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January 19, 2024
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FREEMind + Body Daily CurioFree1 CQ
Last week we covered Tabbouleh, so it seems only fair to cover another famous dish from the Levant, the national dish of both Syria and Lebanon: kibbeh. This meaty, wheaty food is as versatile as it is ancient; it can be served as baked croquettes, as fried spheres, or even raw among other variations, yet its basic ingredients remain mostly the same.
Kibbeh is, at its heart, a paste made from minced meat (usually lamb, beef, or both) and bulgur, a whole grain made from dried wheat berries. Other ingredients, like pine nuts, and spices such as black pepper, allspice, coriander, cinnamon and marjoram, are added before kibbeh is cooked or served raw. In any form, the dish is a savory, herby experience.
Kibbeh’s exact history is fuzzy. It’s believed to have originated in the Levant, a geographical region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s possible that it was created in Aleppo, which today is part of Syria, but there’s no way to know for certain. The date of its invention also isn’t clear, though it’s been around for centuries. Most food historians do agree that kibbeh was originally served as baked balls, since the word “kibbeh” comes from the Arabic word “kubba”, meaning “ball.” But kibbeh nayyeh, a variation of kibbeh that is served raw, is also very old, and there are a few theories as to its origin.
One story points to a 13th century invasion of Jebbet Bsharri (in modern day northern Lebanon) by the Mamluk Empire. During the invasion, some civilians became trapped in a grotto where they couldn’t cook food, for fear of smoke alerting the invaders to their location. As the story goes, they mixed raw meat with stone-pounded bulgur in order to survive the seven-year siege, and afterwards passed on the recipe. Another theory states that kibbeh nayyeh developed alongside the ancient Aleppian tradition of slaughtering and eating animals on Sundays. At the time, people may have believed that meat was safe to eat raw as long as it was eaten immediately, and so the practice of taking raw meat and mixing it with spices on feast days was born. This does seem to line up with the modern tradition of large family meals in Lebanon and Syria being accompanied by meze, a selection of small side dishes, including kibbeh nayyeh. We may never know exactly how it came to be, but it’s clear that kibbeh, in all its varied forms, is here to stay.
[Image description: A white plate of kibbeh on a bed of lettuce, with lemon slices and a vegetable flower in the center. There are side dishes in the background.] Credit & copyright: 2SIF, PixabayLast week we covered Tabbouleh, so it seems only fair to cover another famous dish from the Levant, the national dish of both Syria and Lebanon: kibbeh. This meaty, wheaty food is as versatile as it is ancient; it can be served as baked croquettes, as fried spheres, or even raw among other variations, yet its basic ingredients remain mostly the same.
Kibbeh is, at its heart, a paste made from minced meat (usually lamb, beef, or both) and bulgur, a whole grain made from dried wheat berries. Other ingredients, like pine nuts, and spices such as black pepper, allspice, coriander, cinnamon and marjoram, are added before kibbeh is cooked or served raw. In any form, the dish is a savory, herby experience.
Kibbeh’s exact history is fuzzy. It’s believed to have originated in the Levant, a geographical region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s possible that it was created in Aleppo, which today is part of Syria, but there’s no way to know for certain. The date of its invention also isn’t clear, though it’s been around for centuries. Most food historians do agree that kibbeh was originally served as baked balls, since the word “kibbeh” comes from the Arabic word “kubba”, meaning “ball.” But kibbeh nayyeh, a variation of kibbeh that is served raw, is also very old, and there are a few theories as to its origin.
One story points to a 13th century invasion of Jebbet Bsharri (in modern day northern Lebanon) by the Mamluk Empire. During the invasion, some civilians became trapped in a grotto where they couldn’t cook food, for fear of smoke alerting the invaders to their location. As the story goes, they mixed raw meat with stone-pounded bulgur in order to survive the seven-year siege, and afterwards passed on the recipe. Another theory states that kibbeh nayyeh developed alongside the ancient Aleppian tradition of slaughtering and eating animals on Sundays. At the time, people may have believed that meat was safe to eat raw as long as it was eaten immediately, and so the practice of taking raw meat and mixing it with spices on feast days was born. This does seem to line up with the modern tradition of large family meals in Lebanon and Syria being accompanied by meze, a selection of small side dishes, including kibbeh nayyeh. We may never know exactly how it came to be, but it’s clear that kibbeh, in all its varied forms, is here to stay.
