Fact of the Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SPUD WRENCH

Did you know... Wrenches get the best nicknames out of virtually any tool.

 

Casual home improvement projects don’t usually call for a spud wrench, a tool that turns fasteners on one end and features a long, tapered spike on the other. It’s a curious design, albeit one that still occupies the equipment collection of specialty workers. In the tradition of many other wrenches—the monkey wrench, the Allen wrench, and the Crescent wrench—it also sports a strange name. So why is it called a “spud wrench”? And what exactly is it used for?

 

The Origin of Spud Wrench
The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation for the term spud wrench in print occurred in 1939 (though we were able to actually date a reference back to 1906). Per the OED, a book with the high-octane title of Steam and Hot Water Fitting described the spud wrench as “another handy tool … made to fit the spuds of the different sizes of the union radiator valves and traps.” In this instance, spud appears to refer to a plumbing component, hence the need for a specialty wrench.

 

Another OED citation, this one coming in 1960, provides a different perspective with some regrettable language. The wrench “is so called because the handle is formed into a long, heavy pin (or spud) that is thrust through and used by the erection men for matching up holes in connections to be fastened together.”

 

 

In one case, the spud is a part. In the latter, it’s the handle itself—a piercing tool used by “erection men” to line up holes in steelwork so that a bolt or other securing hardware can be threaded through. But the OED omits any etymology for the term.

 

One possible explanation comes with the slang term for food. Spud was used to describe a potato as far back as the 1800s. The tool used to uproot the potato was also known as a spud. The most likely explanation is that a spud wrench may have reminded someone of such a tool, though its purpose was to align holes, not to be used for farming work.

 

Why People Reach for a Spud Wrench
The spud wrench grew popular with the growth of high-rise construction in the 20th century when workers had to secure iron or steel beams and girders and needed a tool that could perform several functions at once. The tool became known as an ironworker’s spud wrench for this reason, though it also had applications in automotive assembly. The appeal was in the versatility: Line up two holes with the tapered end, then flip it to use the wrench to secure a bolt.

 

But the wrench isn’t relegated strictly to steelwork. As the OED noted, plumbers use a spud wrench to loosen specific components (bolts, collars) in older toilets, which connect the toilet with the refill water tank. This version of the spud wrench, however, is considerably different in design than the construction spud wrench, with two adjustable heads meant to circumvent the tight space of plumbing fasteners.

 

 

Spud wrenches are still part of the ironworker’s tool belt. They’re emblematic enough of the trade that in 2003, a gathering of workers involved a spud wrench tossing competition in which players scored points by landing the wrench’s spiked end on a bull’s eye 25 feet away.

 

Tossing, dropping, or otherwise mishandling a heavy tool of impalement can have consequences. In 1979, a Missourian worker named Al Shaw was sitting on a beam when a spud wrench fell 125 feet, plunging into his back. It missed his spinal column by just 2 inches.

 

 

Source: Why Is It Called a “Spud Wrench”?

Edited June 3 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NORTH ALWAYS AT THE TOP ON MAP

Did you know.... If anyone is responsible for modern maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy.

 

North doesn’t always mean “up” when it comes to geophysics. Scientists have known for decades that magnetic north, a spot once located in Arctic Canada, is moving toward Siberia. And magnetic north is different from geographic north, a place where all the meridians of longitude intersect in the Northern Hemisphere. But even these facts don't quite explain why modern maps always feature north at the top.

 

There’s nothing inherently upward about north. Some ancient Egyptian maps put south on top; in medieval Europe, Christian cartographers tended to give that distinction to east, since you had to turn that way to face Jerusalem. Others placed east on top because of the rising sun (that’s why we “orient” ourselves). And early American settlers sometimes used maps with west on top, because that was the direction they often traveled.

 

 

If anyone is responsible for maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy. His Geographia, written in the 2nd century CE, featured a map of the known world with north on top. Why he positioned it that way is not clear, but it may be that the Library of Alexandria, where he did his research, just didn’t have much information on the Southern Hemisphere. Renaissance scholars revived Ptolemy’s work, and by then, the phenomenon of magnetic north had been discovered, making his layout even more appealing to mapmakers.

 

The magnetic north pole, however, was not located until 1831. On an otherwise disastrous expedition to Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage, British explorer James Clark Ross discovered the pole—the spot where a compass needle on a horizontal axis points straight down—on the west coast of Canada's Boothia peninsula. "I must leave it to others to imagine the elation of mind with which we found ourselves now at length arrived at this great object of our ambition," Ross wrote. "Nothing now remained for us but to return home and be happy for the rest of our days."

 

 

Source: Why is North Always At the Top on a Map?

Edited June 5 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NEW COLOR

Did you know.... If you’ve never heard of olo, there’s a good reason for that: You’ve almost certainly never seen it either. The new color, described as a “blue-green of unprecedented saturation,” has been seen by only five people in a laboratory setting, as it’s beyond the range of normal human visibility. Researchers discovered the teal-like hue by stimulating the M cone in subjects’ retinas with a laser device called an Oz, which allowed them to see a color said to be more saturated than any found in the natural world. 

 

The retina has three cones — L detects long wavelengths, M detects medium wavelengths, and S detects short wavelengths — that typically overlap to a certain degree. By using the Oz, scientists were able to activate the M cone in isolation, making it possible to see a color never perceived by humans before.

 

“It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated,” said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who both co-authored and participated in the study, in an interview with The Guardian. “We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented color signal, but we didn’t know what the brain would do with it.” 

 

Researchers believe, or at least hope, that the science that enabled the participants to see olo could one day help people with red-green colorblindness experience the full spectrum of color.

 

 

Source: Scientists have discovered a new color only five people have seen.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SAYINGS

Did you know.... The phrase‘s history traces back to knights, duels, and a battle for honor.

 

The phrase throw down the gauntlet isn’t reserved for life-or-death challenges today. However, someone who did this in the 16th century wasn‘t playing around. To understand why knights were tossing gloves around, we need to trace the origins of the idiom back hundreds of years.

