one.point.zero

Results for tag: history

The Soviet mechanical spaceflight computer.

An amazing-looking contraption built for the Soviet space program with a mechanical spinning globe and more cogs than an Enigma device.

Linked on the 30th of January, 2023 Details

How civilization came to be and how social media is ending it.

An interesting theory on the Sapient Paradox, the question of why civilization came to be so late in the human species' evolution. We're about 200.000 years old but civilization is closer to 20.000.

The author posits that reputation/gossip control in small groups was the limiter to growth and that the structure of civilization helped dampen this need. However, social media has brought this "gossip trap" back on a worldwide level, risking a return to government by reputation.

I doubt things can be attributed to single causes like this but it's a compelling (and long) read.

Linked on the 3rd of October, 2022 Details

The Nazi concentration camps on British soil.

I knew the Channel Islands had been occupied during the second world war. I had no idea there were concentration camps on one of them. The UK government originally tried to suppress knowledge of it, but there's now a heated debate going on about how many people died there and if the reality of it all should be more openly visible.

Linked on the 8th of August, 2022 Details

How palm oil ended up in everything.

An interesting history of palm oil and its presence in an obnoxious amount of processed products, not just food.

Campaigners tend to be more hostile towards palm oil than towards other tropical products such as cocoa and soy which also pose threats to ecosystems. He suggests that this hostility comes down to the fact that ‘palm oil is perceived as being in things, rather than a thing in its own right.’
Linked on the 28th of June, 2022 Details
The oldest house in Antwerp. The oldest house in Antwerp.
Added on the 5th of June, 2022 View photo

What was it like to be a teenager in the Victorian era?

Note: playing video here allows YouTube to track you. View on YouTube or Invidious (tracking-free).

Two women reminisce about their teenage years in the 1890s. They were obviously better off than many of their counterparts of the day but it's still quite fascinating to get first-person accounts that go so far back. I'm also impressed by one woman's cycling endurance. London to Brighton and back on what was effectively a fixed-gear bike is quite something.

Added on the 10th of May, 2022 Details