[Image description: A white plate of kibbeh on a bed of lettuce, with lemon slices and a vegetable flower in the center. There are side dishes in the background.] Credit & copyright: 2SIF, Pixabay
January 18, 2024
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FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Norman Vincent Peale once said, "Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." In real life, though, you just crash back to Earth, as with the recent failure of Astrobotic’s unmanned Peregrine moon lander. Launched via the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket, the Peregrine was supposed to be the first commercial moon lander, and the first from the U.S. to land on the moon in over 50 years. It’s the first mission in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, in which NASA is partnering with private entities to conduct lunar lander missions. However, the historic mission ran into problems soon after the probe separated from the boosts. After making it into deep space, the probe started leaking propellant, sending it tumbling off course until engineers managed to get it back under control. Unfortunately, this is currently forcing the thrusters to work harder than they’re designed to, which will lead the craft to fail prematurely. The thrusters aren’t just responsible for maneuvering the probe, they were meant to keep the Peregrine pointed at the sun, so that it could use solar energy to power itself. Once the thrusters fail, the probe won’t be able to orient itself, leading to loss of power. Astrobotic initially estimated that the Peregrine might last for 40 hours or so, but it has outlasted that prognosis thanks to the propellant leak slowing down somewhat in recent days. Originally, the Peregrine was supposed to land on the moon on February 23, but now, the hope is to get it as close to the moon as possible during the time it has left. Once the probe’s thrusters fail, it will likely crash back down to Earth along with the five NASA experiments it was carrying and 15 other payloads from paying customers. Among the payloads were human remains which were supposed to be buried on the moon’s surface. They’ll likely have to settle for a burial at sea, instead.
[Image description: A detailed photo of the moon, partially in shadow.] Credit & copyright: Ponciano, Pixabay
Norman Vincent Peale once said, "Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." In real life, though, you just crash back to Earth, as with the recent failure of Astrobotic’s unmanned Peregrine moon lander. Launched via the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket, the Peregrine was supposed to be the first commercial moon lander, and the first from the U.S. to land on the moon in over 50 years. It’s the first mission in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, in which NASA is partnering with private entities to conduct lunar lander missions. However, the historic mission ran into problems soon after the probe separated from the boosts. After making it into deep space, the probe started leaking propellant, sending it tumbling off course until engineers managed to get it back under control. Unfortunately, this is currently forcing the thrusters to work harder than they’re designed to, which will lead the craft to fail prematurely. The thrusters aren’t just responsible for maneuvering the probe, they were meant to keep the Peregrine pointed at the sun, so that it could use solar energy to power itself. Once the thrusters fail, the probe won’t be able to orient itself, leading to loss of power. Astrobotic initially estimated that the Peregrine might last for 40 hours or so, but it has outlasted that prognosis thanks to the propellant leak slowing down somewhat in recent days. Originally, the Peregrine was supposed to land on the moon on February 23, but now, the hope is to get it as close to the moon as possible during the time it has left. Once the probe’s thrusters fail, it will likely crash back down to Earth along with the five NASA experiments it was carrying and 15 other payloads from paying customers. Among the payloads were human remains which were supposed to be buried on the moon’s surface. They’ll likely have to settle for a burial at sea, instead.
