Friday 26 January 2024

2,000 years ago, the first vending machine was created

If into certain sacrificial vessels a coin of five drachms be thrown, and water shall flow out and surround them. Let be a sacrificial vessel or treasure chest, having an opening in its mouth, A; and in the chest let there be a vessel, F G H K, containing water, and a small box, L, from which a pipe, LM, conducts out of the chest. Near the vessel place a vertical rod, N x, about which turns a lever, o P, widening at o into the plate R parallel to the bottom of the vessel, while at the extremity r is suspended a lid, s, which fits into the box L, so that no water can flow through the tube LM: this lid, however, must be heavier than the plate R, but lighter than the plate and coin combined. When the coin is thrown through the mouth A, it will fall upon plate R and, preponderating, it will turn the beam on P, and raise the lid of the box so that the water will flow: but if the coin falls off, the lid will descend and close the box so that the discharge ceases.

The First Vending Machine Was Made 2,000 Years Ago

Monday 22 January 2024

Remarkable discovery in Spain

This ancient megalithic monument, estimated to be over 7,000 years old, was recently discovered in Spain. The discovery was made possible by a drought that revealed the previously buried structure. The fact that the site is about 2,000 years older than famous landmarks like Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt adds to the intrigue of this discovery, which sheds light on the region's early civilizations and their sophisticated architectural accomplishments during a relatively unknown period of human history.



 

Monday 15 January 2024

Cribraria argillacea

Cribraria argillacea is a slime mold that resembles tiny brains on a stalk. It is one of 30 different species of Cribraria found worldwide. These slime molds are nature's clean-up crew, breaking down old wood and leaves in the forest to keep the environment healthy. Despite not having a brain, they exhibit some interesting behaviors such as moving slowly and finding their way through mazes. Cribraria, which produce spores, have a short stalk and a protective layer resembling vertical, thickened threads connected by fine, see-through threads. They are not only visually appealing but also play an important role in nutrient recycling in the forest. Some species of Cribraria can be difficult to distinguish.

Cribraria argillacea is a slime mold that resembles tiny brains on a stalk.


Friday 5 January 2024

Existence of red sprites

 The existence of red sprites, above certain thunderstorms is a little-known phenomenon that is primarily known to meteorologists, nature photographers, and other sky researchers. Although they are not particularly rare, they are ephemeral and difficult to photograph. Lightning sprites, also known as red sprites, are electrical discharges high in Earth's atmosphere that are associated with thunderstorms but are not born in the same clouds that send us rain. Thunderstorms, as well as all earthly weather, occur in the troposphere, a layer of atmosphere that stretches from Earth's surface to between 4 and 12 miles (about 6 and 19 km) up.





Monday 11 December 2023

RMS Queen Elizabeth pulling into New York with service men returning home after the end of World War 2, 1945.

The RMS Queen Elizabeth pulling into New York with service men returning home after the end of World War 2, 1945. She was able to carry 15,000 people at a time, including 900 crew members. The trip from The British isles to the east coast of the United States usually took 5 to 7 days. During her service in World War 2, the RMS Queen Elizabeth transported more than 750,000 troops, and sailed a total of 500,000 miles (800,000 km).

The RMS Queen Elizabeth pulling into New York with service men returning home after the end of World War 2, 1945.

Friday 8 December 2023

Screenshot Shortcuts

We often need screenshots in daily life to share with others. Here are some methods, where you can take screenshots with shortcuts.

1. Win+Print

Saves a screenshot of all monitors to picture / screenshots

2. Alt+Print

Click a screenshot of your active windows to your clipboard.

3. Win+Shift+S

It lets you select and save any part of your screen.

4. Print

Cople a screenshot of all monitors to your clipboard.

5. Snipping Tool

Microsoft standard tool to generate screenshots.

Screenshot Shortcuts

Saturday 28 October 2023

Aylostera (= Rebutia) spinosissima Backb

Aylostera (= Rebutia) spinosissima Backb is a thickly white-spined cactus from the Salta region in Argentina. The flowers appear early in spring. The older plants blossom more profusely than younger ones and they are often completely hidden under an avalanche of blooms. The fruits are minute and bristly, a characteristic trait of the cacti in the subgenus Aylostera. The most handsome species are A. heliosa with short, white, adpressed spines and orange flowers, and the similar A. albopectinata with red flowers. Both can be grafted. Cultivation of other species of this subgenus is usually easy if a loam-based potting mix, plenty of sunlight, and fresh air in summer are provided. At this time of the year, they can be placed outdoors. In winter keep cool at 10° C.

Aylostera (= Rebutia) spinosissima Backb

Tuesday 17 October 2023

HEN-HAWK, or CHICKEN-HAWK

HEN-HAWK, or CHICKEN-HAWK, is any kind of hawk that attacks poultry or is supposed to do so. Two or three large buzzard hawks are popularly so-called in the eastern United States, and at least two smaller falcons. In the West, and in other parts of the English-speaking world, there are other species of the same repute, more or less well deserved. In England, the analog of the American marshhawk is known as "hen-harrier."

