Ed K4EGP @egprentice

Since 1833, a red ball has dropped from the roof of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich at precisely 1pm. It was introduced to solve a vital problem for ships on the Thames. Before setting sail, navigators needed to set their marine chronometers, as accurate time was essential for calculating their position at sea. By watching the Greenwich Time Ball fall, ships could set the correct time before beginning their voyages. First used in 1833, it became one of the world's earliest public time signals and helped distribute accurate time to ships and Londoners alike. The idea was so useful that time balls were eventually established at ports around the world. And remarkably, the Greenwich Time Ball still operates today. At 12:55pm it rises halfway up its mast. At 12:58pm it reaches the top. At exactly 1pm, it falls. A daily signal from the age of sail, still marking time nearly two centuries later. Have you ever seen the Greenwich Time Ball drop? Follow @oaksandlions for your daily dose of England's hidden gems.

When a Cherokee woman wanted a divorce, she just put her husband's belongings outside—and that was legally binding. No lawyers. No judges. No permission from male relatives. If she decided the marriage was over, she gathered his things, placed them on the doorstep, and he left. Because in Cherokee society, women owned the houses. The land. The food. The tools. Everything in them. When European colonizers arrived in what is now the southeastern United States, they were shocked. They expected a world where men ruled, and women obeyed. Instead, they found a society where women held real power. Cherokee women sat in councils alongside men, debating war, treaties, and tribal policies. Some earned the title of "Beloved Women" or "War Women," a position of authority so great their words could spare prisoners’ lives or decide whether the nation went to battle. Nancy Ward, one of the most famous Beloved Women, negotiated directly with colonists and influenced decisions during the Revolutionary War era. But power wasn’t only political. Cherokee society was matrilineal: identity came from the mother’s clan, children belonged to their mother’s family, and property passed from mother to daughter. When a couple married, the husband moved into his wife’s home. If he failed as a father or husband, her brothers—not his male relatives—held authority over him. Irish trader James Adair, living among the Cherokee in the 1700s, was scandalized. He called it a “petticoat government,” unable to imagine a world where women weren’t property. Yet women weren’t just making laws—they ran the economy. They cultivated corn, beans, and squash, the “Three Sisters” that fed the nation. They wove baskets that held water, tanned hides into soft leather, built houses, and raised children. They preserved stories, dances, and traditions that kept Cherokee identity alive. Men hunted, fished, and fought—but the women controlled the distribution of food. Men might provide, but women decided its fate. This wasn’t utopia. There was hierarchy, conflict, rules. But it worked on a fundamentally different principle: women and men were different but equal partners, each with authority over vital aspects of life. Then came forced removal, boarding schools, and federal policies meant to erase Cherokee culture. The U.S. recognized only male leaders, imposed patriarchal laws, and taught women to be submissive. Yet Cherokee women resisted, preserving language, stories, and traditions. Today, Cherokee Nation citizenship is still traced through maternal lines in many families, keeping alive the principles of centuries past. The power Cherokee women held wasn’t a quirk. It was proof that patriarchy is a choice, not inevitability. In the 1700s, Cherokee women owned property, divorced freely, and shaped government—rights most American women wouldn’t see for centuries. The next time someone says gender inequality is “just how things have always been,” remember the women who placed their ex-husbands’ belongings on the doorstep, on land they inherited, in a nation where their voices mattered. Different worlds are possible. We know because they existed. #archaeohistories

I’m so proud of our Nova team for flying incredible shows for FIFA this year. This is my favorite shot from our closing show in NYC this weekend.

This is absolutely incredible… a shape that always rights itself 🤯 So fascinating. There’s a real geometric object called the Gömböc that will always roll back to the same upright position, no matter how you knock it over. Discovered in 2006, it has just one stable equilibrium point. Tip it any direction and it wobbles back on its own. The coolest part? It’s completely uniform inside (no weights or tricks). Its power comes purely from its unique curved shape. This math marvel even helped explain how certain turtles flip themselves over when stuck on their backs. Pure geometry meeting nature. Proof that the real world is stranger (and more elegant) than fiction.

Tornado Warning continues for Clintonville WI, Manawa WI and Iola WI until 9:45 PM CDT

Everyone wants to fight about the smartest president, but honestly the best answer got handed down by another president. In 1962 John F. Kennedy hosted a room full of Nobel Prize winners at the White House and told them, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." The whole room laughed because they knew he was barely joking. Because Jefferson was a genuine freak of nature. He wrote the Declaration of Independence at 33, in about two weeks, and it still reads like scripture. He taught himself to read in something like half a dozen languages. He designed his own home at Monticello and then designed an entire university, buildings, curriculum, and layout, from scratch. He obsessed over science, farming, wine, food, and gadgets, and JFK described him that night as a man who could "calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet." And here is the part people forget. When the British burned Washington in 1814 and torched the Library of Congress, Jefferson sold the country his personal library to rebuild it, close to 6,500 books covering basically every subject a human being can study. His private collection literally became the foundation of the national library. Who owns 6,500 books in 1815? A maniac. A brilliant one. Purely on raw wattage, the man was operating on a different frequency than the rest of the list. Two hundred years later we are still living inside sentences he wrote alone at a desk.

Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT

a day ago

Everyone loves to argue about the dumbest president, but the funniest part is that Warren Harding already ended the debate himself. He literally said "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Most politicians would rather walk into the sea than admit that.

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Everyone loves to argue about the dumbest president, but the funniest part is that Warren Harding already ended the debate himself. He literally said "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Most politicians would rather walk into the sea than admit that. Harding just said it out loud and went back to his card game. And the record backs him up hard. He stuffed his cabinet with his poker buddies, the so called Ohio Gang, and then let them treat the federal government like their personal piggy bank. His Interior Secretary took cash and cattle to secretly hand off government oil reserves to rich friends. That is the Teapot Dome scandal, and the man actually went to prison for it. His Veterans Bureau chief looted money meant for wounded WWI soldiers. Two of his associates killed themselves as the investigators closed in. The kicker is that Harding saw it coming. He said his enemies never kept him up at night, it was his friends, because he could not say no to anyone. He even joked it was a good thing he wasn't a woman, because he'd never be able to say no and would always be pregnant. Self awareness was somehow the one thing he had plenty of. Even his big talent was fake. He gave these grand flowery speeches, and the critic H.L. Mencken said Harding's writing "reminds me of a string of wet sponges, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it." That might be the meanest and most accurate review any president has ever received. He died in office in 1923 with the scandals still coming apart at the seams, and decades later a DNA test confirmed what people whispered for years, that he'd fathered a child with a much younger woman while he was in the White House. Historians have parked him at the bottom of the rankings for a hundred straight years. And the wild part is, Harding would probably just shrug and agree with them.

I had an accident with my Tesla and have some interesting findings: 1. The emergency call was automatic (triggered by the airbag deployment?) 2. Only the middle airbag and the side curtains were deployed. Not the steering wheel airbag (Due to an offset collision while spinning?) 3. The driver door was automatically unlocked and opened. 4. The windows were automatically rolled down (to vent airbag smoke?) 5. The glovebox was automatically opened (to be able to retrieve the USB-drive?) 6. The whole car shutdown after a while and the driver door was only available to open through the emergency handle inside of the door. All in all an excellent safety protocol from all perspective. Some suggestions to the @Tesla team: 1. Send a push notification to the users of the Tesla app that has access to your vehicle, they are usually next of kin, that an accident has occured, preferably with some short info like "Low speed accident", "High speed accident" "Vehicle rolled over" and some additional info like "automatic emergency call initiated succesfully" and a position of the vehicle to make it easy for someone to drive over to check on them. 2. Put some large text on the screen on what has/will happen with the vehicle, like "Door automatically unlocked" "Vehicle automatic shutdown in 14:37 min" "Please dont forget any valueables in the car" "Retain the USB-drive for future reference with the insurance company" etc etc. Also with a spoken voice if the screen is broken.

Tornado Warning continues for Polonia WI, Rosholt WI and Knowlton WI until 8:45 PM CDT

Tornado Warning including Clintonville WI, Manawa WI and Iola WI until 9:45 PM CDT

Recommended by @step2018step2 Meet please JS2TAV in Japan 🇯🇵 @djr100dx An active multi-tasking cyber YL from Japan, bridging the worlds of radio, fishing, and nature! 🇯🇵 🎣 💯💯💯 ✨️ @WorldOfWomenCom #hamradio #yl

Once FSD can remember parking presences, especially parking in a home garage or remembering someone parking spot in an apartment complex/garage, interventions will go wayyy down. By far the #1 reason I hear why people can't keep their FSD streak going is because of parking.

Elon Musk @elonmusk

3 days ago

@wholemars The car will start to remember your specific interventions and match each person’s individual preferences

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I mean Thursday (duh)

@OwenSparks Upcoming release will remember individual user preferences, so you won’t need to keep correcting your car

JUST IN: Trial lawyers are lobbying against self-driving cars, arguing they threaten auto accident litigation.

SpaceX says they are now targeting Thursday, July 23 at 6:45 PM ET for their 13th Starship test flight. Let’s see if that time holds.

So messed up. This makes me want self-driving cars even more.

Paul Graham @paulg

2 days ago

Trial lawyers are lobbying against self-driving cars because they're too safe. They need people to be killed and injured so that they have material for lawsuits.

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just watched my dog squeak a ball for 15 minutes and thought “wow dogs are so easily entertained.” Then I realized I just watched my dog squeak a ball for 15 minutes.

Tornado Warning including Petersburg PA until 9:15 PM EDT

Tornado Warning continues for Petersburg PA until 9:15 PM EDT