[Image description: A detailed photo of the moon, partially in shadow.] Credit & copyright: Ponciano, Pixabay
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FREEPlay Daily Curio #2796Free1 CQ
It’s the hobby that everyone’s buzzing about. Beekeeping is shaping up to be one of the most-pursued hobbies of 2024, especially in California, and it's thanks in part to celebrity beekeepers who share their passion for the hobby online. Everyone from soccer star David Beckham to the MCU’s Scarlett Johansson are bottling their own honey, and even big-screen tough guy Jason Statham took up beekeeping after researching it for his role in the upcoming action movie The Beekeeper. For those afraid of being stung, it might seem unthinkable for a person to voluntarily attract bees to their property and keep them there for fun, but many find it to be relaxing and rewarding…and beekeepers don’t get stung if they do things properly! In fact, beekeeping isn’t as difficult as one might assume. Sure, it takes knowledge and equipment, but nothing too complicated or expensive for the average person. After the initial investment and setting up the hives (which can be made with simple tools and material from the hardware store), the bees mostly keep themselves. After all, that’s what they do in nature. Speaking of nature, beekeeping is great for the environment, especially in areas where pollinators are in decline. Many plants—both wild and cultivated—rely on pollinators, and beekeepers might find themselves surrounded by more diverse, robust plant life after creating a colony in their yard. Beekeeping’s positive environmental impact has led a host of newcomers to the hobby, and there’s also the matter of honey. In the distant past, getting honey was a daunting task that was harmful for both the harvester and the bees, because it required damaging or destroying a wild hive. Nowadays, honey is commonly available in stores, but it’s hard to beat the fresh stuff straight from the source. Beekeepers not only get their honey directly from the hive, there’s very little risk of harming the bees. They simply moved to a new hive box at harvest time, and the beekeeper can get as much as 50 pounds of honey per season. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
[Image description: Honey bees swarming on a man-made hive.] Credit & copyright: PollyDot, PixabayIt’s the hobby that everyone’s buzzing about. Beekeeping is shaping up to be one of the most-pursued hobbies of 2024, especially in California, and it's thanks in part to celebrity beekeepers who share their passion for the hobby online. Everyone from soccer star David Beckham to the MCU’s Scarlett Johansson are bottling their own honey, and even big-screen tough guy Jason Statham took up beekeeping after researching it for his role in the upcoming action movie The Beekeeper. For those afraid of being stung, it might seem unthinkable for a person to voluntarily attract bees to their property and keep them there for fun, but many find it to be relaxing and rewarding…and beekeepers don’t get stung if they do things properly! In fact, beekeeping isn’t as difficult as one might assume. Sure, it takes knowledge and equipment, but nothing too complicated or expensive for the average person. After the initial investment and setting up the hives (which can be made with simple tools and material from the hardware store), the bees mostly keep themselves. After all, that’s what they do in nature. Speaking of nature, beekeeping is great for the environment, especially in areas where pollinators are in decline. Many plants—both wild and cultivated—rely on pollinators, and beekeepers might find themselves surrounded by more diverse, robust plant life after creating a colony in their yard. Beekeeping’s positive environmental impact has led a host of newcomers to the hobby, and there’s also the matter of honey. In the distant past, getting honey was a daunting task that was harmful for both the harvester and the bees, because it required damaging or destroying a wild hive. Nowadays, honey is commonly available in stores, but it’s hard to beat the fresh stuff straight from the source. Beekeepers not only get their honey directly from the hive, there’s very little risk of harming the bees. They simply moved to a new hive box at harvest time, and the beekeeper can get as much as 50 pounds of honey per season. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
[Image description: Honey bees swarming on a man-made hive.] Credit & copyright: PollyDot, Pixabay
January 17, 2024
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FREEHumanities Daily Curio #2795Free1 CQ
A bustling metropolis at the heart of the Amazon rainforest? It may sound far fetched, but according to archaeologists at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), an ancient, sprawling city has been discovered in the rainforest, buried under what is now untamed wilderness. While the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs are well-known mesoamerican civilizations today, quite a few more have been lost to time. After decades of piecing together scattered clues, archaeologists have finally found the remains of a once thriving society. Stéphen Rostain at the CNRS discovered the first bits of evidence in Ecuador around twenty years ago in the form of buried roads and earthen mounds, but he didn’t know what to make of them at the time. Over the years, though, Rostain and his colleagues continued to search the region around the Amazon rainforest and the Andes Mountains. The latest method involved the use of lidar, which uses laser sensors to create a map of what lies under the dense canopy of the Amazon.
The efforts paid off, revealing a network of roads, canals, and settlements that were much more expansive than previously imagined. At the heart of it all was an ancient city that was built around 2,500 years ago and had an estimated population of up to 30,000 people. That rivals the size of London around the same time period, then a Roman settlement. The newly discovered city was inhabited for around 1,000 years by the Upano people, and contained plazas, residential buildings, and ceremonial structures. Many of the residents were likely farmers who worked in fields surrounding the city. This farmland utilized water transported via canals to grow crops, and contained rich soil thanks to ash from a nearby volcano, but that might have been the city’s downfall as well. Aside from a possible volcanic eruption that destroyed the settlement, the city remained lost for so long because its structures were made of mud instead of stone. At least now there’s concrete evidence of its existence.