Certainly, everywhere kills much poultry where it is not safely housed at night. In North America, the best-known hen hawks are the broad-winged, red-tailed, and red-shouldered. They are comparatively harmless to poultry, however, feeding mainly on squirrels, mice, frogs, etc. The broad-wing (Buteo pennsylvanicus) is one of the most familiar of our hawks, breeding numerously in the woods all over the country. It is 16 inches long, with a tail of 7 inches, and a wing of 11 inches.

The upper parts are dull umber-brown, the tail almost black, crossed by two to four pale brown bands; the lower parts are dull rufous brown, nearly unbroken on the breast. It is rather sluggish in temperament, though capable of swift and bold action, and feeds mainly on mice, but will now and then seize young chickens, ducklings, etc. On the whole, as in the case of the other buzzard-hawks, it is of more service than injury to the agriculturist. The real culprits are two small, swift, agile falcons, Cooper's (Accipiter cooperi), and the sharp-shin (A. velox).

The former is nearly two feet long, grayish-brown on the upper parts and white below, with the sides and breast barred with dusky red-brown and tail barred with blackish. The sharp-shin has much the same colors, but is little more than half as large, and is further distinguished by the triangular shape of the tarsus, giving it an edge in front. These bold and active falcons live mainly on birds, and on farms prey largely on chickens and house sparrows, compensating somewhat for the former by killing the latter. Consult Fisher, 'Hawks and Owls of the United States'

Thursday 7 September 2023

Naming and identifying birds

 

This article presents descriptions of the habits, behavior, appearance, and distribution of every species of bird that breeds in or regularly visits Australia.

Species names

Every species of animal and plant is given a formal and unique scientific name by which it can be known; no two species can have the same name under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. In birds, a species is a group or population of similar-looking and similar-behaving individuals that interbreed in the wild and produce fertile offspring.

The scientific name of a species derived from Greek or Latin has two parts, a second part or specific epithet that identifies the species itself and a first part or generic name that identifies the genus, the group of species to which it belongs. Closely related species are grouped in genera so that their relationships may be understood at a glance. Thus the Long-Tailed Finch, identified by its epithet acuticauda, is closely allied to other species of grass finches in the genus Poephila: hence its full scientific name, Poephila acuticauda.

The generic name always begins with a capital letter and the species epithet always with a small one. The scientific name is, by convention, always printed in italics except where it occurs in italic context. In some cases, a triple name is used. The third name indicates the subspecies, or race, a level of classification for birds of the same species that look different and live in different regions. Unlike other zoological and botanical fields, in ornithology, every bird also has a recognized English or common name.

Birds may be known by many common names and at times popular names are superseded by others more widely used internationally. The most frequent of these alternative names are listed under 'Other Names'. Birds and animals are also grouped into many other hierarchies of classification above the levels of species and genus. The Australian Magpie, for instance, is grouped with currawongs and butcherbirds in the family Cracticidae. This family is, in turn, grouped with approximately 33 other families occurring naturally in Australia in the order Passeriformes, the perching birds, or songbirds. This and 26 other orders are grouped in the class Aves, which comprises all birds. A description of the orders and families of birds found in Australia is given.

Ornithologists are constantly reclassifying birds in the light of new studies, necessitating frequent changes in scientific names and their order. Most changes flow from generic readjustments to the position of species, and from the discovery that distinctive populations previously regarded as separate species hybridize and intergrade and so are one.

After each bird's name, the describer is credited, together with the year of the first description. This shows that most Australian birds were named over 100 years ago. Brackets around a describer's name indicate that the genus in which the species is now placed is different from the one in which it was first described.

Source of classification

The classification of species and genera follows the forthcoming edition of the Royal Australasian Ornithologist's Union's (RAOU) checklist of the Birds of Australia and Territories, published in the Zoological Catalogue of Australia series by the Bureau of Flora and Fauna (BFF), Canberra. There are some minor departures from the catalog in the sequence of species, genera, and families, but the taxonomic adjustments already reached by the compilers are incorporated here.

Authority for names

Scientific and English names used here also follow those of the RAOU-BFF catalog. By convention and consensus, that list sets the standard for Australian nomenclature and has done so for the past 50 years. The recommendations of the RAOU's committee of experts-B. Glover, F. Kinsky, S. Marchant, A.R. McGill, S.A. Parker and R. Schodde have been adopted in the forthcoming catalog, and here, except in a few cases affected by the classificatory change. To perpetuate popular but parochial names where they conflict serves little purpose other than to destabilize nomenclature, stir controversy, and certainly bewilder the amateur bird-watcher.

Size

The length or height of each bird is given. Measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail, it is rounded off to the nearest five millimeters. Where the bill or the tail is unusually long, its form is stressed.

