Lost Technology

Greek Fire
Roman Cement
Flexible Glass (Roman)
Terra Pietra (Bolivian)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Story Seeds

Image
Story Concepts Story of a man who works in a huge sprawling office complex where [thanks to automation / politics / new administration / market forces ?] over weeks and months people are laid off or quit until there are very few people working in the building. Where he used to have friends and chat with people throughout the day, he often goes days, and later weeks without seeing anyone. The story could explore the varied senses as at first he feels empowered, having survived when so few had, and even a sense of domination, then loneliness, guilt, then paranoia. This could be exhibited in the man's reactions to seeing / hearing other people - through corridors / in the distance - at first very friendly, later more reserved, finally hostile / manic. Could attempt a reverse chronology, beginning with a madman and following it back to sanity. ============================== Mutually Assured Madness The concept that only crazy people are sane - that with how insane the world
Read more

From Alchemy to Chemistry

Image
    home | index | units | counting | geometry | algebra | trigonometry & functions | calculus analysis | sets & logic | number theory | recreational | misc | nomenclature & history | physics Final Answers © 2000-2019   Gérard P. Michon , Ph.D. Basic Chemistry Willard Libby   came to Princeton with  a little jar of crystals of barium xenate . Freeman Dyson   (1923-) Measuring chemical stuff in  moles   (mol)  makes  stoichiometry   obvious. Modern distillation   ( alembic = still-head)  is due to  Mary the Jewess . The retort   was a prominent tool of alchemists and chemists for centuries. Production and distillation of alcohol .  Its origins and limitations. Black powder :  An ancient explosive, still used as a propellant ( gunpowder ). Predicting explosive reactions :  A useful but oversimplified rule of thumb. Thermite   generates temperatures hot enough to weld iron. Enthalpy of Formation :  The tabulated data wh
Read more

Dreams

Strange Dreams 10 / 2 / 2020 I had a couple of vivid dreams last night, or one strange dream that bled into another. I was with a group of people (friends) outside looking up at the night sky and was amazed to be able to see many of the planets which I have never seen before with the naked eye, to include Saturn and its rings. I believe Jupiter was also visible to the left of Saturn, but the beautiful rings occupied most of my attention. I began commenting on my amazement to the people around me when I simultaneously began wondering how this was possible. Suddenly to the right of my vision I noticed a huge meteor shower and I somehow connected that as some sort of cause or correlation to the other phenomena. We all seemed to stare in wonder until I saw the reflection or shadows off of a nearby airplane that appeared to have been shocked or hit or somehow otherwise lost control and it slowly fell through the sky and crashed nose first not far away from our group. Its tail then fell in o
Read more