- The Quest to Pick Up the Lost Lifting Stones of Ireland - ”For centuries, Ireland’s stones were more than just a feature of the rugged landscape: The ability to pick them up off of the ground had deep practical and spiritual meaning… But in the 18th and 19th centuries, during British colonization, the practice largely vanished. Most of the stones remained untouched where they were last lifted.” The story of David Keohan, aka Indiana Stones, who is tracking down these historic stones - then lifting them
- Rare oxygen isotope detected at last — and it defies expectations - ”By combining a powerful set of instruments with some experimental savvy, physicists have for the first time detected oxygen-28 — an isotope of oxygen that has 12 extra neutrons packed into its nucleus. Scientists have long predicted that this isotope is unusually stable. But initial observations of the 28O nucleus suggest that this isn’t the case… If the results can be replicated, physicists might need to update theories of how atomic nuclei are structured.” The older I get, the less relevant my Physics A Level seems to get
- The scent of the afterlife unbottled in new study of ancient Egyptian mummification balms - ”In an innovative endeavor to create a sensory bridge to the ancient past, a team of researchers led by Barbara Huber of the MPI of Geoanthropology has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3500 years ago.” Expect to see Ancient-Egyptian-themed perfume ads on the telly near Christmas
- Free Online Browser tools: Big list of free In Browser, Single Use tools - A handy collection of things for doing things, assembled by MetaFilter user Faintdreams: ”You need to do a thing - NOW! For when you need to calculate a thing, or look up a thing, or be able to do the thing in your Browser without any faff.”
- What Became of the Ancient Greek City they Found in Afghanistan - ”What was once essentially a completely Greek city in the depths of Afghanistan, was lost under the desert sands for almost 2,000 years, hidden from history until its sensational rediscovery in the 1960s… But in a land that in the last 50 years alone has been plagued by multiple foreign invasions, civil wars and regimes that seek to eradicate any traces of the country’s non-Islamic past, how has such a momentous and precious discovery fared during its most recent history?” This foot of Zeus, looted from Kabul in the 1980s, turned up in Japan in 2001.
- The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge - ”This pedestrian bridge crosses I-494 just west of the Minneapolis Airport. It connects Bloomington to Richfield. I drive under it often and I wondered: why is it there? It's not in an area that is particularly walkable, and it doesn't connect any establishments that obviously need to be connected. So why was it built?” Tyler Vigen ended up going to amazing lengths to work out why the bridge existed
- The Early History of Counting - ”Figuring out when humans began to count systematically, with purpose, is not easy. Our first real clues are a handful of curious, carved bones dating from the final few millennia of the three-million-year expanse of the Old Stone Age, or Paleolithic era. Those bones are humanity’s first pocket calculators: For the prehistoric humans who carved them, they were mathematical notebooks and counting aids rolled into one.” Keith Houston delves into the history of tallying.
- Fish doorbells! Historic sandwiches! 50 of the weirdest, most wonderful corners of the web – picked by an expert - HT to sadkingbilly for this wonderful list of weird things on the Internet, some of which have previously appeared in Monday Links in their own right, but many of which will probably be new to you: ”As a digital migrant rather than a native, I also remember how amazing it felt to stumble my way around the internet in the 90s and early 00s, uncovering its unexpected nooks and crannies with astonishment and delight… Thankfully, there are still off-the-beaten-path pockets of astonishment out there and I thought it might be nice to gather some of them together.” As it happens, a few minutes before His Majesty sent me the link I'd seen it on Twitter, posted by Surprised Eel Historian who features in it
- The Misadventures of Rex Libris - This is a whole blog from 2008, not a single page, but the story of Rex's attempt to enter show business is worth following: ”Two weeks ago, I was admitted to the emergency room at a local hospital in Washington, DC with excruciating chest pain and an insistent, bloody cough… I'd accomplished this injury during rehearsal for my first stage performance as Rex Libris, sword-swallower extraordinaire. Just a few hours after taking the stage for the first time in my adult life, I was a helpless trauma patient.”
- Photos — RetroSkier - Galleries of photos exploring past trends in skiwear and equipment: ”Missing Back Scratchers, Mule Kicks, Worm Turns, Wong Bangers, Jet Stix, Plate Bindings, Bota Bags & Streaking? This is your Hot Tub Time Machine portal into 70’s freestyle!”
Happy invoicing!
