Category: +Did You Know?

Television of Future Past?

Did You Know? 3D movies are really popular right now, and there were early experiements in 3D movies as well. But there have also been experiments with 3D television. One was an episode of the children’s sci-fi program Space Patrol, which aired Apr. 29, 1953. We may see more 3D television efforts in the future. There are certainly people working on it now. LEARN MORE.

“This Is MUTINY, Mr. Christian.”

Did You Know? “The famed “”Mutiny on the Bounty”” Incident occurred on Apr. 28, 1789. It has been commemorated by books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the commanding officer, William Bligh. According to most accounts, the sailors were attracted to the idyllic life on the Pacific island of Tahiti and repelled by the harsh treatment from their captain.
The mutineers set Lieutenant Bligh and crew loyal to him afloat in a small boat. Mutineers then settled on Pitcairn Island or in Tahiti. The HMS Bounty was subsequently burned off Pitcairn Island to avoid detection and to prevent desertion. Descendants of some of the mutineers and Tahitians still live on Pitcairn island.” LEARN MORE.

For a Mysterious Lady

Did You Know? Ludwig von Beethoven composed his piece Fur Elise (“For Elise,” pronoucned eh-LEE-se) on a manuscript dated Apr. 27, 1810. We don’t know who Elise was, though it is suspected that “Elise” is a penmanship “typo” for “Therese” and that she is Therese Malfatti, a friend and student of Beethoven to whom he proposed marriage, though she turned him down. A musical recording of Fur Elise can be heard on the page linked. By the way, I call square dances to this tune! LEARN MORE.

Suddenly the Universe Got a Whole Lot Bigger (Conceptually Speaking)

Did You Know? Originally it was thought that the stars of our galaxy filled the whole universe. But after discoveries in the early 1900s (that recently!) some astronomers began to hold that the Andromeda Nebula (now the Andromeda Galaxy) and other “spiral nebulae” were, in fact, distant galaxies in their own right (not smaller parts of our own galaxy) and that the universe was much larger and emptier than previously thought. The subject was disputed by Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis on April 26, 1920, in what is known in astronomical circles as “The Great Debate.” Turns out Curtis (the advocate of the big, empty universe position) was right, as Edwin Hubble showed by 1925. LEARN MORE.

The South Star?

Did You Know? We all know of Polaris as “the North Star,” the pole star for the northern hemisphere, around which all the other stars seem to rotate each day. Right now the southern hemisphere does not have an equivalent star, however due to the wobble of the Earth’s axis the celestial poles make a circle in the sky every 26,000 years. Currently the south celestial pole is between bright stars, but by A.D. 4200 the star Gamma Chameleontis will function as the new “South Star.” LEARN MORE.

Longest Reinging King EVER?

Did You Know? Some monarchs reign for a very long time. Where they can ascend to the throne as children (as in ancient Egypt), they can reign even longer. The longest-reigning king in world history is often thought to be the Egyptian Pharaoh Pepi II, who many Egyptologists believe reigned for 94 years (!). He reigned c. 2278-2184 B.C. Since so much depended on the pharaoh, it is thought that his very advanced age toward the end may have contributed to the decline of the Old Kingdom and the chaos that followed. Still, if he lived to his late 90s, at one time he must have been mighty peppy. LEARN MORE.