Eggplant.place

1y

I wrote a new blog post this evening, “POWs and NotebookLM”
https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2024/09/18/pows-and-googlelm/

#AI #googleLM #MediaLit #POW #POWMIA #military #Vietnam #history

A black and white graphic featuring the text "POW*MIA" above the silhouette of a person's head, with a watchtower in the background. Below the silhouette, the phrase "YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN" is displayed.

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1y

#OnThisDay, 24 Oct 1901, American Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first *person* to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

The cat did *not* do the stunt with her.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Annie Edson Taylor being helped ashore along a plank, having survived the falls. She is a white woman in a blouse and skirts.

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Annie Edson Taylor standing with the barrel "Queen of the Mist". She is a white woman in large skirts, and is only a few inches taller than the barrel. A small white cat is sitting on top of the barrel.

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296d

The St  Andrews Chronicles, one of the most important manuscript histories of Scotland, is going on public display for the first time in its 500-year history. The book will be on display at University of St Andrews Wardlaw Museum from 21 November to 7 December

https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/500-year-old-history-of-scotland-on-public-display-for-the-first-time/

#Scottish #literature #history #16thcentury #manuscript #BookHistory

A sixteenth-century handwritten book, lying open on a dark grey-blue cushion. Cloth-covered weighted cords hold the book open to display the text, including a section underlined in red and a paragraph starting with a large, red capital M.

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295d

An End to Kings, 1776

by Jack Kelly

"Author Jack Kelly of Tom Paine’s War shares with The History Reader the crucial role Thomas Paine (author of Common Sense) played in encouraging Americans to overthrow King George in 1776."

https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/an-end-to-kings-1776/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-end-to-kings-1776

"Common Sense" at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/147

#books #literature #history #ushistory

Colonists pulling down the statue of King George in New York City, 1776.

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17d

The historic first Earthrise photo from the Moon was received 60 years ago today. It was shot on film, developed onboard the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft, scanned, transmitted home...and then meticulously restored decades later.

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/features/lunarOrbiter/ #space #science #history #tech

On August 23, 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photo of Earth as seen from lunar orbit. While a remarkable image at the time, the full resolution of the image was never retrieved from the data stored from the mission. In 2008, this earthrise image was restored by the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project at NASA Ames Research Center. They obtained the original data tapes from the mission (the last surviving set) and restored original FR-900 tape drives to operational condition using both 60s era parts and modern electronics.

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2y

German music historian and critic Friedrich Chrysander died #OTD in 1901.

His most significant achievement was the publication of the "Händel-Gesellschaft" edition, a monumental 105-volume collection of Handel’s complete works. He was one of the founders of the Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft, one of the first scholarly journals devoted to the study of music history and theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Chrysander

Books about Handel at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=George+Frideric+Handel&submit_search=Search

#books #music #history

Friedrich Chrysander; portrait by Leopold von Kalckreuth (1901).

Friedrich Chrysander is depicted as an elderly man, with a dignified and thoughtful demeanor. He has a serious expression, his gaze slightly downward or focused in contemplation, suggesting his deep engagement with scholarly work. His face is lined with age, and his white beard and mustache are carefully rendered, emphasizing his advanced years and wisdom.

He wears a dark suit, possibly with a waistcoat, and a white shirt with a high collar. The attire is simple yet elegant, reflecting his serious approach to his work.

He is seated, perhaps in a study or library, with his posture slightly forward, indicating active thought or engagement with a task at hand. His hands, one of which might be holding a book or paper, are depicted with care, emphasizing the intellectual labor they perform.

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270d

Is 07:15 too early to buy pie? Perhaps, but it's not too early to buy P.I.E. 😍

#Reading #Bookstodon #linguistics #history #nonfiction

@bookstodon

Cover of the Kobo ebook edition of "Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global" by Laura Spinney

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295d

#OnThisDay, 19 Nov 1933, women across Spain voted for the first time.

Franco was in power from 1939, after the Spanish Civil War. Under his dictatorship only the heads of households could vote, radically reducing women's rights until after his death in 1975.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #SpanishHistory #Histodons

Three older Spanish women in long gowns voting at a polling station in 1933. There is a woman receiving their ballots, and a couple of men and a young woman watching.

