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🔗 Germany 🔗 Religion 🔗 Cats 🔗 Archaeology 🔗 Visual arts 🔗 European history 🔗 Sculpture 🔗 Furry

The Löwenmensch figurine or Lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in the Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave in 1939. The German name, Löwenmensch, meaning "lion-human", is used most frequently because it was discovered and is exhibited in Germany.

The lion-headed figurine is the oldest-known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world, and the oldest-known uncontested example of figurative art. It has been determined by carbon dating of the layer in which it was found to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, and therefore is associated with the archaeological Aurignacian culture of the Upper Paleolithic. It was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. Seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges are on the left arm.

After several reconstructions that have incorporated newly found fragments, the figurine stands 31.1 cm (12.2 in) tall, 5.6 cm (2.2 in) wide, and 5.9 cm (2.3 in) thick. It currently is displayed in the Museum Ulm, Germany.

🔗 Electronics

A magic eye tube or tuning indicator, in technical literature called an electron-ray indicator tube, is a vacuum tube which gives a visual indication of the amplitude of an electronic signal, such as an audio output, radio-frequency signal strength, or other functions. The magic eye (also called a cat's eye, or tuning eye in North America) is a specific type of such a tube with a circular display similar to the EM34 illustrated. Its first broad application was as a tuning indicator in radio receivers, to give an indication of the relative strength of the received radio signal, to show when a radio station was properly tuned in.

The magic eye tube was the first in a line of development of cathode ray type tuning indicators developed as a cheaper alternative to the needle movement meters. It was not until the 1960s that needle meters were made economically enough in Japan to displace indicator tubes. Tuning indicator tubes were used in vacuum tube receivers from around 1936 to 1980 before vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors in radios. An earlier tuning aid which the magic eye replaced was the "tuneon" neon lamp.

🔗 Electronic music 🔗 Classical music

I am sitting in a room is a sound art piece composed in 1969 and one of composer Alvin Lucier's best known works.

The piece features Lucier recording himself narrating a text, and then playing the tape recording back into the room, re-recording it. The new recording is then played back and re-recorded, and this process is repeated. Due to the room's particular size and geometry, certain frequencies of the recording are emphasized while others are attenuated. Eventually the words become unintelligible, replaced by the characteristic resonant frequencies of the room itself.

In his book on the origins of minimalism, Edward Strickland wrote that "In its repetition and limited means, I am sitting in a room ranks with the finest achievements of Minimal tape music. Furthermore, in its ambient conversion of speech modules into drone frequencies, it unites the two principal structural components of Minimal music in general."

🔗 Companies 🔗 Business 🔗 Japan 🔗 Japan/Business and economy

Zaibatsu (Japanese: 財閥; IPA: [d͡za̠iba̠t͡sɨ]; lit. 'asset clique') is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji era to World War II. A zaibatsu's general structure included a family-owned holding company on top, and a bank which financed the other, mostly industrial subsidiaries within them. Although the zaibatsu played an important role in the Japanese economy beginning in 1868, they especially increased in number and importance following the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and Japan's subsequent attempt to conquer East Asia and the Pacific Rim during the interwar period and World War II. After World War II, they were dissolved by the Allied occupation forces and succeeded by the keiretsu (groups of banks, manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors). Equivalents to the zaibatsu can still be found in other countries, such as the chaebol conglomerates of South Korea.

🔗 Biography 🔗 Cheshire 🔗 Animation 🔗 Biography/Actors and Filmmakers 🔗 Biography/Musicians 🔗 Musical Theatre 🔗 Animation/Animation people

Timothy James Curry (19 April 1946 – 25 August 2026) was an English actor and singer. Known for his villainous roles on stage and screen, he received an Emmy Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards. He was best known for portraying Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical The Rocky Horror Show (1973–1975) as well as in the musical film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

Curry started his career in the West End production of the musical Hair (1968–1969). He went on to be nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his roles as The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (1982) and King Arthur in Spamalot (2007). On Broadway, he earned three Tony Award nominations, his first for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus (1980) and followed by two nominations for Best Featured Actor in a Play for My Favorite Year (1992) and Spamalot (2005).

