LOST HISTORY

2022-04-17 19:05:01 Platinum, literally translated from Spanish, means "silvery". This derogatory name, given to the metal by conquistadors, can be explained by the exceptional refractoriness of platinum, which could not be melted down, had no use for a long time, and was valued at half the price of silver. Open / Comment

2022-04-17 15:05:01 Tom Torlino, a Navajo Indian before entering the Carlsley Industrial School (1882) and three years thereafter.

The school was one of several founded by the federal government to attract Native American children to the "white" culture. Open / Comment

2022-04-17 11:05:02 Tom and Jerry of ancient Egypt. This shard with a cat and a mouse is from the 19th and 20th dynasties, 1295-1075 BC. On the left, the cat passes offerings to the mouse: a roasted duck and a piece of cloth. At the same time, the cat is waving a fan around the mouse. Supposedly this is a sketch for some satirical story or part of a lost history. The exhibit can be seen at the Brooklyn Museum. Open / Comment

2022-04-16 19:05:01 When James Watt was marketing his steam engine, he needed to visualize its advantage over traditional sources of energy.

He calculated how much weight an average horse could lift per minute by driving a water pump, and designated this unit of power as horsepower. Then the power of steam engines, expressed in horsepower, immediately began to indicate how many times more efficient the machine is than a horse.

By the way, according to scientists' calculations, a horse can work with a maximum load of almost 15 horsepower for a short time. Open / Comment

2022-04-16 15:05:02 In 1974, American television journalist Christine Chubbuck committed suicide live on American television.

The journalist uttered: "In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, we bring you another first Attempted suicide," then pulled out a revolver and shot herself in the head. Open / Comment

2022-04-16 11:05:05 A 5000 year old image found in Altai and signed "Manaka" is a deity of the Turks.

In Hinduism there is the fertility goddess Manasa, a woman with seven snakes around her head.

A similar "hydra" Chicomecatl is painted in temples throughout Mexico, as a legacy from the Aztecs. Open / Comment

2022-04-15 19:05:01 In 1969, the French writer Georges Pérec's novel La disparition was published. One of the key features of the novel was that it did not contain a single letter e, the most used letter in the French language.

By the same principle - without the letter e - the book was translated into English, German and Italian. In 2005, the novel came out in Russian in a translation by Valery Kislov under the title "Disappearance". In this version, the letter o cannot be found, as it is the most frequent letter in Russian. Open / Comment

2022-04-15 15:05:01 "When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler!", American poster, 1943.

In the 1940s, America entered World War II and the authorities tried their best to save fuel for the army. They even launched a national advertising campaign of so-called carpooling, when a driver was obliged to take passengers in his car so as not to drive alone and not to burn extra fuel, so necessary for the army. The campaign slogan was: "If you ride alone, you ride with Hitler!” Open / Comment

2022-04-15 11:05:01 Veni, vidi, vici ("came, saw, conquered") is a Latin expression, words with which, according to Plutarch in his "Sayings of Kings and Commanders," Julius Caesar in 47 B.C. notified his friend Aminius in Rome of the victory he had quickly won at Caele over Pharnaces, son of Mithridates.

According to Suetonius, this phrase was carried before Caesar during his triumph in Rome. By this Caesar was celebrating not the events of the war, as usual, but the swiftness of its conclusion. Open / Comment

2022-04-14 19:05:01 American businessman William Phelps Eno created the first rules of the road. It was he who invented the traffic circle, the one-way street, the "pedestrian safety island" and the specialized cab stand. He designed the crosswalk and STOP signs.

At the same time, he has never driven a car. Open / Comment