Latest news with #Sumer
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
No escape: Every traffic light in Chandigarh to have CCTVs
Traffic violators in Chandigarh will soon have nowhere to hide, as every junction in the city is about to come under the watchful eye of CCTV cameras. Intelligent Traffic Management System uses high-resolution cameras, automated number plate recognition, and real-time data sharing with traffic control rooms. (HT) Installed at 40 locations currently, under the Smart Cities Mission, the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) is set to be expanded to all 109 intersections, tracking violations at every signal and ensuring automated challans. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, automatic number plate recognition and violation detection features, ITMS has already proven its worth in tightening traffic enforcement and deterring reckless driving. Officials noted that while the existing network had significantly enhanced monitoring at select intersections, a large number of traffic junctions remained uncovered. This gap, they said, reduced the system's overall effectiveness in ensuring uniform enforcement and improving commuter safety. Thus, after detailed deliberations in recent meetings, the UT engineering department was requested to initiate necessary steps for full-scale deployment. 'Expanding ITMS citywide will not only boost traffic regulation efficiency but also help reduce road accidents by creating a consistent deterrent against violations, such as speeding, signal jumping and dangerous driving. Once implemented, Chandigarh could become one of the few cities in India with 100% ITMS coverage,' said a senior police official. The ITMS shared real-time data with traffic control rooms. These tools not only help penalise traffic violators but also assist in crime detection, congestion management and emergency response coordination. In 2024, ITMS accounted for 8.46 lakh automated challans, a dramatic rise compared to just 78,000 in 2020. Licence suspensions also slow down The vigilant eye of ITMS has not only kept reckless driving in check but has also led to a steep drop in the suspension of driving licences. In 2024, only 302 licences were suspended in the city — less than half of the 689 suspensions recorded in 2023. According to data from the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), riding without a helmet was the most common cause of suspension (196 cases), followed by drunk driving (55), speeding (20) and mobile phone use while driving (9). In comparison, 2023 recorded 457 suspensions for helmetless riding, 74 for drunk driving, 107 for speeding and 18 for using mobile phones while driving. The downward trend marks a sharp contrast to earlier years. In 2022, 1,139 licences were suspended, including 689 for helmetless riding, 286 for speeding, 62 for mobile phone use, 22 for drunk driving and 28 for jumping the red light. The figures were even higher in 2021, with 4,057 suspensions — 2,587 for helmetless or triple riding, 858 for speeding, 343 for mobile phone use, 147 for jumping red lights and six for drunk driving. SSP (Traffic) Sumer Pratap Singh attributed the fall to the ITMS cameras monitoring various traffic junctions, which automatically capture violations like signal jumping, speeding and helmetless riding. Under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, driving licences can be suspended for up to six months for offences such as drunk driving, speeding, jumping the red light and using a mobile phone while driving. For riding without a helmet, licences are suspended for three months, along with a fine. (With inputs by Hillary Victor)
Los Angeles Times
06-08-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
A Palestinian home kitchen reopens in Watts with falafel and fundraisers for Gaza
Mid East Eats — a popular falafel pop-up turned private dinner service — is now open as a fast-casual destination for homestyle Palestinian cuisine with an L.A. edge. It's also the first legally permitted home kitchen in Watts. Sumer and Andrew Durkee's nearly 700-square-foot home on Grape Street has a white banner stretched across the front gate, with blown-up photos of pita wraps, rice bowls, tacos and nachos topped with falafel. Enter the front yard, outfitted with a few tables, and maybe one of the home cooks will greet you, if they're not busy wrapping burritos or throwing meat on a grill. Business has kicked up since the Durkees relaunched Mid East Eats three weeks ago. The restaurant initially began as a private dinner service in February, when Sumer and Andrew offered Palestinian feasts in a decorated tent on their front lawn. For the July 12 opening, the pair added halal chicken and beef shawarma to their largely vegan menu — think fast-casual food like Shawacos (corn tortillas filled with shawarma, cilantro-lime hummus and feta) alongside dishes like the El Jifnawi falafel wrap, named after Sumer's father's Palestinian village, and the West Bank burrito, with fresh fries like the wraps served by street vendors in Ramallah and Jerusalem. From the ages of 9 to 12, Sumer and her family lived in Jifna — a village outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, where she and her brother went to school. The Maryland native recalls living through the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation, which began in 2000. 'My brother and I saw a lot of terrible things just by crossing the checkpoint to get to school in the city,' Durkee said. 