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292d

Chimney Sweep Museum

"The only museum in Italy dedicated to this ancient profession."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chimney-sweep-museum-italy

Meal Time for the Chimney Sweep by Aurelio Zingoni (1881)

#history #museum

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273d

Another Night Behind Bars

https://justin-farrimond.pixels.com/featured/another-night-behind-bars-justin-farrimond.html

In a dark corner of the city walls there was a cell. You wouldn't want to be locked in there, not on this night.

#PhotoOfTheDay #Photography #Art #History #BlackAndWhite #Print #Heritage #GiftIdeas #Jail

Black and white photo of a small barred wooden gate over a cell within medieval castle walls.

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294d

Chateaubriand, Writing of a Worthless Time

Chateaubriand (1768–1848), Breton aristocrat and writer, rose to fame with Atala and René. Once a supporter of Napoleon and the Bourbons, he later condemned both for repression and censorship.

By Alex Andriesse

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/11/19/chateaubriand-writing-of-a-worthless-time/

Chateaubriand at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7255

#books #literature #history

Antoine-Jean-Baptiste Thomas, Louis XVIII Receiving the Duc d’Angoulême on His Return from the Spanish Campaign, December 2, 1823.

In this oil-on-canvas history painting King Louis XVIII, seated and visibly frail, warmly greets his nephew Louis Antoine, the victorious Duc d’Angoulême, just returned from commanding the French intervention in Spain. The duke stands proudly before him, dressed in full military uniform.

Around them are key members of the Bourbon family: behind the duke is Marie-Thérèse Charlotte (“Madame Royale”), his wife, gazing up at him with admiration; to the left of the king stands Charles, Count of Artois (future Charles X), holding the young Duke of Bordeaux in his arms; nearby is the Duchess of Berry with her daughter.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_XVIII_re%C3%A7oit_le_duc_d%27Angoul%C3%AAme_au_retour_de_la_guerre_d%27Espagne,_2_d%C3%A9cembre_1823.jpg

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124d

#Business #Mindsets
The boring internet · “The internet you grew up on is not gone.” https://ilo.im/16cqvt

_____
#Internet #Web #History #WebTechnology #AI #Dezentralization #Communities #IndieWeb #SmallWeb #BigWeb

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270d

Franklin, North Carolina

Scottish Tartans Museum

"A museum tracing the origins & modern day uses of the classic Scottish tartan, particularly the kilt."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/scottish-tartans-museum

"Old and Rare Scottish Tartans: With Historical Introduction and Descriptive Notices" at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70853

#history #fashion

"The tartan officially named "Red Grant (Government No. 15)" by the UK Ministry of Defense, and used in some regimental attire (including cap cockade and bandsmen uniforms) of the 32nd Signal Regiment – formerly 51st/52nd (Scottish) Infantry Division Signal Regiment, earlier Lowland Divisional Telegraph Company, amalgamated from the 1st & 2nd Lanarkshire Voluntary Military Engineers. It is a variant of the main Clan Grant tartan, with slightly altered proportions, and with both green and blue darkened, while the red is slightly lighter and more orangey than typical. This regimental tartan is no longer "funded" as part of the MoD uniform specs [1]). The unit began as a Lowland regiment, and after amalgamation (with 51st (Highland) Signal Regiment, et al.) became a pan-Scottish one. There is no evidence of clan usage of this variant of the tartan." - picyrl.com

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298d

Here is my latest video. Created with many thanks to Cathy McIver, the project manager at Stroanfreggan Dig. Also thanks to AOC Archaeology Group, who Cathy works for, and Carsphairn Heritage Initiative.
Thanks to Jo at the CatStrand too for putting me in touch with Cathy.
The dig was funded by Historic Environment Scotland and Carsphairn Renewable Energy Fund.

https://youtu.be/dkjyCgwYyrU

#SCOTLAND #galloway
#history #ironage #archaeology #video #hillfort

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289d

Project to bring voices of enslaved people to life

"The National Archives is working with international academics to make the largest collection of first-person testimony of enslaved people from the Caribbean in existence – the Reports of the Protectors of Slaves – accessible to researchers anywhere in the world"

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/project-to-bring-voices-of-enslaved-people-to-life/

#history #slavery

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116d

#OnThisDay, 17 May 1988, Dr Patricia Bath was awarded the first of her three patents on the methods and equipment for laser cataract removal.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInMedicine #AmericanHistory #BlackHistory #Histodons

Snapshot of Patricia Bath at her desk in the 1980s. She's a Black woman with black hair in waves.

