via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Alexandria, Virginia, circa 1926
“American Locomotive Co. – Southern R.R. Crescent Limited 1396”
Seen here from the other side, with more info in the comments
National Photo Company Collection glass negative
View original post
==========================================
How Optical Illusions Trick Your Brain
via How-To Geek by Nathan S Jones (YouTube)
Optical illusions are a lot of fun to look at and seem to be so much more than what they truly are, but how do they manage to trick our brains like they do? Today’s video shows how our eyes and brain interact with the optical illusions we see and how those illusions are able to trick us.
==========================================
Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Dr. Zhivago, CIA, Pope
Cold War geopolitics were, in no small part, a philosophical struggle. Intellectual sensitivities were on edge. A novel could make a superpower tremble… more
==========================================
How accounting forced transparency on the aristocracy and changed the world
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
In the 16th century, celebrated Dutch painters did a brisk trade in heroic portraits of accountants and their ledgers. That’s because accounting transformed the lowlands, literally bringing accountability to the aristocracy by forcing them to keep track of, and report on, their wealth. As Jacob Soll (author of The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations) writes in the Boston Globe, from the 14th century invention of double-entry bookkeeping until the 19th century – when accounting became a separate profession instead of something that every educated person was expected to practice – accountancy upended the social order, elevating financial transparency to a primary virtue.
Continue reading
==========================================
Cicero On The Importance of Knowing History
via Big Think by Big Think editors
Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Let’s talk about God
Believers and secularists talk about each other all the time, but not to one another. On both sides, there is a lack of insight and an abundance of knowing smirks… more
==========================================
Microbe cross-stitches for germy decor and hobbyists
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Alicia Watkins’s Microbe cross-stitches are an absolute treat (and part of a deep and impressive collection of nerdy cross-stitches running the gamut from The Princess Bride to Star Trek). You can get them in five-packs, as well as in patterns you can complete yourself.
Check it out for yourself
==========================================
Wow!
Using regular screenings to crowdsource information on silent films.
via ResearchBuzz
“Deep in the archives of the Library of Congress’ Culpeper, Va., film preservation center lie thousands of movies in cool, climate-controlled vaults. Hundreds are a century old or older, and unidentified. Their titles have been lost over the years and the library knows little about them, so it started inviting fans of early film to a yearly event called Mostly Lost to help figure out what they are.”
Continue reading
==========================================
Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Coded into economics and technology is an ideology of efficiency. Why not have everything we want – immediately? Ours is the Impulse Society… more
==========================================
What it’s like to take a 36-hour sleeper train from LA to Seattle
via Boing Boing
Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, which it bills as “A Grand West Coast Train Adventure,” is its last remaining full-service sleeper train. The Coast Starlight is home to what would have previously been standard: a dining car, an observation car with floor-to ceiling windows, a movie theater, and a full slate of entertainment options, including the two complimentary wine tastings.
Nicole Dieker takes the trip.
Continue reading
No comments:
Post a Comment