'When they would close the checkpoints, we'd have to travel over the hills. … We've been shot at.' For Durkee, being able to serve Palestinian food in L.A., sometimes to local Palestinians, is bittersweet. As an entire generation of Palestinian children suffer irreversible damage from starvation and malnutrition, Durkee grapples with her role and platform as an owner-operator of a Palestinian restaurant. A week after reopening Mid East Eats, she announced that she would stop posting pictures of her restaurant's food on Instagram until Israel ended its blockade of food aid into Gaza. 'It feels insensitive to hold a grand opening during these times, but the time has come to open consistent business hours. Mid East Eats is our only source of income,' read an Instagram post from the restaurant. 'Our grand opening is dedicated to all oppressed communities. We need each other more than ever now.' Before it opened as a microenterpise home kitchen operation (MEHKO) in Feburary, Mid East Eats got its start as a pop-up last summer. The Durkees served dishes like falafel tacos at events across L.A., sometimes up to five per week. It's the same food they now serve in Watts, where many residents live more than half a mile from the closest supermarket, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Access Research Atlas. 'I wanted to make food more accessible to our neighborhood — Watts is a bit of a food desert,' said Sumer, whose bubbly personality and warm hospitality has helped the restaurant maintain a flow of customers. 'There's a lot of fast food … there's no Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Palestinian food.' Mid East Eats is one of the greater L.A. area's roughly 150 MEHKOs, thanks to a state program that was passed in 2018 and was implemented in L.A. County last November. It allows residents to cook and sell food out of their homes and plans to subsidize 1,000 home businesses through June 2026. MEHKOs are limited to serving up to 30 meals per day and 90 meals per week, with no more than $100,000 annual gross sales. Since its pop-up days, a common thread throughout the Durkees' business has been advocacy for Gaza. Many of the pop-ups Mid East Eats attended were fundraisers for families in Gaza, along with other causes such as local wildfire relief. The restaurant's reopening, which featured a few local vendors, raised money for two local community organizations and $100 for a family in Gaza. On the last weekend of July, Mid East Eats fundraised with sales of its West Bank burrito, donating $400 to two other families in Gaza. 'We [donate] direct to families that are unable or too far away from aid distribution,' Sumer said. 'Unfortunately, they have to buy food at inflated prices, so that's why I try to focus on rotating families.' Mid East Eats is best known for its herbaceous falafel, which Sumer stuffs with mint, cilantro and parsley. While she doesn't use an exact family recipe, Sumer said that it 'comes from my soul,' and tastes like the falafel her aunt would make. She and Andrew also take pride in cooking with olive oil made by a Palestinian family in Garden Grove. Vanessa Guerra, a loyal customer who discovered Mid East Eats through a fundraising falafel-making class the Durkees held last year, has no problem driving from her home in Northridge to Watts for falafel. 'They're amazing people — if someone needs help, they're there to help you,' said Guerra, whose great-grandfather is Palestinian, of the Durkees. 'I'm not just paying for the food. I'm paying for the service, everything. … It's very home-like. It's like going to your mom's house.' Open the Durkees' front gate to find tomato plants growing along the fence. To the left is another table accompanied by fig and lime trees. Next to the house, a young watermelon plant, and in front of it, the colorful tent where the couple formerly held private dinners for $95 per person. 'I really wanted to do the Palestinian experience — I wanted people to come over, feel like they're at home, come sit on the ground,' Sumer said. 'Back in the village, we would sit on the floor and eat. Most modern-day Palestinians don't do that anymore, but we did … I wanted to have that vibe, and I wanted to cook traditional food.' Though the Durkees have paused the private dinners until mid-August to focus on their fast-casual service, it remains a core aspect of Mid East Eats, according to Sumer. Now, for $195 per person, diners will sit inside the tent on colorful cushions around a circular wooden table, feasting on a selection of mezze and mint lemonade followed by Sumer's maqlubeh, or fragrant rice flipped upside down, revealing a layer of eggplant, cauliflower and tomatoes. 'When we do the private dinners, what I really focus on is the foods that we really eat back home — the stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage, stuffed zucchini,' Sumer said. 'It's important to me to preserve my culture through food.' The Durkees continue to support both families in Gaza and their Watts neighbors however they can — which, after the reopening, most often manifests as falafel wraps and forearm-length shawarma burritos bursting with garlic toum, tahini and Andrew's homemade jalapeño sauce. 'Of course I'm gonna fight for Palestinian liberation. These are my people,' Sumer said. 'I want to bring people here, and I want them to come and experience that Palestinian hospitality, and that is important to me — to show people that we are humans.' Mid East Eats is open in Watts on Thursday through Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. 9613 Grape St., Los Angeles,
