Historical Speculation

10 Facial Reconstructions of Famous Historical Figures

Why look at a painting of a historical figure when you can come face to face with one?

nationalpost:

Oldest water on Earth found bubbling up from ancient Ontario oasis — 2.6 billion years old
Miners drilling deep underground in northern Ontario have long known about the sparkling salty water.

It’s been bubbling out of the rocks beneath their feet since the 1880s, but no one really appreciated the significance — until now.

An international research team reported Wednesday that miners near Timmins are tapping into an ancient underground oasis that may harbour prehistoric microbes. The water flowing out of fractures and bore holes in one mine near Timmins dates back more than a billion years, perhaps 2.6 billion, making it the oldest water known to exist on Earth, says the team that details the discovery in the journal Nature.

“This is the oldest [water] anybody has been able to pull out, and quite frankly, it changes the playing field,” says geologist Barbara Sherwood Lollar, at the University of Toronto, who co-led the team. (Barbara Sherwood Lollar)

(via backshootingford)

theshoelessjoe:

The big All-Star charity game was at Boston’s Fenway Park in 1917. I remember Ty signin’ me up for the throwin’ contest before the game. I just went in the outfield an’ threw the ball like I always did. I ended up tossin’ the ball 397 feet! That ended up bein’ 12 feet farther than anyone else. The game was for a really good cause. Buck Weaver, Ty Cobb, other A.L. stars, and me raised money for the family of a recently deceased Boston sports hero by playin’ the Red Sox. The Red Sox ended up beatin’ us two to nothin’.

Shoeless Joe and Charlie Herbert “Lefty” Jackson (no relation), Comiskey Park, 1915 (SDN-060439), Detroit Tigers Ty Cobb and former White Sox manager Kid Gleason at Comiskey Park, 1926 (SDN-062596)

(via bayamontate)

Words that last - Graphic - The Washington Post

A research team led by Mark Pagel at the University of Reading in England has identified 23 ‘ultraconserved words’ that have remained largely unchanged for 15,000 years.

nprradiopictures:

In a poor city in a poor country on a poor continent, there is a group of people with a singular purpose: to look rich.

Or, rather, to look good — and to fully embody the suave, elegant style that a wardrobe of three-piece suits, silk socks, fedoras and canes might suggest.

They are called sapeurs or members of the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People). And when they go out, they turn the streets of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, into a fashion runway.

The Surprising Sartorial Culture Of Congolese ‘Sapeurs’

Photo Credit: Hector Mediavilla/Picturetank

(via thehappysorceress)

aniratakr:

Celestial Mechanics

Oh, imaginary science

(via scientificillustration)

nevver:

Is there life on Mars?

mapsontheweb:

Worlds population by Latitude, Longitude

(via bayamontate)

bayamontate:

mapsontheweb:

The Seven Journeys of Zheng He

I read the history of  Zheng He’s voyages a while back and enjoyed

day-dreaming being part of his army of explorers.

fyeahancientrome:

Or maybe he’s just sleepy?