travel
Travel advice for the worldly scholar; discover the best places to study abroad, the best art and history museums, and beyond.
The Bosnian Pyramids: Evidence of an Ancient Civilization or a Trick of Nature?
The pyramids in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have captured the imagination of people around the world since their discovery in 2005 by Bosnian archaeologist Semir Osmanagic. The structures, which are said to be the largest and oldest pyramids in the world, are located in the hills surrounding the town of Visoko, and have been the subject of controversy and intrigue ever since their discovery.
By The Tech Corner3 years ago in Education
beautify and romantic bikers journey
There is something magical about experiencing the beauty of nature on a bike, especially when you are with someone you love. Recently, I was able to take my partner with me on a romantic motorcycle ride. Our first stop was the Loire Valley, known for its impressive castles and picturesque landscapes. Winding roads through vineyards and sunflower fields make for a romantic and scenic drive.
By biker info3 years ago in Education
Why is the Mona Lisa so famous?
Vincenzo Peruggia took a painting off the wall and slid down the back stairs of the Louvre on August 21, 1911, as dawn broke over Paris. He was just a few steps away from freedom when he ran into a two-pronged issue: There were approaching footsteps as the door was locked. The "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci was tucked under Peruggia's arm. It is currently regarded as the most famous painting in the world. But how did it get to where it is today? The portrait is said to have been started by Leonardo in 1503, when a Florentine businessman asked for a portrait of his wife, Lisa Gherardini. Leonardo worked on the painting for more than a decade, but when he died, it was not finished. Leonardo da Vinci was a pioneer in a number of artistic techniques thanks to his ground-breaking research on human optics over the course of his lifetime. The "Mona Lisa" depicts some of them. Utilizing "air point of view," he made pictures at more noteworthy distances hazier, creating the deception of significant profundity. Additionally, he used the technique known as "sfumato" to create subtle color gradations that softened the edges of the forms he depicted. Although all of this is striking, is it sufficient to make the "Mona Lisa" the most well-known painting in the world? It is regarded as an exceptional Renaissance portrait by many academics, but it is only one of many. Additionally, great artwork can be found throughout history. In point of fact, most of the factors that contributed to the "Mona Lisa's" rise to worldwide fame were outside of the canvas. After Leonardo's death, King François the First of France purchased the painting and began displaying it. After that, in 1550, the well-known biography of Italian Renaissance artists, including Leonardo, was written by the Italian scholar Giorgio Vasari. The book, which was translated and sold a lot, described the "Mona Lisa" as if it were a dreamlike representation of life. The "Mona Lisa" evolved into one of the French Royal Collection's most coveted pieces over time. It was initially displayed for the general public in the Louvre Museum before hanging in Napoleon's bedroom. The once-private treasures of the deposed aristocracy were a popular attraction for tourists there. A number of European academics in the 1800s increased the "Mona Lisa"'s popularity by focusing heavily on its allure. Alfred Dumesnil stated in 1854 that the smile on the Mona Lisa evoked a "treacherous attraction." After a year, Théophile Gautier composed of her "taunting lips" and "look encouraging obscure delights." In addition, Walter Pater described the Mona Lisa in 1869 as the epitome of timeless femininity. The portrait was a well-known piece in one of the world's most famous museums by the 20th century. However, the "Mona Lisa" was not yet well-known. It was Peruggia's 1911 heist that assisted it with soaring to uncommon distinction. It wasn't entirely out of the question that Peruggia would be imprisoned inside the Louvre because he had been contracted to create protective cases for the museum. Additionally, Peruggia was fortunate in that a worker who saw him in the stairwell simply assisted Peruggia in opening the door and allowed him to leave for the day. The theft made news around the world. The empty space where the "Mona Lisa" used to be displayed drew a crowd of people. Because Peruggia had worked at the Louvre, the police interviewed him, but they never considered him a suspect. In the meantime, they questioned Pablo Picasso regarding his connection to a previous robbery at the Louvre, but in the end, they let him go. After smuggling the "Mona Lisa" to Italy and making arrangements to sell it to a Florentine art dealer, Peruggia kept the painting in a false bottom suitcase for two years. Peruggia viewed himself as an Italian patriot who was returning the work of an old master. However, he was immediately detained, not celebrated as such. The "Mona Lisa" was put back on display in front of large crowds after the mystery was solved, and newspapers celebrated the success of the story. In the next many years, reasonable craftsman Marcel Duchamp derided it; It was pursued by Nazi art thieves; About it, Nat King Cole sang; and it was attacked by museum visitors with teacups, paint, stones, and paintbrushes. Over 500 years after its creation — eyebrows and eyelashes since a long time ago blurred — the "Mona Lisa" is safeguarded by an impenetrable, tremor safe case. It now stands as a reminder of how we create and maintain celebrity, rather than as an outstanding Renaissance portrait.