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Saturday Spread: Using Markov Chains to Help Extract Profits From DPZ, AKAM and DOCU
While the use of Markov chains — a statistical framework to decipher the probability of one event transitioning to another — in finance is not a novel concept, it's not deployed effectively. In my research, I have come across two papers analyzing Markovian principles in the stock market: 'Stock market analysis with a Markovian approach' by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and 'Forecasting Stock Prices using Markov Chains: Evidence from the Iraqi Stock Exchange' by the University of Sumer. Conceptually, both papers attempt to decipher the utility of Markov chains to predict future market trajectories, which should yield compelling results. After all, the concept originated from Russian mathematician Andrey Markov, one of the most brilliant scientific minds and thought leaders. Unfortunately, the researchers from the aforementioned academic institutions extracted only negligible to marginal performance metrics relative to a coin toss — so, what the heck is going on here? Meta Platforms Stock Looks Cheap - Short OTM Puts for a 2% One-Month Yield Costco's Unusual Options Activity Provides Income Investors With Good Opportunity Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. Fundamentally, the problem centers on the researchers' deployment of a 'literal' Markov chain — one time unit in the past to determine one time unit in the future. To be fair, KTH ran a study featuring two time units in the past but the same problem applies — the analysis would only capture an isolated price action without consideration of the underlying context or sentiment regime. In short, the academic papers' input is Gaussian in nature; therefore, we shouldn't be surprised if the output is also Gaussian. In order to generate a true Markovian framework, the input must also be Markovian. To achieve a proper framework, it's vital to apply the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. My solution is to discretize the last 10 weeks of price action and segregate the profiles into distinct, discrete behavioral states. This way, we're not just capturing isolated price action but sustained behaviors — behaviors that can better predict outcomes based on underlying situational dynamics. Using modified Markov chains optimized for the stock market, below are three statistically compelling ideas to consider this week. While shares of Domino's Pizza (DPZ) are up nearly 8% so far this year, they're down nearly 3% in the trailing month. In the past two months, the price action of DPZ stock can be converted as a '3-7-D' sequence: three up weeks, seven down weeks, with a negative trajectory across the 10-week period. Naturally, this conversion process compresses DPZ's price dynamism into a simple binary code. The benefit, though, is that the price action can be distinguished as belonging to one of several distinct, contingent demand profiles. Subsequently, these profiles serve as the backbone of past analogs, from which probabilistic analyses can be extracted. Regarding DPZ stock, whenever the 3-7-D sequence flashes, the price action for the following week (which corresponds with the business week beginning July 7) results in upside 61.54% of the time, with a median return of 2.93%. Should the bulls maintain control of the market for a second week, investors may anticipate an additional 1.69% of performance. Using data from Barchart Premier, we can mathematically determine intriguing options strategies based on risk-reward ratios. In my opinion, the potential reversal signal of the 3-7-D sequence shines a spotlight on the 460/470 bull call spread expiring July 18. Interested speculators can learn more about the capped-risk, capped-reward structure of bull spreads here. Plenty of finance gurus hawk the trite adage 'buy low, sell high.' Yeah, well, is anyone going to explain when to buy low? That's the beauty of using Markov chains — when applied appropriately, they can provide an empirical guideline to augment your decision-making process. Let's use Akamai Technologies (AKAM) as an example. Since the start of the year, AKAM stock has dropped nearly 17%. With a Markovian framework, I don't really care why it fell; only that it did and specifically how it did. By observing the past analogs of market behaviors, we can determine the probability of how the security may react in the future. In the past 10 weeks, AKAM stock printed a 4-6-D sequence. Since January 2019, this sequence has materialized 34 times. Further, in 61.76% of cases, the following week's price action results in upside, with a median return of 2.65%. If the bulls maintain control of the market for a second week, there may be an additional 0.89% to 1% of performance tacked on. For a wildly aggressive but still rational trade, speculators may consider the 81/82 bull spread expiring July 18. Another high-risk, high-reward idea is DocuSign (DOCU), a global provider of cloud-based software. As you can tell if you pull up its chart, DOCU stock isn't having a great time this year, down more than 12% since the January opener. Again, I don't really care why the stock fell but the way that it did. Honestly, providing an opinion of DocuSign would be like summarizing yesterday's newspaper. By the time you actually read the story, the narrative could be two days old. I aim to provide an empirically grounded Markovian analysis, not post-hoc rationalizations that dominate the financial publication ecosystem. Getting back to DOCU stock, the security printed a 6-4-D sequence, a relatively rare pattern. Since January 2019, the sequence has materialized 17 times. In 58.82% of cases, the following week's price action results in upside, with a median return of 3.57%. Should the bulls maintain control of the market for a three-week period, traders may anticipate another 2.24% of tacked-on performance. If you're feeling bold and want to throw into double coverage for a chance of a big score, you may consider the 81/83 bull spread expiring July 25. On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Yahoo
