Deepest shipwreck
The USS Johnston was sunk in the Battle off Samar in World War II. Its wreck descended into the Philippine Trench, the third deepest trench in the world, and we know of no deeper wrecks.
Month: December 2019
The Microsoft Sound
“We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, […] optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional […] and it must be 3 ¼ seconds long.”
The last beguine
In 13th century northern Europe, groups of women formed their own autonomous religious communities. Neither nuns nor wives, the Beguines forged their own route through the strictures of Medieval life.
Language nest
How do you bring a dying language back from the brink? Incubate it in a nest, of course.
Electric speed
Up until 1902, every fastest car in the world was electric.
Creative taxes
Early modern England had some creative property taxes: window, chimney, brick, and wallpaper tax. Early modern England also had some creative methods of tax avoidance: sealed windows, stolen chimneys, larger bricks, and plainer wallpaper.
European rainforest
The largest national park in the European Union is in South America.
Cat-in-chief
Who rules the cats of England? Since at least the 1920s, 10 Downing Street has had an official cat: the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.
Worst tank
In World War II, New Zealand wanted a tank, but none of their allies had any to spare. So they made their own, with a tractor, corrugated iron, a mattress, and a postcard.
Sacred abbreviations
Papyrus is expensive. Scripture is repetitive. The earliest Christian texts used a clever set of abbreviations to save space and time.
Creeper vs. reaper
The first computer programme to replicate itself over the proto-Internet was made in 1971. And the second one was made to destroy it.
Grandmothers vs. the dirty war
As part of Argentina’s Dirty War, hundreds of children were taken from their parents and adopted into military families. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo are trying to get them back.
19/4 time
The most common time signatures in music are 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4. Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond famously recorded Take Five in 5/4 time, but another jazz icon named Don Ellis took time signature experiments to a new level.
Largest number
What’s the largest number? If you said the googolplex, you’re off… by a lot. A lot.
Underwater unknown
A strange honeycomb pattern appears on sea ridges around the world. We think that it is created by living creatures, but no-one has ever seen one. Oh, and there are fossils of the patterns going back 500 million years.
Glacier death
The glacier Okjökull in Iceland died in 2014.
The Generalist Academy 