All posts tagged: history

White House Correspondents’ Dinner: 11 Memorable Moments in History

White House Correspondents’ Dinner: 11 Memorable Moments in History

Published by Sam Flores

1997: Jon Stewart Cajoles the Late Senator Kennedy Jon Stewart’s 1997 speech took place before he was the host of The Daily Show, but the young comic made an impression with jokes like this zinger about the late senator Edward Kennedy. “I love Senator Kennedy. I think that guy’s the coolest. Although I do think he has kind of an enormous head. Honestly, it doesn’t even look like a head. It looks more like a container for a head.” After one of his jokes received a particularly positive reaction from the audience, Stewart quipped, “One more like that, and maybe I’ll be able to go to the Vanity Fair party. Boy, that’s a tough ticket.” US President Bill Clinton clipping the bushes at the White House from Clinton’s video for the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2000.Photo by The White House via Getty Images. 2000: Bill Clinton’s Final Days It’s not uncommon for presidents and comics to use video clips as part of their WHCD routines. At his final correspondents’ dinner, former president Bill Clinton …

Ping-pong robot Ace makes history by beating top-level human players

Ping-pong robot Ace makes history by beating top-level human players

Published by Sam Flores

April 22 : An autonomous robot ping-pong player dubbed Ace has achieved a milestone for AI and robotics in Tokyo by competing against and sometimes defeating top-level human players at table tennis, a feat that could presage an array of other applications for similarly adept robots. Ace, created by the Japanese company Sony’s AI research division, is the first robot to attain expert-level performance in a competitive physical sport, one that requires rapid decisions and precision execution, the project’s leader said. Ace did so by employing high-speed perception, AI-based control and a state-of-the-art robotic system.  There have been various ping-pong-playing robots since 1983, but until now they were unable to rival highly skilled human competitors. Ace changed that with its performances against human elite-level and professional players in matches following the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation, the sport’s governing body, and officiated by licensed umpires. “Unlike computer games, where prior AI systems surpass human experts, physical and real-time sports such as table tennis remain a major open challenge due to their requirements for …

Egyptian mummy discovered stuffed with excerpt from ‘The Iliad’

Egyptian mummy discovered stuffed with excerpt from ‘The Iliad’

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Egyptian mummies were frequently embalmed using repurposed bits of papyrus with religious texts and other spiritual passages written on it. Amid the ruins of an ancient city roughly 120 miles south of Cairo, archaeologists have identified the first Greco-Roman papyrus fragment used in burial rites. It’s no obscure piece of writing, either. According to researchers at the University of Barcelona, a 1,600-year-old mummy includes a passage from Homer’s famous epic, The Iliad. The mummy was found at Oxyrhynchus, a town on the banks of a Nile River branch called Bahr Yussef. By 400 CE, the vital urban locale was heavily influenced by Greco-Roman culture—a fact documented in over two centuries of archaeological excavations. “Since the late 19th century, a huge number of papyri have been discovered at Oxyrhynchus, including Greek literary texts of great importance,” Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, a University of Barcelona philologist and Oxyrhynchus project director, said in a statement. This isn’t the first time researchers noted Greek papyri …

Meet Star Trek legend George Takei’s partner of 40+ years — how they’ve made history together several times

Meet Star Trek legend George Takei’s partner of 40+ years — how they’ve made history together several times

Published by Daniella Wilson

Oh my! George Takei is another year older, and another year wiser, and we’re another year more grateful. The actor, best known for playing Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek universe, celebrated his 89th birthday on April 20, and over seven decades into his career, he’s still going strong! © Getty ImagesMeet George Takei’s partner of 40+ years, Brad Altman! Although, for none is the day a more special one than his longtime partner and husband of nearly two decades, Brad Altman. While the pair have only been married since 2008, their relationship stretches back far longer. Take a look at George’s loving relationship with his partner, including the many times they’ve even broken records together… Recommended videoYou may also likeWATCH: Where are the original Star Trek cast now? Who is Brad Altman? Brad Altman, now Brad Takei, was a financial journalist when he and George first met back, but a few years after they started dating, he pivoted to becoming his future husband’s business partner and manager. “I helped George with some of his …

Can you best a math Olympiad? Test your skills with the world’s largest database of problems.

