Sometimes the things we do in the past come back to haunt us. Or in the case of Mike Shea, it came back as a nostalgic surprise in the form of a three-second frame in Ken Burns's "Country Music" documentary wherein he saw himself with his guitar in tow. So he contacted the photographer, John Van Beekum, who shot the photo and found out that he has also contributed to Texas Monthly. Read their correspondence on TM.
(Image credit: John R. Van Beekum)
Though it is true that agriculture contributes a good chunk to climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions issue, Dutch farmers say that their government has unfairly singled out their industry and put them in a bad light.
So in protest, thousands of farmers drove their tractors to the Hague, bringing about tons of traffic in the Netherlands main thoroughfares.
Thousands of farmers in the Netherlands staged a national protest on Tuesday, in support of their industry.
At least two thousand farmers took to Dutch highways and roads on their tractors, in a slow procession toward the country's capital, The Hague. Some drove their tractors along the North Sea beaches that lead to the city.
It was a visible demonstration of their trade, but it also caused major traffic chaos.
The Dutch motorists association ANWB said the tractors, along with bad weather and accidents, made Tuesday the busiest ever morning on the nation's roads, resulting in more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of traffic jams.
Read more on DW.
(Image credit: AFP/ANP/Vincent Jannink via RT)
A network is a set or group of people or things that are connected to one another, forming a system. In our daily lives, we encounter different types of networks. From the communication networks to which our devices are connected to the social networks with which we interact daily, networks are everywhere.
But within the interwoven fibers of networks lies an important concept that makes their dynamics work. And that is diffusion in networks. Kevin Simler elaborates on this concept in his article on Melting Asphalt.
(Image credit: Alina Grubnyak/Unsplash)
It's out with the blue and in with the green as the Navy will finally have their Type I Navy Working Uniforms replaced with a better design that not only makes them blend in expertly at sea (which would be difficult if they were to be stranded in the middle of the ocean) but also wouldn't burn as robustly as their former ones.
After 11 perilous years of parading around looking like victims of an airplane toilet explosion, the Navy finally is saying sayonara to the Type I Navy Working Uniform, a heinous half-nylon boondoggle that not only wasted hundreds of millions of dollars but endangered the lives of everyone who donned the accursed “blueberry."
That’s because until 2012, sailors didn’t realize that a mere spark could turn them into blueberry flambe.
(Image credit: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Todd A. Schaffer/Navy)
Getting into the big leagues of any sport is a long, tortuous road for young aspiring athletes. Especially in very expensive sports, it would take so much grit and talent for anyone to catch the attention of corporate sponsors.
But almost 20 years ago, Red Bull attempted to create an American Formula 1 dream team, which didn't end the way they had wanted. And as one of the participants in that driver development program said:
"I think it’s fair to say that Red Bull destroyed more careers than it created. For every Sebastian Vettel, there are a couple dozen guys who got chewed up and spit out by that Red Bull machine."
Learn more about the story of how Red Bull pissed off a generation of athletes at Road and Track.
(Image credit: Red Bull)
The further we advance our technology, the better we are able to understand the things in our universe. And that's why engineers and scientists have built the world's largest optical lens which will be used on the world's largest digital camera that would power the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
Th[e] 3.2-gigapixel camera being built for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) was thought up over a decade ago. But after getting the green light in 2011, and securing funding in 2015, it was off to the races as engineers and scientists began to turn this idea into a functioning reality.
The camera features the largest CCD image sensor mosaic in the world, combining 189 individual sensors into a single 3.2-gigapixel imaging area that—once it’s operational and perched atop Cherro Pachon mountain in Chile—will snap a 15-second exposure of the night sky every 20 seconds or so.
-via Book of Joe
(Image credit: Farrin Abbott/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Flickr)
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is the best-selling PC game with over 50 million copies sold worldwide. And just recently, its mobile version PUBG Mobile, was able to reach over $1 billion in revenue, all thanks to its Chinese variant, Game for Peace which helped it break through and tap the Chinese market.