Curry received acclaim for his onscreen roles, Rooster Hannigan in Annie (1982), Darkness in Legend (1985), Wadsworth in Clue (1985), Hector, the Plaza front desk receptionist in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (1993), Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island (1996), and Gomez Addams in Addams Family Reunion (1998). He also took roles in The Worst Witch (1986), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Congo (1995), Charlie's Angels (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), and Kinsey (2004).

On television, Curry portrayed Pennywise in the miniseries It (1990) and acted in Oliver Twist (1982), Tales from the Crypt (1992), Will & Grace (2004), and Return to Cranford (2009). He voiced numerous roles including his Daytime Emmy Award-winning performance as Captain Hook on Peter Pan & the Pirates (1990–1991), Hexxus in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Drake in The Pebble and the Penguin (1995), Sir Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys (1998–2004), and Chancellor Palpatine / Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2012–2014).

As a singer, Curry released three rock-focused studio albums: Read My Lips (1978), Fearless (1979), and Simplicity (1981). He was nominated for the Grammy Award for his reading of A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning (2002). He released his memoir Vagabond in 2025.

🔗 Biography 🔗 Women 🔗 Appalachia 🔗 Tennessee 🔗 Women writers 🔗 Christianity 🔗 Biography/Actors and Filmmakers 🔗 Biography/Musicians 🔗 Pop music 🔗 Women in Business 🔗 Women in Music 🔗 Christianity/Charismatic Christianity 🔗 Country music

Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean (née Parton; January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman. After achieving success as a songwriter for other artists, Parton's debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, was released in 1967, commencing a career spanning 60 years and 50 studio albums. Referred to as the "Queen of Country", Parton was one of the most-honored female country performers in history and received various accolades, including 11 Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards including a humanitarian honorary Oscar win in 2025, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

Parton sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists ever. Her music includes Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She had 25 singles reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She had 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she had 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. Her 49th and final solo studio album, Rockstar (2023), became her highest-charting Billboard 200 album, peaking at number three. Parton composed over 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper and an international hit for Whitney Houston and sold 40 million copies worldwide), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5". As an actress, she starred in the films 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for each of which she earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress, as well as Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), and Joyful Noise (2012).

🔗 Ecology 🔗 Glaciers

Glacier mice are colonies of mosses found on some glaciers and adjacent ecosystems. They are composed of multiple species of moss and can also host other species, such as nematode worms, springtails, and water bears. Although what preconditions are necessary for glacier mice to form has yet to be determined, they have been observed in Alaska, Chile, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Uganda and Venezuela, as well as several Subantarctic islands. In at least some cases, glacier mice apparently reproduce asexually due to the effect of the harsh glacier environment on traditional moss reproduction strategies.

Glacier mice are notable for their movement across the ice, which appears to be non-random, taking the form of herd-like behavior. This movement is as yet unexplained, and does not appear to be solely the product of wind or the direction of a slope.

🔗 Biography 🔗 Death 🔗 Lists 🔗 Biography/science and academia 🔗 Invention

This is a list of people whose deaths were in some manner caused by or directly related to a product, process, procedure, or other technological innovation that they invented or designed.

🔗 Computing

The Curta is a small mechanical calculator developed by Curt Herzstark. The Curta's design is a descendant of Gottfried Leibniz's Stepped Reckoner and Charles Thomas's Arithmometer, accumulating values on cogs, which are added or complemented by a stepped drum mechanism. It has an extremely compact design: a small cylinder that fits in the palm of the hand.

Curtas were considered the best portable calculators available until they were displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s.

🔗 Books 🔗 Freedom of speech 🔗 Media

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism is a memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former director of public policy at Facebook (renamed Meta), published on March 11, 2025. The book is a critical account of Facebook's internal culture and decision-making practices during Wynn-Williams' time there. The book is highly critical of Facebook's responses to global sociopolitical events, including its role in the Rohingya genocide and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's alleged efforts to censor on behalf of the Chinese government. Additionally, Wynn-Williams accuses several Facebook executives, including Sheryl Sandberg and Joel Kaplan, of engaging in harmful behavior in the workplace, including sexual harassment.

The book gained media coverage following reports that Meta sued to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting the book; public backlash against Meta's response has been credited with boosting sales of the book, a result known as the Streisand effect. By late March 2025, Careless People had reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Following the book's publication, Wynn-Williams was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate, where she accused Zuckerberg of having been willing to censor content in order to gain access to the Chinese market. The title of the book is a quotation from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.