Tag: Tech
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Why pirates wear an eye patch
An eye patch, a parrot, a wooden leg, and a limp; these iconic attributes paint the picture of a pirate in popular culture. However, there’s more to the eye patch than meets the eye—quite literally. Contrary to common belief, famous pirates didn’t wear an eye patch due to a missing eye. Instead, it served a…
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The original Apple Watch: Seiko’s TV Watch from 1982
In what was amazing technology for its day, the Seiko TV watch (Model T001-3) from 1982 is still one of the smallest TVs ever made with a 1.2-inch screen. Watch tv on your wrist With a Liquid Crystal Video Display (LVD), the images would only appear in 32-pixel resolution when exposed to light. So the…
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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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The first supercomputer, IBM’s 305 RAMAC from 1956
In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the world’s first supercomputer with 5 MB of data. The machine weighed over a ton — it took a team of people to transport it. To put the computer size and storage in perspective, our pocket-sized phones contain 256GB of storage. A grain of rice dwarfs the…
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Christopher Reeves explains what Superman represents
In this video, the late Christopher Reeves who played Superman explains what the fictional superhero represents. In a world of selfishness ushered in by smart devices and social media, Superman as a friend metaphor is a subtle reminder of the power of relationships. It’s nice to know that there’s someone out there who’s willing to…
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The musical road in the Netherlands that sings Frisian national anthem
There’s a road in the Netherlands that starts to sing the Frisian Folk Song when cars hit the right speed of 60 kph/40 mph limit. The musical road resides in the village of Jelsum in the north part of Holland. The structure of the strategically laid “rumble strips” was built in 2018 to celebrate the…
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Pablo Picasso’s “light drawings”
“Everything you can imagine is real,” said the legendary painter Pablo Picasso. In 1949, photographer Gjon Mili captured the painter using a small electric light in a dark room to paint the artist’s iconic centaurs, bulls and greek figurines. The chaotic images vanished as soon as they were created but thanks to Mili’s two separate…
