Category: History

The Original Version of the Statue of Liberty

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The Statue of Liberty was provided as a gift to the U.S. from the French public to celebrate the U.S. French alliance during the Revolutionary War. This gift however was not originally designed for the U.S., as its sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (pronounced “fred-reek ah-goost bar-told-ee”) had traveled to Egypt to pitch the idea of an enormous woman like the Statue of Liberty, standing at the entrance of the Suez Canal. This original design was to be veiled to comply with then Egyptian values, and holding a lantern representing Egypt carrying the light of progress into Asia. Initially the Egyptian government liked this idea but because the cost was exorbitantly high, plans were eventually scrapped. Bartholdi redesigned his concept to depict a Roman goddess which is more European and therefore palatable to the U.S. conscious. In addition to this, Bartholdi also wanted to ensure that this new design represented freedom, not progress, to reflect American sentiment during this period

The Belief of How Insects Spawned Within Europe During the 18th Century

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It was primarily believed within Europe during the 18th century that insects were correlated with the devil, as anything not understood or relatively misunderstood during the period was explained as evil or demonic phenomena in nature powered by supernatural forces. Scientific knowledge was limited during the 18th century, therefore superstitious beliefs were commonplace throughout the whole of Europe. Europeans believed that insects spawned from the mud annually, because they could not explain why insects develop en masse and are only present for the warmer months of the year, with this hypothesis referred to as “spontaneous generation”. This theory was only laid to rest after the theory of spontaneous generation was challenged by several scientists including Italian physician Francesco Redi, who conducted experiments during the 17th century which demonstrated that maggots decaying upon meat arise from eggs laid by flies, not from the meat itself. During the 18th century, Italian priest and biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani conducted further experiments which refuted spontaneous generation, particularly for microorganisms

How Birthdays are Celebrated Within Vietnam and the Tết Nguyên Đán Holiday

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In Vietnam, every person celebrates their birthday on the same day of the year, which is Tết Nguyên Đán (pronounced “tet!/tut! hwin dawn” with the exclamation marks denoting that “tết” is a strong sounding term with emphasis), the Vietnamese New Year. Instead of celebrating individual birthdays, the Vietnamese celebrate birthdays simultaneously by collectively adding a year to their age upon this date. Tết Nguyên Đán is predicated upon the lunisolar calendar, which involves both lunar and solar events, and because of this, Tết Nguyên Đán occurs between January and February, marked by the first new moon after January 21st but before February 20th. It should be noted, some Vietnamese have chosen not to observe this tradition, and therefore celebrate their individual birthday upon the date of its anniversary, with this practice becoming much more common during the modern day, however because Tết Nguyên Đán is the most important holiday within Vietnam, the practice is still ascribed to

How German Composer Johann Sebastian Bach Inserted His Surname into Musical Compositions

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Johann Sebastian Bach relished inscribing his surname into his music in all sorts of contexts but this can only be performed in German as in English the letter “H” doesn’t exist within music as it does in German. Bach would insert his name with the notes “B”, “A”, “C”, and “B Natural” which is “H” in German. This motif is a form of musical cryptogram and is most well renowned within Bach’s The Art of Fugue (Contrapunctus XIV) composition. These notes when played in unison have an appealing resonance which compliment many musical scores without any need for alteration. Many composers who have come after Bach have also used the BACH motif within their own compositions as a tribute to Bach, his work, and his legacy including composers Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Arnold Schoenberg among others

The Only Olympic Team Which is Not Funded by its Government World Wide

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The only Olympic teams which are entirely privately funded (e.g. sponsorships, broadcast rights, donations etc.) are within the U.S., as virtually all Olympic teams internationally utilize a combination of government funding and private funding. This policy includes all U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, making the U.S. unique upon the world stage of athletics as of 2024. This private funding model can be challenging for Olympic athletes within the U.S., as many are forced to find additional work or additional individual sponsorship to cover both training and living expenses. The U.S. government does not fund its athletes for a variety of reasons including the historical tradition of the separation of sport and politics within the U.S., a strong and well funded private sector with ample resources to fund athletes and teams alike, the non-profit business model status of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee which affords tax exemption among other benefits, and state and local government sponsorship of athletes and teams. It should be noted, a small number of countries have attempted to replicate the U.S.’ Olympic funding model however data of the efficacy of these nations is not publicly available

The Peculiarity of Isotopes Xenon 129, Xenon 132, and Krypton 80 Upon Mars

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Scientific study of Mars has revealed the existence of the isotope xenon 129 present within the almost non-existent Martian atmosphere. This has puzzled scientists as there are a limited number of understood methods to achieve such an outcome. The first method is via cosmic radiation, specifically galactic cosmic rays and/or solar cosmic rays striking elements like barium or bromine upon the Martian surface which can cause neutron capture, leading to the formation of xenon 129 naturally. This is because Mars has a very thin atmosphere and lacks a global magnetic field, which means it is less protected from cosmic radiation in comparison to the Earth. The second method is to detonate nuclear weaponry upon Mars which has left scientists dumbfounded as to how such an event could occur without third party intervention. Because of this, the majority of scientists believe the former method to be the causation, however there are scientists who take issue with this theory, mainly due to the high ratios of xenon 129, xenon 132, and krypton 80 within the Martian atmosphere which can be a byproduct of the fast neutron fission of uranium and plutonium weaponry, with all 3 of these isotopes able to be created by generating nuclear energy as well, the topography of Mars itself as vast glass like smooth regions exist which strikingly resemble the Trinity nuclear weaponry test detonation site in New Mexico, United States of America, as well as the high concentration of specific isotopes within specific regions (e.g. high levels of krypton 80 in the Cydonia region of Mars etc.)

How Antique Books are Forged and How to Detect Replica Antique Book Forgeries

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Modern day forgers are able to replicate rare books printed using a mechanical printing press by using photopolymer plates, a process which involves taking a high resolution photograph of a page which was printed using a printing press and allowing computer software to create a three dimensional printed image of that photograph with depth for each letter present. This method produces pages which have an imprint mark as if pressed by a printing press but its fatal flaw is that it also provides depth to small lines around the margin of text which are picked up during the printing process. These lines should have no depth as they are merely extra ink which has been caught during the printing process but with photopolymer replicas, because the software used to extract three dimensional characters reads every single bit of ink as a marker to place depth, these lines appear to have depth within forgeries which is an immediate red flag in terms of authenticity as originals have no reason to possess depth. These incidental inking lines around the margin of the page are referred to as “shoulder inking”, and if they possess depth of any degree, it is a strong indication that the piece is a modern day forgery

Analogs of the Christian Bible’s Epic of Noah’s Ark

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In London, England in 2014, Dr. Irving Finkel, one of, if not the worlds most foremost authoritive upon cuneiform writing, published a book entitled “The Ark Before Noah” which states that a 3700 year old Sumerian tablet translated by Finkel depicts the Christian biblical story of Noah and the flood which drowned the world. This tablet is at the very least 1000 years older than that of the Biblical epic. In the Christina Bible, Noah is warned of a cataclysmic flood by God. A similar story exists in ancient Indian Vedic texts in which King Manu was forewarned by Lord Vishnu in the form a fish, of a great flood impending, with Manu constructing a large boat and ultimately surviving. In the Babylonian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh, the protagonist Utnapishtim (pronounced “ut-nah-pish-tim”) is advised of an impending flood by the god Enki (pronounced “en-kee”). In ancient Aztec culture, a sacred male and female couple hide within a hollow tree with corn while holding steady as the deluge of a great flood envelops the Earth. Ancient Celtic, Norse, and Chinese mythology also account similar stories in which a great flood occurs and only some survive. The common denominator between all of these stories is intervention by a force which knew ahead of time of the impending cataclysm

The Advent of Post It Notes

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Post It notes were invented by a chemical engineer whose bookmark fell off his hymn book while singing in church. The inventor, Arthur Fry, created an adhesive which worked like a basketballs skin in that some adhesive touches the object it’s stuck to, but not very much so it’s continually sticky dependant of how it lands each time

Modern Day Slavery World Wide

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It is estimated that 1,200,000 (1.2 million) people in Europe are subjected to slavery and this value leaps to a conservative estimate of 40,300,000 (40.3 million) worldwide as of 2020