Tag: history
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Dual head-mounted listening devices
This dual-mounted listening device served as an aircraft detection device before the invention of radar in 1935. The Dutch military used the elephant-looking ears to detect approaching enemy aircraft by listening afar for engine sounds. There were various iterations of the acoustic locators. The Germans created a dual sight and sound system in 1917 that […]
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Diver finds 900-year-old crusader sword off Israel’s Carmel coast
A scuba diver discovered an ancient sword off Israel’s Carmel coast near the port city of Haifa. The iron sword is thought to have belonged to a crusader knight 900 years ago when the Crusaders were fighting Muslim forces for control over the Holy Land. Eagle-eyed diver Shlomi Katzin stumbled upon the three-foot blade on […]
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Two ash-covered bodies from Vesuvius eruption uncovered at Pompeii
Archaeologists uncovered the body of a wealthy 40-year old man and his young slave in Pompeii, 2,000 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Excavations at the suburban villa Civita Giuliana, a suburb outside Pompeii, discovered the bodies covered in a bed of 6.5-foot ash. Researchers believe that the two men survived the initial eruption […]
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Rejected designs for the Eiffel Tower
In the 1880s, French designers Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier mocked up what would become the Eiffel Tower. You can even see the size comparison to other landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty. Thankfully, someone held on to the 14 other rejected designs. Number 3 seems to come closest to the final design, with embellished trusses added […]
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Time travel back to New York City, 1911
In 1911, Swedish film company Svenska Biografteatern recorded its trip to New York. Fortunately, the footage survived and most recently was speed-corrected (slowed down) and reproduced with the ambient audio of street sounds of car horns, horses, and police whistles to give us a sense of the environment back then. There’s also a color version of the […]
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Why pirates actually wore an eye patch
Eye patch, parrot, and wooden leg, and a limp. Those are the essential ingredients to becoming a pirate. But did you know that pirates wore an eye patch, not because of a missing eye, but because the patch increased their sight instantly inside low lit areas? Early technology to avoid temporary blindness During raids, pirates […]
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The evolution of the price tag
The history of the price tag goes back to the founding of brick and mortar stores. Can you imagine having to haggle over everything you bought in a store? But as businesses got bigger in the 1870s, shopkeepers needed a way to streamline pricing for both sales clerks and customers alike. Two department stores helped […]
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The spherical nature of the Earth
The world is round, and it has been for some time despite the rise of the flat earth movement. Take a look at some of the armillary spheres below, starting with the Chinese diagram from 1092. Even back then, they had could rationalize that the Earth adopted a round shape. The curvy nature of the […]
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Ancient Roman fleeing Mount Vesuvius crushed by flying rock
Imagine fleeing the ash that swept Pompeii during the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., only to crushed by a flying stone. According to the Telegram, the archeologists also found that the 30-year old merchant was carrying 22 silver and bronze coins in a leather pouch. They also found a house key buried underneath […]