 

The earliest known use of the word gauntlet (borrowed from the French term gantelet) was in the Middle English period, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It was around 1420 when John Lydgate, a poet and prior of Hatfield Regis, wrote it in his work.

 

Gauntlets were armored gloves originally designed for battle, and they eventually became the key component of a loaded, symbolic gesture. History says that the phrase throw down the gauntlet refers to someone—most likely a medieval knight—throwing down a gauntlet at an opponent’s feet, indicating they wanted to duel. The person on the receiving end was usually expected to take on the challenge by “taking up the gauntlet,” otherwise they’d be dishonored.    

 

When steel armor lost popularity, the meaning of the word gauntlet changed. The name came to describe any heavy, durable glove with a protective cuff that covered the wrists. Gauntlet challenges ended when duels fell out of favor in Europe and the U.S. in the late 19th century. Now, throw down the gauntlet doesn’t always refer to physical altercations. It can apply to any situation where someone presents a challenge or shows they’re ready for a fight—even an intellectual one.

 

The medieval term for a protective glove also appears in the less-common phrase run the gauntlet. This derives from the English word gantlope, which originated with the Swedish gatlopp (a combination of gata, meaning “road,” and lop, meaning “course”). It referred to a military punishment where a person had to walk between two rows of armed men who swung at them with clubs or other weapons. Like throw down the gauntlet, run the gauntlet is related to a challenge or trial a person has to endure.

 

Source: Why Do We Say “Throw Down the Gauntlet”?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - LEANING TOWER GOING STRAIGHT

Did you know.... Between the 13th and 20th centuries, the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s tilt increased from around 0.2 degrees north to 5.5 degrees degrees south — 5.7 degrees of movement in total. But since the 1990s, that incline has reverted roughly 1.5 degrees back toward center, thanks to a project meant to stabilize the landmark and prevent its potential collapse. The engineering operation was launched in 1990, marking the third attempt at straightening the tower. Two prior efforts were made in 1838 and 1934, but the failure of those attempts actually added to the precarious incline. But the third time, not only did engineers succeed, but the tower also continued to straighten afterward.

 

The stabilization process involved installing counterweights on the tower’s north side so the structure would tilt back toward an upright position. Engineers also extracted soil from the higher side of the foundation and used steel cables to pull the building upright. By 2001, the incline was reduced by 15 inches and measured around 4 degrees — less than the first recorded measurement from 1817 of 4.9 degrees. Engineers considered the project a success, and a 2005 assessment declared the tower safe for the next 300 years.

 

But even though the stabilization project itself ended in 2001, the tower continued to lean toward a more upright position due to the unstable soil underneath. By 2018, the landmark had straightened an additional 1.6 inches, according to a study conducted by an Italian preservation organization. Researchers at Stuttgart University believe the tower will continue to straighten, though the landmark will likely start to lean back toward the south over time due to its weak foundation. While a precise timeline is hard to pinpoint, some engineers estimate the tower will remain stable for at least 200 years, but additional stabilization work may be required thereafter.

 

Napoleon once crowned himself king of Italy.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte — then serving as first consul of the French Republic — was persuaded to serve as president of the newly formed Italian Republic. But on May 17, 1805, Napoleon proclaimed the republic to be a new kingdom under the dominion of his Napoleonic empire.

 

Subsequently, fewer than six months after being crowned French emperor, Napoleon declared himself king of Italy at a coronation ceremony in Milan on May 26, 1805. After nearly nine years, Napoleon’s reign came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau on April 11, 1814. As per the conditions, he abdicated the Italian and French thrones and was banished to Elba.

 

 

Source: The Leaning Tower of Pisa is getting straighter.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - UPSET TUMMY

Did you know... Sorry, soda fans—we have some bad news about this popular anti-nausea remedy.

 

Some people swear by drinking soda—especially ginger ale—to help an upset stomach. But is soda ever the cure for your health woes?

 

Does Ginger Ale Help Nausea?
Nausea is never fun—whether it’s caused by motion sickness, morning sickness, or a nasty stomach bug. And though soda may seem like a comforting choice, it probably isn’t doing you much good.

 

“[Soda’s] not necessarily the best thing for the stomach,” gastroenterologist Braden Kuo of Massachusetts General Hospital told STAT in a 2016 video interview. Between the carbonation, the acidity, and the cold of a soda straight from the fridge, it’s just about the worst thing you can drink. If you do feel compelled to sip on some soda, Kuo recommended drinking a warm, flat ginger ale, because ginger helps the stomach relax.

 

Ginger has been used to aid digestion for thousands of years; its root has been proven to be effective in helping nausea. Ginger is considered a safe anti-nausea remedy, even for pregnant people and those undergoing chemotherapy. 

 

However, there’s only a tiny bit of ginger in common ginger ales made by companies like Canada Dry or Schweppes (“natural flavors” are some of the last ingredients listed on the bottle, and ginger is just one of several flavors included). As such, you might want to reach for the ginger tea rather than the ginger ale.

 

Is Soda Good for an Upset Stomach?
Some people reach for a Coke or Sprite when their stomach starts churning. But that isn’t any better. One study that reviewed decades of research found no evidence that flat sodas could rehydrate sick kids. “Carbonated drinks, flat or otherwise, including cola, provide inadequate fluid and electrolyte replacement and cannot be recommended,” the study authors declared in a press release.

 

Sodas contain far more sugar and too little sodium to help people rehydrate after vomiting and diarrhea. Cola in particular, the researchers found, had more than seven times the amount of sugar recommended by the World Health Organization for rehydrating drinks, and essentially no useful electrolytes.

 

The carbonation can also be hit or miss for a queasy stomach. For some people, the fizz may worsen their digestive distress. But others may actually get a bit of relief from some bubbles, especially if bloating is behind the stomach upset: “Some people find that having that carbonation helps them burp and then that alleviates the discomfort,” Thanh Thanh Nguyen, a registered dietitian at Mendinground Nutrition, told SELF. In such cases, plain sparkling water would be a less sugary solution than soda.

