On This Day
1805 – Official opening of Thomas Telford’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌpɔntkəˈsəɬtɛ]; Welsh: Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in north east Wales. The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use by narrow boats and was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build. It is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain and the highest canal aqueduct in the world.[1][2]
The aqueduct was to have been a key part of the central section of the proposed Ellesmere Canal, an industrial waterway that would have created a commercial link between the River Severn at Shrewsbury and the Port of Liverpool on the River Mersey. Although a cheaper construction course was surveyed further to the east, the westerly high-ground route across the Vale of Llangollen was preferred because it would have taken the canal through the mineral-rich coalfields of North East Wales. However, only parts of the canal route were completed because the expected revenues required to complete the entire project were never generated. Most major work ceased after the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805.
The structure is a Grade I listed building[3] and a World Heritage Site.
Born On This Day
1832 – Mary Edwards Walker, American surgeon and activist, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1919)
Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919), commonly referred to as Dr. Mary Walker, was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She was the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.[1]
In 1855, she earned her medical degree at Syracuse Medical College in New York,[2] married and started a medical practice. She volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital in Washington, D.C., even though at the time women and sectarian physicians were considered unfit for the Union Army Examining Board.[3] She was captured by Confederate forces[2] after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.
After the war, she was approved for the Medal of Honor, for her efforts to treat the wounded during the Civil War. Notably, the award was not expressly given for gallantry in action at that time, and in fact was the only military decoration during the Civil War. Walker is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. Her name was deleted from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917 (along with over 900 other male MOH recipients); however, it was restored in 1977.[2] After the war, she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women’s suffrage movement until her death in 1919.
FYI
By Maria Sherman: Oprah Winfrey’s Mom, Vernita Lee, Died On Thanksgiving at 83
Bernardo Bertolucci (Italian: [berˈnardo bertoˈluttʃi]; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers. In recognition of his work, he was presented with the inaugural Honorary Palme d’Or Award at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[2] From 1979 until his death in 2018, he was married to screenwriter Clare Peploe.[3]
By Ty Burr: Bernardo Bertolucci, ‘Tango,’ and #MeToo
Bernardo Bertolucci was one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, a protean talent whose impact on the cinema of the 1970s was incalculable.
Bernardo Bertolucci was a director who orchestrated the onscreen assault of an actress in ways that traumatized her for the rest of her life.
By Andrew Liszewski: Watch a First-Time Hang Glider Hang On for Dear Life After Realizing He’s Not Strapped In
By Rich Juzwiak: Paula Abdul’s Career-Spanning Show Is Totally Surreal (and Occasionally Surrealist)
By Rhett Jones: Six Flags Biometric Case Could Turn One of the Toughest Privacy Laws in the U.S. Upside Down
The case also brings up the more abstract question of whether violating someone’s legal expectation of privacy is a form of harm unto itself. Nothing like this case falls under the four main types of invasion of privacy claims considered under law, but we’re dealing with new, untested issues, and few states even have laws protecting this kind of personal information. It’s an early test case on how privacy legislation in the era of biometrics and massive data collection will need to be written if the intent is to work as a preventative measure.
By Samar Kalef: Report: Jimbo Fisher’s Nephew Was The Texas A&M Staffer Who Foolishly Tried To Fight Kevin Faulk
Kragthorpe wasn’t sure who swung at him, but he knew whoever it was worked for the other team:
“I didn’t appreciate getting punched in my pacemaker,” he said. “I’m not feeling good right now. I have no idea who the guy is. But he was wearing an A&M shirt, and I think I saw him signalling during the game. He was credentialed, so A&M should know who he is.”
Faulk’s version of what happened next was much simpler:
“It’s unfortunate this situation happened,” Faulk said Sunday in a phone interview. “It got out of hand. But I was just behaving as my mom and dad raised me. This guy hit Coach Kragthorpe in the chest. I just stepped in. It just happened.
Today’s email was written by Benji Jones, edited by Jessanne Collins, and produced by Luiz Romero: Quartz Obsession Sand Dollars
Chuck Wendig Terrible Minds: Macro Monday Is The Weirdest Heirloom Apple Yet
The Passive Voice – Barnes & Noble Needs A Turnaround Expert India India’s Dangerous New Curriculum Small bookstores are booming after nearly being wiped out The app that makes writing less lonely
By Rocky Parker: Blog Profiles – Movie Blogs
By Christine Schmidt: Canada introduces a $595 million package in support of journalism
By Heather Chapman: N.C. hog-waste lagoons haven’t changed much in 20 years; Smithfield says it will act there, and in Missouri and Utah
Because state government and industry have not acted, citizens increasingly seek change through the courts. More than 500 people have joined 26 federal lawsuits against a Smithfield subsidiary since 2014, arguing that the hog farms are nuisances that bring terrible odors, flies, and heavy traffic. “Juries have awarded multimillion-dollar damages to plaintiffs in three of the lawsuits so far,” and a fourth trial began this month, Buford reports.
