Clipmarks | wildcat's history collection

10 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Olympic Games

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:53:42 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Most people know that the Olympics started out in Ancient Greece, but did you know that back then the athletes competed in the nude? (Though technically, they could wear penis restraints - yes, you read that right). Or that one of the games was an ancient form of mixed martial arts? Or that a chef won the very first Olympic games?

To help celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, we'll posts some neat facts about the Olympics, starting with this one: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Olympic Games:

1. Ancient Olympic Athletes Competed in the Nude

2. The Prudes Wore Penis Restraints

3. A Chef Won the Very First Olympic Games

4. ... and He Won ... An Olive Branch!

5. More than Just Running: Wrestling and Boxing Added to the Ancient Olympics

6. Pankration: Ancient Greek Mixed Martial Arts

7. The Olympic Games Weren't the Only One

8. Heraea: Ancient Olympics for Women

9. Ancient "Computer" Used to Set Olympics Date

10. Christianity Killed the Ancient Olympics

Tags: olympics, ancient greece

How the Declaration of Independence Changed the World

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:10:12 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

In between mouthfuls of hot dogs and potato salad, Americans on this July Fourth might actually ponder those famous phrases scrawled near the top of the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

When he penned the Declaration in 1776, Thomas Jefferson had an inkling of the consequences it held for the 13 colonies, who were announcing their intention to break free from the shackles of British rule. What he may not have anticipated, however, were the widespread effects his powerful words would also have around the world.

The Declaration of Independence didn't just change the course of American history, but created a ripple effect that nudged a host of other nations toward independence, making a revolutionary poster boy of Jefferson in the process.

The Enlightenment

Tags: declaration of independence, world, jefferson

The Odyssey astronomically accurate?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:14:05 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.world-science.net

Scholars have long debated whether there are bits of truth to The Odyssey—the ancient Greek epic of a king’s long seafaring struggle to get home as he battles or outwits monsters.

Now, scientists say some of the celestial events mentioned in the tale might be accurate, raising the possibility that the story has more truth than suspected.

The researchers studied possible references to astronomical events in the poem, and matched them with calculations showing the order in which these must really have occurred. The match was excellent, the investigators say.

The catch: some of the poem’s purported astronomical references are symbolic only.

Among countless disputed details about the story, not the least whether it is all attributable to the poet Homer, is whether King Odysseus returns home to a total solar eclipse. The poet tells of a terrifying “night” in which the sun is “blotted out of the sky” on this day.

Tags: the odyssey, epic, astronomy

What We'll Miss About Bill Gates — a Very Long Good-Bye

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:50:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Bill Gates, we'll miss you. Not just because you're the ultimate geek-villain-pioneer-entrepreneur-monopolist. But because you've always been there for us. To love. To hate. To envy. To pick on. So this month, your last as a full-time Microsoft employee, we realized it was only right and proper to look back on your storied career. (Or we just love your mug shot from the Albuquerque arrest.)

1950s
October 28, 1955
William Henry Gates III is born in Seattle. His grandmother Adelle nicknames him "Trey," the cardplayer's term for a three. He later becomes an avid poker player.

1960s

1967

Gates, a difficult sixth grader, asks his mother, "Have you ever tried thinking?"

Fall 1967

Gates' parents enroll him in Lakeside School, an exclusive boys school in Seattle. He is the smallest kid in the class, yet has size 13 feet.

Tags: bill gates, microsoft

Attention deficit disorder aided early humans

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:04:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: context is the key

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Hyperactive and useful: Is ADHD an advantage for nomadic tribesman today - and by extension our hunter-gatherer ancestors?

CHICAGO: A genetic propensity for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may actually help people thrive in nomadic environments, says a study of Kenyan tribesmen.

U.S. researchers found that a gene associated with the disorder was linked to better health and body weight in a group of nomadic cattle herders, but could cause malnourishment in their cousins who have recently settled and begun to grow crops.

"Our findings suggest that some of the variety of personalities we see in people is evolutionarily helpful or detrimental, depending on the context," said lead author Dan Eisenberg, an anthropologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

Useful trait

"This insight might allow us to begin to view ADHD as not just a disease but something with adaptive components," he said.

Tags: add, evolution, anthropolgy

How Isaac Newton Changed the World

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:48:57 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

When little baby Isaac was born in a Lilliputian English village, premature and small enough to fit into a quart pot, he wasn't expected to survive.

To the probable dismay of some befuddled calculus and physics students the world over, Isaac Newton didn't just live, he grew up and lived long enough to become the single-most influential scientist of the 17th-century.

Newton's wide range of discoveries, from his theories of optics to his groundbreaking work on the laws of motion and gravity, formed the basis for modern physics.

The true genius of his work, experts think, is how he ultimately took those theories and applied them to the universe at large, explaining the motions of the Sun and planets in a way that had never been done before.

The common image of Isaac Newton is that of a white-haired scientist crouched at the base of a tree. Upon getting bumped on the head by a falling apple, Newton airily dreams up the laws of gravity and the rest, as they say, is history.

Tags: isaac newton, history, change, genius

May 26, 1908: Mideast Oil Discovered — There Will Be Blood

Mon, 26 May 2008 09:53:47 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.wired.com

1908: A British company strikes oil in Persia (now Iran). It's the first big petroleum find in the Middle East, and it sets off a wave of exploration, extraction and exploitation that will change the region's -- and the world's -- history.

Englishman William D'Arcy had obtained a license to explore for oil in Persia in 1901. He sent explorer George Reynolds, who searched fruitlessly for seven years.

Why all the fuss? The automobile was in its infancy, and few people could foresee its future. How did an investor expect to get rich off an oil strike? Well -- and we really do mean well -- you could run an electric-power plant with oil, you could run factory machinery on oil and, perhaps most importantly, the world's powerful navies were converting their ships from coal to oil. Almost anything that had run on coal -- especially coal that heated water to create steam -- could run on oil.

Tags: oil, mideast, history

From 'gay plague' to global tragedy

Sat, 24 May 2008 09:08:06 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

The AIDS battle marks an important anniversary this week, bringing to mind victories of science and human spirit but also defeats, stigma and ignorance.

On May 20 1983, in a paper published in the U.S. journal Science, a team from France's Pasteur Institute, led by Luc Montagnier, described a suspect virus found in a patient who had died of AIDS.

Montagnier's groundbreaking work (see, The hunt for HIV, Cosmos Online) led to the determination by U.S. researcher Robert Gallo that the virus was indeed the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

At last, a key had been found to understanding the mysterious immune-ravaging disease – the "gay plague" as British tabloids smugly called it – which had surfaced among American homosexuals two years earlier.

It took another three years to resolve a spat over the pair's rival claims to be first to discover the AIDS virus, enabling the duo to share equally in the glory. The mood was upbeat.

Tragically premature

Tags: africa, aids

The Worst Natural Disasters Ever

Thu, 08 May 2008 10:49:24 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

When Nature unleashes her fury, humanity can seem instantly frail and subordinate. Cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes can kill thousands in moments. Often the final death tolls are never truly known.

It is impossible to compare modern and historical disasters and develop any objective list of the worst, yet a subjective list can prove instructive. Here are the challenges:

Loss of life can be the most traumatic aspect of one terrible event, such as the catastrophic Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar this week, whereas financial cost and remarkable devastation can be the more notable signatures left by another, as was the case with Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The world's population has increased dramatically in the past century and a far higher percentage of people live near dangerous coastlines, so coastal storms and tsunamis stand to kill more people nowadays than in the past.

Finally, records of events long ago are typically much less accurate.

Tags: disasters, loss, population