The original PUBG Mobile wasn’t allowed to make money from players in China. But when Tencent replaced it with Game for Peace -- where, among other things, players who are shot and defeated aren’t killed, but instead wave farewell to their opponents -- the Chinese government granted them a license to monetize, opening the floodgates.
(Image credit: Screen Post/Unsplash)
What is a coconut? Is it a nut, a fruit, or is it perhaps something entirely different? For user just-shower-thoughts, the coconut is actually a mammal. His reason: since mammals produce milk and have hair, the coconut must be one. The rest of the thread shows humanity's journey and struggle to categorize natural phenomena.
(Image credit: just-shower-thoughts/Tumblr)
Despite their terrifying demeanor and their depiction in films, sharks aren't something to be afraid of. But we also shouldn't approach them recklessly. Still though, due to the increase in fishing for sharks, especially that of the great white shark, their population has declined since the 1970s.
But over the course of two decades, the numbers of great white sharks in Cape Cod have increased and it is now considered a great white shark hotspot. So in order to learn more about the phenomenon, a team from 60 Minutes went to Cape Cod to get down with the sharks.
“On Cape Cod this summer, shark sightings and beach closings were about as common as lobster rolls,” correspondent Bill Whitaker said.
Whitaker had a front row seat to see how local scientists track every movement of the sharks, from their feeding frenzies on grey seals off the shores of the Cape to their travels up and down the East Coast.
Read more about it at Boston.
(Image credit: Terry Goss/Wikimedia Commons)
When you look at the sculpture on the wall, you can't help but notice its clean and fluid aesthetic, with points connecting seamlessly from one part of the piece to the other.
Though it may seem like a lot is going on, the way the different elements are arranged and contribute to the whole is a sight to behold. This is Ghost Box which is a playable sound sculpture built by artist and musician Steve Parker.
When touched, the sculpture plays different looped audio clips of coded transmissions, including Morse Code, spirituals of the Underground Railroad, the shofar, the Hebrew Shofar, and the Iron Age Celtic carnyx.
A ghost box is a communication tool used by paranormal investigators to speak to the dead. Typically, a ghost box is a modified portable AM/FM radio that continously scans the band. It is believed to create white noise and audio remnants from broadcast stations that entities are able to manipulate to create words and even entire sentences.
(Image credit: Sarah Frankie Linder, Jose Lozano)
Robert Gotzfried has been looking for bowling alleys and Kegelbahnen throughout Southern Germany as these places have started to see fewer people frequenting them, and so have slowly fallen into disuse. But from his photographs one can see how wonderfully vibrant and colorful these places can be. Check out his series "Bowling Alleys" on his website and more of his other projects on Instagram. -via Fubiz
(Image credit: Robert Gotzfried)
Several months ago, the Handel and Haydn Society performed Mozart's Requiem at Symphony Hall in Boston. It was a beautiful performance and there are those moments when music just has such a profound impact on someone that they can't help but express what they feel about it.
It was then that Ronan Mattin, a 9-year-old boy, exclaimed "Wow!" with such enthusiasm to show how much awe he felt. Listen to the audio of the concert here and read more about the story of Ronan here.
(Image credit: Sam Brewer)
We have heard so many ghost stories where spirits lurk in abandoned buildings or old buildings which have been renovated and retrofitted to look more modern. There have been such stories at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. And Chad Lawson experienced it firsthand and even took a photo of it. -via Classical WCRB
(Image credit: Chad Lawson/Instagram)
Since Halloween is fast approaching, there are a few things you can do and places to visit. Like Salem, Massachusetts, which has a history of witchcraft and supernatural elements. If you ever visit Salem, you should definitely check out several museums which showcase some spooky displays. Here are some of them.
(Image credit: Salem Witch Museum/Facebook)
For many countries with four seasons, it's that time of the year again when the leaves start to change into different shades of yellow and orange, and the cool breeze starts to blow. It's fall and that means, as that SNL sketch kept repeating, it's sweater weather.
But not everyone likes fall. Jim Braude is one of them as he boldly confessed that he hated it for various reasons. Find out why on WGBH.
(Image credit: Stephanie Krist/Unsplash)