By Heather Chapman: FCC proposes doubling minimum speed of rural broadband in future subsidized buildouts
Telecoms companies that take government subsidies to build out rural broadband would be required to meet the new standard, but the FCC would have to use different incentives to get companies to improve existing networks, Kelly reports.
By Jon Kinyon: Who Murdered My Father?
Why you should care
Because the good must make right this evil wrong.
By Nick Fildes: Europe Promised Superfast Internet by 2020. But It’s Not Going to Happen
Why you should care
Superspeedy internet for all Europeans? Not so fast, owing to the continent’s digital divide.
Webneel: 50 Forced Perspective Photography examples around the world
Forced perspective photography is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, film-making and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera. Perspective photography is fun and catches everyone’s attention and can be very informative at times. You can find tons of examples from perspective photography over the web but In this post 40 examples of forced perspective photography we have listed best shots from creative people who have gone ahead to do it. Learning photography these days is just few clicks away with amazing cameras and photogrpahy tutorials out there on the web.
Open Culture Colin Marshall: In 17th-Century Japan, Creaking Floors Functioned as Security Systems That Warned Palaces & Temples of Approaching Intruders and Assassins
GlacierHub – Newsletter 11/26/2018: A new study details a decades-old conflict between early glacier researchers in Alaska, a conflict that remains relevant today. In her new book, author Lauren LaFauci analyzes the perceived safety and stability of the glacierized Arctic. More ->
By MessyNessy: 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCXXIX): Gustav Mesmer and his umbrella helicopter, Kuphar Boats of Iraq, A Bicycle Powered Tree House Elevator, Lady Gaga’s Pianist and more ->
Ideas
By Hometalk Highlights: 18 DIY Christmas Gift Ideas You’ll Want to Keep For Your Home
By Hometalk Hits: 32 Space Saving Storage Ideas That’ll Keep Your Home Organized
Alicia W Hometalker Middletown, PA: Epsom Salt for Your Plants – Inside and Out
AV Club Wiki Wormhole
- The Gilded Age recap: Dreams and fireworks burst in this season’s penultimate episode December 11, 2023Big Hat Hive! Our days of excessive headwear, extravagant parties, and extreme frivolousness are numbered, as we’re already on the penultimate episode of The Gilded Age season two. And the TV gods have dished up a doozy this week, one seasoned with deception, destitution, and—eek!—even death. Read more...Christina Izzo
- The Boy And The Heron takes the weekend box office, with Godzilla Minus One not far behind December 10, 2023It’s an exciting weekend for international cinema at the U.S. box office, with two Japanese films hitting the top three in American theaters—one live-action and one animated! The top spot went to the animated one, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron, which opened with $10 million (and on 1,000 fewer screens than…Read more...Sam Barsanti
- Tom Holland has so much respect for Robert Downey Jr. that he actually saw Dolittle December 10, 2023The SAG-AFTRA strike is over, meaning actors are now free to go back and promote the things they made that came out during the strike, and The Hollywood Reporter is taking advantage of that by having Tom Holland sit down for a chat about Apple TV+’s The Crowded Room—a story inspired by the 1981 non-fiction […]Sam Barsanti
- Carey Mulligan’s most pressing question for Michael Fassbender: How did he do those Killer push-ups? December 10, 2023At the beginning of David Fincher’s The Killer, Michael Fassbender’s assassin character goes about his daily routine while waiting to line up a perfect sniper shot on his target, and in addition to eating McDonald’s and overhyping his own abilities in his supremely confident, omnipresent narration, Fassbender does…Read more...Sam Barsanti
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 11 December 11, 2023Picture of the day Ama Dablam, a 6,812 m (22,349 ft) high mountain in the eastern Himalayas of Nepal, as seen from a nearby valley. For its soaring ridges and steep faces, the mountain is sometimes called the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas." Today is International Mountain Day.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 10 December 10, 2023Picture of the day 100 francs bearer share certificate, issued in 1919 by Compagnie Universelle Cinématographique, Paris. Graphic design with theatrical masks at the top, flanking putti and the company's coat of arms with CUC ligature.
Recipes
By jdhandy: Slim Jim’s Lima Beans And Ham
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