[Image description: A rainforest with hills rising in the distance.] Credit & copyright: blackend464, PixabayA bustling metropolis at the heart of the Amazon rainforest? It may sound far fetched, but according to archaeologists at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), an ancient, sprawling city has been discovered in the rainforest, buried under what is now untamed wilderness. While the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs are well-known mesoamerican civilizations today, quite a few more have been lost to time. After decades of piecing together scattered clues, archaeologists have finally found the remains of a once thriving society. Stéphen Rostain at the CNRS discovered the first bits of evidence in Ecuador around twenty years ago in the form of buried roads and earthen mounds, but he didn’t know what to make of them at the time. Over the years, though, Rostain and his colleagues continued to search the region around the Amazon rainforest and the Andes Mountains. The latest method involved the use of lidar, which uses laser sensors to create a map of what lies under the dense canopy of the Amazon.
The efforts paid off, revealing a network of roads, canals, and settlements that were much more expansive than previously imagined. At the heart of it all was an ancient city that was built around 2,500 years ago and had an estimated population of up to 30,000 people. That rivals the size of London around the same time period, then a Roman settlement. The newly discovered city was inhabited for around 1,000 years by the Upano people, and contained plazas, residential buildings, and ceremonial structures. Many of the residents were likely farmers who worked in fields surrounding the city. This farmland utilized water transported via canals to grow crops, and contained rich soil thanks to ash from a nearby volcano, but that might have been the city’s downfall as well. Aside from a possible volcanic eruption that destroyed the settlement, the city remained lost for so long because its structures were made of mud instead of stone. At least now there’s concrete evidence of its existence.
[Image description: A rainforest with hills rising in the distance.] Credit & copyright: blackend464, Pixabay
January 16, 2024
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FREEMusic Song CurioFree2 CQ
As their name implies, The Killers aren’t a band that’s known for touching tributes or poignant lyrics. Yet their most enduring hit, Mr. Brightside, is famously one of their saddest songs. On this day in 2005, The Killers’ debut album, Hot Fuss, had just begun a two-week stint atop the UK album chart. For many, Mr. Brightside was the album’s standout track. While it boasts the same echoey vocals and distorted, indie-rock sound as most of The Killers’ other songs, Mr. Brightside tells the sad story of a man walking into a bar to find his girlfriend there with another guy. The song is actually based on a true story, as The Killers’ lead singer, Brandon Flowers, wrote it to soothe his pain after he discovered his then-girlfriend cheating at a Las Vegas bar. The catharsis paid off, as it has remained so popular that it was named “Song of the Decade” by UK radio stations Absolute Radio and XFM, and remains the most streamed song on Spotify from the 2000s. Not bad for a track from a debut album.
As their name implies, The Killers aren’t a band that’s known for touching tributes or poignant lyrics. Yet their most enduring hit, Mr. Brightside, is famously one of their saddest songs. On this day in 2005, The Killers’ debut album, Hot Fuss, had just begun a two-week stint atop the UK album chart. For many, Mr. Brightside was the album’s standout track. While it boasts the same echoey vocals and distorted, indie-rock sound as most of The Killers’ other songs, Mr. Brightside tells the sad story of a man walking into a bar to find his girlfriend there with another guy. The song is actually based on a true story, as The Killers’ lead singer, Brandon Flowers, wrote it to soothe his pain after he discovered his then-girlfriend cheating at a Las Vegas bar. The catharsis paid off, as it has remained so popular that it was named “Song of the Decade” by UK radio stations Absolute Radio and XFM, and remains the most streamed song on Spotify from the 2000s. Not bad for a track from a debut album.
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FREEUS History Daily Curio #2794Free1 CQ
This could tie the entire case together. The D.B. Cooper incident is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in U.S. history, but one man may be close to identifying the notorious hijacker after acquiring a key piece of evidence—a neck tie. On November 24, 1971, an unassuming man in a suit calling himself Dan Cooper (misreported as D.B. Cooper by the press) boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. Once the plane was in the air, “Cooper” passed a note to one of the flight attendants and invited her to sit with him. His briefcase contained a bomb, he claimed, and he would set it off unless his demands were met. He even let her have a peek inside the briefcase, which was full of wires and what appeared to be explosives. Cooper's demands were simple: $200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes. After allowing the plane to land to let the other passengers disembark, his demands were met. On his orders, the plane took off once again, but at 8 p.m., he parachuted out of the back of the plane somewhere over the state of Washington. Some of the money was found near Vancouver, Washington, but Cooper himself was never seen again.
