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Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

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Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#151
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can find better references in the czech version of the wiki article https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlův_most Basically, it is just a hypothesis by some astronomist. Contemporary chronicler recorded just the year that the construction was started

My Czech is not the best, if I'm honest... So, your reading is that its a hyposthesis by some astronomer. And that someone chronicled the year construction started. If you are able to provide sources for those, that would be interesting! Cheers

The reference is this article

https://www.academia.edu/3093773/Založení_Karlova_mostu_a_ko...

(alert: scanned and turned 90 degrees, my neck hurts)

On page 202 it describes founding of the bridge. The author puts it in context of gathering the remnants of St. Vitus (that Charles was obsessed about and his statue is present on one of towers at the end of the bridge) and highlights that the conjunction (opposition) of Saturn and the Sun happened on 1357, 9th day of 7th month.

He further investigates whether the way Charles or people of his age would write the date is the same as ours and concludes that it is likely - arab numerals, year, day, month then time, 60-minute hours are all documented in his court. Founding of the bridge would have to include a mass so it could not take place in the afternoon, which 5:31 AM isn't. Indeed different ways of expressing time used at the time are all consistent with that - except the "old bohemian" way to express time because that would be before sunrise.

If they did express it the same way as we do then at 5:31 AM the constellation of Lion (symbol of Czech kings) was in ascendent (just above horizon, important astrological place).

Additionally, a sign (which was dated to 1640 but could have been a replacement of an older one) on one of the towers at the end of the bridge contains a palindrome poem (in Latin).

Another reason why it could be true comes for the author from the fact that Charles and his people would have known and read Dante Alighieri's Vita nuova where similar numerological symmetry plays a major role. And the Prague Astronomical Clock contains a completely extra gear that serves no purpose but the counts of its tooth is also a palindromatic sequence.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rather wonder what our descendants will marvel at that we are doing. Will they think that it was ingenious to design machines in different parts, from different materials, then assembled and shipped to where they are needed? With the limited technology and methods of our time? That we used to engineer and create special machines for these different purposes because in their world, everything you can conceive will c…

They will marvel at the transistor.

I'm biased, but I agree. I think the impact (as well as the marvel) is underestimated. It hasn't made the splash that antibiotics or fission did, but it underpins subtle, continued advancement in almost every other field. For example, any field that benefits from simulating physics- weather models, aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, nuclear physics, or protein folding.

One specific marvel is the self-aligned gate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-aligned_gate)

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peace from violence between sons sent off to die for no reason. Sure. Peace from violent thoughts leading to depression and anxiety which are at all time highs, no.

Not to be negative, but 1871-1914 was fairly peaceful in Europe and North America as well. There were Balkan wars and there were Indian wars, but the vast majority of Western population never served in combat. And people started thinking that this is how it is going to be forever.

That period only seems peaceful because the French had just been massively humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War [1] in 1870 and the powder keg had just been reset. The people of France were itching to go to war with Prussia/Germany to reclaim Alsace and Lorraine. Which created a massive arms race till WW1. Also, while Japan isn't in Europe, the Russo-Japanese war did happen in 1904 in that period resulting in a major loss of trust in the Russian monarchy and the subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution. The Europeans were still sending troops to aid in the subjugation of Africa (Boer wars, Anglo-Zulu wars etc) even then.

However, I do agree with you that people then thought that world peace was achieved. The 1910 book "The Great Illusion" [2] ironically argued European war was unlikely to start due to the great economic costs of destroying trade between nations. It got the consequences right at least.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Illusion

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#154

Nice animation, but I bear in mind that stuff that is presented like this is really just hearsay - we don't really know that it was built as presented. It could well have been built as shown - its a plausible hypothesis. But it is also plausible that the bridges were only built in the 18th century. Or maybe they were built 100's of years earlier. With any historical claims, we should have access to the source to be a…

> This exact time was very important to the Holy Roman Emperor because he was a strong believer in numerology and felt that this specific time, which formed a palindrome (1357 9, 7 5:31), was a numerical bridge, and would imbue Charles Bridge with additional strength. This smells like horse manure, not just because it's unlikely anyone measured time that precisely in 1357, but also the Y/D/M date notation looks disti…

Americans use M/D/Y, not Y/D/M. The reason ISO recommends Y/M/D as a universal date format is because just about everyone agrees on how to interpret it -- no one expects Y/D/M.

Not that this makes the claim any more believable.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#155
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

medieval trope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Bridge

Awesome! I figured there was more than one, but I had no idea how many there were, and how closely related the legends.

If you have seen the TV series Hinterland, the one in Ceredigion in Wales plays an important role. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Bridge,_Ceredigion

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#156
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that the latest trend on social networks is to have ultra-sped up mini-videos, I think because it's popular on Instagram or TikTok (or both?). It's as if our entire civilization had suddenly caught ADHD. Frankly maybe I'm old school but I found the Youtube version a lot more palatable, I could understand what was going on much butter, take a few seconds to understand the how the contraptions worked. When…

The case study of the ADHD trend in general population is Mission Impossible IV. It is filmed by shoulder cameras and the mounter is just playing piano on the console: there isn’t a shot longer than 4s in the entire movie, and the average of changing camera angle is 0,7s. All you can get is an impression of the main character on any given image, but you can’t rest and you can’t contemplate. This is especially comical…

Alfred Hitchcock films would be agony to that crowd. The opening shot for his film "Rope" clocks in at about 9 and a half minutes. All in a single shot!

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#157
post #44
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We work harder than our predecessors (8+ hours workday, 5 days a week, both men and women), so I'd say we aren't really as smart as them.

That statement feels wrong but I have no data to back up my gut feeling. Only a handful of generations ago even something as menial as doing your own laundry was hard work. Maybe we spend more time in offices, but if anything, I suspect we work a lot less hard in general.

It depends what you mean by work. I read an article a few months back which was saying that the addition of "modern" technology washing machines and the like doesn't give you more free time, it gives you the opportunity for doing more things so you feel more busy and tired because you are doing more things in the same amount of time!

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#159
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that the latest trend on social networks is to have ultra-sped up mini-videos, I think because it's popular on Instagram or TikTok (or both?). It's as if our entire civilization had suddenly caught ADHD. Frankly maybe I'm old school but I found the Youtube version a lot more palatable, I could understand what was going on much butter, take a few seconds to understand the how the contraptions worked. When…

The case study of the ADHD trend in general population is Mission Impossible IV. It is filmed by shoulder cameras and the mounter is just playing piano on the console: there isn’t a shot longer than 4s in the entire movie, and the average of changing camera angle is 0,7s. All you can get is an impression of the main character on any given image, but you can’t rest and you can’t contemplate. This is especially comical…

> there isn’t a shot longer than 4s in the entire movie

is this hyperbole? Genuinely asking.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The case study of the ADHD trend in general population is Mission Impossible IV. It is filmed by shoulder cameras and the mounter is just playing piano on the console: there isn’t a shot longer than 4s in the entire movie, and the average of changing camera angle is 0,7s. All you can get is an impression of the main character on any given image, but you can’t rest and you can’t contemplate. This is especially comical…

Alfred Hitchcock films would be agony to that crowd. The opening shot for his film "Rope" clocks in at about 9 and a half minutes. All in a single shot!

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