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๐ Portable soup
Portable soup was a kind of dehydrated food used in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was a precursor of meat extract and bouillon cubes, and of industrially dehydrated food. It is also known as pocket soup or veal glew. It is a cousin of the glace de viande of French cooking. It was long a staple of seamen and explorers, for it would keep for many months or even years. In this context, it was a filling and nutritious dish. Portable soup of less extended vintage was, according to the 1881 Household Cyclopedia, "exceedingly convenient for private families, for by putting one of the cakes in a saucepan with about a quart of water, and a little salt, a basin of good broth may be made in a few minutes."
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- "Portable soup" | 2016-02-09 | 17 Upvotes 1 Comments
๐ Mise en abyme
In Western art history, Mise en abyme (French pronunciation:ย โ[miz ษฬnโฟabim]; also mise en abรฎme) is a formal technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. In film theory and literary theory, it refers to the technique of inserting a story within a story. The term is derived from heraldry and literally means "placed into abyss". It was first appropriated for modern criticism by the French author Andrรฉ Gide.
A common sense of the phrase is the visual experience of standing between two mirrors, seeing as a result an infinite reproduction of one's image. Another is the Droste effect, in which a picture appears within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear. That is named after the 1904 Droste cocoa package, which depicts a woman holding a tray bearing a Droste cocoa package, which bears a smaller version of her image.
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- "Mise en abyme" | 2016-06-30 | 87 Upvotes 59 Comments
๐ What do Bill Gates and Richard Stallman have in common ?
Math 55 is a two-semester long first-year undergraduate mathematics course at Harvard University, founded by Lynn Loomis and Shlomo Sternberg. The official titles of the course are Honors Abstract Algebra (Math 55a) and Honors Real and Complex Analysis (Math 55b). Previously, the official title was Honors Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra.
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- "What do Bill Gates and Richard Stallman have in common ?" | 2010-06-10 | 71 Upvotes 23 Comments
๐ Wikipedia: Don't Be High-Maintenance
Occasionally, some long-time users come to believe they are more important than other editors, and act in ways to seek regular validation of that belief. Validation is obtained by delivering and obtaining compliance with ultimatums, such as threatening to storm off the project in a huff โ a "retirement" or long wikibreak. Other examples including threats to make vexatious claims at noticeboards, or to cease all work in a particular topic area. These dramatics are usually accompanied by a long diatribe about whatever petty issue is driving them away this time.
The writer hopes that this fit of pique will attract a flood of "please don't go" messages, along with plenty of support for their side of the dispute that triggered their round of unreasonable demands. The end result sought is that the "high-maintenance" editing behavior gets the editor exactly what they crave โ validation and support โ leading to a triumphant return to the project or article, at least until the next petty conflict. Because Wikipedia is not therapy (even if it was, this behavior would be undesirable) or, more importantly, not a soapbox, and most other editors can see through this sort of behavior, such an outcome is unlikely, and becomes decreasingly likely the more times such a door-slamming conniption is attempted, until people hope the editor really quits.
Threats to "leave and never come back" inevitably invite the response: don't let the door hit you on the way out.
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- "Wikipedia: Don't Be High-Maintenance" | 2020-12-16 | 29 Upvotes 15 Comments
๐ Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (nรฉe Payne; (1900-05-10)May 10, 1900 โ (1979-12-07)December 7, 1979) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the Sun and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was actually correct
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- "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin" | 2023-10-16 | 225 Upvotes 98 Comments
- "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin" | 2013-08-11 | 38 Upvotes 55 Comments
๐ Fluoroantimonic Acid
Fluoroantimonic acid is a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and antimony pentafluoride, containing various cations and anions (the simplest being H
2F+
and SbFโ
6). This substance is a superacid that can be excess of a quadrillion times stronger than 100% pure sulfuric acid, depending on proportion of its ingredients. It has been shown to protonate even hydrocarbons to afford pentacoordinate carbocations (carbonium ions). Extreme caution needs to be in place when handling fluoroantimonic acid. It is exceptionally corrosive, but can be stored in containers lined with PTFE (Teflon).
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- "Fluoroantimonic Acid" | 2022-01-09 | 10 Upvotes 2 Comments
๐ Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky
The Charge of the "Savoia Cavalleria" at Izbushensky was a clash between the Italian cavalry Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" (3rd) and the Soviet 812th Rifle Regiment (304th Rifle Division) that took place on August 24, 1942, near the hamlet (khutor) of Izbushensky (ะะทะฑััะตะฝัะบะธะน), close to the junction between the Don and Khopyor rivers. Though a minor skirmish in the theatre of operation of the Eastern Front, the Izbushensky charge had great propaganda resonance in Italy and it is still remembered as one of the last significant cavalry charges in history.
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- "Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky" | 2024-04-15 | 22 Upvotes 6 Comments
๐ Cashew of Pirangi
The Cashew of Pirangi (Cajueiro de Pirangi), also called the world's largest cashew tree (maior cajueiro do mundo), is a cashew tree in Pirangi do Norte, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. In 1994, the tree entered the Guinness Book of Records. It covers an area between 7,300 square metres (1.8 acres) and 8,400 square metres (2.1 acres). Having the size of 70 normally sized cashew trees, it has a circumference of 500ย m (1,600ย ft). The vicinity of the World's Largest Cashew Tree in North Pirangi is also a main place for the sale of lace and embroidery in Rio Grande do Norte state.
The spread over a hectare of land was, unlike other trees, created by the tree's outward growth. When bent towards the ground (because of their weight), the branches tend to take new roots where they touch the ground. This may be seen in the images of the interior. It is now difficult to distinguish the initial trunk from the rest of the tree.
The tree is said to have been planted in 1888. However, based on its growth nature, "the tree is estimated to be more than a thousand years old." The tree produces over 60,000 fruits each year.
Flรกvio Nogueira, Jr., the state secretary of tourism for Piauรญ, has claimed that the Cashew of Pirangi in Piauรญ is, in fact, the largest tree, covering an area of 8,800 square metres (2.2 acres). That tree was studied by a laboratory from the State University of Piauรญ.
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- "Cashew of Pirangi" | 2020-12-04 | 177 Upvotes 38 Comments
๐ Managed Nationalism
Managed nationalism or controlled nationalism (Russian: ะฃะฟัะฐะฒะปัะตะผัะน ะฝะฐัะธะพะฝะฐะปะธะทะผ, romanized:ย Upravlyayemyy natsionalizm) is a term used by some academics to refer to an informal policy of pragmatic collaboration with Russian nationalists and neo-Nazis (or in broader cases, the Russian far-right as a whole) pursued by the government of Russia under Vladimir Putin. Beginning after Putin's election as President of Russia in 2000 and escalating after the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, managed nationalism led to the promotion of the Russian Image organisation throughout the late 2000s until the 2009 murders of human rights activists Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, at which point Russian Image was dissolved.
Since the 2011โ2013 Russian protests and Euromaidan, managed nationalism has faced a revival, with far-right militants supporting the anti-Maidan and Novorossiya. The policy of managed nationalism is closely linked to other Russian government policies of promoting neo-Nazism and other far-right movements in foreign countries.
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- "Managed Nationalism" | 2026-04-01 | 20 Upvotes 2 Comments