Construction of an Airship
Christoph Schissler, Astronomical Compendium, 1561. Augsburg, Germany. V&A
Pocket-size compendia were produced by specialist instrument makers. This one contains the universe in a box! Provided its owner had basic understanding of math, astronomy, astrology and geography, he or she could use the dials, tables and maps to plan journeys, predict the time of sunset in many towns in Europe (useful when travelling), make astrological predictions, measure the heights of stars and configure the positioning of the stars for any time in the past or future.
Those Instruments were also made as treasury items. By the 1560s, it was fashionable for wealthy gentlemen to have a sound understanding of all branches of learning, from arts and literature to mathematics and science. More:V&A
Otto Lilienthal and his small ornithopter, a restored version of which is on display in the National Air and Space Museum next door.
This kleiner Schlagflügelapparat, to call it in its original German, is from The boys’ book of model aeroplanes: how to build and fly them: with the story of the evolution of the flying machine (1912).
(We really like saying kleiner Schlagflügelapparat)
When Boomer was lost on the battlefield in Taji, Iraq, his brothers in arms gave him a funeral. The tribute involved a 21-gun salute, and the awarding of both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal. All in recognition, according to a soldier who has worked with Boomer’s comrades, of Boomer’s heroism and of the many lives he had saved on the battlefield.
It was a funeral that was typical in every way but one: Boomer was a machine. He was a MARCbot, an inexpensive robot designed to seek out and disarm explosives. He — Boomer was, apparently, a he — saved soldiers’ lives as he tooled his way into dangerous zones, taking one for the team in the most selfless way possible. The tributes in Taji, be they figurative (the Bronze Star) or more literal (the firearmed salute), recognized all this. “Some people got upset about it,” the soldier recalls of Boomer’s improvised funeral, ”but those little bastards can develop a personality, and they save so many lives.”
The little bastards do save lives. Their personalities, however, aren’t so much developed as they’re imposed by their human minders. In the heat of battle, and in the chaos of war zones, soldiers, it seems, tend to humanize their robotic aides. They develop emotional attachments to the machines that put themselves in harm’s way so the humans don’t have to.
Read more. [Image: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Bobby J. Segovia/Wikimedia Commons]
This set contains pictures concerning the “Telphone Tower” in Stockholm. This was one of the main telephone junctions in Stockholm between 1887-1913. About 5000 telephone lines where connected here. After that the tower remained as landmark until 1953 when it was torn down as a result of a fire.
SoP - Scale of History