An Archive of Curious Facts for the Curious
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, Why do ye fall so fast? Your date is not so past; But you may stay yet here a while To blush and gently smile, And go at last. What, were ye born to be An hour or half’s delight; And so to bid good-night? ‘Twas pity Nature brought […]
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This is a guest post by John Hannen. Exploring beneath the wave Most of us know that the Earth is called the Blue Planet for a reason — 71 percent of it is covered by oceans! That’s a mind-boggling 321,003,271 cubic miles of water according to estimates NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center. With so much […]
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Image: DeviantArt O troubled sea, that longest evermore From out thy cold and sunless depths to rise To the bright orb that draws thee towards the skies, And beat’st thy breast against the unyielding shore, In the vain struggle to unloose the bands That bind thee down to earth; in thy despair, With sullen roar […]
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Image: “2015-09-28 Lunar Eclipse v2” by 51ststate, DeviantArt Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea, Now steals along upon the Moon’s meek shine In even monochrome and curving line Of imperturbable serenity. How shall I link such suncast symmetry With the torn troubled form I know as thine, That profile, placid as a brow […]
Read MoreImage: Flickr Beautiful streams, that flow onward forever, Blessing the green earth wherever they flow, Down the steep mountain-side gushing to sever, In the fair valleys and meadows below; Singing amid the tall reeds as they wander, Nursing the lily-bell on their calm breast, Well by their side may earth’s weary one’s ponder, Seeking, alone, […]
Read More“Just as foolish as it must look to a crab when it sees a man walk forward.” — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, The Lichtenberg Reader: Selected Writings, 1959
Read MoreCommon Sense We teach the children Danish, trigonometry, and Spanish; fill their heads with modern notions, and the secrets of the oceans, and the hieroglyph inscriptions from the land of the Egyptians; learn the date of every battle, know the habits of the cattle, know the time of every crowning, read the poetry of Browning; make […]
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