 

Source: Should You Drink Ginger Ale for an Upset Stomach?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THEY DON'T LIKE CHEESE?

Did you know... Despite the stereotype we’ve seen perpetuated in cartoons, the idea that mice go wild for cheese isn’t quite accurate. While mice may nibble on cheese if it’s the only available food source, they strongly prefer sugary and carbohydrate-rich options such as seeds, grains, fruits, chocolate, and especially peanut butter. In fact, a mouse’s strong sense of smell actually causes them to be repelled by some stinky cheeses. Soft cheeses also pose a choking hazard for mice due to the critter’s lack of a natural gag reflex.

 

The reason behind this myth is hard to pinpoint, but one theory relates to how cheese was stored prior to refrigeration. Cheese was usually kept out of the sun in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place (such as a cave or pantry) and generally wasn’t tightly sealed. In an interview with Scientific American, psychologist David Holmes suggested mice may have nibbled on the exposed cheese while searching for other food, leading to their reputation as cheese-fiends.

 

The belief that mice prefer cheese isn’t a recent stereotype, but rather one that dates back millennia. The Roman philosopher Seneca, who lived in the first century CE, once wrote, “‘Mouse’ is a syllable. Now a mouse eats its cheese; therefore, a syllable eats cheese,” suggesting mice were associated with cheese as far back as ancient Rome. Shakespeare later connected mice with cheese in plays such as King Lear and Troilus and Cressida, long before Hanna-Barbera drilled it home with Tom and Jerry in the 20th century.

 

Cheese is one of the world’s most frequently stolen food items.
According to a 2011 study conducted by the Center for Retail Research, 4% of the world’s cheese ends up stolen, making it the most frequently pillaged food item. But these aren’t just single packages of cheese taken from supermarkets; there have been multiple large-scale criminal operations responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in cheese thefts, as higher-end cheeses can often fetch a pretty penny on the black market.

 

One notable heist took place in 1998, when £30,000 (around $90,000 today) of award-winning cheddar was lifted from a British farm. In 2022, a Dutch cheese farm lost 161 wheels of cheese valued at $23,000. Perhaps the costliest cheese robbery of all time took place in October 2024, when a U.K.-based cheese purveyor was robbed of £300,000 (roughly $397,000 today) of award-winning cheddar by a still-unknown individual posing as a wholesale buyer.

 

 

Source: Mice don’t particularly like cheese.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ORIGIN OF 'BEAT AROUND THE BUSH'

Did you know.... Here’s a hint: It has a little something to do with hunting.

 

If you talk around something you don’t want to discuss, avoid answering a question directly, or just generally hedge or prevaricate, then you could be said to be “beating around the bush.” But what kind of bush are we talking about here? And why exactly are we beating around it?

 

The Hunting Origins of Beat Around the Bush
Like a lot of our most bizarre phrases and expressions, beat around the bush was once referred to something entirely literal: It came out of hunting and alluded to those who were tasked with thrashing bushes and undergrowth in an effort to scare out any birds, rabbits, or similar creatures that could then be caught in nets by their accomplices.

 

This bush-beating is an age-old hunting technique, a fact backed up by the very earliest written evidence of the phrase: The Oxford English Dictionary unearthed a version of the expression (“Cast yowre sparehawke in to a tre and beete the bushes”) way back in 1486 in the Book of St. Albans,  while Phrase Finder tracked it down in a manuscript of the poem Generydes – A Romance in Seven-line Stanzas from around 1440 (“Butt as it hath be sayde full long agoo, / Some bete the bussh and some the byrdes take”).

 

 

It’s likely the technique was around before that, and it still survives among hunting parties today, with “beaters” employed in grouse and pheasant shoots to rouse the birds from bushes and heathland. (Fun fact: Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro was a grouse beater for the British royal family.)

 

The OED’s earliest citation for beat around the bush as we would recognize it today dates back to 1572 (“He bet about the bush, whyles other caught the birds”). As for why the beaters were only beating around the bush, it’s been suggested that doing so would prevent them from striking the animals directly, and thereby avoid landing a blow on something more dangerous, like a wild boar.

 

The Phrase’s Evolution
How, then, did we get from an activity related to a literal a bird hunt to prevarication? It’s probably because the bush-beating and bird-rousing part of the hunt would have essentially been the preamble to the actual hunting and catching.

Ultimately, in the late 1500s, beat around the bush came to be used more metaphorically to refer to acting ahead of or in spite of the inevitable, or whatever else was still to follow. And from there, the phrase later came to be used more pejoratively of somehow delaying, avoiding, or actively putting off doing something altogether.

 

 

Source: Where Did the Phrase ‘Beat Around the Bush’ Come From?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MARLBORO MAN

Did you know... We all remember the Marlboro Man: an able-bodied outdoorsman, usually a cowboy, who enjoyed a hard-earned puff from his cigarette amid a day of honest labor, his steely gaze beckoning us to "come to where the flavor is" in the land of Marlboro Country.

 

Except the real Marlboro Man never smoked — at least not the "original," an individual by the name of Bob Norris who featured in the brand's early TV commercials. A Colorado rancher who was offered the job after being seen in a photo with his friend John Wayne, Norris reluctantly became the face of an overwhelmingly successful advertising campaign by the Leo Burnett agency that made Marlboro the world’s top-selling cigarette brand by the 1970s. But while Norris epitomized the Marlboro Man’s image of rugged individuality, he ultimately proved too principled to last in the role; when his children asked why he was promoting a product they were forbidden to try, he reportedly hung up his Stetson after 12 years of cigarette pitch work.

 

Of course, Norris was an anomaly among his Marlboro brethren. While he lived to the ripe old age of 90, others who followed in his bootsteps learned the hard way what decades of smoking could yield, with several later publicly speaking out against the habit before dying from smoking-related illnesses. With the health risks all but impossible to ignore by the time a civil settlement was reached between the major tobacco companies and most U.S. states in 1998 (in which the companies paid out billions of dollars to compensate for taxpayer money spent on tobacco-related diseases), the Marlboro Man was sent riding into the sunset of Marlboro Country by the close of the 20th century.

