Connections: The Long Chain (Part 7 of 10)

The Long Chain is the title of this week's Connections episode. Last week, we followed a path in history from the assembly line to the development of the airplane.

What happened the last time an efficient cargo-carrier was developed? This week, James Burke starts with the Dutch Fluyt ships, which were remarkably similar in principle to the modern 747, and takes us to a long history of disease, war, famine and empires, to end at the last place you'd expect.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending, as always, purposefully left out.



Links:

Boeing 747
Fluyt
Hoorn
Dutch East India Company
Bank of England
Triangular trade
Edward Lloyd
Lloyd's of London
Mary Celeste
Shipworm
Tar
Pitch
Great Northern War
Turpentine
Revolutionary War
Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald
Coal tar
Copper
Copper sheathing
James Watt
Cotton mill
William Murdoch
Frederick Albert Winsor
Gas Light and Coke Company
Gasometer
The Great Stink
Ammonia
Naphtha
Natural rubber
Charles Macintosh
Thomas Hancock
Spice trade
Anopheles Mosquito
Malaria
Cinchona
Quinine
Gin and tonic
William Henry Perkin
Mauveine
BASF
Hoechst AG
Agfa
Bayer
Indigo-Marsch
Eugénie de Montijo
Analgesic
Combine harvester
Rye bread
Junker
Fertilizer
Fritz Haber
Nitric acid
Sodium nitrate
Haber–Bosch process
Henri Moissan
Calcium carbide
Acetylene
Adolph Frank
Heinrich Caro
Potash
Wuppertal monorail
Wilhelm II
World War I
Oxyacetylene welding
Fritz Klatte
1939 New York World's Fair
Polymer

Connections: Thunder in the Skies (Part 6 of 10)

This week's Connections episode is titled Thunder in the Skies. In Wheel of Fortune, James Burke took us along the path we followed a path from computers to the assembly line.

Due to the assembly line, we rely more and more on the same fire. Due to the Little Ice Age in medieval times, more and more people also relied on the same common fire. James Burke takes us on a journey from that older common fire to another important invention.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending, as always, purposefully left out.



Links:

Production line
Energy development
Little Ice Age
Manor house
Hardwick Hall (map)
Chimney
Stairway
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Tapestry
Knitting
Button
Wainscoting/Paneling
Plasterwork
History of hygienic practices
Kitchen
Rotisserie
Window
Deforestation: Pre-industrial history
Jamestown, Virginia
Basilisk (cannon)
Carding
Calamine brass
Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche
Robert Mansell
Viscount Grandison
Abraham Darby I
Thomas Newcomen
Steam engine
James Watt
John Wilkinson (industrialist)
Industrial Revolution
Joseph Priestley
Soda water
Alessandro Volta
History of whaling
Edwin Drake
Gottlieb Daimler
Wilhelm Maybach
Gasoline
Spray nozzle
Automobile
Emil Jellinek
Mercédès Jellinek
Wilhelm Kress

Connections: Wheel of Fortune (Part 5 of 10)

Wheel of Fortune is the name of this week's Connections episode. In last week's episode, James Burke began with communications networks, and followed the path to computers.

What happened long ago, when, like computers, we first mastered the ability to work with data to try and predict the future? Among other things, we accidentally gained knowledge from the past that would take us farther into the future than we could ever expect.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending, as always, purposefully left out.



Links:

Punch card
Computer
Planetarium
Astronomy
Zodiac
Planet
Ptolemy
Almagest
Geocentric model
Astronomy in medieval Islam
Astrolabe (Astrolabe history)
Al-Mansur
Gundeshapur
Academy of Gundishapur
Salerno/medical learning revival
Toledo, Spain
Spanish Inquisition (I bet you didn't expect that!)
Jocelyn de Brakelond
Water clock
Verge and foliot
12-hour clock
Clockspring
Fusee
Nuremberg eggs
Nuremberg
Hans Lippershey
Telescope
Galileo Galilei
Pendulum
Christiaan Huygens
Celestial navigation
Benjamin Huntsman
Jesse Ramsden
Polelathe
Henry Maudslay
Block (sailing)
Marc Isambard Brunel
Honoré Blanc
Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr.

Connections: Faith In Numbers (Part 4 of 10)

This week's episode of Connections is called Faith In Numbers. In last week's episode, James Burke began with the Battle of Hastings, and followed a path that led to the invention of the telephone, and other telecommunications breakthroughs.

This week's episode starts with the communications network that held things together after the decline of the Roman Empire, and we learn how it led to another invention that affects your life every day, whether you use it or not.

Especially interesting is James Burke's 1978 description of the Roman Empire's fall, which will sound eerily familiar.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending, as always, purposefully left out.