Can you best a math Olympiad? Test your skills with the world’s largest database of problems.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In 1959, countries around the world sent their most talented students to Romania to compete in the first-ever International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Ever since, the rules have remained simple, even if the problems are not: over two days, each team works to solve a total of six math problems. After nearly 70 years, contenders from the United States, China, and Luxembourg have achieved a perfect score in various years. But while each year’s competition focuses on only six problems, there has long been another side to the IMO. “Every country brings a booklet of its most novel and most creative problems,” explained Shaden Alshammari, a mathematician at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). “They share the booklets with each other, but no one [has] made the effort to collect them, clean them, and upload them online.” Alshammari and her colleagues have finally changed that with MathNet, the world’s largest repository for proof-based math problems. With over 30,000 …

New Yorkers recall Sikh history of social justice at Vaisakhi festival

New Yorkers recall Sikh history of social justice at Vaisakhi festival

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (RNS) — In 1675, Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur completed a revolutionary act of selflessness that would change the faith’s trajectory and moral demands, according to Sikh martyrology. At the time, the Mughal Empire in South Asia mandated conversion to Islam. Sikh tradition holds that Bahadur, the ninth of 10 Sikh gurus, chose to defend the religious freedom of Hindus in Kashmir, who had appealed to him for help, said Amandeep Singh Sandhu, a United Kingdom-based educator from Everythings 13, a Sikh educational organization. He and his disciples advocated on behalf of the Hindus in court, and as a result, they were executed.  His martyrdom and Sikhs’ two-fold desire to defend themselves from persecution and stand with others in need ultimately led to the establishment of the faith’s Khalsa, a community of ritually initiated Sikhs who commit to both rigorous spiritual devotion and martial courage. In that vein, the origins of the spring Sikh festival of Vaisakhi lay in the guru’s radical decision to be in solidarity with the oppressed, said Harmeet Kaur Kamboj, …

Chinese Humanoid Robot Runs Half Marathon, Beats Fastest Human Time in History

Chinese Humanoid Robot Runs Half Marathon, Beats Fastest Human Time in History

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech A mere year ago, the half marathon for humanoid robots in Beijing mainly produced slapstick comedy. The bots could be seen awkwardly trotting alongside their human handlers, often struggling to get anywhere near the finish line. The fastest time to cover the 13.1-mile distance was two hours and 40 minutes, allowing the winner to just barely qualify for a human participation award. The second annual half marathon that took place this past Sunday, in contrast, was a stunning achievement. The fastest robot, a humanoid built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, completed the course in a mere 48 minutes and 19 seconds — a stunning nine minutes faster than the human world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo earlier this year. That top bot was remotely controlled by its human handlers. A separate Honor robot that autonomously navigated the course crossed the finish line in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, also crushing Kiplimo’s world record. Thanks to the …

Roman Mars to Host Podcast About American History

Roman Mars to Host Podcast About American History

Published by Daniella Wilson

99% Invisible creator Roman Mars is hosting a new series about the objects that shaped the history of America.  The show, A History of the United States in 100 Objects, is produced by SiriusXM and BBC Studios, and will see Mars uncover the stories behind objects such as a gold coin from a shipwreck in 1857 that led to a financial panic, an antebellum schoolbook that became a tool for Black liberation and a small screw that shows how the U.S. created a hidden industrial empire. “The history of America can’t be captured in a single story,” Mars said. “So instead, we’re telling one hundred. By looking closely at the things we’ve made – and the things we’ve thrown away – we’re hoping to reveal a richer, more complicated picture of who we are.” In addition to the new show, Mars hosts 99% Invisible, a narrative podcast about unnoticed architecture and design, which has led to multiple spin-off series, including Articles of Interest and the 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker. SiriusXM acquired 99% …

This Week in History: Columbine, apocalypse in Texas, and the loss of a Prince

This Week in History: Columbine, apocalypse in Texas, and the loss of a Prince

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more This week in history spans the depths of human tragedy through to the edges of the universe. The United States grapples with two harrowing flashpoints on its own soil: the apocalyptic end to the Waco siege and the Columbine high school massacre. Yet amid the turmoil on Earth, humanity also looks to the stars, uncovering the ‘Holy Grail’ echoes of the Big Bang and celebrating Hubble’s extraordinary views of the universe. All are charted across the front pages of The Independent. 22 April 1989 – 100,000 students occupy Tiananmen Square In a “stunning display of political defiance”, at least 100,000 students ignore government warnings of severe punishment to occupy Peking’s Tiananmen Square. Although 30 trucks of police and paramilitary units do not intervene at …