Enter Eric Ulis, a civilian investigator who picked up where the FBI left off. Recently, he successfully sued the FBI to gain access to the clip-on tie that Cooper left behind before his daring escape. Ulis previously found a report stating that the tie contained particles of stainless steel and titanium, which he traced back to Crucible Steel, a company that was based out of Pennsylvania. Although the company no longer exists, records show that they once supplied the aforementioned metals to Boeing and used to send engineers to the company’s headquarters, which was in Seattle at the time. Going deeper into the records, Ulis found one titanium research engineer who used to work for Crucible Steel, and who happened to be in Seattle when the hijacking took place. Ulis hasn’t revealed the identity of this person yet, but he claims that the man passed away in 2002. Seems this cold case is really heating up.
[Image description: An FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper, a man with short hair wearing a suit and tie. On the left is a version in color with no sunglasses, on the right is a black-and-white version with sunglasses.] Credit & copyright: Wikimedia Commons. This image or file is a work of a Federal Bureau of Investigation employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.This could tie the entire case together. The D.B. Cooper incident is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in U.S. history, but one man may be close to identifying the notorious hijacker after acquiring a key piece of evidence—a neck tie. On November 24, 1971, an unassuming man in a suit calling himself Dan Cooper (misreported as D.B. Cooper by the press) boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. Once the plane was in the air, “Cooper” passed a note to one of the flight attendants and invited her to sit with him. His briefcase contained a bomb, he claimed, and he would set it off unless his demands were met. He even let her have a peek inside the briefcase, which was full of wires and what appeared to be explosives. Cooper's demands were simple: $200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes. After allowing the plane to land to let the other passengers disembark, his demands were met. On his orders, the plane took off once again, but at 8 p.m., he parachuted out of the back of the plane somewhere over the state of Washington. Some of the money was found near Vancouver, Washington, but Cooper himself was never seen again.
Enter Eric Ulis, a civilian investigator who picked up where the FBI left off. Recently, he successfully sued the FBI to gain access to the clip-on tie that Cooper left behind before his daring escape. Ulis previously found a report stating that the tie contained particles of stainless steel and titanium, which he traced back to Crucible Steel, a company that was based out of Pennsylvania. Although the company no longer exists, records show that they once supplied the aforementioned metals to Boeing and used to send engineers to the company’s headquarters, which was in Seattle at the time. Going deeper into the records, Ulis found one titanium research engineer who used to work for Crucible Steel, and who happened to be in Seattle when the hijacking took place. Ulis hasn’t revealed the identity of this person yet, but he claims that the man passed away in 2002. Seems this cold case is really heating up.
[Image description: An FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper, a man with short hair wearing a suit and tie. On the left is a version in color with no sunglasses, on the right is a black-and-white version with sunglasses.] Credit & copyright: Wikimedia Commons. This image or file is a work of a Federal Bureau of Investigation employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.
January 15, 2024
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FREEArt Appreciation Art CurioFree1 CQ
Stop monkeying around—that baboon is a god! This statue depicts Minemheb, an official in the court of Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1353 BCE. The statue is carved out of granodiorite, and shows a man kneeling with his hands on a statue of a baboon on a pedestal. There are hieroglyphics at the front and at the base of the pedestal. Amenhotep III’s reign was a peaceful period defined by the pharaoh’s diplomatic endeavors and extensive trade with distant cultures. To celebrate his 30th jubilee, the pharaoh appointed Minemheb the chief of construction on a temple dedicated in his honor. Minemheb likely commissioned this statue to commemorate the auspicious appointment, and his choice of animal reflects that. The baboon was often used to represent Thoth (usually depicted with a human body and the head of an ibis), the Egyptian god of—among other things—writing and learning. If you were ever going to ask a baboon for help drafting architectural plans, it should probably be this one.
Statue of Minemheb, c. 1391–1353 BCE, Granodiorite, 17.68 x 6.56 x 11.12 in (45 x 16.6 x 28.3 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1996.28, CC0 1.0 Universal, The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.]Stop monkeying around—that baboon is a god! This statue depicts Minemheb, an official in the court of Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1353 BCE. The statue is carved out of granodiorite, and shows a man kneeling with his hands on a statue of a baboon on a pedestal. There are hieroglyphics at the front and at the base of the pedestal. Amenhotep III’s reign was a peaceful period defined by the pharaoh’s diplomatic endeavors and extensive trade with distant cultures. To celebrate his 30th jubilee, the pharaoh appointed Minemheb the chief of construction on a temple dedicated in his honor. Minemheb likely commissioned this statue to commemorate the auspicious appointment, and his choice of animal reflects that. The baboon was often used to represent Thoth (usually depicted with a human body and the head of an ibis), the Egyptian god of—among other things—writing and learning. If you were ever going to ask a baboon for help drafting architectural plans, it should probably be this one.