Links:

Arles, France
Barbegal aqueduct and mill
Decline of the Roman Empire
Medieval technology
Watermill
Cam
Cistercians
Rule of Saint Benedict
foot-treadle floor loom
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning wheel
Bruges, Belgium
Carillon
Champagne fairs
Crusades
Black Death
Rag and bone man
Johannes Gutenberg
Movable type
Printing press
Aldus Manutius
16th Century Venice
Italic type
Hero of Alexandria (books)
Hellbrunn Palace
Basile Bouchon
Jacques de Vaucanson
Jacquard loom
Ellis Island
United States Census
Herman Hollerith
Tabulating machine
1890 United States Census

Connections: Distant Voices (Part 3 of 10)

This week's episode of Connections is called Distant Voices. Last week, James Burke took us on a journey that began with the discovery that first gave us coins as money, and finished with the development of the atomic bomb. Portable nuclear weapons are a breakthrough in military technology that completely change the balance of modern warfare.

For this week's episode, we'll travel back to a point in time when another breakthrough in military technology also changed the balance of warfare, and see where that journey led.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending purposefully left out. (Note: This episode does feature scenes of warfare and some brief nudity)



Links:

Nuclear weapon
Battle of Hastings
Senlac Hill, Battle Abbey (map)
Harold Godwinson
William I of England
Norman conquest of England
Stirrup
Knight
Jousting
Henry V of England
Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt (map)
English longbow
Mouldboard plough
Horse collar
Horseshoe
Crop rotation
Gunpowder
Tao
Shen (Chinese religion)
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
Bombard (weapon)
Jáchymov
Georgius Agricola
Evangelista Torricelli
Torricelli's letter to Michelangelo Ricci
Marin Mersenne
Blaise Pascal
Barometer
Jean Picard
Francis Hauksbee
Stephen Gray (scientist)
Leyden jar
Christian August Hausen
Jean-Antoine Nollet
Temple of Health
Luigi Galvani
Alessandro Volta
Hans Christian Ørsted
Electromagnetism

Connections: Death In The Morning (Part 2 of 10)

This week's episode of Connections is called Death In The Morning. James Burke starts with a discovery that made metal currency possible, thus replacing barter as the primary means of trade. Of all the possible paths through history that could be followed from here, Burke leads us to an invention that affects everyone's life today.

Following the video are links to further research on the major topics of this episode, with ones that reveal the ending purposefully left out.



Links:

Barter
Lydia
Touchstone
Alexander the Great
Alexandria
Library of Alexandria
Ptolemy
Lateen
Rudder
Compass
Magnetic declination
Elizabeth I of England
Robert Norman
William Gilbert
Otto von Guericke
Vacuum
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Electricity
Atmospheric pressure
Ben Nevis
Glory (optical phenomenon)
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
Cloud chamber
Edward Victor Appleton
Robert Watson-Watt
Radar

Connections: The Trigger Effect (Part 1 of 10)

Wait . . . why is the Today in History post showing up in the middle of the day?

It's not. Don't worry, it will still be here later. Time Capsules offers you a special treat today!

This history post will be a little longer than most – about 45 minutes to be exact. The extra time is worth it, though.

Back in 1978, British science historian James Burke filmed a remarkable series about history called Connections. If you haven't seen it, it's truly a great series. James Burke shows history how it really happened, how it zigged and zagged just like events do today. The result is a great lesson in how history still affects us today, and how things tend to work over and over again.

In Connections, James Burke focuses on 8 particular inventions which he believes are the ones most likely to affect the future of mankind the most. I'm going to post this series in order, at the rate of 1 episode each Saturday, as a sort of extended history lesson for the weekends. I'll also post some external links that relate to the video as I go.

This first episode is called The Trigger Effect, which sets up the format and the concept of the series. I hope you enjoy it.



Links:

Northeast Blackout of 1965

Plough

Ancient Egypt

Giza Necropolis

Flooding of the Nile

Karnak

Kuwait

September 11th, 2001: As It Happened

Today, of course, is September 11th, the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attack in 2001.

There is another commemorative post coming up, and I don't want to step on any toes, but here is something that may put you in the mindset:

The September 11 Television Archive

This is a near-complete archive of the broadcasts from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX (local and national), CNN, and the BBC. The videos are divided up by time, and most of the videos start around 8:30 AM on September 11th (about 18 minutes before the first plane went into the World Trade Center building), and run all the way through September 13th, when New York schools finally re-opened.

There is also a thorough chronology of the events included farther down the page.

Be careful when watching it, as it will not only put you in the mindset of that tragic day, but some of the footage can be hard to watch again.