(The Guardian) A South African icebreaker has departed in search of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which sank off the coast of Antarctica in 1915 after being slowly crushed by pack ice.
As part of the renowned polar explorer’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917, Shackleton’s team were trying to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.
But their landing was thwarted when Endurance fell victim to the Weddell Sea.
Just east of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula, it became ensnared in sea ice for over 10 months before being crushed and sinking 3,000 metres below the surface.
The crew managed to escape by camping on the sea ice until it ruptured.
(Courthouse News) — A unique hand-drawn map discovered tucked away in a Washington archive shows famous American explorer William Clark leveraged the U.S.–Indian treaty system to promote settler supremacy in the United States at the expense of Indigenous inhabitants during the early 1800s.
While searching through historical microfilm at the National Archives and Records Administration, Dr. Robert Lee happened upon Clark’s map, which was originally filed under false authorship in the secretary of war’s correspondence archive. But something stuck out — the map didn’t conform to the known geography of land succession depicted in the Osage treaty of 1808.
Lee contends the map was actually drawn by Clark himself during his time as governor of Missouri Territory, which Lee describes in a new study published Friday in the journal William and Mary Quarterly. The map points to Clark’s role in stealing more than 10.5 million acres from Sauk, Meskwaki and Iowa territory on behalf of the United States, according to Lee’s analysis.
caltrek's comment: Of course, we will have to keep such knowledge and speculation away from children of European ancestry on account of how it might make them feel bad about themselves.
Number of bridges (first wooden, then stone, then iron and then steel) through rivers in (current area) London has been increasing exponentially until it saturated in 1894. 2 more bridges were added after the year 2000, both in 2002 (Millennium Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridge). Perhaps there will be 2 more by the year 2050, making their total number 38. Not many were added in the XX century, but old bridges were rebuilt in new designs. Until the 1750 Westminster Bridge, then London area had only 1 bridge - the London Bridge, for 1700 years. Romans built the first version of it from wood. Then in 1209 a stone version was finished, with houses on top. In XVIII and XIX centuries many bridges were built in current London area, gradually making travelling by boat obsolete.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
(Janata Weekly) [On 1 February 1948, two days after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Hindutva fanatics, Sarojini Naidu gave an impassioned speech on All India Radio, calling on the nation to remember the Mahatma’s death as a pledge to right action. This is (an introduction) to her address. (The complete address is available by clicking the link above the quote box)]
Like Christ of old on the third day he has risen again in answer to the cry of his people and the call of the world for the continuance of his guidance, his love, his service and inspiration. And while we all mourn, those who loved him, knew him personally, and those to whom his name was but a miracle and a legend, though we are all full of tears and though we are full of sorrow on this third day when he has risen from his own ashes, I feel that sorrow is out of place and tears become a blasphemy. How can he die, who through his life and conduct and sacrifice, who through his love and courage and faith has taught the world that the spirit matters, not the flesh, that the spirit has the power greater than the powers of the combined armies of the earth, combined armies of the ages? He was small, frail, without money, without even the full complement of garment to cover his body, not owning even as much earth as might be held on the point of a needle, how was he so much stronger than the forces of violence, the might of empires and the grandeur of embattled forces in the world? Why was it that this little man, this tiny man, this man with a child’s body, this man so ascetic, living on the verge of starvation by choice so as to be more in harmony with the life of the poor, how was it that he exercised over the entire world, of those who revered him and those who hated him, such power as emperors could never wield?
It was because he did not care for applause; he did not care for censure. He only cared for the path of righteousness. He cared only for the ideals that he preached and practised.
Some chosen milestones in construction:
2nd millenium B.C. - first stone arch bridges
7th century A.D. - nearly 40m long stone arch bridges in China
14th century A.D. - 40 m long stone arch bridges in Europe
1779 - first iron bridge (England)
1829 - first glass roof
1849 - first over 300 m long suspension bridge
1851 - first large scale glass building (England)
1874 - first steel bridge (USA)
1889 - first over 300 m iron lattice tower
1894 - first steam engine draw bridge (England)
1898 - first building with floors over 150 m (USA)
1901 - first mass concrete railway viaduct
1912 - first building with floors over 200 m
1931 - first building with floors over 350 m (ESB)
1931 - first over 1 km long suspension bridge
1967 - first over 500 m concrete tower
1972 - first building with floors over 400 m (1 WTC)
1982 - first over 100 km long railway viaduct (Japan)
1982 - first over 10 km long bridge
2003 - first building over 500 m in height (Taiwan)
2009 - first building with floors over 550 m
2009 - first over 600 m steel tower (China)
2022 - first over 2 km long suspension bridge (Turkey)
2026? - first building with floors over 650m
2026? - first structure over 1 km in height (Saudi Arabia)
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
(The Logical Indian) February 16, 2022 marked the 66th death anniversary of Indian astrophysicist Meghnad Saha, who is widely renowned for his 'Saha ionisation equation', mainly used to describe physical and chemical conditions in stars. It is also thanks to Saha's work astronomers can accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.
Meghnad Saha- A Visionary!
The late astrophysicist's research work on the thermal ionisation of elements led him to come up with what is now known as the Saha equation. As per the equation, it is the basic tool for interpreting the spectra of stars in astrophysics. Through the study of the ranges of various stars, one can find their temperature and, using Saha's equation, determine the ionisation state of the various elements making up the star. His work was also soon extended by Edward Arthur Milne and Ralph H. Fowler, as per Wikipedia.*
Meghnad Saha also was the one who invented an instrument to measure the pressure and weight of solar rays and assisted in building numerous scientific institutions, such as the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta and the Physics Department in Allahabad University. The late astrophysicist founded the journal Science and Culture and was also the editor until he passed away.
Furthermore, Saha was also the leading spirit in organising several scientific societies, such as the Indian Institute of Science (1935), the Indian Physical Society (1934), National Academy of Science (1930). The visionary Indian was also the Director at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science between 1953–1956. Founded in 1943, the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata is named after him as well.
(EurekAlert) An international team of scientists including Rutgers researchers has found that modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 as the Industrial Age intensified, coinciding with evidence for early ocean warming and glacier melt.
The study, which used a global database of sea-level records spanning the last 2,000 years, will help local and regional planners prepare for future sea-level rise. The study appears in the journal Nature Communications.
Sea-level rise is an important indicator of broader climate changes. By identifying the time when modern rates of sea-level rise emerged above natural variability, the researchers were able to pinpoint the onset of a significant period of climate change.
By examining the worldwide records, the researchers found that globally, the onset of modern rates of sea-level rise occurred in 1863, in line with the Industrial Revolution. At individual sites in the United States, modern rates emerged earliest in the mid-Atlantic region in the mid to late 19th century, and later in Canada and Europe, emerging by the mid-20th century.