Statue of Minemheb, c. 1391–1353 BCE, Granodiorite, 17.68 x 6.56 x 11.12 in (45 x 16.6 x 28.3 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1996.28, CC0 1.0 Universal, The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.] -
FREEHumanities Daily Curio #2793Free1 CQ
To unravel a mystery, you sometimes have to keep pulling a thread. For years, a coded message found between the layers of an antique dress had the world stumped. Recently though, it was finally decoded…and found to be a telegram about the weather. Back in 2014, antique dress collector Sara Rivers Cofield purchased a silk dress dating back to the 1880s. While examining the Victorian garment, Cofield found a pocket hidden by the overskirt, and inside it a crumpled piece of paper filled with seemingly random words. For example, one line read, “Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank,” and another read, “Calgary, Cuba, unguard, confute, duck, fagan.” Cofield wrote about the discovery on her blog, and the story spread across the internet, attracting the interest of amateur cryptographers and archaeologists alike. Some believed that it was a coded message meant to be passed on during the American Civil War, but the age of the dress ruled out that possibility. Whatever it said, however, most agreed that the message was meant to be sent as a telegraph.
Telegraph offices used to charge by the word, so people used to phrase their messages to be as short as possible, and this secret message was no exception. The code was finally cracked by Wayne Chan, a research computer analyst at the University of Manitoba in Canada, who consulted almost 200 telegraph code books until he found a weather code book from 1892 that contained the words he was looking for. According to Chan, “Bismark” refers to the city of that name in North Dakota, while the rest of the words contain weather information. “Omit” means that it was 56 degrees Fahrenheit with a barometric pressure of 30.08 Hg, “leafage” means that the dew point was 32 degrees at 10 p.m., “buck” means that the sky was clear with wind coming from the north and “bank” means that the wind was blowing at 12 miles per hour. Based on this discovery, Chan and Cofield believe that the dress may have belonged to a woman who worked for the Army Signal Service, though it’s unclear why this particular message was in a hidden pocket.
Sounds like another case to crack.
[Image description: A rainbow shining from the bottom of a large, white cloud over a sunny field.] Credit & copyright: fietzfotos, PixabayTo unravel a mystery, you sometimes have to keep pulling a thread. For years, a coded message found between the layers of an antique dress had the world stumped. Recently though, it was finally decoded…and found to be a telegram about the weather. Back in 2014, antique dress collector Sara Rivers Cofield purchased a silk dress dating back to the 1880s. While examining the Victorian garment, Cofield found a pocket hidden by the overskirt, and inside it a crumpled piece of paper filled with seemingly random words. For example, one line read, “Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank,” and another read, “Calgary, Cuba, unguard, confute, duck, fagan.” Cofield wrote about the discovery on her blog, and the story spread across the internet, attracting the interest of amateur cryptographers and archaeologists alike. Some believed that it was a coded message meant to be passed on during the American Civil War, but the age of the dress ruled out that possibility. Whatever it said, however, most agreed that the message was meant to be sent as a telegraph.
Telegraph offices used to charge by the word, so people used to phrase their messages to be as short as possible, and this secret message was no exception. The code was finally cracked by Wayne Chan, a research computer analyst at the University of Manitoba in Canada, who consulted almost 200 telegraph code books until he found a weather code book from 1892 that contained the words he was looking for. According to Chan, “Bismark” refers to the city of that name in North Dakota, while the rest of the words contain weather information. “Omit” means that it was 56 degrees Fahrenheit with a barometric pressure of 30.08 Hg, “leafage” means that the dew point was 32 degrees at 10 p.m., “buck” means that the sky was clear with wind coming from the north and “bank” means that the wind was blowing at 12 miles per hour. Based on this discovery, Chan and Cofield believe that the dress may have belonged to a woman who worked for the Army Signal Service, though it’s unclear why this particular message was in a hidden pocket.
Sounds like another case to crack.
[Image description: A rainbow shining from the bottom of a large, white cloud over a sunny field.] Credit & copyright: fietzfotos, Pixabay
January 14, 2024
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FREEUS History PP&T CurioFree1 CQ
Who said that small towns weren’t interesting? New Harmony, a small town of less than 700 in southern Indiana, might seem like a low-profile place. Yet, it has one of the strangest histories of any town in the U.S. That’s because it was founded by the Harmony Society, a strange religious group that sought to make the town into an egalitarian utopia. They even built the country’s first public library and two labyrinths in the process.
