via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Petone Railway Workshops circa 1905. H class steam locomotive, 0-4-2T type, for use on the Fell system on the Rimutaka Incline. NZR 199 built at Avonside Railway Workshops in 1875, went into service on the Rimutaka Incline in January 1877, written off and preserved in March 1956.
One of more than 2,000 train-related glass negatives, now in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, taken by New Zealand Railways employee and amateur photographer Albert Percy Godber (1875-1949).
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Unearthing the secrets of evolution through cave exploration
via Guardian Technology by Francesco Sauro
Cave exploration, or Speleology, is providing valuable insights into evolution. Italian explorer Francesco Sauro describes the importance of underground investigation.
Continue reading and do please open the links -- some fascinating pictures that I can't copy from the PDF of an article in an academic journal.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Definition of a dictionary
Do we any longer need a single, definitive authority on American English? The answer lies somewhere between Noah Webster and the Internet… more
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Plants can tell when they’re being eaten
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
From the excellent Modern Farmer: an article about how new studies show that “plants can tell when they’re being eaten, and they don’t like it”.
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Reason and the Republic of Opinion
At this period ... of wreck and ruin, the one power that can save, can heal, can fortify, is clear and intelligent thought,” the editors of The New Republic wrote in 1915, in a promotional letter to its first subscribers “to state again the general purposes of the paper.”
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Rhetoric of cowardice
Cowardice and courage no longer carry the moral resonance they once did. They now tend to be used as goads to violence… more
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Neurology and psychiatry in Babylon
via OUP Blog by Edward Reynolds and James Kinnier Wilson
How rapidly does medical knowledge advance? Very quickly if you read modern newspapers, but rather slowly if you study history. Nowhere is this more true than in the fields of neurology and psychiatry.
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Our Tools Have Changed Our Genes For Millions Of Years
via Big Think by Jag Bhalla
Tools have changed our genes for millions of years. Paleo-people wouldn't have been possible without them: artificial aids preceded and enabled their bigger brains. And the slings and arrows of our evolutionary fortune weren’t entirely random. “Intelligently designed” factors have long influenced our evolution.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Orality, Literacy, and the Memorized Poem
Long considered calisthenics for the brain, memorising poetry was once an educational mainstay. What did that mean for poetry?… more
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Inventions that didn’t change the world
via The National Archives
Today sees [13 October saw] the official publication of Inventions that didn’t change the world, the latest book highlighting some of the fascinating records held at The National Archives.
Julie Halls explores domestic and professional designs registered in the 19th century for such delights as the anti-garotting cravat, a self-ventilating hat, the corset with an inflatable bust and artificial leeches.
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