 

The same advertising agency that conceived the Marlboro Man also created Morris the Cat.
The Marlboro Man wasn’t the only long-running mascot spawned by the Leo Burnett admen, who also unveiled Morris the Cat in the late 1960s. Discovered in a Humane Society shelter in Hinsdale, Illinois, the “Clark Gable of cats” went on to star in 58 commercials for 9Lives cat food, along the way winning two PATSY Awards for pet actors and appearing in the 1973 movie Shamus with Burt Reynolds. Like some of the notable models who portrayed the Marlboro Man for many years, Morris was enough of a pop culture icon to garner an obituary upon his death in 1978. But unlike the Marlboro Man, there’s no evidence to suggest he was harmed by the product he endorsed, and Morris continued to enjoy a prominent print, TV, and social media presence in subsequent incarnations, even running for president on a few attention-grabbing occasions.

 

 

Source: The TV face of the Marlboro Man never smoked.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - JURISDICTION

Did you know... It’s 2050. Humans have mastered commercial space travel. Hundreds of people pay millions of dollars to be sent into orbit in a spaceship. Maybe some decide to help colonize Mars.

 

Then, trouble. A jilted spouse. A smuggled firearm. Perhaps a struggle followed by suffocation. A space traveler is found dead on board a ship or on the Red Planet. Who has jurisdiction over such crimes? Is there such a thing as a cosmic Hercule Poirot? Could someone fall through the cracks and get away with space murder?

 

Outlaws in Outer Space
To date, no one has been victim of a space crime. But because no one nation can lay claim to ownership of space, the idea of a criminal offense committed outside of our atmosphere is something people have already given some thought to.

 

According to NASA engineer and instructor Robert Frost, the language of law for galactic felonies would be the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. In Article VIII of the treaty, nations engaging in space exploration agree that they will bear responsibility for the actions of personnel aboard their craft. In other words, if a privatized shuttle from China sees a fight break out among crew members, leaving one injured, China would be the entity responsible for handling legal repercussions.

 

That varies slightly with the International Space Station, or ISS, which is home to a number of personnel from different nations. In the case of the ISS, an intergovernmental agreement signed in 1998 mandates that the home country of the offender will handle any investigation or prosecution. If the victim is a national of another country, that country will have the right to inquire as to the criminal status of the offender and seek to have jurisdiction over the matter if they feel justice isn’t being meted out.

 

In most cases, space crime sprees would be treated the same as if an offender was traveling in a foreign country or in international waters. If you’re a U.S. citizen and decide to bludgeon someone at sea or on the moon, the various international agreements and national laws would determine how you get prosecuted. (Assuming, of course, you returned to Earth to answer the charges.)

 

CSI: Mars
Space crimes pose another intriguing wrinkle. In terra firma investigations, authorities can secure crime scenes, question witnesses, and preserve evidence. Aboard a spaceship or on a distant planet, these procedures would be difficult to perform, and almost impossible to do in a timely fashion. Even if a criminal investigator is on Mars, low gravity will affect blood spatter and bodies may even decay at a different rate than they do on Earth. While an American may be found liable for murder, proving it was malicious and not the result of the dangerous environment would give any prosecutor a headache. A defense attorney, on the other hand, would have a field day questioning defective spacesuits or toxic exposure to strange space chemicals.

 

Then again, prosecutors may not have to concern themselves with evidence. Thanks to airlocks and restrictive suits, the movement of space travelers is highly monitored. It would be hard to make any plausible deniability about one’s whereabouts.

 

The closest thing to space crime that law enforcement has yet encountered may be crimes committed in Antarctica, the frigid and isolated continent that’s unaffiliated with any country but operates under the Antarctic Treaty signed by 54 nations. The agreement declares that the suspect is likely under their home country’s jurisdiction. In some cases, the country owning the research station where the alleged crime took place steps in. In 2018, a Russian researcher at Bellingshausen Station on King George Island went after his victim with a knife in the station’s dining room. He was charged in Russia. And in 2000, an Australian astrophysicist suspected of being fatally poisoned had an autopsy performed in New Zealand. The exam showed he had ingested methanol, but it remains unknown whether he did so accidentally or whether someone gave it to him. New Zealand police were unable to determine the source.

 

A person committing murder in space would certainly be held responsible. But whether they’d ever be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt remains very much up in—and beyond—the air.

 

Source: Who Has Jurisdiction for Crimes Committed in Space?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WWW - HTTP

Did you know... It’s nearly impossible to imagine life without the World Wide Web, which has had an indelible impact on the way we live, work, and connect. Today, roughly two-thirds of the world’s population has access to this vast network of more than one billion websites. But the internet didn’t always look like this. Initially, it was devoid of websites and was primarily used for email by universities, researchers, and government agencies, with early precursor networks dating back to the 1960s. 

 

Then, on January 1, 1983, the internet was “born” with the establishment of a universal language, a communications protocol called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). While this allowed for file transferring and text-based directories, “dot-coms” did not yet exist. This lasted until August 6, 1991, when the world’s very first website — a page explaining what a website is — launched. This invention, defined as a collection of materials stored in a file archive for public access via the internet, changed the world forever.

 

Since that groundbreaking development, billions of users have visited countless web addresses, most of which begin with the familiar letters “WWW” or “HTTP.” Created in the late 1980s, those acronyms, which stand for “World Wide Web” and “Hypertext Transfer Protocol,” respectively, are the building blocks of the modern internet, designed to allow users to connect via websites across a global network. 

 

So how did we go from one lonely website to billions of them, and what’s the significance of those acronyms? Let’s jump in and decode these mysteries.

 

The World Wide Web’s Humble Beginnings

In 1989, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee was working at CERN (a French acronym for the European Organization for Nuclear Research) when he had a breakthrough idea that led to the creation of the World Wide Web. “There have always been things which people are good at, and things computers have been good at, and little overlap between the two,” Berners-Lee explained in 1998. 