50 Genuinely Surprising Historical Facts That You'll Be Thinking About Long After You Read This
the 18th century, it was common practice to put animals on trial. What were their crimes, you ask? Rodents and other pests were often tried for damaging crops, while pigs were often tried for the murder of children (with at least one executed by hanging). Bestiality was another crime that animals were tried for (despite certainly not being a willing participant). guillotine was used as a method of execution in France until Sept. 10, 1977. The last person executed this way was Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend. France outlawed capital punishment in 1981, officially ending the usage of the guillotine. world's oldest known joke dates back to 1900 BCE in Sumer and it was...a fart joke. Here it is: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." I'm thinking the punch line was lost in translation? (The image above is an example of Sumerian writing from the time period of the fart joke and was recorded for posterity, but it's slightly more sophisticated — it's about medical practices.) Tollund Man — a naturally mummified corpse of a man from the 5th century CE — was found in a bog in Denmark in 1950. His facial features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim. 5.A common ingredient in medicine until the 20th century was — yuck! — human remains. The remains were most commonly ground up into a fine powder that could be made into pills or stirred into drinks. It was believed that ingesting a certain part of the deceased's body would help to cure illnesses in that part of the body. For example, crushed skull powder was believed to cure headaches. General Santa Anna had an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. The general (and Mexican president) had to have his leg amputated after being hit with cannon fire during a battle against the French in the Pastry War of 1838–1839. Later, he ordered a lavish military-style ceremony (including cannon fire and poems), and buried it with honors. That isn't the end of his leg's, uh, leg-end. After Santa Anna fled the country following his failed administration, people dug up his leg and dragged it through the streets until nothing was left. Hussein was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980. Backstory: After Hussein rose to power in the late '70s, Rev. Jacob Yasso of Chaldean Sacred Heart sent Hussein congratulations, and in return, Hussein donated $250,000 to the church. (Chaldeans are a Catholic group in the mainly Muslim Iraq.) Years later, the reverend visited Iraq and, with the mayor of Detroit's blessing, presented him with a key to the city. Jeff Bezos is today's richest person with a net worth of $100+ billion, but, according to modern estimates, historical figures like Augustus Caesar and Mansa Musa (ruler of West Africa's Mali Empire in the 14th century) were likely trillionaires by today's standards. first known vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in ancient Egypt to dispense holy water. It worked a lot like modern vending machines — you inserted a coin, pushed down a lever, and got your soda...I mean holy water! was originally sold as a medicine in the 19th century. In the 1830s, ketchup was sold as a medicine that could cure indigestion, diarrhea, and even jaundice. While the medicinal claims were later debunked, the condiment caught on. Man, I wish I lived in a time when a bunch of ketchup on fries was considered health food! Romans used urine as a cleaning agent for laundry. They didn't have soap back then, so they had to improvise. And, it turns out, stagnant urine was full of ammonia, which we still use to clean today. continued to compose music even after becoming completely deaf at age 40 (16 years before his death). Despite being deaf, he still managed to compose one of his most famous symphonies — "Symphony No. 9," aka The Ninth. It goes without saying that it is pretty damn impressive! 1931, psychologist Winthrop Kellogg and his wife Luella decided to raise their infant son, Donald, alongside a baby chimpanzee named Gua to see whether Gua could learn human behaviors and maybe even develop language. At first, Gua walked, understood commands, and even solved problems faster. But then something unexpected happened. Instead of Gua becoming more human, Donald started grunting like a chimp and copying Gua's behavior. Alarmed, the Kelloggs ended the experiment after just nine months. (Note: The above image is not of Donald and Gua, but some other kid/chimp combo from the '50s. What was going on back then, LOL?) Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (where Mexico City now stands) was larger and more sophisticated than many European cities when the Spanish arrived in 1519. With an estimated population of 200,000–300,000 inhabitants, Tenochtitlan was significantly larger than London (which only had 50,000–70,000 people), and Paris (about 200,000). Tenochtitlan's infrastructure was better, too, with advanced aqueducts, causeways, floating agricultural fields, and even efficient waste management systems. The Spaniards' siege and the aftermath all but destroyed the great city that was. 1518, a "dancing plague" in Strasbourg caused people to dance uncontrollably for days. It started when a woman named Frau Troffea began dancing uncontrollably. Within days, dozens of others joined her, and the phenomenon grew to involve hundreds of people. The "dancers" seemed unable to stop, with some collapsing or even dying from exhaustion, strokes, or heart attacks. Why did they do this, you ask? Some conjecture it was a case of mass hysteria, while another theory suggests that the dancers may have ingested bread contaminated with ergot, a toxic fungus. Ergot contains chemicals similar to yeah. shortest war in history, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted only 38 minutes. The war was fought over who should succeed the recently deceased pro-British Sultan. A Prince — Khālid bin Barghash — refused to let the British install another pro-British ruler and occupied the Sultan's palace. But when the Royal Navy fired on the palace, sending it up in flames and killing 500 of Khālid's men, that was pretty much all she wrote. predate the fork by some 4,500 years. The first forks were used by the ruling class in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire around 1,000 A.D. They were frowned upon in Europe, though, for the next several hundred years because they were thought to be a tool of the devil. Scott Harrison is the only person to watch both his father and son become president of the United States. For his part, John Scott Harrison was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1853 to 1857. Not exactly president, but not bad! were so afraid of being buried alive in the 18th and 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive. of being buried alive, military genius Alexander the Great may have been. The historical record of his death is filled with unusual details, including that his body didn't decompose at all in the six days following his supposed death (a fact many attributed to his divinity). Today, doctors believe it is possible he'd become paralyzed due to a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, and was mistaken as dead as a result. in 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii in volcanic ash. What you might not know, though, is that the ash preserved a lot of everyday items. Below is a loaf of bread baked the morning of the eruption, so almost 2,000 years ago! The bread — which you can tell looked pretty damn tasty out of the oven — was found during the excavations in Pompeii. Curie is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (physics and chemistry). The pioneer in radiology was the first woman, the first double winner, and only in two sciences! world's first recorded police force was established in ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE. Back then, Egypt was split into 42 jurisdictions, and the pharaoh would appoint an official for each one whose job was to ensure justice and security. Each official had a chief of police he worked with whose title was sab heri seker, or, when translated to English, 'chief of the hitters." Sounds like police work hasn't changed much over the years! the 19th century, dentures were often made using the teeth of deceased soldiers. A famous example? Looters, uh, looted the teeth of the thousands of dead soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo and sold them for top dollar. Real teeth were in such demand, in fact, that many poor people sold their teeth right out of their mouths. of dentures, here is a photo of what's likely the most famous dentures ones belonging to George Washington, circa 1789–1799. It's commonly believed his dentures were made of wood, but these weren't — they were made of lead, human teeth, cow teeth, and elephant ivory. The dentures are on display in the museum located at Mount Vernon, Washington's former home and plantation, located in Fairfax County, Virginia. by the way, have been cleaning their teeth for thousands of years. For example, Egyptians invented toothpaste over 5,000 years ago using things like powdered ox hooves, eggshells, pumice, and water. Their formula was a little different than Colgate's — it included powdered ashes from oxen hooves, myrrh, egg shells, pumice, and water. one on teeth, I promise! Below is a teeth cleaning kit from 350 or so years ago in England — including a toothbrush, dental powder, and tongue scraper — and it looks pretty similar to what we use today. the Revolutionary War, the American colonies would vote by voice, often at places like carnivals where they may or may not have been drunk by the time voting happened. To vote, you just called out your choice. As you can imagine, this voting method was very susceptible to corruption! (I couldn't find an image of pre-Revolutionary War voting, but I thought the one above was interesting — it's a polling booth in 1840s NY!) masks — made out of a wax or plaster cast put on a dead person's face — have long been part of human history. Below is the death mask of notorious Depression-era gangster John Dillinger, who died in a shootout with FBI agents on July 22, 1934 (note the bullet hole captured under his right eye): original London Bridge is now located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch bought the bridge in 1968, dismantled it, and then shipped it piece by piece to the US and reconstructed it as a tourist attraction. first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace in the 19th century. No, she wasn't programming on a MacBook Air — it was the 1800s — but she became a colleague of Charles Babbage, who had designed a calculating machine and was working on an even more sophisticated one. In working with Babbage and fellow mathematician Luigi Menabrea, Lovelace discovered that these machines could carry out complex sequences of mathematical operations. The example she wrote to demonstrate her idea is regarded as the first ever computer program. Great Wall of China is not a single continuous wall but a series of interconnected fortifications. Also, it was built (and rebuilt) over a long period of time, so the sections are often different based on the engineering and military practices of each time. Bonaparte was once attacked by a herd of rabbits during a hunting trip. The story came from the memoirs of French general Baron Thiébault, who said that while on a hunting trip, a herd of rabbits swarmed Napoleon, seemingly mistaking him for a source of food. He was forced to retreat to his carriage to escape the "bunny onslaught." Picasso's full name has 20 words. Here's the name he was baptized with: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María de los Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso. Do you think when his mom was mad at him she called him by his full name? first human flight was achieved by the Montgolfier brothers in a hot air balloon in 1783. Talk about brave! The brothers flew 3,000 feet above Paris for a distance of about 5.6 miles. After 25 minutes, the balloon landed safely outside the city. of course, Orville and Wilbur Wright invented, built, and flew the first successful airplane in 1903. But did you know it still exists and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.? of cool things you can still see — these are the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets on the night he was assassinated, April 14, 1865. You can see them at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Lincoln had two pairs of glasses and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a handkerchief, a wallet (containing a five-dollar Confederate note), and newspaper clippings, many of which touted his successes. longest-reigning monarch in history was Louis XIV of France, who ruled for 72 years and 110 days. How did he manage this? He ascended to the throne at just 4 years of age, and ruled competently enough to avoid any coup attempts. Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be dismantled after 20 years. The reason? It was only built as a temporary structure for the 1889 World's Fair (and was only permitted for use until 1909). The tower survived for different reasons than you're likely imagining. It wasn't because it had become a landmark, but because (at least initially) of its value as a radiotelegraph station. Greek athletes competed in the nude to honor Zeus and display the human form. Interestingly, they also did it to allow for ease of movement (this was long before spandex, LOL), and to not give the upper class an advantage by rolling in wearing fancy sporting clothes. Want one more fun fact? Gymnastics is derived from the Greek work "gymnos," meaning naked. oldest known written laws, the Code of Ur-Nammu, date back to around 2100 BCE. It was written by a Sumerian king and covered, among other things, protection of property, family law (to divorce, a man was required to pay a kind of spousal support), and punishment for false allegations. Statue of Liberty was originally intended to represent an Egyptian peasant woman. The statue's designer, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, originally envisioned building a colossal monument featuring a robe-clad Egyptian woman to celebrate the inauguration of the Suez Canal in Egypt. But when the Egyptians passed on the idea, Bartholdi pivoted to pitch it for the centennial celebration of the US/French alliance. Leaning Tower of Pisa has been slowly straightening over the past few decades due to engineering efforts. Since 1990 — when it was feared the tower was on the verge of collapse — an international team has worked to reverse the lean. Since then, the tower has been straightened by nearly two inches. It doesn't sound like much, but it's made a huge difference! Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 but declined. Unsurprisingly, Einstein wanted to continue his career in science, especially considering his political experience was practically zilch. June of 1520, England's Henry VIII and France's Francis I threw a joint 18-day party that cost $19 million by today's standards. It was so expensive because the two leaders kept trying to outdo each other. Each feast served 50 different dishes of the time's finest and rarest foods, including swans and dolphins. Elizabeth I owned over 2,000 pairs of gloves. It wasn't because she was obsessed with gloves, though. Most of her collection was given to her as diplomatic or political gifts. letters have their origins in ancient times — even Ancient Egypt's Book of the Dead included a section that promised "great heaven and earth" to anyone who copies a specific image. 750,000 men died in the Civil War, which was more than 2.5% of America's population at the time. Boston on January 15, 1919, a massive storage tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses broke and sent a 15-foot tall flood of the sticky stuff flowing through town, killing 21 people. The 11 dead mentioned in the headline was later raised to 21. in the year 1800, the world population totaled 1 billion. Today — 225 years later — the world's population is more than eight times larger (8.2 billion).