The story of New Harmony began in faraway Germany, where Johann Georg Rapp and his followers broke away from the German Lutheran Church in the late 1700s to form the Harmony Society. Rapp, who declared publicly that, “I am a prophet, and I am called to be one,” was forbidden from gathering with his followers, called Rappites. After convincing his congregation to emigrate to the U.S., Rapp took a handful of his 10,000 or so followers and settled down in Butler County, Pennsylvania, to fulfill their own vision of utopia.
They named their town Harmony and generated income through farming and manufacturing, but decided to relocate to a climate more favorable for growing grapes for wine. So, in 1814, they left Pennsylvania for Indiana, and founded a new town they named Harmonie (sometimes called Neu Harmony) along the banks of the Wabash River. By this point, there were around 700 members in the Harmony Society, but 120 of them died while they were settling in their new home from malaria. Nevertheless, the second settlement to be called Harmony became a thriving economy, producing dry goods, wine, whiskey, and beer to trade with surrounding communities. At their peak, the Harmonists had 150 log homes, 20,000 acres of land, and a variety of retail buildings. However, the Harmony Society decided to relocate once again in 1824—this time, in search of land more suitable for manufacturing and commercial purposes. So they sold the settlement to a pair of business partners named Robert Owen and William Maclure for $150,000.
Owen and Maclure renamed the town to New Harmony, and they had plans of starting a utopia of their own. Despite their own immense wealth, they envisioned a society without social classes. They supported a variety of social causes, promoting free education, which led to the creation of America’s first public library as well as a public education system that accepted both men and women. In just a few years, Owen and Maclure attracted some of the most highly regarded academics, feminists, and naturalists, turning the small town into a haven of progressive thought and scientific research.
Unfortunately for them, the dream was not to last. By just 1827, the town became economically unsustainable under Owen and Maclure’s leadership, and the utopian society dissolved into a more conventional town. Meanwhile, the Harmony Society would face problems of their own. Returning east to Pennsylvania, they founded the town of Economy. They prospered for decades, but their community had one critical flaw: they were celibate. Without a new generation to carry on their beliefs or new converts, the Society began to dwindle. Eventually, infighting and schisms broke apart what little was left of them, and the community officially dissolved in 1905.
While the idealistic visions that shaped New Harmony’s origins may have faded, the small town is still an outlier of sorts. Despite its tiny population, New Harmony still attracts artists from around the country, and the town is dotted with sculptures and unique Harmonist architecture. Points of interest include the Roofless Church (a non-denominational, open-air church), the Atheneum (a visitors’ center designed by abstract artist Richard Meier) and not one but two mysterious hedge labyrinths built by the original Rappites. Appropriate, considering the town’s meandering history.
[Image description: A painting of a Harmonist imagining of what New Harmony could look like. It shows a walled, gated city near a river, with a family in the foreground.] Credit & copyright: F. Bate, London 1838. Wikimedia Commons. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.Who said that small towns weren’t interesting? New Harmony, a small town of less than 700 in southern Indiana, might seem like a low-profile place. Yet, it has one of the strangest histories of any town in the U.S. That’s because it was founded by the Harmony Society, a strange religious group that sought to make the town into an egalitarian utopia. They even built the country’s first public library and two labyrinths in the process.
The story of New Harmony began in faraway Germany, where Johann Georg Rapp and his followers broke away from the German Lutheran Church in the late 1700s to form the Harmony Society. Rapp, who declared publicly that, “I am a prophet, and I am called to be one,” was forbidden from gathering with his followers, called Rappites. After convincing his congregation to emigrate to the U.S., Rapp took a handful of his 10,000 or so followers and settled down in Butler County, Pennsylvania, to fulfill their own vision of utopia.
They named their town Harmony and generated income through farming and manufacturing, but decided to relocate to a climate more favorable for growing grapes for wine. So, in 1814, they left Pennsylvania for Indiana, and founded a new town they named Harmonie (sometimes called Neu Harmony) along the banks of the Wabash River. By this point, there were around 700 members in the Harmony Society, but 120 of them died while they were settling in their new home from malaria. Nevertheless, the second settlement to be called Harmony became a thriving economy, producing dry goods, wine, whiskey, and beer to trade with surrounding communities. At their peak, the Harmonists had 150 log homes, 20,000 acres of land, and a variety of retail buildings. However, the Harmony Society decided to relocate once again in 1824—this time, in search of land more suitable for manufacturing and commercial purposes. So they sold the settlement to a pair of business partners named Robert Owen and William Maclure for $150,000.