Identification

The bird's color pattern is described as working usually down the back and then down the front to the belly and undertail region, ending with the colors of the iris of the eye, the bill, and the feet. The technical terms for parts of a bird's body are explained on the facing page. Different authorities sometimes use different names for the same color, especially subtle greys and browns, but the accompanying photographs provide guidance.

Some birds, especially males, have two or more different plumages during the year. Dull plumage is often replaced by bright at the beginning of the breeding season, and both plumages are described. Young birds are called chicks or nestlings until they can fly. When young leave the nest, they are said to fledge. Free-ranging chicks that are likely to be seen, such as ducklings, are described as downy young.

Those of Northern Hemisphere breeding waders. however, are excluded because they are never seen in Australia. So are the chicks of most songbirds, because they are so naked. The next stage a young bird passes through is its first plumage of true feathers. It is then called immature. This stage may last for several years in some species, such as the Satin Bowerbird, and the birds may pass through several plumage phases. Where there is a distinct immature plumage, it is described briefly.

Voice

The sounds birds make can be important guides to identification. They call to warn of danger, to keep in contact with one another, to keep a flock together while feeding. These calls may be described as zit-zit-zit, for instance, others are so elusive that they can only be described in general terms such as 'harsh chattering sounds'. During the breeding season, and even throughout the year, birds utter phrases to proclaim their territory and attract a mate. Those phrases are often pleasant to hear and, in the case of songbirds or passerines, are called songs. Wherever possible, each bird's different calls and songs are described separately in the passerines.

Nesting

Many birds have distinct breeding seasons, in the spring in the south, for example. In the north other birds-seed-eating parrots and finches-have their breeding geared to the end of the wet season, when food is plentiful. Still others, in arid regions, may breed at any time after good rains have fallen. Most birds build a nest, fairly typical for that species, in a fairly consistent place and height. The form and structure of each nest are described.

Eggs are also described by number, size, approximate shape, and color. Eggs laid in concealed places are often white, whereas those laid in the open are often colored and marked in a way that blends with their substrate. The large end, which emerges first, is often more heavily marked. The size of eggs varies; the average is usually given for each species, to the nearest millimeter. The common clutch size is also given.

This is usually the same within a range for each species, but where food is unusually abundant the clutch may be exceptionally large; and in times of scarcity eggs may not be laid at all. Incubation and fledgling periods are given wherever possible, the latter recording the period to flight, not the day of quitting the nest by precocial chicks. If they are lacking, they have not been found.

Distribution

Each species has its own range, determined by the availability of suitable habitat and food. This is described in detail just for Australia. Within their ranges, some birds are sedentary-they stay in one locality throughout the year while others migrate between two places, and yet others wander nomadically. Because Australia is so vast and sparsely populated, knowledge of bird distribution has been sketchy.

To rectify this, the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union has just finished a five-year project studying the distribution of birds throughout Australia and has produced an atlas of their ranges. The maps show the ranges of most of the species and are based on the RAOU Atlas. These maps are necessarily simplifications of complex patterns and few if any birds will be seen at all places throughout their ranges. Places where species occur as rare vagrants are not shown on the map but are mentioned in the accompanying text. Maps have not been included for some birds that visit Australia only occasionally.

These are mostly seabirds, which can be blown ashore anywhere along the coast. For seabirds, only the coastal distribution is mapped. Many of them, of course, range far beyond the coast. The overseas range of these birds, and of others occurring beyond Australia, is summarized in the text. The maps include the Tropic of Capri- · corn, state boundaries and, as reference points, the sites of Adelaide, Perth, Broome, Darwin, Alice Springs, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. At the end of the distribution notes, the approximate number of races is given, stressing those found in Australia.

What to look for

For most people, an interest in birds begins with identification the pleasure to be had from putting the right name to a bird. But success in identifying birds depends on knowing how to look at them. This is not simply a matter of being alert but is a technique that can easily be learned. The most important clues to a bird's identity point to which special attention should be paid: size; shape, including the shape and length of the bill; general coloring of the plumage and noticeable markings; behavior; call and song; when and where the bird was seen. Because some birds visit Australia at only a certain time of the year, when a bird is seen may be a clue to its identity.

The flight pattern is another. Is it direct or meandering? Powerful or fluttering? Does the bird fly in short bursts or is flight sustained? Then there is the method of flight. A bird may use its wings almost all the time in flapping flight or it may glide on outstretched wings; it may hover in one place or it may soar. Or its flight may be undulating a fairly regular pattern of alternate flapping and gliding.

Further points to watch for are the way a bird walks, runs, or hops and where and how it feeds- by diving or hawking, or by probing bark or gleaning foliage. Shapes of Eggs Birds' eggs vary greatly in their shapes. Some basic shapes are shown here, but there are many intergradations. Birds of the same species usually lay eggs of the same shape.