By Factual Frenzy3 years ago in Education
The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire
In the seventh century CE, one man began a chain of occasions that would impact the world request for good. Through the creation of Islam, the people of the Arabian Peninsula were brought together by the prophet Muhammad. These people included Bedouin tribes that lived on the move and people who lived in oasis cities like Mecca and Medina. Prior to Muhammad's time, the region was not thought to be a serious threat to the powerful Persian and Byzantine empires that were nearby. However, Muhammad's alliance was not only religious but also political—it was an empire with Medina as its political center and a force to be reckoned with. Muhammad was a leader unlike any other. He had belonged to the Quraysh tribe, which ruled Mecca. The question of who should succeed Muhammad was a contentious one after his death. Ab Bakr, Muhammad's spouse and father-in-law, won out and became the new caliph, also known as Muhammad's successor. Four caliphs from Muhammad's tribe conquered vast territories outside of Arabia over the next 30 years, including their formidable neighbors, the Persians and Byzantines. However, as the empire grew, internal discontent grew, and a civil war broke out. Ali, the fourth caliph, was killed. The Umayyad Dynasty took over after that. While the Umayyads belonged to a rival clan, they belonged to the same tribe as Muhammad. They established Damascus as their capital and expanded the empire's territory to include India and what is now Spain. However, a vast empire with so many distinct peoples was susceptible to conflict and division. By replacing the ruling elite in conquered territories with Muslim officials, the Umayyads stabilized it while largely allowing local customs, including religious preferences, to continue. Arabic served as the empire's administrative language, unifying political affairs, but local languages were still spoken and written. Still, many people in the empire were unhappy with the rule of the Umayyads and doubted the dynasty's legitimacy. The Abbasid family exploited these opinions, advancing themselves as more straightforward relatives of the prophet, however their genuine connection to Muhammad was more shaky than they guaranteed. In 750 CE, they overthrew the Umayyad caliphate and became the Islamic Empire's second great dynasty. They moved the capital once more and built a new city to establish themselves as the new rulers: Baghdad. Due to extensive trade networks that brought goods and people from all over the world to Baghdad, the elite lived in luxury under Abbasid rule. Knowledge and cultures from Byzantine, Persian, Indian, and Arab cultures intertwined, resulting in artistic and scientific advancement. Beyond imagination, the caliph was wealthy and powerful. Be that as it may, there was never a reasonable line of progression directing who might turn into the following caliph. Since the former caliph's male relatives could apply, brothers, nephews, and uncles fought for power. Army officers, wives, concubines, and government officials all sought their fair share of the treasury in the courtroom. Each change in power opened the door to favoritism and corruption due to the caliph's dependence on his entourage. Because of the conflict between the caliph's religious obligation to moral excellence and the court's extravagant displays of wealth, many outside the court questioned the caliph's legitimacy. The Mongols approached Baghdad in 1258 CE. As they completely destroyed the city, they met little resistance. The caliph is said to have been wrapped in a rug, killed by horses, and the ink from the manuscripts thrown into the Tigris River is said to have turned black. The attack of Baghdad revealed a longstanding reality: The caliphs had ruled primarily symbolically for centuries. The empire's increasingly powerful local leaders refused to pay taxes and instead used the money to fund their own courts. Although the unified Islamic Empire's written and spoken Arabic influence, Islam, and the ideas of its greatest intellectuals left a lasting impression on the world.