 

He noted that computers worked “mechanically in tables and hierarchies” while humans usually opted for “intuition and understanding.” He imagined a system that could bridge the gap.

 

Berners-Lee’s vision was to develop a way to view and link documents across different computers, using the internet as the backbone. He partnered with Belgian systems engineer Robert Cailliau on the  project and coined the term “World Wide Web” in 1989 to emphasize the global reach and decentralized nature of the web. On a NeXT computer (designed by none other than Steve Jobs), the team created a network of hypertext documents viewable on web browsers. 

 

By the time Berners-Lee was ready to launch in 1991, he had invented “HTML” (Hypertext Markup Language), “HTTP” (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), “URL” (Uniform Resource Locator), and, of course, the World Wide Web itself.

 

The World’s First Website

On August 6, 1991, the world’s first website, info.cern.ch, was launched by CERN. The site provided instructions for users to create their own web pages and explained the function of hypertext — coded text that links to content on the internet. Still active today, the site also now explains the history of Berners-Lee’s project.

 

By 1992, there were only 10 websites on the World Wide Web, but by the late 1990s, in large part due to the launch of Google, that number had ballooned to 2 million. Unfortunately, most early websites weren’t archived and have since vanished. In 2013, however, CERN revived its original site, unveiling what some may call a digital fossil of the early web. The resurgence of info.cern.ch brought about an interesting question: Why didn’t that URL include”WWW” or “HTTP”? 

 

So Why Do We Use “WWW”?

The “WWW” in a URL is an abbreviation for “World Wide Web,” but contrary to what some may believe, this part of a URL isn’t actually necessary for a website to work. You could type in “google.com” instead of “www.google.com” and still land in the same place. That’s because “WWW” is more of a naming convention than a technical requirement: Back in the 1990s, it helped distinguish websites from other services, such as email servers.

 

Today, many websites omit the “WWW” completely, but it’s still widely used as a stylistic choice in certain instances, such as marketing and print materials. When featured on billboards, postcards, TV commercials, and magazine ads, “WWW” clearly signals that the address in question is a website. 

 

Basically, while “WWW” isn’t essential anymore, it remains one of the most recognizable acronyms on the web, earning it a permanent place in internet tradition and history.

 

What’s the Meaning of “HTTP” and “HTTPS”?

Another acronym often seen in website URLs is “HTTP,” but this one actually does serve a functional purpose. It stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol” — that is, a communication protocol allowing browsers and servers to exchange information and permitting users to access websites. It essentially acts as a set of rules that lets your browser “talk” to the server, enabling it to load text, images, videos, and everything else you see and hear on web pages. Without “HTTP,” the World Wide Web couldn’t function.

 

You may notice there is sometimes an “S” at the end of the “HTTP” acronym, which stands for “secure.” If a URL starts with “HTTPS,” it means the site in question encrypts your data. This adds a layer of security to protect users and safeguard sensitive information, including passwords and credit card numbers. Most websites today use “HTTPS,” and browsers may even warn you if a site doesn’t use it and therefore isn’t secure.

 

Are There Other URL Protocols?

While “HTTP” and “HTTPS” are by far the most commonly seen internet protocols at the beginning of web addresses today, they’re just two among thousands of others. These protocols generally fall into three main categories: communication, management, and security, with “HTTP” and “HTTPS” belonging to the security category.

 

Most alternative protocols are rarely encountered by everyday users, either because they serve technical functions or because they operate in areas of the internet that aren’t easily accessible to the public. That said, you may still have utilized a few of them while surfing the net. For instance, “mailto://” opens your default email application to start a draft addressed to the email in the URL, while “ftp://” transfers files between computers over a network.

 

So if you stumble across a URL that starts with something unfamiliar, it may not be a red flag for a dangerous site; it’s probably just a different protocol designed for a specific purpose. The internet is much more flexible than we probably realize and likely much more expansive than Tim Berners-Lee could have ever imagined.

Source: Why Do Websites Use “WWW” and “HTTP”?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ESCALATOR

Did you know.... Over the course of two weeks in the fall of 1896, some 75,000 people stepped onto the curious contraption stationed at Coney Island's Old Iron Pier. Initially created by engineer Jesse Reno for use in the New York City subway system, the "inclined elevator" carried people on a conveyor belt-type platform, at an angle of 25 degrees, to a height of 6 or 7 feet from the ground. Although it lacked individual steps, the inclined elevator featured accompanying handrails and shallow platform grooves that allowed it to pass seamlessly through a pronged top landing, making it the first working escalator.

 

Reno wasn't the first to muse on a means for automatically moving people to higher floors. In 1859, lawyer and inventor Nathan Ames obtained a patent for his "Revolving Stairs," which he proposed could be made from wood or metal, and powered by steam, weights, or hand. In other words, it was more of a fanciful concept than an invention with a clear path to becoming a reality, and the idea was left to gather dust. Thirty years later, amateur engineer Leamon Souder followed suit with a patent for his "Stairway," a series of steps pushed at an incline along an "endless propelling-belt." While more practical than Ames' creation, Souder's Stairway was also never built, leaving Reno to claim the glory after patenting his version in 1892.

 

While Reno’s business lifted off with the installation of four of his inclined elevators in New York City's Siegel Cooper Department Store in 1896, he soon faced stiff competition from inventor Charles Seeberger. Having purchased a patent from explorer George Wheeler, Seeberger coined the term "escalator" and teamed with the Otis Elevator Company to develop a new and improved model. Similar to today's versions with steps that emerged from the bottom and flattened at the top landing, the prototype wowed onlookers at the 1900 Paris Exposition. By 1920, Otis had absorbed both Seeberger's and Reno's patents and installed 350 escalators around the world, the moving stairway now well past the point of spectacle and clearly established as a mode of casual transportation for modern city-dwellers.