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182d

The world didn't make sense the last time fascists were playing in our faces.

https://archive.org/details/hellzapoppin-1941-

Hellzapoppin' was in theaters 85 years ago. The devil has been very busy.

#Movies #WorldWarII #History

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288d

Scotland’s Gutenberg: William Ged & the Invention of Stereotype Printing, 1725–49

Examining the ‘non-moveable type’ productions of Edinburgh goldsmith William Ged (c.1683–1749), Dr William Zachs hypothesises the existence of a group of previously unknown stereotyped books, thus offering a revised history of book production in 18th-century Britain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMcEZ9FK6ak

#Scottish #literature #history #BookHistory #printing #bookproduction #18thcentury

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289d

‘A Tartan Belle’: Jane, Duchess of Gordon and the Romanticisation of Scottish Identity in London, c.1780–1812
25 Nov, online – free

At a time when markers of Scottish identity were still viewed with suspicion in England, Jane, Duchess of Gordon used her social influence to make Scottish culture interesting & romantic to the British elite

https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/tartan-belle-jane-duchess-gordon-romanticisation-scottish-identity-london-c1780-1812

#Scottish #literature #history #culture #identity #18thcentury #romanticism

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286d

Intense nerd joy, when it worked at the end:
"Using a 1930 Teletype as a Linux Terminal":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLZ4Z8LpEE
What especially blew my mind at the end was the claim that the original #Unix was coded in the GODAWFUL "ed" line editor.
#history #engineering #linux @autistics

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285d

明快打字机的前世今生

我一定要造一部打字机，使我可以真正的打字

——林语堂

今天突然看到何同学在YouTube上2025年10月14日发布的视频，这个视频其实在2023年就看过了，在今天又遇见，仿佛在看一个全新的视频一样。

我找到了明快打字机的专利网站：patents.google.com

三级滚筒系统

大油桶上装着6个中滚筒，每个中滚筒装着6个小滚筒，就如图3所示（图三、图四）
每个小滚筒有八面
每面上又有20个字模（图5），而明快是29个字模（图6明确数出来了确实是29）
所以明快可以打出668*29=8352个字模

魔眼装置

要打“呼”字，先打“口”再打“竖钩”，然后就会到小滚筒的某一节上，前面说了每个小滚筒有八面，所以一般有八个有“口”有“竖钩”的汉字，（所以我觉得6629*8=8352更符合直觉）这使用了林语堂自己发明的”上下型检字法“（图8）

我觉得更奇妙的是还有个预览滚筒（图7）
大滚筒上处于打印位置的八个字；
就是预览滚筒上被放大的八个字；
然后按键盘下的”87651234“8个按键中的一个，就可以选择正确的字。

声旁+形旁

8352个字模里，有7000左右是可以直接打出来的，剩下的是偏旁（70声旁+1300个形旁）
比如情，通过打声旁”竖心旁“和形旁”青“
所以这样就可以很轻松的通过组合打出字！甚至可以打出生僻字，自创汉字！
猜, 睛, 精, 倩, 清, 请, 晴, 情，等等等等
所以经过简单排列组合就是70X1300=91000个字

林语堂在1947年发明的明快打字机的故事。(视频前期主题）
这台打字机能够打9万个字，解决了汉字数量多的问题。它通过三级滚筒结构和上下行检字法实现。(视频中期主题）
尽管这台打字机设计巧妙，但由于成本过高，未能量产，林语堂也因此负债。(视频后期主题）

