a dog knowing what “sit” or “roll over” means. In their case, they merely associate those sounds or the tone with which they are spoken with specific actions, but they can’t understand variations on those commands unless they’ve been trained to recognize them. Sperm whales, on the other hand, seem to be capable of a kind of speech with grammar. Researchers from Project CETI used AI to analyze recordings of communicating sperm whales, and they found patterns in the clicks and pops that seem to be the components of a phonetic alphabet. Specifically, the whales vary the length, tempo, and rhythm of the clicks to form what the researchers are calling “codas.” Codas are the equivalent of human words or sentences. So far, they’ve identified around 156 distinct codas. When the whales converse with each other, they repeat certain codas and modify them with “ornamentation,” a distinct sound at the end of the coda, to change its meaning. Researchers say that whales have likely been speaking for far longer than humans have, and that among whales, it’s not rude to talk all at the same time. Their family reunions must get pretty loud.
[Image description: The gray tail of a sperm whale breaching the ocean’s surface.] Credit & copyright: Marion & Christoph Aistleitner. Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.If you’re reading this, you certainly know your ABCs, but so might some cetaceans. Sperm whales are known for communicating underwater using a series of clicks and popping sounds, and researchers at Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) have just found that these noises show signs of a complex lexicon that uses an alphabet-like system. Seeing as how they have the biggest brains on the planet, it shouldn’t be any surprise that sperm whales are incredibly smart. Scientists have long wondered, though, whether the complex sounds these animals make could qualify as a type of language. Language itself is defined by its complexity, and a universal trait of language is the way that words can be combined in different ways to convey different meanings. That’s different from, say, a dog knowing what “sit” or “roll over” means. In their case, they merely associate those sounds or the tone with which they are spoken with specific actions, but they can’t understand variations on those commands unless they’ve been trained to recognize them. Sperm whales, on the other hand, seem to be capable of a kind of speech with grammar. Researchers from Project CETI used AI to analyze recordings of communicating sperm whales, and they found patterns in the clicks and pops that seem to be the components of a phonetic alphabet. Specifically, the whales vary the length, tempo, and rhythm of the clicks to form what the researchers are calling “codas.” Codas are the equivalent of human words or sentences. So far, they’ve identified around 156 distinct codas. When the whales converse with each other, they repeat certain codas and modify them with “ornamentation,” a distinct sound at the end of the coda, to change its meaning. Researchers say that whales have likely been speaking for far longer than humans have, and that among whales, it’s not rude to talk all at the same time. Their family reunions must get pretty loud.
[Image description: The gray tail of a sperm whale breaching the ocean’s surface.] Credit & copyright: Marion & Christoph Aistleitner. Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.