 

The Norwegian city of Trondheim features the world's only bicycle escalator.
Why bother pedaling a bike up a hill when you can have a machine do the hard work for you? That was the mindset of Norwegian industrial designer Jarle Wanvik, who set about creating an easier way up the 18-degree incline of Trondheim’s Brubakken Hill. Introduced in 1993 as the world’s first bicycle escalator, the Trampe provides a series of footplates that run along a track at the push of a button. With one foot pressed against a plate and the rest of the body on the bike as normal, users are propelled up the 400-plus-foot path at a rate of approximately 5 miles an hour. The Trampe carries 20,000 to 30,000 cyclists per year, according to Trondheim’s tourism site, and it reportedly has a strong safety record. However, perhaps because of high costs of installation — between $2,400 and $3,200 a yard as of 2014 — Brubakken Hill remains the lone place on this planet where bikers can enjoy the reward of quality views without the sweat usually needed to reach such heights (and without getting off their bikes — other “bike escalators” will carry a bike separately up a hill for you).

 

 

Source: The first working escalator was an amusement park ride.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - BIGGEST SHARK

Did you know... Great whites may be fearsome, but they’re not the biggest. Discover which sharks truly dominate the oceans.

 

The great white shark in Jaws (1975), allegedly 25 feet long and weighing three tons, unleashed a deep-seated fear of the fish among moviegoers. But are great whites the biggest in the seas? Let’s dive into the question.

 

Which Shark Is the Largest?
The largest shark to ever live was likely the mighty megalodon (Otodus megalodon), which swam in prehistoric oceans from 23 to 3.6 million years ago and is now definitely extinct. Paleontologists have estimated their maximum size at 43 to 82 feet long based on analyses of incomplete skeletons, teeth, and fossilized feces.

 

Megalodon’s diet consisted of seals and filter-feeding whales. One of its prey was supposedly the 16-foot Piscobalaena nana, a marine mammal that resembled a humpback whale. Megladon’s chompers could grow up to 7.5 inches long to devour gigantic prey.

 

The largest extant shark species—and the biggest fish species on Earth—is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). These gentle giants reach maturity when they’re about 30 feet long, but they may grow to a maximum of 65 feet. Whale sharks can also have long lifespans. One 2018 study suggested that they attain adulthood at age 25 and can live for up to 130 years, though that’s nothing compared to Greenland sharks. A 2016 study in Science revealed that the Arctic fish can live for at least 272 years and probably a century more than that.

 

The second-largest living species is the basking shark, reaching nearly 36 feet long and weighing four tons or more. Luckily, these gigantic animals don’t crave human flesh. The whale shark and basking shark are both filter feeders, meaning they feast on tiny creatures, such as krill and plankton, by gliding through the water with their mouths open wide.

 

How Big Can Great White Sharks Get?
The mechanical beast in Jaws was significantly bigger than the average great white. Males can reach 11 to 13 feet, while females typically measure 15 to 16 feet. The largest great whites ever recorded were 20 feet long.

 

People have been known to overestimate the predator’s maximum length. In 1870, a zoologist claimed that a great white specimen must have reached 36.5 feet based on measurements of its disembodied jaw. After re-examining the finding, modern scientists concluded that the shark was likely 16.5 feet instead.

 

Another instance involved a great white, which was captured in 1970. Onlookers swore it was 21 feet long, but experts examining a photo of the shark said it was probably more like 16 feet.   

 

 

Source: What‘s the Biggest Shark?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - PLAYLIST PASTA

Did you know... In an effort to ensure a perfect al dente texture every time, Barilla pasta offers nine Spotify playlists tailored to the precise cook times of popular pasta varieties. Curated as a more entertaining alternative to your everyday kitchen timer, the compilations debuted in 2021, blending both English and Italian music.

 

There are two playlists apiece for four different pasta varieties: spaghetti, fusilli, linguine, and penne. Each playlist ranges from nine to 11 minutes, based on recommended cooking time. The most popular (based on total followers) is “Mixtape Spaghetti,” which is 9 minutes, 3 seconds in length and includes hip-hop tunes from Jay-Z and Italian rapper Ernia.

 

At 19 minutes, 12 seconds, the longest playlist of the bunch is the only one dedicated to an entire recipe: “Absolute Carbonara.” This film-themed mix incorporates beloved tracks from Grease, Mamma Mia!, and Guardians of the Galaxy, and is tailored to the exact amount of time you’ll need to prepare a bowl of spaghetti carbonara from start to finish.

 

The first successful pizza order via computer was in 1974.
On December 4, 1974, a man named Donald Sherman became the first person to order pizza using a computer. Sherman — who struggled with speech because of a neurological condition — used a text-to-speech device nicknamed “Alexander” to place the order. The mechanism was designed by engineers John Eulenberg and J.J. Jackson, who worked in the Artificial Language Laboratory at Michigan State University.

 

As Sherman typed out his order, the computer converted the text into a robotic voice that read the order aloud over the phone. Several pizza places initially thought it was a prank call and hung up. After some repeated attempts, a local joint called Mr. Mike’s took down Sherman’s order and successfully delivered his pizza. It would be another 20 years until Pizza Hut unveiled PizzaNet — an experimental online ordering system that was among the first services to allow people to order food over the internet.

 

Source: There are Spotify playlists for the exact cook times of different pastas.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - DOGS IN HOT CARS A NO-NO

Did you know.... Sad but true: Your pet can die in a shockingly short amount of time.

 

We often think of dogs as indomitable and durable animals who can fend off attackers, tirelessly chase Frisbees, and even eat poop without digestive consequences. It’s true that dogs generally have a solid constitution, but that shouldn’t lead you to believe they can endure one of the biggest mistakes a pet owner can make: Leaving them in a hot car—even for a few minutes—puts a dog’s life at serious risk.

 

The Dangers of Leaving Your Dog in a Hot Car
Even on relatively cool days with temperatures around 71.6°F, the inside of a vehicle can reach 116.6°F within an hour, as Quartz highlights.

