Stegosaurus

“This archival image, snapped circa 1899, depicts paleoartist Charles Knight working on a scale model of the dinosaur Stegosaurus. In life, this species could measure 28 ft (8.5 m) long and weigh about 6,000 lbs (2,720 kg). But when this animal was discovered, paleontologists were surprised to find that its skull—and brain—were disproportionately small. In fact, some scientists thought this massive herbivore must have had a "second brain" near its hips that controlled the back half of its body. Turns out, Stegosaurus did manage with just one relatively small brain.“

(source 1 & 2)

William Morris

via

Though best-known today as a designer of fabrics and wallpapers, in his own time Morris was equally famous for his writing and his pioneering socialism. He was a man of fierce energies and strong opinions. When he was taken to court for knocking a policeman’s helmet off during a political demonstration, Morris was stubbornly unrepentant. In his socialist vision of a future Britain, News from Nowhere, the Houses of Parliament are used for the storage of dung – all they are good for, says the book’s narrator.

Source

News from Nowhere remains the best-known of Morris’ writings. Originally serialized in Morris’ socialist newspaper, The Commonweal, in 1890 as a rebuttal to Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000-1887 (1888), which predicted a world benefitting from advanced technology, it envisions a future, pastoral, post-socialist revolution England in which capitalism, class, industrialization, and (to some extent) sexism have disappeared. The iconic frontispiece to the Kelmscott Press edition, by Charles M. Gere, shows Morris’ country house in Oxfordshire, Kelmscott Manor, the model for the “house by the river” lovingly described in the book.

Source

Circular Rainbows

“What you might not realize is that the shape of a rainbow isn’t a “bow” or an “arc” at all, but rather a full circle. The only reason you see part of that full circle, under most conditions, is because the Earth itself (or other foreground features) are in the way, preventing you from seeing the entire rainbow at once.”

(image source 1 & 2)