Far too busy today; you'll have to read this lot for me 
Happy invoicing!
- Children of the Ice Age - ”With the help of new archaeological approaches, our picture of young lives in the Palaeolithic is now marvellously vivid.” Interesting look at what we know about child rearing in Palaeolithic times
- The Asteroid Blast That Shook the World Is Still Making an Impact - ”The Chelyabinsk asteroid slammed into Earth’s atmosphere 10 years ago, the largest impact in more than a century.” Phil Plait on the expansion of scientific knowledge that came from the renowned impact.
- The legend of the Mapogo lions - ”‘Legend’ is a word that is thrown around all too often in this day and age, but the term surmises the reign of the Mapogo lions in the Sabi Sands (Greater Kruger)to perfection. For the last six years or so, this notorious band of brothers has ruled the area with an iron paw. They are true warriors and have proved themselves time after time on the field of battle. During their prime, 6 of these magnificent specimens patrolled their territory, dispatching all competitors and striking fear into the hearts of all that found themselves in their way.” This is from 2012 so maybe a bit out of date now, but hey, lions!
- Gasoline Car Review - Geoff Greer imagines if electric cars had come first and somebody reviewed a newfangled petrol one: ”I opened the door (the handles are very prominent), sat in the driver’s seat, and… nothing happened. No screen showed any messages. The climate control didn’t turn on. The car seemed dead… Apparently it would be wasteful and expensive to keep the gasoline engine running all the time, so you’re only supposed to run the engine if you’re moving the vehicle.”
- Retro Synth Ads - Classic enthusiast's blog: ”Growing up, synthesizer advertisements were the only way for me to find out about new synths.”
- Paleotsunami Detectives Hunt for Ancient Disasters - ”Gigantic tsunamis have been decimating coastlines since time immemorial. We ignore these prehistoric warnings at our own peril.” If the asteroid doesn't get you first…
- What Could Have Caused Poland's Crooked Forest? - ”In a small corner of western Poland, near the town of Gryfino, a strange and eerie woodland exists. This bizarre collection of curved trees, named the “Crooked Forest,” is shrouded in mystery and despite the numerous different theories that have been proposed over the years, no one truly knows what caused the trees to adopt this conformation.”
- Varna Man and the Wealthiest Grave of the 5th Millennium BC - ”In the 1970s, archaeologists in Bulgaria stumbled upon a vast Copper Age necropolis from the 5th millennium BC containing the oldest golden artifacts ever discovered near the modern-day city of Varna. But it was not until they reached grave 43 that they realized the real significance of the finding. Inside burial 43 they unearthed the remains of a high status male buried with unfathomable riches – more gold was found within this burial than in the entire rest of the world in that period.”
- Reverse-engineering an electromechanical Central Air Data Computer - Ken Shirriff gets his hands on another computing oddity: ”Determining the airspeed and altitude of a fighter plane is harder than you'd expect. At slower speeds, pressure measurements can give the altitude, air speed, and other "air data". But as planes approach the speed of sound, complicated equations are needed to accurately compute these values. The Bendix Central Air Data Computer (CADC) solved this problem for military planes such as the F-101 and the F-111 fighters, and the B-58 bomber. This electromechanical marvel was crammed full of 1955 technology: gears, cams, synchros, and magnetic amplifiers. In this blog post I look inside the CADC, describe the calculations it performed, and explain how it performed these calculations mechanically.”
- The Brilliant Pop Art Zodiac Match Box Collection From 1970 - ”These Zodiac Match box labels were designed by Spanish designer Cruz Novillo and Olmos Fosforos Del Pirineo S.A., around 1970. The extent to which the fashion for astrology and the zodiac permeated western culture in the 1960s and 1970s is not to be underestimated. Pair it with the era’s lure of smoking and matches boxes… epitomise the time.”
Happy invoicing!
