Girih tiles
The Darb-e Imam shrine in Iran contains an early and exciting example of non-periodic tiling that was only mathematically appreciated five hundred years later.
Category: Arts & recreation
A page a day
How long would it take to study the whole Talmud, one page a day? Seven and a half years… and it’s best to begin tomorrow.
Superman zine
Before they made the Superman we all know, Siegel and Shuster self-published a zine featuring a bald villain also named Superman.
Twelve days
Is Christmas Day the twelfth day of Christmas or the first? And why does it cost US$170,298.03?
Immovable ladder
Certain holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem cannot be changed without agreement from the many local denominations. As a result, a ladder has been propped against a window ledge on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since 1728.
Ambigram comic
From 1903 to 1905 a unique comic strip was published in the New York Herald: you would read the first half, then flip the page upside down to read the second half.
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.”
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.
Sacred abbreviations
Papyrus is expensive. Scripture is repetitive. The earliest Christian texts used a clever set of abbreviations to save space and time.
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.
Fastest clip show
Clip shows are an easy way to make a new episode cheaply from existing footage. One series made a clip show out of their second ever episode.
Tractor beaming
The idea of the tractor beam first appeared in fiction in 1931. Since then, scientists have worked to make it a reality… and they’ve actually had some success.
Oldest winery and shoe
The Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia is the site of the oldest shoe, and also the oldest winery, in the world.
Largest kitchen
Jagannath, the deity from whom we get the word juggernaut, receives offerings of food from the world’s largest kitchen.
Two players one lute
The 1597 piece My Lord Chamberlain, His Galliard is a lute duet. The piece is played by two people, but they must only use one lute.
Chaplin and Keaton, together at last
Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were two of the biggest stars of silent film. They didn’t appear in a film together until 1952, and that film didn’t win an Academy Award until 1973.
The Generalist Academy 