In 1987, during a school trip to London, a watchmaker apprentice stumbled upon a rare find at an antique flea market. Concealed within a box filled with antiquated metal odds and ends there was an intriguing timepiece—a small copper sphere that could be opened to reveal a smaller hemisphere within. Adorning the top of this inner sphere was a dial etched with both Roman and Arabic numerals, charac
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Published News » Amazing Pics
Watch 1505: The World's First Watch
Posted by runbholarun 4 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)Karl von Drais And The Laufmaschine
Posted by runbholarun 4 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
In April 1815, Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, erupted with a violence never seen before in recorded history. A massive amount of pulverized rock, weighing an estimated 10 billion tons, was ejected into the atmosphere. These rocks and ash reached into the stratosphere where it spread out enveloping the skies and blocking the sun for months on end. The eruption als
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John Stringfellow And The World's First Powered Flight
Posted by runbholarun 11 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
In 1842, British engineers William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow received a patent for a flying machine. Unlike previous attempts made with gliders and hot-air balloons, Henson’s and Stringfellow’s invention was unique because it was the first attempt to move towards powered flight. Just six years later, the world’s first steam powered airplane took flight. Remarkably, this happened more th
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Horizontal Collaboration: Sleeping With The Enemy
Posted by runbholarun 11 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
The historic D-Day landing by Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of a crucial phase in World War II—the liberation of France and the rest of Western Europe. In the aftermath of the storming of the beaches, a wave of jubilation, relief, and hope surged through the liberated towns and villages as Allied troops and resistance fighters swept across France,
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The Osoaviakhim-1 Disaster
Posted by runbholarun 11 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
Between 1930 and 1932, Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard made more than two dozen trips to the upper atmosphere using a balloon of his design. These flights to the stratosphere ignited a renewed interest in ballooning, which had been overshadowed by the emergence of a newer form of exploration—airplanes. Piccard’s accomplishment garnered international attention, prompting both the United States and
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Dhunge Dhara: Nepal’s 1,600-Year-Old Drinking Water Fountains
Posted by runbholarun 11 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
The tiny country of Nepal, nestled between India and Tibet, boasts of a very robust drinking water supply system that dates back to at least the 5th century. Among its most striking features are the intricate stone fountains known as dhunge dhara or hiti, fashioned in the likeness of the mythical makara—a legendary sea creature in Hindu mythology. While these dhunge dharas may lack the grandeur o
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Da Shuhua: Fireworks of Molten Iron
Posted by runbholarun 25 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
For five centuries, the inhabitants of Nuanquan village in Yu County, in the northwestern reaches of Hebei province, China, have marked the Lunar New Year with a remarkable pyrotechnic tradition. Adorned in wide-brimmed straw hats and sheepskin jackets, local blacksmiths engage in a mesmerizing spectacle, flinging ladle after ladle of molten iron against a towering brick wall. Upon impact, the mo
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Olivier Levasseur’s Lost Treasure
Posted by runbholarun 25 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
On the 7th of July 1730, the notorious French pirate, Olivier Levasseur, faced his final moments on the scaffold. His crimes, which had instilled fear across the high seas for over fifteen years, had finally caught up with him. However, it was his brazen looting of the Portuguese great galleon Nossa Senhora do Cabo that sealed his fate. The ship was carrying the Bishop of Goa and the Viceroy of P
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Xerxes Canal
Posted by runbholarun 25 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
The Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece, that juts into the Aegean Sea for some 50 kilometers, was once bisected by a canal a hundred feet wide. The canal was built by king Xerxes I of Persia in the 5th century BC as part of the preparations for his intended invasion of Greece in 480 BC. The motivation behind this monumental earth-moving project stemmed from the disastrous experience of Persia
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The Killer Whales of Eden
Posted by runbholarun 25 days ago (http://www.amusingplanet.com)
The Thaua people, who reside around Twofold Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, share a special bond with killer whales or orcas, which they call beowas. “We consider beowas to be our brothers,” writes Thaua historian Steven Holmes in a study published in Journal of Heredity in December 2023. According to Thaua beliefs, when a member of their community passes away, they are rein
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