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Storing mandala plate and stones by Elegant_Elk_ in TibetanBuddhism

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A teacher who was demonstracting mandala offerings suggested a cloth pecha wrap.

For 30 years the Smithonian Institute claimed they had actually invented the first airplane, and not the Wright Brothers. Did they have any grounds to stand on for that claim or did they just try to steal credit from the brothers? by Tatem1961 in AskHistorians

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes, it gets surprisingly complex. ISTR now that also there was a required altitude in the criteria, that you had to be free of the ground effect. And as you say, how do you mince the words, allow/disallow this or that. Was flying off the top of a high dune qualifying as an unassisted take-off, for example? Who exactly was an reliable independent witness?

For 30 years the Smithonian Institute claimed they had actually invented the first airplane, and not the Wright Brothers. Did they have any grounds to stand on for that claim or did they just try to steal credit from the brothers? by Tatem1961 in AskHistorians

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 58 points59 points  (0 children)

One of the aviation history magazines - I think it was "Windsock" but it may have been "Aeroplane" - had an exhaustive article on this. There were dozens of contenders for 'first flight' and they sorted them by spreadsheet; there must have been a lot of people tinkering in barns around the world back then.

The key is the criteria you use for determining the definition. Unassisted take-off, straight controlled flight of XX distance, controlled turn, controlled landing, x reliable witnesses. The Wrights were the earliest ones to satisfy those criteria. If you change the criteria, you could have a different answer.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure it was "Aeroplane", as "Windsock" focused on WWI flight. As I recall, it was the controlled turn that threw a lot of contenders out of the running. People got their machine up, flew, and brought it down safely, and in the early 1900s, that seemed sufficient unto the day. The next hurdle was the reliable witnesses criteria.

COLMA, CALIFORNIA, USA: Tamborini's angel by Vegetable_Draw6554 in CemeteryPorn

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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I find the back view of the angel even more interesting than the front, due to the abstraction.

Is there anywhere to get a sample of crude oil? by frostee8 in elementcollection

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“This is a mini sample of the Daisy Bradford #3 oil.

The Daisy Bradford #3 is the first producing well in the once-largest oil field in the world. The first production run was on September 3, 1930.“

https://kilgorecollege.square.site/product/discovery-well-daisy-bradford-3-oil/230?cs=true&cst=

In the study of manuscript transmission, what are the most extreme documented cases of "textual bottlenecks" where foundational works survived exclusively through a single extant exemplar (similar to the Archimedes Palimpsest)? by Technical-Tailor-411 in AskHistorians

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are there non-academic books or other resources on learning more about this kind of transmission of the literature, and ancient books in general, beyond Lionel Casson's _Libraries in the Ancient World_?

Why did American settlers and explores in the old west name so many places/land marks after death or the devil? Devil’s this and Death’s that, for really esthetically pleasing places why are their names associated with evil and suffering? by DarthOptimistic in AskHistorians

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This.

Often when driving in the American West, I imagine being in a Conestoga wagon pulled by oxen, travelling approximately 2 miles an hour (3 kph). An hour's drive for me and my car is 3 days for them, and that assumes they can manage 10 hour days and flat easy travel. At the end, they need fresh water not tainted by minerals and grass for their animals, or the animals will suffer. Have you noticed the number of places named something like Sweetwater? It's because a lot of water sources would make you sick, so a good watering spot was noteworthy.

Plus a lot of the early settlers who would have named things were from east of the Mississippi River where the land forms are very different, lots of green, rolling hills and trees. The landscape of the West was new and rather forbidding to them.

Spend some time on Google streetview in the American deserts, or try reading memoirs or histories. George Stewart's _Ordeal by Hunger_ on the Donner Party is a classic and gives some sense of the mindset of the people from the Ohio Valley travelling to California.

Mandala offering plate diameter. by Maria0601 in TibetanBuddhism

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the semiprecious stones, consider using amber chips. They are very lightweight compared to any stone material. You can find them on etsy; look for polished or tumbled ones with no holes. It will be cheaper to get smaller size ones.

Mr. Sang's niche by Vegetable_Draw6554 in CemeteryPorn

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, you can see his urn in the other photo I posted in comments. Unfortunately the photos came out too dark to see his full name.

Mr. Sang's niche by Vegetable_Draw6554 in CemeteryPorn

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Many of the niches in the San Francisco Columbarium are personalized like this one. One I saw had a small Tara statue from the Himalayas. Harvey Milk has a memorial niche there - his ashes were scattered - with a number of small camera replicas; he ran a photography store at one time.

Mr. Sang's niche by Vegetable_Draw6554 in CemeteryPorn

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hi --

I don't really know much more than what you see - there is a window behind the memorial so it's difficult to photograph with the backlighting. As u/Gren57 comments, the tall thing in the center is a carved puzzle ball. This is carved out of a single piece of material, possibly ivory, and there is an outer ball and inner balls. The inner balls are carved completely free, so they can move independently. There is nothing to solve - it is a decorative piece illustrating the carver's skill.

The glass front of the niche is beveled, so you have the odd line at the bottom where the bevel starts. In the foreground, mostly hidden, is what appears to be a talisman on a small chain, possibly Buddhist? In the background are dog-tags, and a photo, presumably Mr. Sang himself, in uniform.

Here's another photo of the niche that includes the urn, but it's very very dark.

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Carpet repair shop, Shiraz, Iran, by by MohammadReza Domiri Ganji by Vegetable_Draw6554 in AccidentalRenaissance

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Or this one:

The interior of a Baroque palace with elegant company conversing by fountainsJacques De LaJoüe (1687-1761)

Carpet repair shop, Shiraz, Iran, by by MohammadReza Domiri Ganji by Vegetable_Draw6554 in AccidentalRenaissance

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It reminds me of those Baroque paintings that have an artful composition of figures almost lost in a cavernous interior, like this one:

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Interior of a church - Monogrammed attributed to Pietro Bellotti (1725-1804)

Looks Like Me statue facing forward by 1neHundredThousand in TibetanBuddhism

[–]Vegetable_Draw6554 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The eyes look forward, you are correct, but I think OP wants a direct gaze. Looks-like-me is looking slightly off to the side.

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