tidbits cross time
Dec. 18th, 2021 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliBesides the natural tendency of Vestal Virgins who survived their term in office to like their wealth and position too much to marry, there was a reputation that men who married them died soon.
The original practice for lights -- on the railways -- was Red for stop, Green for Caution, and White for Go. However, the increasing amount of artificial light made this impractical, because any random white light might be taken for a railway one.
The Late Bronze Age Collapse was not caused by the advent of ironworking. The increase in the use of iron comes after it. Whether the collapse caused the increase is another matter. Tin is hard to source. Not to mention that societal collapse does increase interest in weapons.
A midshipman slept through the mutiny on the Bounty. When he woke up, he sided with the winners.
Romans drove on the right. After all, the left was sinister.
European castles were ill-suited to stand against cannon. When they arrived, there was a period (with, admitted additional factors) of great state-consolidation as the fragmentary power of nobles' castles was undermined.
The oldest recipes for syllabub call to mix some ingredients in a bowl and then add the milk by going to the cow and milking directly into the bowl.
The coach is named after Kocs, a village in Hungary. How it got attached to the vehicle, and the loan word spread so far, is unknown.
One Hopi war practice was to pull the ladders from the home, and then throw chili peppers in the fire. This would blind and choke the inhabitants.
The common practice in Rome for a statue was to get a head carved with your features and then stick on one of the mass produced bodies that you could also get. Then your family might take the head off as soon as you died and replace it. (Replacing the head of a statue of a living emperor was high treason, though.)
The five ranks of nobility in the Zhou dynasty are generally rendered as Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount and Baron. However, "Duke" might be used as a honorific for any of them, and when they died, their posthumous title was generally a Duke.
A star fortress from the early modern European military practice requires a lot of geometry. Since it's not possible to engineer the walls as high as in the days before cannon, owing to the need for earthworks, you need to ensure that any possible approach is in a line of fire, preferably of a cannon, as otherwise the escalade will succeed.
A French recipe for fromage a l'angloise is one of the oldest known recipes for ice cream.
The Hopi who attacked and massacred the Hopi village of Awatovi invoked an katsina (kachina) ogre spirit to help them.
Greeks held that a wetnurse should be carefully checked for character: orderly, patient, temperate, and above all else Greek. She would influence the child's character with her milk. For instance, Zeus had been nursed by a goat, and was as lecherous as one.
Many European recipes that call for potatoes are, in fact, repurposed recipes that called for chestnuts, particularly if the potato is ground.
Iceland is bad pastureland. Nevertheless, it is so poor for grain that a soured alcoholic milk drink was very prevalent, not only to drink, but to use as a preservative.
When a crack appeared in the tomb of Augustus, it was widely predicted that the emperor Vespasian would die soon. Correctly, as it happened.
Japanese wooden castles were actually mostly packed earth, with the wood used to keep that in place.
Early modern doctors, particularly Italian ones, recommended ice cream for health reasons. They explained that cold weather decreased illness.
After two Model-Ts won a race contrary to all predictions, it was observed that no one noticed that the smaller the car, the more the engine power was proportionate to its size.
Diogenes, seeing a prostitute's son throwing stones at a crowd, said, "Careful! Don't hit your father!"
There is extensive evidence in bones that the Anasazi practiced cannibalism, particularly a midden that has butchered bones of both prey animals and humans, comingled.
Yeast -- and baking soda -- are leavening agents because the original way to get yeast was to use the leavings of yesterday's bread dough.
Long after the chariot gave way to the cavalry -- once a horse big enough to carry a rider was bred, cavalry's superior agility and its ability to transverse rough land, or where obstacles had been placed meant the chariot was doomed -- the gods still used them. Helios traveled in one across the sky. For that matter, generals rode them in triumphs, even as Julius Caesar commented on their use in battle for Britain as an oddity, and artists depicted Alexander on horseback in his victory, while Darius fled in his chariot.
The original practice for lights -- on the railways -- was Red for stop, Green for Caution, and White for Go. However, the increasing amount of artificial light made this impractical, because any random white light might be taken for a railway one.
The Late Bronze Age Collapse was not caused by the advent of ironworking. The increase in the use of iron comes after it. Whether the collapse caused the increase is another matter. Tin is hard to source. Not to mention that societal collapse does increase interest in weapons.
A midshipman slept through the mutiny on the Bounty. When he woke up, he sided with the winners.
Romans drove on the right. After all, the left was sinister.
European castles were ill-suited to stand against cannon. When they arrived, there was a period (with, admitted additional factors) of great state-consolidation as the fragmentary power of nobles' castles was undermined.
The oldest recipes for syllabub call to mix some ingredients in a bowl and then add the milk by going to the cow and milking directly into the bowl.
The coach is named after Kocs, a village in Hungary. How it got attached to the vehicle, and the loan word spread so far, is unknown.
One Hopi war practice was to pull the ladders from the home, and then throw chili peppers in the fire. This would blind and choke the inhabitants.
The common practice in Rome for a statue was to get a head carved with your features and then stick on one of the mass produced bodies that you could also get. Then your family might take the head off as soon as you died and replace it. (Replacing the head of a statue of a living emperor was high treason, though.)
The five ranks of nobility in the Zhou dynasty are generally rendered as Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount and Baron. However, "Duke" might be used as a honorific for any of them, and when they died, their posthumous title was generally a Duke.
A star fortress from the early modern European military practice requires a lot of geometry. Since it's not possible to engineer the walls as high as in the days before cannon, owing to the need for earthworks, you need to ensure that any possible approach is in a line of fire, preferably of a cannon, as otherwise the escalade will succeed.
A French recipe for fromage a l'angloise is one of the oldest known recipes for ice cream.
The Hopi who attacked and massacred the Hopi village of Awatovi invoked an katsina (kachina) ogre spirit to help them.
Greeks held that a wetnurse should be carefully checked for character: orderly, patient, temperate, and above all else Greek. She would influence the child's character with her milk. For instance, Zeus had been nursed by a goat, and was as lecherous as one.
Many European recipes that call for potatoes are, in fact, repurposed recipes that called for chestnuts, particularly if the potato is ground.
Iceland is bad pastureland. Nevertheless, it is so poor for grain that a soured alcoholic milk drink was very prevalent, not only to drink, but to use as a preservative.
When a crack appeared in the tomb of Augustus, it was widely predicted that the emperor Vespasian would die soon. Correctly, as it happened.
Japanese wooden castles were actually mostly packed earth, with the wood used to keep that in place.
Early modern doctors, particularly Italian ones, recommended ice cream for health reasons. They explained that cold weather decreased illness.
After two Model-Ts won a race contrary to all predictions, it was observed that no one noticed that the smaller the car, the more the engine power was proportionate to its size.
Diogenes, seeing a prostitute's son throwing stones at a crowd, said, "Careful! Don't hit your father!"
There is extensive evidence in bones that the Anasazi practiced cannibalism, particularly a midden that has butchered bones of both prey animals and humans, comingled.
Yeast -- and baking soda -- are leavening agents because the original way to get yeast was to use the leavings of yesterday's bread dough.
Long after the chariot gave way to the cavalry -- once a horse big enough to carry a rider was bred, cavalry's superior agility and its ability to transverse rough land, or where obstacles had been placed meant the chariot was doomed -- the gods still used them. Helios traveled in one across the sky. For that matter, generals rode them in triumphs, even as Julius Caesar commented on their use in battle for Britain as an oddity, and artists depicted Alexander on horseback in his victory, while Darius fled in his chariot.