History

How do you get to be in the “international consortium of timekeepers”? - By Brian Palmer - Slate Magazine
On New Year’s Eve at 6:59:59 p.m. ET, an “international consortium of timekeepers” [added] one second to the world’s clock. How do you get to be an official timekeeper?

Nothing quite prepares you for the culture shock of Jay Walker’s library. You exit the austere parlor of his New England home and pass through a hallway into the bibliographic equivalent of a Disney ride. Stuffed with landmark tomes and eye-grabbing historical objects—on the walls, on tables, standing on the floor—the room occupies about 3,600 [...]

I have no problem with this story, as opposed to the questionable one entitled “My Holiday With John McCain.”  It will be published in the October 16 issue of Rolling Stone.
This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been
hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who [...]

Today is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948), Indian social reformer, activist and pacifist.  Learn more here.

Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun, was discovered this date in 1846, after mathematical prediction of its location by Urbain le Verrier.  It was the first celestial object located in this fashion.
Among other unique qualities, Neptune has the highest winds in the Solar system.  Take a guess at how high they are, before following [...]

It isn’t exactly pretty — and certainly isn’t tidy — but peace really does appear to be breaking out in the Middle East.
CrackerBoy

Andrew O’Hehir’s blog in Salon examines Peter Askins’ new film “Trumbo,” about the life of the most famous of the blacklisted filmmakers in the ’50’s witch hunts, along with the lessons the three generations since can take from the history of censorship and political gagging of Americans.
If the Hollywood blacklist and the entire Red Scare [...]

Historian George Dyson tells stories from the birth of the modern computer — from its 16th-century origins to the hilarious notebooks of some early computer engineers. Listen for the story of the very first artificial life — stored on a deck of IBM punchcards and ready to come alive again. Watch this talk on [...]

The square academic cap, very commonly called a mortarboard (from the French mortier, a type of toque) or Oxford cap, is an item of academic headgear consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upon a skull-cap, with a tassel, or liripipe, attached to the centre. In the UK and the U.S., it is commonly referred [...]

Fred Vogelstein at Wired brings us the inside poop on the iPhone’s development, and explains — succinctly — how it has managed to change the wireless industry.
“This 4.8-ounce sliver of glass and aluminum is an explosive device that
has forever changed the mobile-phone business, wresting power from
carriers and giving it to manufacturers, developers, and consumers.
The Untold [...]

Kung fu master Shi Dechao can swing his 22-pound “monk’s spade,” an ancient Chinese shovel, like a majorette twirling a baton. His lightning punches, in a style the ancients called Iron Fist, generate a thunk! straight out of kung fu movie sound effects. A powerful grunt punctuates his routine.
But Dechao, and most of the other [...]

Weston, Conn. - Darkness clung to the
early morning sky on Dec. 14, 1807, as Judge Nathan Wheeler started out
on his morning constitutional along a country road near here. Suddenly
the heavens exploded as a fireball raced across the horizon – whizzing
sounds and three sonic booms cracked the quiet as rock rained down.
Judge Wheeler ran back [...]

Humans have been around for quite a while. Even if you accept Bishop Usher’s figure of 6010 years ago (as of October 22nd) for the date of Creation, there have been 300 generations of us. If you prefer evolution, the figure expands to at least 7,500 generations in the case of Homo sapiens, and much [...]

In the fall of 1977, an unmarked step van filled with futuristic equipment, engineers, and sometimes fully uniformed generals quietly cruised the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area. Only an oddly shaped antenna gave any hint of its purpose. The key event occurred on November 22, when data flowed seamlessly from the van to [...]

On this day in 1958, Pan American Airways made the first commercial
flight of the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris. In 1940, the P-51
Mustang made its maiden flight. In 1936, the first electric generator
at Hoover Dam went into full operation. In 1861, The Pony Express
officially ceased operations. In 1947, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was [...]

I was in grade school when the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite in 1957.  In those days the sky was dark enough that we were able to step outside at the announced times and watch “Sputnik” pass overhead, the Sovs having thoughtfully published the orbital schedule to desplay their scientific prowess.  The glint in [...]