By Factual Frenzy3 years ago in Education
6 myths about the Middle Ages
Europe during the medieval period. Where unbathed, sword-wielding knights defended chaste maidens, believed the Earth was flat, ate rotten meat, and tortured their adversaries with gruesome weapons However, this is more fantasy than reality. So, where do all of the medieval myths originate? And how did they actually appear? The 1,000-year period known as the "Middle Ages" begins with the fall of Rome in the fifth century and ends with the Italian renaissance in the fifteenth century. The term has also been used to describe other parts of the world, but traditionally it has only been used to describe Europe. One confusion is that middle age individuals were all uninformed and uninformed. For instance, a 19th-century biography of Christopher Columbus made erroneous claims that medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat. The Earth's shape was not much of a topic of debate, despite the fact that many medieval scholars consider it to be the center of the universe. “On the Sphere of the World” was the title of a well-known text from the thirteenth century. In addition, as monasteries, convents, and universities were established during the Middle Ages, literacy rates gradually increased as well. Additionally, ancient knowledge was not "lost"; The study of Greek and Roman texts continued. In the 1930s, a British book made the idea that medieval people ate rotten meat and covered it up with spices. It used laws prohibiting the sale of rotten meat as evidence that it was frequently consumed and misinterpreted a medieval recipe. In fact, salt curing of meats was a safe way for medieval Europeans to preserve meats while avoiding rancid foods. Spices were well-liked. However, they frequently cost more than the meat itself. Therefore, anyone who could afford them could also purchase fresh food. In the meantime, the French historian Jules Michelet of the 19th century described the Middle Ages as "a thousand years without a bath." However, public bathhouses were well-used in even small towns. Soaps made of ash, scented herbs, and animal fat were used to lather people up. They also used spices and herbs, pastes and powders for teeth cleaning cloths, mouthwash, and mouthwash. What about medieval methods of torture? A group of what were described as "terrible relics of a semi-barbarous age" went on tour in the 1890s. They include: the Iron Lady, which entranced watchers with its spiked entryways — yet it was created, conceivably only a long time previously. Also, there's no sign Iron Ladies really existed in the Medieval times. In contrast, there was a thing called the "Pear of Anguish," but it only existed later, so it couldn't have been used for torture. It could just have been a shoe-stretcher. In point of fact, a number of what appear to be medieval torture instruments are far more recent creations. Middle age official procedures were generally speaking less horrifying than these contraptions recommend. They included fines, jail time, humiliation in public, and some forms of corporal punishment. Although torture and executions did occur, particularly violent punishments like drawing and quartering were typically reserved for high treason offenses. However, chastity belts must have existed, right? Most likely not. They were first mentioned by a German engineer in the 15th century, probably in jest, along with fart jokes and an invisibility device. They were then popular satirical subjects that were later misinterpreted as medieval reality. The interest of people in later times has influenced how people think about the Middle Ages. During the 15th and 16th centuries, scholars who were biased toward the Classical and Modern periods that followed popularized the term as well as the derogatory term "Dark Ages." In addition, medieval people were depicted as superstitious and irrational by Enlightenment thinkers, who celebrated their commitment to reason. Romantic European nationalist thinkers romanticized the Middle Ages in the 19th century. They depicted disengaged, white, Christian social orders, underlining stories of gallantry and marvel. Yet, knights assumed negligible parts in archaic fighting. Additionally, the Middle Ages witnessed extensive interactions. Byzantine, Muslim, and Mongol trade routes brought ideas to Europe. Additionally, numerous merchants, intellectuals, and diplomats traveled to medieval European cities. The most widespread erroneous belief is that the Middle Ages were one continuous period in European history. Initially characterized less by what they were than what they weren't, the Medieval times turned into a ground for dueling thoughts — energizing more dream than reality.
By Factual Frenzy3 years ago in Education
The continents are moving. When will they collide?
Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist, noticed striking similarities between the coasts of Africa and South America at the beginning of the 20th century. He came up with a controversial new theory as a result of these observations: It's possible that many other continents were once connected by a vast landmass. The popular belief that Earth's continents had remained stable for millennia was directly contradicted by Wegener's Theory of Continental Drift. It took his supporters almost 50 years to persuade the larger scientific community of their theory. However, today, we realize something much seriously thrilling — Pangea was unquestionably the most recent in a long genealogy of supercontinents, and it won't be the last. Our current theory of plate tectonics, which asserts that the Earth's crust is composed of vast, jagged plates that shift over a layer of partially molten rock known as the mantle, was established by Continental Drift. Even though these plates only move 2.5 to 10 centimeters per year, the surface of the planet is shaped by these small movements. Therefore, we need to know where these plates are going in order to predict when a new supercontinent will form. One strategy is to examine their previous movements. By measuring changes in the Earth's magnetic field, geologists can determine where continents have been over time. Whenever liquid stone cools, its attractive minerals are "frozen" at a particular moment. Thus, we can determine the latitude at which a rock was situated during cooling by calculating its magnetic field's direction and intensity. However, this method has significant drawbacks. For one thing, the longitude of a rock's plate cannot be determined from its magnetic field, and the measurement of its latitude can be either north or south. Worse yet, when the rock is reheated, such as during continental collisions or volcanic activity, this magnetic data is erased. Therefore, geologists must employ alternative strategies to retrace the positions of the continents. Identifying previously connected regions can be made easier by dating local fossils and comparing them to the global fossil record. The equivalent is valid for breaks and different distortions in the World's outside, which can in some cases be followed across plates. Utilizing these devices, researchers have sorted out a moderately solid history of plate developments, and their exploration uncovered an example crossing countless years. The Wilson Cycle, which is now known as a prediction, explains how continents split up and reassemble. Additionally, it predicts that the next supercontinent will emerge in 50 to 250 million years. We don't know much about how that landmass will look. It could be a brand-new Pangea that emerges from the Atlantic's closing. Or on the other hand it could result from the development of another Container Asian sea. However, despite the fact that its form and size remain a mystery, we are aware that these modifications will have an impact far beyond our national borders. Previously, impacting plates have created major ecological disturbances. Large landmasses were exposed to weathering when the Rodinia supercontinent broke up about 750 million years ago. The planet entered a time period known as Snowball Earth as a result of this newly exposed rock absorbing additional rainfall carbon dioxide. This ice had to be melted for another 4 to 6 million years after volcanic activity released enough CO2 to do so. In the meantime, things are more likely to get hotter when the next supercontinent comes together. Cracks in the crust of the Earth could grow as a result of plate tectonics and continental collisions, potentially releasing significant quantities of carbon and methane into the atmosphere. The planet would quickly get hotter as a result of this influx of greenhouse gases, which could lead to a mass extinction. Even if we were able to plug these cracks, the resulting pressure would only cause additional cracks because of their size. Luckily, we have no less than 50 million years to concoct an answer here, and we could as of now be onto something. Recent tests in Iceland showed that basalt could store carbon and quickly turn these gases into stone. As a result, it's possible that a global network of pipes could direct gases that were vented into basalt outcrops, reducing some of our current emissions and safeguarding our super continental future.
