Tuesday links

Spring is here - The vernal equinox is on March 20th at 12:15 PM EDT. Here's Vivaldi, science, myths, "spring spheres" and more.

Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand. Related: Google founder's flying taxis secretly tested in New Zealand.

100 years later, the question remains: What happened to the USS Cyclops?

A TED video classic from 2005: How To Tie Your Shoes.

"Since sixt week j learn the Englich and j do not any progress": While imprisoned on St Helena, Napoleon started learning English.

These Cows Wrote a Message That Could Be Seen From Space.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Saint Patrick’s Day, some guys changing tires while driving, the linguistic evolution of "dagnabbit", and the difficulties inherent in coastline measurement.

A TED video classic from 2005: How To Tie Your Shoes

Terry Moore* found out he'd been tying his shoes the wrong way his whole life. In the spirit of TED, he takes the stage to share a better way - an example of extraordinary results from small changes.

(Historical note: This was the very first 3-minute audience talk given from the TED stage, in 2005.)

*Terry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews

From the TED summary: 

At 50 yrs old, Terry discovered he (and most people) have learned to tie their shoes wrong. If you pull on the laces at the base of the knot, the incorrect common knot will turn vertically along the shoe. This is a weaker form of the bow.

The key is when turning around the loop, go the opposite way to normal. This will yield a stronger knot, and will make it align across the shoe.

As Terry concludes, sometimes a small advantage sometime in life will yield extraordinary results.

The History of Tea

Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world right after water, and I drink a lot of it myself, since I suck down iced green tea* all day. I can't say, though, that prior to this I knew so many details about it's history.

Here’s a short video from TED Ed describing the origins of tea and how the beverage became so popular.

via Geeks are Sexy

* Actually, what I drink is green tea with ginseng, and after lots of experimentation this is the process I use:

Buy this stuff from Amazon - it's dirt cheap and good, and the bags are not individually wrapped. That may be a disadvantage in some cases, but it you want to use several at a time, it's much easier not to have to unwrap them. There's no extra flavors added. so if you want you can get some lemon or honey flavored bags and throw a couple of them in, too.

Put six bags (if adding the lemon flavored variety, use four of the plain and two lemon) in a saucepan with ~ 1.5 quarts of water, heat to just below a boil, and remove the pan from the burner.

If adding sugar, do it now while it'll dissolve easily - remember you'll end up with approximately a gallon of tea so sweeten accordingly. Sweetened or not, wait at least an hour for it to steep and cool, then dump into a pitcher, fill the pitcher up with water and refrigerate. I use these 3 quart pitchers because they (1) have a sturdy, well-shaped handle and (2) are somewhat narrow so they take up less room in the fridge, but use what you have, or use an old empty 1 gallon milk/juice carton. 

Kind of fascinating TED-Ed video: How To Spot A Liar - The language of lying

It's easy, of course with politicians - you can tell they're lying if you see their lips moving. Not always obvious otherwise, unless you know the people involved really well. I mean, you know when your family members are lying, right?

Lying is one of the most difficult aspects of being a parent, in that you want to trust that everything your kids say is true, and if they lie about anything, you're never sure whether their being honest when it's really important. I learned with my kids (and grandkids) to listen to and address what they're really saying ("I didn't break that bowl" is really "I don't want to get in trouble"). Also, change your own behavior if you want different behavior from them.

Anyway, here's the blurb from TED-Ed:

We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day. And although we’ve spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect these lies by tracking physiological changes in their tellers, these methods have proved unreliable. Is there a more direct approach? Noah Zandan uses some famous examples of lying to illustrate how we might use communications science to analyze the lies themselves.

Video from TED-Ed: The history of tattoos

They're not just for whores and sailors anymore.

An interesting look at tattoo history (wiki):

TED-Ed: If you have a tattoo, you’re part of a rich cultural history that dates back at least 8,000 years. Where did this practice of body modification come from, and how has its function changed over time? Addison Anderson tracks the history of getting inked.