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The Iron Hand of Götz von Berlichingen

Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen was no ordinary knight. A formidable figure in 16th-century Germany, he earned both fame and infamy as a mercenary, rebel, and folk hero. Born around 1480 into a minor noble family, Götz lived through the waning days of the medieval knight, when chivalry was giving way to gunpowder. But rather than fading into obscurity, he forged a legacy—quite literally. After losing his right hand to cannon fire during a siege, Götz commissioned a remarkable iron prosthetic that allowed him to continue fighting. With this mechanical marvel strapped to his arm, he returned to the battlefield, undeterred and unyielding. Götz’s life inspired Goethe’s 1773 drama Götz von Berlichingen, which helped turn the iron-handed knight into a lasting icon of rebellion and individual will.

A relief of Götz in Weisenheim am Sand with his famous quote: "Tell him, he can lick my arse". Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Chandu Numerology Pada June 25, 2025 Komentar

The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine

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In the late 19th century, a rare and highly unusual neuropsychiatric condition was observed among a group of French-Canadian lumberjacks living in the Moosehead Lake region of northern Maine. Those affected exhibited an extreme and exaggerated startle reflex. When startled by a sudden movement or loud noise, they reacted with dramatic involuntary responses, such as leaping into the air, screaming, repeating words, or instantly obeying shouted commands. It was reported that the "jumpers" were primarily of French descent, born in Canada, and worked as lumbermen in the Maine woods.

The mystery of the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine first drew the attention of the scientific community in 1878, when prominent American neurologist George Miller Beard informed members of the American Neurological Association at its annual meeting that he had heard accounts of these lumberjacks and their unusual nervous condition. Two years later, Beard himself travelled to the Moosehead Lake region to see first-hand if the accounts were true. He wasn’t disappointed.

Lumberjacks at a Maine logging camp, circa 1900.

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Chandu Numerology Pada June 16, 2025 Komentar

Salomon Andrée's Ill-Fated Arctic Balloon Expedition

Travel

By the late 19th century, the North Pole remained one of the last great geographic mysteries. The quest to reach the inhospitable and dangerous frozen ocean became a lifelong pursuit for many explorers around the world. Numerous adventurers threw themselves at the challenge, often at great cost. They faced untold hardships, failure, and even death. Like many spirited explorers, Salomon August Andrée, a Swedish engineer and aeronaut, was bewitched by the Arctic. But unlike previous expeditions, Andrée, a fervent believer in the power of science and technology, was convinced that success could be achieved not by traveling through the sea or over ice by sled, but by flying above it in a hydrogen balloon.

The balloon Örnen lies where it crashed on the ice pack. Photo by expedition member Nils Strindberg

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Chandu Numerology Pada June 09, 2025 Komentar

Timothy Dexter’s Curious Business Ventures

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Timothy Dexter was businessman, but he had few business sense. He attempted to sell coal to Newcastle and bed warmers to the tropics. Yet, despite his seemingly strange ventures, Dexter often managed to turn a profit. Born in 1747 in Malden, Massachusetts, Dexter rose from humble beginnings to amass a considerable fortune, not through careful planning or education, but seemingly by sheer luck and outrageous confidence. What makes his story truly fascinating is not just his financial success, but the bizarre, often comical manner in which he lived and spent his fortune.

Timothy Dexter’s house in Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA. Credit: “Famous Colonial Houses” by Paul M. Hollister.

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Chandu Numerology Pada May 30, 2025 Komentar

Johann Bessler’s Mysterious Rotating Wheel

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For centuries, inventors have sought to create machines that could run forever without any external source of energy. These so-called “perpetual motion machines” were considered the holy grail of engineering, as they promised a solution to all energy problems. While modern thermodynamics has definitively shown that such machines are impossible, during the Middle Ages and early modern period, they still seemed within reach.

Many attempts throughout history either failed to function as intended or turned out to be carefully crafted hoaxes. Johann Bessler’s rotating wheel is widely believed to fall into the latter category—yet exactly how it worked remains a mystery. What made Bessler’s invention particularly remarkable was its ability to convince prominent intellectuals and political leaders of the era, including renowned mathematicians like Gottfried Leibniz, Johann Bernoulli, and Willem 's Gravesande, as well as the ruling prince of the German state of Hesse-Kassel.

Workings of Bessler’s wheel. Credit: Das Triumphirende Perpetuum mobile Orffyreanum

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Chandu Numerology Pada May 26, 2025 Komentar

Paige Compositor: The Invention That Bankrupted Mark Twain

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Movabale letter types in a type case. This centuries-old method of type setting, although largely displaced by newer technologies, is still used by many niche publishers. Credit: Willi Heidelbach/Wikimedia Commons

The late 19th century saw a massive boom in newspaper publishing, especially in cities like New York, Chicago, and London. Rising literacy rates, rapid urbanization, and cheaper paper all contributed to a surge in public demand for daily news. To keep pace, newspapers had to print faster and in greater volume, placing immense pressure on compositors who still set type by hand.

The traditional hand-setting process was laborious and time-consuming. A compositor assembled each page character by character, using small metal letters known as sorts. These were stored in individual compartments on a tray, or type case, in front of the compositor. Working from copy, the compositor would pick up each character in sequence and place it into a composing stick, usually held in the left hand. Once a line of text was complete, it was justified by adjusting the spacing between words so that both the left and right margins aligned evenly.

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Chandu Numerology Pada May 19, 2025 Komentar