Well, not actual life on the planet Mars. More like real Life on Mars. Scientists have managed to communicate with comatose vegetative patients.

m_nivalis pointed me to this list of references to the book canon (and occasional nods to other interpretations) in the new Sherlock Holmes filmI'm not myself familiar with the complete book canon, but I did spot the "V.R." written with bullet holes on the wall as something out of the books, so I suspected that there were lots more. Holmes's proficiency in ( Read more... )

I just found out about Per Georg Scheutz. Scheutz, together with his son Edward, actually built an improved version of Babbage's Difference Engine in 1843, possibly the first people to ever do this. (Babbage himself never got around to actually building his Engine ( Read more... )

Today I've learnt something very useful while surfing: How to decaffeinate your tea ( Read more... )

I've been researching forms of address in the early 19th century some more, and found another interesting fact: Married women didn't begin to be called by their husband's family name here in Sweden until the mid-19th century. The patronyms, which are the source for the most common surnames here, didn't begin to be used in a hereditary fashion until ( Read more... )