The National
22-05-2025
- The National
Once smuggled, now reclaimed: Iraq retrieves ancient artefacts from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art
For decades, three prized items told stories of ancient Mesopotamia from behind museum glass in foreign lands. Now, they are heading home to Iraq as part of a global push to retrieve antiquities that were looted and sold around the world over the centuries. The Iraqi embassy in Washington announced it has recovered three rare artefacts dating back to the Sumer and Babylonian civilisations millennia ago. It hailed the transfer from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art as a 'new milestone in the country's ongoing diplomatic efforts to protect its cultural heritage'. Museum officials say the artefacts include a Sumerian container, depicting two rams, that is made of gypsum alabaster, a type of mineral and soft rock. The other items are Babylonian ceramic sculptures of the heads of a man and a woman. They date from the third to second millennium BC, a museum statement said. The two rams sculpture originates from between 2600 BC and 2500 BC, while the carving of the woman's head dates from 2000 BC to 1600 BC. Both were given to the museum in 1989 by the Norbert Schimmel Trust. The head of the male, dating back to around 2000 BC to 1600 BC, was bought by the museum in 1972. The male head and container with rams were previously sold by notorious British antiquities dealer Robin Symes, who in 2016 was accused by Italian authorities of being involved in an international criminal network trading in looted archaeological treasures. He died in October 2023. Both the heads are thought to be from Isin, an archaeological site in southern Iraq, while the ram sculpture is not known to be associated with a particular area. The latter appeared on the Baghdad art market and was bought by Swiss dealer Nicolas Koutoulakis in 1956 before being acquired by Cecile de Rothschild. The return to Iraq is part of the Met museum's Cultural Property Initiative which was launched in 2023 and includes a review of works in its collection. Several artefacts have been returned to their places of origin in various countries since. 'The Met is committed to the responsible collecting of art and the shared stewardship of the world's cultural heritage and has made significant investments in accelerating the proactive research of our collection,' said Max Hollein, museum director and chief executive. 'The museum is grateful for our ongoing conversations with Iraq regarding future collaborative endeavours, and we look forward to working together to advance our shared dedication to fostering knowledge and appreciation of Iraqi art and culture." The Iraqi embassy said the return of the artefacts "is seen as a contribution to safeguarding Iraq's historical memory and a reflection of both Iraqi and global pride in this unique human heritage". Decades of war, instability, lack of security and mismanagement have taken their toll on Iraq's heritage, art and culture. After the 1991 Gulf War, when a US-led international coalition repelled Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and the UN imposed economic sanctions, illegal archaeological digs became widespread, mainly in remote areas that troops were unable to secure. With the fall of Baghdad during a similar invasion that ended Saddam's regime in 2003, looters broke into the Iraqi National Museum and made off with priceless artefacts, only a few thousand of which have been recovered. Looters continue to dig at unprotected archaeological sites in Iraq, leading to hundreds of artefacts showing up on the worldwide market. But with the help of the international community, Iraq has managed to retrieve thousands of items of stolen heritage from around the world in recent years, mainly from the US.
