background preloader

Christopher Columbus was awful (but this other guy was not) - The Oatmeal - Nightly

Christopher Columbus was awful (but this other guy was not) - The Oatmeal - Nightly
Sources: All of the information in this essay came from A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, and Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen, both of which uses primary sources such as eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters from Christopher Columbus himself. A very important note about Bartolomé de las Casas and the African slave trade This issue keeps coming up and, despite my footnotes, I keep seeing commentary about it so I'm going to address it here. I soon repented and judged myself guilty of ignorance. I know that the discovery of the New World means a lot of different things to a lot of different cultures. But please, oh please do not call it Columbus Day. Less than a year after the publication of this comic, Columbus Day was renamed to Indigenous People's Day in Seattle.

Wardenclyffe Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Nightly Coordinates: Wardenclyffe Tower (1901–1917) also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early wireless transmission tower designed by Nikola Tesla in Shoreham, New York and intended for commercial trans-Atlantic wireless telephony, broadcasting, and proof-of-concept demonstrations of wireless power transmission.[2][3] It was never fully operational,[4] and the tower was demolished in 1917. The tower was named after James S. Warden, a western lawyer and banker who had purchased land for the endeavor in Shoreham, Long Island, about sixty miles from Manhattan. Here he built a resort community known as Wardenclyffe-On-Sound. He offered Tesla 200 acres (81 ha) of land close to a railway line on which to build his wireless telecommunications tower and laboratory facility. History[edit] Construction[edit] Tesla Ready for Business - August 7, 1901 New-York tribune article Tesla's Wardenclyffe plant on Long Island circa 1902 in partial stage of completion. Post-Tesla era[edit] Preservation efforts[edit]

Comics :: Popular The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances. A comic about a glorious undersea creature. 20 years ago today my house burned down, so I wrote a comic about it My dog: the paradox How to suck at your religion An ode to the father of the electric age. I created a better curriculum for high school seniors. A tribute to rooster sauce. A kitty tries to outperform a solid internet connection. This illustrated diagram will tell you how shit goes wrong during the zombie apocalypse. All artwork and content on this site is Copyright © 2016 Matthew Inman.

Sumerian Myths Sumerian civilization originated in what is now southern Iraq, just upriver from the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. "Civilization" in this context means a settled town or city-dwelling people who possess a stable agricultural technology (including domesticated animals) and have developed a hierarchical system of social classes (peasants, laborers, slaves, craftsmen [smiths, masons, carpenters, potters, etc.], farmers, fishermen, merchants, doctors, architects, priests and temple attendants, bureaucrats, scribes, advisers, priest-kings). Since the climate of southern Iraq is hot and dry, agriculture requires an extensive irrigation system of canals and dikes. Often, the Sumerians wrote as if their civilization (agricultural techniques, cities, classes of people) came first, and people later. Map of Mesopotamian Archeological Sites (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) Sumerian cities were close agglomerations of one or two story mud brick dwellings. Questions:1. 2. 3.

Using Superhero Comics to Teach English and History It's high time for more English and history teachers to set aside their literary purism, and to embrace superhero comics as effective and legitimate teaching and learning tools. Superman Stands in for Hamlet In Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, an aging and embittered Superman, distraught over a hero-villain conflict that results in the irradiation of much of the Midwest, is coaxed out of retirement by Wonder Woman. "Kal, please. A much different Superman eventually returns, and it's not long before he and his reassembled team, the once-famous Justice League, also use intimidation, threats, incarceration, and even murder to ensure world peace by any means necessary. Waid and Ross’ graphic novel does a brilliant job of deconstructing the traditional hero-villain archetype, and beautiful imagery elucidates strong themes of revenge, redemption and salvation. After all, if Superman has tragic flaws, we all have tragic flaws. Man of Steel as Man of His Times The Times They Are A-Changin'

Timur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Nightly Timur, Tarmashirin Khan, Emir Timur, Timur Beg Gurkhani[1] (Persian: تیمور‎ Timūr, Chagatai: Temür "iron"; 9 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane[2] (Persian: تيمور لنگ‎ Timūr(-e) Lang, "Timur the Lame"), was a Turko-Mongol ruler of Barlas lineage.[3][4][5] He conquered West, South and Central Asia and founded the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449,[6][7][8] and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur Beg, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled parts of South Asia for around four centuries, from 1526 until 1857.[9][10][11][12][13] Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan.[14] As a means of legitimating his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referring to himself as the Sword of Islam and patronizing educational and religious institutions. Early history Emir Timur feasts in the gardens of Samarkand. Personality Military leader Rise to power