By Factual Frenzy3 years ago in Education
The Turning Point?!
Some might argue that it was a time of extensive military campaigns that reshaped political and cultural boundaries, much like Alexander the Great's campaign in the 300s BCE. Others might point to the 7th-century rise of Islam, a major religion that codified and spread values across such borders. Or, perhaps it was the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s, which reshaped human relationships with labor and reshaped global commerce. Regardless of the response, it appears that any century competing for that top spot occurred during a time of great change, when our ancestors' actions changed the course of human history for centuries to come. If this is our metric, then is it possible that this century, right now, is the most significant yet? Already, the 21st century has been marked by rapid technological development. Telephones and PCs have sped up the speed of life. Additionally, we are likely on the verge of developing revolutionary new technologies like advanced artificial intelligence that have the potential to completely alter human life. In the meantime, many of the technologies that we already have contribute to the unprecedented levels of existential risk that humanity faces. This risk refers to the possibility that our species will go extinct or that some kind of disaster will occur that will permanently limit humanity's capacity to develop and prosper. The development of the atomic bomb marked a significant increase in existential risk, and since then, our odds have only gotten worse. Estimating the likelihood of an existential collapse occurring in this century is extremely challenging. The odds of nuclear winter and climate change causing an existential catastrophe of around 1%, and the odds of a pandemic causing the same kind of collapse of frightening 3%, are very rough estimates. These are not insignificant numbers considering that any of these catastrophes could result in the end of life as we know it. Additionally, it is possible that new technologies will emerge during this century, introducing additional existential threats. Computer based intelligence specialists have a large number of evaluations with respect to when counterfeit general knowledge will arise, however as indicated by some studies, many accept it could happen hundred years. At the moment, there are only a few specific kinds of artificial intelligence that are made to do specific things like play chess or recognize faces. Even narrow AIs that perform creative work are restricted to a single area of expertise. However, fake general insights, or AGIs, would have the option to adjust to and play out quite a few undertakings, rapidly dominating their human partners. There are a lot of different theories about what AGI might look like and what it would be like for humans to live on the same planet as another sentient being. AGIs may assist us in achieving our objectives, they may view us as insignificant, or they may view us as a challenge that must be swiftly removed. Therefore, it is essential that the values of this new technology align with our own in terms of existential risk. This is a very difficult engineering and philosophical problem that will require a lot of careful, thoughtful work. However, even if we are successful, AGI may still result in an additional complicated outcome. Let's say an AGI emerges with a sincere reverence for human life and a desire to alleviate all human suffering. In any case, to try not to become skewed, it's been created to be extraordinarily unbending about its convictions. Humanity might be enslaved to a single ideology that would be extremely difficult to alter if these machines came to dominate the planet. History has shown that, regardless of how well-intentioned a civilization may appear to be, they rarely live up to the moral standards set by subsequent generations. Furthermore, this sort of significant worth lock in could for all time mutilate or oblige mankind's ethical development. It is extremely difficult to predict how any existential risks will play out over the next century because of the enormous amount of uncertainty surrounding AGI. Additionally, it's possible that these risks will no longer be relevant due to new, pressing concerns. However, it still appears that the choices we make may have a significant impact on humanity's future, despite the fact that we are unable to declare this century to be the most significant. Therefore, perhaps we ought to all live as though the future is in our hands— for, in actuality, it just might.
By Factual Frenzy3 years ago in Education