Owen and Maclure renamed the town to New Harmony, and they had plans of starting a utopia of their own. Despite their own immense wealth, they envisioned a society without social classes. They supported a variety of social causes, promoting free education, which led to the creation of America’s first public library as well as a public education system that accepted both men and women. In just a few years, Owen and Maclure attracted some of the most highly regarded academics, feminists, and naturalists, turning the small town into a haven of progressive thought and scientific research.
Unfortunately for them, the dream was not to last. By just 1827, the town became economically unsustainable under Owen and Maclure’s leadership, and the utopian society dissolved into a more conventional town. Meanwhile, the Harmony Society would face problems of their own. Returning east to Pennsylvania, they founded the town of Economy. They prospered for decades, but their community had one critical flaw: they were celibate. Without a new generation to carry on their beliefs or new converts, the Society began to dwindle. Eventually, infighting and schisms broke apart what little was left of them, and the community officially dissolved in 1905.
While the idealistic visions that shaped New Harmony’s origins may have faded, the small town is still an outlier of sorts. Despite its tiny population, New Harmony still attracts artists from around the country, and the town is dotted with sculptures and unique Harmonist architecture. Points of interest include the Roofless Church (a non-denominational, open-air church), the Atheneum (a visitors’ center designed by abstract artist Richard Meier) and not one but two mysterious hedge labyrinths built by the original Rappites. Appropriate, considering the town’s meandering history.
[Image description: A painting of a Harmonist imagining of what New Harmony could look like. It shows a walled, gated city near a river, with a family in the foreground.] Credit & copyright: F. Bate, London 1838. Wikimedia Commons. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.
January 13, 2024
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When it comes to boxing, you might lose even if you win. On this day in 1983, The Journal of the American Medical Association published editorials suggesting that the sport of boxing be banned due to its dangerous effects on athletes’ brains. Boxing is an inherently risky sport for obvious reasons, and these editorials came out when the public was becoming increasingly aware of just how dangerous it could be. Just a few months prior, South Korea boxer Duk Koo Kim had died of a cerebral edema after a prolonged bout against Ray Mancini, prompting the WBC to shorten title bouts from 15 rounds to 12. But long-term risks were coming to light as well, as could be seen in The Greatest himself, Muhammad Ali. Once known for being as quick on his feet as he was with a quip, by 1983 Ali had trouble speaking and had developed trembling hands. One journalist who knew the fighter for years wrote, “He was an old man at 41.” Scans of Ali’s brain later that year showed that he had an enlarged third ventricle in the brain and an atrophied brain stem. Unfortunately, researchers have found through the years that Ali’s case was far from unique. Nearly all professional boxers have been found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and much of the damage doesn’t even happen during competition, but during training sessions where they receive more cumulative blows to the head. Still, to ban an entire sport? That’s surely not going to happen without a fight.
[Image description: A pair of yellow boxing gloves hanging by their laces.] Credit & copyright: andreas160578, Pixabay
When it comes to boxing, you might lose even if you win. On this day in 1983, The Journal of the American Medical Association published editorials suggesting that the sport of boxing be banned due to its dangerous effects on athletes’ brains. Boxing is an inherently risky sport for obvious reasons, and these editorials came out when the public was becoming increasingly aware of just how dangerous it could be. Just a few months prior, South Korea boxer Duk Koo Kim had died of a cerebral edema after a prolonged bout against Ray Mancini, prompting the WBC to shorten title bouts from 15 rounds to 12. But long-term risks were coming to light as well, as could be seen in The Greatest himself, Muhammad Ali. Once known for being as quick on his feet as he was with a quip, by 1983 Ali had trouble speaking and had developed trembling hands. One journalist who knew the fighter for years wrote, “He was an old man at 41.” Scans of Ali’s brain later that year showed that he had an enlarged third ventricle in the brain and an atrophied brain stem. Unfortunately, researchers have found through the years that Ali’s case was far from unique. Nearly all professional boxers have been found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and much of the damage doesn’t even happen during competition, but during training sessions where they receive more cumulative blows to the head. Still, to ban an entire sport? That’s surely not going to happen without a fight.
[Image description: A pair of yellow boxing gloves hanging by their laces.] Credit & copyright: andreas160578, Pixabay