20 Animals You Won't Believe Actually Exist. One of Them Will Haunt You Forever. Posted Apr 24, by Val Liarikos The Red-Lipped Batfish walks around the bottom of the ocean floor walking on its fins. Yes, these things can walk. The Peacock Mantis Shrimp can deliver a punch that is just as powerful as a gunshot. Okapis are closest related to the giraffe family. The Pacu Fish seems to have a set of human teeth. The Panda Ant is actually a species of wasp. The Narwhal is found in the Arctic. The Blind Snake might scare you for what it resembles, but have no fear, it has no eyes. The Umbonia Spinosa is believed to be related to the cicada. The Lowland Streaked Tenrec is found in Madagascar. The Hummingbird Hawk-Moth might look strange, but it's really just an insect that feeds on flowers. The Blue Dragon has a gas filled sac in its stomach. The Shoebill can be 110cm-152cm. The Venezuelan Poodle Moth remains fairly unstudied, but based on it's looks, you can't trust it. The Giant Isopod is so big because many of them expirience "deep sea gigantism." by Val Liarikos yesterday

untitled This book contains 209 tales collected by the brothers Grimm. The exact print source is unknown. The etext appears to be based on the translation by Margaret Hunt called Grimm's Household Tales, but it is not identical to her edition. (Some of the translations are slightly different, the arrangement also differs, and the Grimm's scholarly notes are not included.) The etext received by the Universal Library did not include story titles. Note that these tales are presented more or less as the Grimms collected and edited them (and as Hunt saw fit to translate them). NEW: There is now a more accurate version of the Hunt translation posted by William Barker.

Rewordify.com: Understand what you read Nightly Mysterious Tunguska Explosion of 1908 in Siberia may be linked to Tesla's experiments of wireless transmission Nikola Tesla holding a gas-filled phosphor-coated light bulb which was illuminated without wires by an electromagnetic field from the "Tesla Coil". Many theories have been proposed for the cause of the explosion. Above: A bright, flaming object coming in from the sky at an angle and then a giant bright blast. Above: Landscape after the Tunguska Explosion, 1908, photo from Did you know that in 1908 in Siberia, one of the most catastrophic, mind-blowing (and mysterious) cosmic impact catastrophes ever in the history of civilization occurred - and yet it wasn't widely known outside Russia (save for a few astronomy and research scientist enclaves) until around the 1970's? Above: Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Laboratory with magnifying transmitter in action, 20 million volts of electricity. Recommended Websites

13 World Mysteries Without Explanation | Beyond Science Chinese mosaic lines These strange lines are found at coordinates: 40°27’28.56″N, 93°23’34.42″E. There isn’t much information available on these strange, yet beautiful mosaic lines carved in the desert of the Gansu Sheng province in China. Some records indicate they were created in 2004, but nothing seems official. Unexplained stone doll The July 1889 find in Nampa, Idaho, of a small human figure during a well-drilling operation caused intense scientific interest last century. The find has never been challenged except to say that it was impossible. creationism.org The first stone calendar In the Sahara Desert in Egypt lie the oldest known astronomically aligned stones in the world: Nabta. During this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle. 300 million year old iron screw At that time there were not only intelligent life forms on earth, not even dinosaurs. Ancient rocket ship Pyramid power

6 Ancient Sports Too Awesome For the Modern World It's amazing how crazy people get about sports these days, especially considering how much sports suck compared to what they used to be. No, we're not talking about the 1940s when football players wore leather helmets. We're talking about the ancient sports where Viking rape was a trophy and "crocodile death" had its own slot on the scoreboard. Mesoamerican Ballgame Long before soccer (and smallpox) took pre-Columbian America by storm, the official sport of Ancient Mexico was an odd game that the Mayans called pitz. "I don't know what this game is or why the hell we're playing it." The "Game" Mesoamerican Ballgame was a lot like volleyball, except the ball involved was nine pounds of solid rubber. Players had to keep the heavy bastard in play by bouncing it off their forearms, hips, elbows and (if you're a sissy) bats and rackets. Face blocks, while legal, cannot in good conscience be recommended. The Mesoamericans included one final draw to wow their crowd. How is that "Insane"? "Yes."

PBS LearningMedia | Professional Shelf It’s clear from SLJ’s 2013 Tech Survey that school library media specialists have taken a leadership role in providing students and teachers with access to online resources. Despite dismally small budgets, time constraints, site-specific limitations, and the demands of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many consider the support of digital learning a priority. PBS LearningMedia, a content-rich, free resource offered to educators working with preschool through grade 12, makes the challenge easier to meet. With additional video and audio clips, interactive material, images, documents, and lesson plans, PBS LearningMedia is the stylish new face of Teachers’ Domain, also supported by and developed in partnership with WGBH of Boston. Searchable by keyword, results can be further refined by grade, subject, media type (e.g., video, interactive, document), and resource type (e.g., lesson plan, self-paced lesson, media gallery).

Aeroscraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Nightly The Aeroscraft is the name of a series of cargo-carrying rigid airships planned by the Worldwide Aeros Corporation. The company is seeking funding for its ML866 model, which will carry 66 tons of payload, and for its ML868 model carrying 250 tons. A model capable of lifting 500 tons, the ML86X, is also on the drawing board.[1] A scaled-down prototype called the "Pelican" was completed in January 2013 with funding from the U.S. Technical details[edit] The current prototype, the Pelican, is 266 feet (81 m) long and is designed for a top speed of 60 knots (110 km/h). Technology[edit] The Aeroscraft, like the Zeppelins of the past, uses a rigid internal structure to maintain its shape.[3] Unlike modern hybrid airships, the Aeroscraft is lighter-than-air during flight, and does not rely on aerodynamic lift to maintain flight.[4] This will enable the vehicle to hover at full payload capacity.[3] Uses[edit] Commercial cargo[edit] Military uses[edit] History[edit] Flight testing[edit] See also[edit]

Related: