Cyborg cockroaches can now be steered with UV goggles
May. 25th, 2025 08:39 pm
The Black Paramedics Who Set the Standard for Today's Ambulance Services
May. 25th, 2025 06:31 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
neatorama_feedWhen I was a kid, if anyone had to go to the hospital for a medical emergency, the telephone operator would call a funeral home and they would take you in a hearse, although with a temporary red bubble light stuck on top. They were the only vehicles that could accommodate a person lying down. Up through the 1960s, ambulance service in the USA was a local concern, operated by the police or fire departments, hospitals, or funeral homes. It was mainly a matter of transport, as few places had EMTs. Your odds of survival often depended on how long the trip took.
In Pittsburgh’s majority-Black Hill District, hospital transport was carried out by the city police, and they weren't all that enthusiastic about it. Local leaders looked into the problem, and in 1967, the nonprofit organization Freedom House Enterprises partnered with Presbyterian-University Hospital to develop an ambulance service with trained paramedics. The Black paramedics of the Hill District responded so well that people started calling Freedom House in an emergency instead of the police or hospital. Freedom House suffered political backlash and defunding from city leaders, but its standards of care started a revolution in ambulance service that was felt nationwide. Read about the paramedics of Freedom House Ambulance Service at Smithsonian. A video documentary is included.
Implanted Device Restores Arm Function After Spinal Cord Injury
May. 25th, 2025 08:10 pm
'I Bought a Robot Cat for My Rabbit — and Fell Into the Weird World of Animal-Robot Research'
May. 25th, 2025 08:06 pmdamninteresting_link_feed
'I Bought a Robot Cat for My Rabbit — and Fell Into the Weird World of Animal-Robot Research' (from thereader.mitpress.mit.edu)
California hummingbird beaks transformed by feeders: ‘more tapered and longer’
May. 25th, 2025 07:33 pm
China’s capacitor-free coil gun can fire 3,000 projectiles a minute, outpacing rivals
May. 25th, 2025 07:31 pmdamninteresting_link_feed
China’s capacitor-free coil gun can fire 3,000 projectiles a minute, outpacing rivals (from interestingengineering.com)
The Popes' Last Warship
May. 25th, 2025 03:46 pmneatorama_feed
The Bishop of Rome had significant temporal power from at least Pope Miltiades, a trend that generally accelerated (with interruptions, Byzantine and otherwise) until the papal domains assembled its own navy to combat Muslim invaders in 849. The Popes intermittently maintained naval forces in addition to armies in the centuries that followed.
Starting in the 1840s, the gradual of unification squeezed the Papal States and its armed forces. The last warship serving in the Papal Navy (Marina Pontifica) was a screw corvette built by the British in 1859 and named the Immacolata Concezione. According to a 1963 article in the US Naval Institute's Proceedings, it had 8 18-pound cannons and a very comfortable cabin built with the Pope's travel in mind. The crew of 46, though, was primarily tasked with protecting the Papal States' fishing rights.
In 1870, the Kingdom of Italy invades the Papal States and, erm, persuaded Pope Pius IX that the temporal power of the Bishops of Rome had reached a conclusion. The Immacolata Concezione was integrated into the Royal Italian Navy. It later entered French service. The precise fate of the vessel is uncertain, but it was definitely the last warship to sail under the Papal ensign.
vital functions
May. 25th, 2025 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettReading. ( Bridget Collins, Feather (lalaietha), Jenny Lawson )
Listening. More Hidden Almanac, including First Appearance of Pastor Drom; slightly grumpy with myself for dozing through a chunk of it (to a greater extent than I realised; I did get snippets, but missed more than was apparent at the time) and am steeling myself to relisten.
Cooking. More from East: aubergine katsu curry with pickled radish (meh on my part, but A liked it), roasted carrots and cabbage with gochujang (meh on A's part, but I liked it enough to nibble at it between meals even though I'm unlikely to make it again), asparagus and mangetout with chilli peanut crumb (not actually worth spending in-season asparagus on outside the Cook Everything In This Book project, but pleasing given that context).
Eating. WILD ASPARAGUS is I think the most exciting thing I have eaten this week.
I have been Disappointed by Wagamama. Much less disappointingly, I have been plied with blueberries and yoghurt. Finished the hazel-bay-rye-and-rhubarb cake; have made some progress on the birthday cake I got sent home with.
Exploring. I am currently Away From Home. There are postbox toppers. One of them is Many Round Hedgehogs; another is Sea Creatures including Mollusc. I am sort of curious about who else I might spot in the area.
Making & mending.
Growing. ... I did not get cucumbers started. I did get some more squash into the ground (well, raised beds), and planted out a bunch of tomatoes, and at least two kinds of pea are now flowering, and I will be mildly resentful if I get home and discover all the strawberries have been eaten.
Did I mention that my established rocket remains established? I was a little concerned that I'd buried it under too much manure, and then it showed up in the next bed over.
Observing. BABY WOODPECKER.
Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Beavis and Butt-Head
May. 25th, 2025 11:48 amneatorama_feed
Do you recall Frog Baseball? The 1992 short was the first cartoon appearance of two adolescent slackers named Beavis and Butt-Head. It aired on MTV's Liquid Television. Before you go watch it, be advised that they play baseball with a live frog as the ball. The MTV audience went wild over it, and Beavis and Butt-Head got their own series and became television superstars. So did their creator, Mike Judge. With fame came controversy, since these two characters were anything but role models. But Beavis and Butt-Head managed to hold on for seven consecutive seasons, two feature-length films, and two series revivals stretching well into the 21st century. The kids who stayed up past bedtime and had to sneak to watch the show grew up with fond recollections of the two boys who never made it past their pubescent idiocy, at least in this universe. Weird History takes us through the entire history of Beavis and Butt-Head so far.