Sunday 13 July 2014

Sunday trivia (13 July 2014)

Airplane Mode: 1929
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Airplane Mode: 1929
Dec. 5, 1929. Ignition interference from airplane engines on aircraft is largely a myth according to C. Francis Jenkins, Washington, D.C., inventor who has designed a radio receiving set which he says does not pick up noises from a flying power plant. In this photograph is shown Mr. Jenkins (right) and his laboratory assistant.
Video pioneer Francis Jenkins, seen here last week, and an anonymous protege who has a telegraph key strapped to his leg. By our reckoning this counts as early mobile texting. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.
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10 Literary Restaurants for Hungry Book Nerds Around the World
via Flavorwire by Emily Temple
What’s even better than drinking while reading? Eating while reading, of course (hint: you can have a drink, too). With the news that Biblio, a book-themed eatery, was popping up in Williamsburg, Flavorwire took to the Internet to put together a guide to a few amazing-looking literary-themed restaurants from around the world. Indulge your eyes (and, if you’re close enough, your stomachs) at these bookish establishments.
06
Dublin is nearest to the UK.
See more here

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Edmund Burke: the father of modern conservatism? Perhaps. But his great political battles were thoroughly liberal causes... more

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Why Our Brains Are Hungry for Puzzles
via Big Think by Will Shortz
Shutterstock_50503615
There are general reasons why we like puzzles and then there are particular reasons why we like crossword puzzles, Sudoku and things like that. The general reason is we’re faced with problems every day in life. Most of them don’t have perfect solutions. We just muddle through the best we can and move onto the next thing. Also, there are very few things in life that we completely grasp or that are completely our own.
You drive a car, but do you really understand how the car was made? Do you understand all about how the engine works? Probably not, but all you need to do is drive. But the nice thing about a human-made puzzle is when you solve the problem, you feel a sense of satisfaction that you don’t get much in everyday life, because you’ve found the perfect answer and also you’re seeing the whole process. If you solve a crossword you know you’re carrying it through, literally from square one to the end and that gives you a sense of satisfaction that you don’t get in everyday life.

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30 of the Most Beautiful Sci-Fi Book Covers Ever Made
via Flavorwire by Emily Temple
Science fiction cover art has a bad reputation. Not without reason: much of it is pulpy, overly brash, or just plain scary — it’s kind of the name of the game. Yet there are also plenty of science fiction novels and collections that buck the trend and manage to be not only palatable to those that (for instance) love the insides but hate that naked green woman on the cover, but downright gorgeous.
From the 30 covers I have to choose just one: you can see the rest here.
christopher-priest-the-is
It wasn’t in the end a very hard decision.
The patterns and colours on the islands fascinate me.


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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Once transgressive, revolutionary, anti-authority, street art now is the establishment. Did the artists grow up or sell out? more

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Love Hormone Oxytocin Draw Us Together, Keeps Us Apart
via Big Think by Orion Jones
Through experiments, scientists are coming to a more complex understanding of how oxytocin, a brain chemical commonly referred to as the love hormone, works in long term relationships as well as initial attractions. When men in long term relationships are given doses of oxytocin, they tend to keep a greater physical distance from attractive females than do single men also given the hormone.
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What Makes the Mind and Brain Different?
via Big Think by Orion Jones
Brain_art
Given the power of neuroscience to fascinate the public, it might seem that the brain has given us a window into human nature. Indeed we often look to brain scan images to help us understand what chemicals are working on the brain, and therefore on the body, in conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s to drug addiction. But the brain and the mind are different frameworks.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
In defence of opera. Yes, the plots are often absurd, lyrics unintelligible, stagecraft over-elaborate. Opera is extravagant. But it isn’t in decline… more

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Can Physics Save Economics?
via Big Think by Big Think Editors
When the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin was asked to join a research group to work on economics his first response was “I don’t know anything about economics”. That’s okay, said Mike Brown, the former CFO of Microsoft, “because nobody does and the whole system is about to collapse”.
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