 

If it’s a scorching summer heat wave, an 80-degree day will see temperatures get up to 99°F in just 10 minutes; a 90-degree day can turn the car into an oven at 119°F in the same amount of time.

 

Dogs can’t tolerate this kind of heat. As their bodies struggle to cool down, the temperature is often more than they can expel through panting and opening capillaries in the skin. If their body reaches a temperature of 105.8°F, they’re at risk of heatstroke, which only half of dogs survive. At 111.2°F, a lack of blood circulation can cause kidney failure and internal bleeding. Brain damage and death is very likely at this point. Depending on the outside temperature, it can happen in as little as six minutes. Cracking windows won’t help. Unless you plan on leaving your vehicle running with the air conditioning on (and we don’t recommend that), there’s really no safe amount of time to leave a pet inside.

 

What to Do If You Find a Dog Trapped in a Hot Car
If find a listless dog who is unresponsive, it’s best to get to a veterinarian as soon as possible. And if you’re a bystander who sees a dog trapped inside a car, alert the nearest store to try and make an announcement to get the owner back to the vehicle.

 

You can also phone local law enforcement or animal control. In some states, including California, you’re legally allowed to enter a vehicle to rescue a distressed animal. If local law enforcement instructs you to remove the dog from the vehicle, be sure to check for any unlocked doors. If you have to break a window, choose one that's least likely to shatter glass onto the trapped pup. You should also have some sort of plan for how to secure and handle the dog after you rescue it—according to to the American Kennel Club, a belt or purse strap could serve as a makeshift leash.

 

Source: Why You Should Never Leave Your Dog in a Hot Car—Even For Just a Few Minutes

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CALICO CATS

Did you know.... If you know anything about calico cats, it’s that they’re especially cute. If you know two things about them, the second might be that only about 1 in every 3,000 of them is male. The tricolor kitties — which are most often but not always white, orange, and black — get their distinct coat from their chromosomal makeup. Female cats have two X chromosomes, which carry the coding gene for black and orange coloration, and the only way for calico coloring to occur is for a kitten to get one black-coded X and one orange-coded X. The same is also true of tortoiseshell (tortie) cats, which are predominantly black and orange — and known for their “tortitude.” (The white patches in calicos, meanwhile, happen through a separate genetic process called piebalding, which produces areas of skin and fur without any pigment.) 

 

Though extremely rare, male calicos and torties do exist. This is usually the result of one of two conditions: chimerism or Klinefelter’s syndrome. The former occurs when two embryos fuse early in pregnancy, resulting in two different sets of DNA, while Klinefelter’s is the result of a male inheriting an extra X chromosome and therefore having XXY chromosomes. Making them even rarer is the fact that male calicos are almost always sterile, meaning it’s all but impossible to breed calicos — every one you see is an anomaly, and all the more special for it.

 

Calicos are considered good luck.
There’s a reason that maneki-neko are so often depicted as calicos: They’re considered good luck. The “beckoning cat” figurines found throughout Japan and at Japanese and Chinese establishments around the world are intended as tokens of good fortune, with one of their paws raised high in a waving motion. This dates back to the tradition of Japanese sailors traveling with calicos to bring about safe passage — the multicolored cats were believed to be able to chase away storms and ancestral ghosts. In the United States and England, meanwhile, male calicos are considered especially lucky because of their rarity.

 

 

Source: Only about 1 in every 3,000 calico cats is male.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - VOLCANIC LIGHTNING

Did you know.... There’s epic, and then there’s volcanic lightning, a phenomenon that sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie but is, in fact, real. Volcanic lightning is just what it sounds like: lightning that happens during a volcanic eruption, rather than a thunderstorm. It’s thought to occur in two contexts: either in dense clouds of ash near the ground or close to the stratosphere. 

 

The first happens when individual ash particles rub together to form enough static electricity to generate a lightning bolt. The second is caused when plumes of water vapor and ash erupt with such force that they rise high enough to form ice crystals in colder air. Those ice crystals then generate static electricity as they collide with one another, leading to what’s also known as a “dirty thunderstorm.”

 

The first known description of volcanic lightning is owed to Pliny the Younger, who wrote of the 79 CE Mount Vesuvius eruption that “there was a most intense darkness rendered more appalling by the fitful gleam of torches at intervals obscured by the transient blaze of lightning.” Vesuvius also happens to be where the first studies of volcanic lightning took place in 1858.

 

More than 80% of the Earth’s surface is volcanic in origin.
There’s a high chance the spot you’re standing or sitting in right now is of volcanic origin. More than 80% of the planet’s surface is, whether above or below sea level. Though volcanos themselves aren’t exactly known for being hospitable, their countless eruptions over hundreds of millions of years have helped form the sea floors, mountains, and atmosphere that made Earth a life-supporting planet.

 

Source: Volcanoes can create lightning.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SOCCER BALL

Did you know.... Once upon a time, soccer balls (or footballs, depending on where you hail from) were inflated pig bladders wrapped in leather. One variation was an ancient Chinese game called “tsu chu,” using a ball stuffed with feathers. In medieval England, players used leather-covered wine bottles filled with cork shavings (to make them easily retrievable if they fell in the river). It wasn’t until 1844, when Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, that soccer balls started taking shape. Literally.

 

In 1855, Goodyear created the first rubber soccer ball. Then, seven years later, H.J. Lindon developed an inflatable rubber bladder to make the ball easier to kick and maintain its pseudo-spherical shape. White soccer balls became the standard in 1951 (companies whitewashed the leather, and in the 1960s, began to use synthetic materials to achieve uniform thickness and prevent the balls from becoming misshapen), and if teams played winter matches, official orange soccer balls were manufactured for better visibility.

 

But the ball most commonly seen today—the one with black and white pentagons and hexagons—gained popularity in the 1960s.* Previously, leather soccer balls consisted of 18 sections stitched together: six panels of three strips apiece. This design stitched together 20 hexagons with 12 pentagons for a total of 32 panels.

 

The ball made its World Cup debut as Adidas’ Telstar in 1970 in Mexico. The ball's pattern of white hexagons with black pentagons made it easily visible on television. An added bonus for players: The black pentagons helped them learn to curve the ball better by being able to track its movement more easily.

 

Adidas kept the ball's black-and-white color scheme until 2002, but the 32-panel buckyball might not stay in vogue much longer—Adidas launched its new generation of soccer balls for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups with the Teamgeist (14 panels) and Jabulani (8 panels) designs, respectively.

 

* Correction: The original version of this post incorrectly stated that the ball was invented by architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller. That would have been amazing. We sheepishly regret the error. Line up for a penalty kick.

 

Source: Why Are Soccer Balls Made of Hexagons?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - PERFUMES

Did you know.... You can still find some of them online and even make your own dupes right at home.

 

If you’re a longtime fragrance lover, then you know how heartbreaking and upsetting it is when your favorite perfume gets discontinued. And no matter how much you try to find a new scent or go on the hunt for dupes and options that smell just like it, you know deep down inside that you’ll never have that smell and allure again.

 

While manufacturers sometimes bring back retired perfumes, it’s not always a regular occurrence, nor is it enough to recapture the nostalgia of your old signature scent. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some of the most memorable retro fragrances from the 1990s and early 2000s that are long gone but may still have a lingering soft spot for in your heart. Who knows? You might even find a few still available to buy online if you’re really willing to keep searching.

 

GAP Dream
Launched in 1995, GAP Dream quickly gained a big following, especially as the retailer popped up in malls across the country. The perfume served as a sort of middle ground, appealing to both teens and young adults alike. It was also generally more affordable than other designer alternatives and featured base notes of musk and carnations, with top notes of osmanthus and tangerine. Although it was very popular back in the day, GAP discontinued the perfume sometime during the early 2000s as the retailer expanded its fragrance line.

 

Victoria’s Secret Rapture
Rapture from Victoria’s Secret hit stores in 1992 and had an impressive run for nearly 30 years, before being quietly discontinued. The perfume scored with folks who wanted something floral yet musky, and its orange blossom and citrus top notes added some spicy appeal to the scent. Its heart-shaped bottle was one of the best things about it and a real crowd-pleaser, becoming an instantly recognizable part of the Victoria’s Secret brand.

 

Lauren by Ralph Lauren

 

Ralph Lauren’s first perfume for women, Lauren, had a floral scent that was fresh and crisp, with notes of clary, rosewood of Brazil, and even pineapple. The original smell was launched in 1978 and remained a staple on shelves for years before eventually getting retired by the brand in 2005. Instead of retiring the fragrance completely, however, Ralph Lauren reformulated the scent and re-released it a year later, in 2006.  

 

Sheer Obsession by Calvin Klein
While the original Obsession was released in 1985, another edition by Calvin Klein—Sheer Obsession—was introduced in 2002. Although it has since been discontinued, it was formulated by Swiss master perfumer René Morgenthaler as a lighter and softer alternative to the original aroma (which is known to attract big cats, or at least, the men’s version does). Sheer Obsession had sensuous notes of bergamot, coriander, mandarin, marigold, amber, musk, and vanilla.

 

Andy Warhol Bond No. 9
In a partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York-based perfume house Bond No. 9 released this perfume in 2011. The fragrance was designed for both women and men and had musky base notes of vanilla and sandalwood. It also included top notes of plum, cypress, citruses, and bergamot. Although the scent was quickly discontinued due to a dispute over using Warhol’s likeness on the bottles, you can still find bottles online that are going for nearly $1000 on eBay right now.

 

Chloé Narcisse by Chloé

 

Although it’s now retired, Chloé Narcisse was a popular scent when it was  initially released in 1992 by the French luxury fashion house Chloé. The perfume had a musky tone of sandalwood and cedar, while it featured top notes of apricot, marigold, peach, pineapple, and orange blossom, along with other floral aromas. You can still find bottles of it online on eBay, usually priced between $300 to $500.

 

Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy Now
Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy Now came out in 2006 and went through various special editions before it was finally retired by the brand at the end of 2017. There was even a version for men at one point. The original still gets talked up among fans (along with other past special editions) and featured notes of blood orange and pineapple with a woody base.

 

 

Source: Discontinued Perfumes From the ‘90s and ‘00s That Smelled Amazing

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THE TOWN THAT NEVER WAS

Did you know... There’s off the map, and then there’s Argleton. The English town was visible on Google Maps until 2009, which is notable for one major reason: No such place exists. So how did it get listed? Though never confirmed by Google, it’s been speculated that Argleton may have been akin to a trap street — a fictitious road used by cartographers to catch anyone copying their work. The reasoning is as simple as it is clever: If a street (or, in this case, town) that you made up ends up on another map, you’ll have caught its creator red-handed in copyright infringement.

 

Though little more than an empty field in West Lancashire, Argleton once had its own (presumably auto-generated) job listings and weather forecasts. Once its (non-)existence became known on the internet, humorous T-shirts with slogans such as “New York, London, Paris, Argleton” and “I visited Argleton and all I got was this T-shirt” appeared online, too. Google itself was tight-lipped on the subject, releasing a brief statement noting that “Google Maps data comes from a variety of data sources. While the vast majority of this information is correct there are occasional errors.” The good people of Argleton likely would have been highly offended by that characterization — if they actually existed.

 

Most maps are highly misleading.
If you ever had a map of the world on one of your classroom walls, there’s a good chance it used the Mercator projection. Created by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, it has proved popular for centuries — but it also distorts sizes and distances near the North and South poles, resulting in major discrepancies. Perhaps the most notable of these is how small Africa appears: Greenland looks larger than the continent, for instance, despite being about 14.5 times smaller. To demonstrate this, a graphic artist created a map of his own showing that the United States, China, India, Japan, and most of Europe could all fit inside Africa.

 

Source: Google Maps once listed a town that never existed.

Edited Sunday at 12:38 PM by DarkRavie