注意：何同学在YouTube的视频中删减添加了很多的片段

关于明快打字机下落消息（2025.1）

明快打字机原型被找到

Facebook原地址
 reddit-唯一一台明快中文打字机原型机已被找到

按照reddit的说法：

这台打字机是纳尔逊·费利克斯在他妻子祖父家的地下室里发现的，他首先将其发布到了一个 Facebook 群组中。
明快打字机是第一台使用键盘的中文打字机。它由林语堂发明，于1947年5月22日首次生产。它是当时速度最快的中文打字机，熟练的打字员平均每分钟可以打出约50个字，即使是未经训练的用户也能达到每分钟20个字的速度。
林德森委托卡尔·E·克鲁姆公司制造了一台定制原型机。在研发过程中，他背负了巨额债务，最终未能将打字机商业化。1948 年，默根塔勒·林诺打字机公司从林德森手中买下了这款打字机的专利权。该公司也收购了那台原型机，据说后来将其丢弃了。

视频信息（2025.11.29）

Youtube We Built a Chinese Typewriter.. 1,105,163次观看
 Bilibili【何同学】我们做了一台中文打字机... 1675.1万

维基百科：

中文打字機#明快

其他图片来源：

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/05/mingkwai-chinese-typewriter-prototype-stanford-libraries
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2613795A/en
https://tool.yzitc.com/ytb/
https://tool.yzitc.com/bili/

@board @worldboard
#youtube #bilibili #哔哩哔哩 #林语堂 #LinYutang #MingKwai #明快打字机 #Chinese_typewriter #patent #何同学 #HTX #TechArchaeology #MechanicalMarvel #Chinese #History #fedi #gotosocial #fediverse #mastodon

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147d

The battle of Culloden – the last pitched battle fought on British soil – took place 280 years ago #OTD, 16 April 1746. A major turning point in Scottish, British, European & indeed world history, it has, unsurprisingly, left a significant imprint in the literature & culture of Scotland. A 🧵

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https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/9514/

#Scottish #literature #history #18thcentury #Culloden #Jacobites

A black and white photograph of the Memorial cairn, Culloden battlefield, by Mary Ethel Muir Donaldson (1876–1958). The photo dates from the 1920s–1930s. On the left, a tall cylindrical stone cairn stands behind an iron fence. A bush is growing out of the top of it. Culloden moor stretches, low and level, into the distance. A few dark trees are on the right.

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286d

📚 Black-Owned by: Char Adams

Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, which have been centers for organizing from abolition to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.

In Black-Owned, Char Adams cel...

https://bookblabla.com/book/black-owned

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #history #entrepreneurshiphistory #socialhistory

Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, which have been centers for organizing from abolition to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.

In Black-Owned, Char Adams celebrates the living history of Black bookstores. Packed with stories of activism, espionage, violence, community, and perseverance, Black-Owned starts with the first Black-owned bookstore, which an abolitionist opened in New York in 1834, and after the bookshop’s violent demise, Black book-lovers carried on its cause. In the twentieth century, civil rights and Black Power activists started a Black bookstore boom nationwide. Malcolm X gave speeches in front of the National Memorial African Book Store in Harlem—a place dubbed “Speakers’ Corner”—and later, Black bookstores became targets of FBI agents, police, and racist vigilantes. Still, stores continued to fuel Black political movements.

Amid these struggles, bookshops were also places of celebration: Eartha Kitt and Langston Hughes held autograph parties at their local Black-owned bookstores. Maya Angelou became the face of National Black Bookstore Week. And today a new generation of Black activists is joining the radical bookstore tradition, with rapper Noname opening her Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles and several stores making national headlines when they were overwhelmed with demand in the Black

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1y

The 1619 Project was not a legal claim. It did not declare that the nation was born in bondage. What it said—plainly—was that America’s founding ideals were inseparable from its founding crimes. Black Americans were not passengers. They were agents. Not beneficiaries—Builders.

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#history #blackmastodon #histodons #blackandwhite #photography #photo

Image: The book by Nikole Hannah-Jones at a bookstore on November 17, 2021 in New York City (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images).