Sherman Tree

Possibly the largest living thing in the whole world – General Sherman is a Giant Sequoia with dimensions that’ll drop many jaws. One of the tallest Giant Sequoia trees in the world reaching 275 feet (84.8 meters), the Sherman Tree is reasonably“juvenile”, as its age is estimated between 2200 years and 2700 years. Moreover, it is the biggest Sequoia in the world when compared in terms of volume. Volume of its trunk measured 1487 cubic meters in 2002.

Located in the Sequoia National Park in the United States, east of Visalia, California, General Sherman owes its name to American Civil War veteran General William Tecumseh Sherman. James Wolverton a Lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman and also a naturalist named the Giant Sequoia after his general in 1879. The tree was reckoned as the largest tree in the world in 1931 after a competition with the General Grant tree. Since then, volume of the tree became the major determining factor for measuring the largeness of a tree.

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Baghdad Battery – Did We Already Have Electricity 2000 Years Ago?

Sunset in Babylon By Raphael Lacoste

Photo from Raphael Lacoste

If you thought electric bulbs and batteries were modern European inventions, here is something to put that fact to question! A 1936 excavation of some 2000-years-old ruins in an ancient Baghdad village unearthed a small yellow clay vase about 6 inches in height. It had a copper-sheet cylinder lining within it that measured 5 x 1.5 inches.

A soldering material (most probably lead and tin) was used at the top edge of this mysterious cylinder, bearing remarkable affinity to modern solder alloy. A punched-in copper disk at the base of this cylinder was sealed with asphalt or bitumen. A similar asphalt layer also found at the top end held together an iron rod, bearing acidic corrosion marks inserted within the cylinder.

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The Airplanes of Ancient Civilizations

Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying machine, the precursor to the airplane. / Photo from TechMuseum

Man has always wanted to fly since the wake of human civilization. It would be great injustice to the efforts of the ancient men if we suppose that aircrafts were not made until the 18^th century. The same history that gives you the accounts ofLeonardo Da Vinci and Wright Brothers hides within its fold much older mysterious evidences of early aircrafts made by anonymous men of various forgotten world cultures.

If you dig a little beneath the mythical surface, you will come across well-documented ancient accounts of advance technology and craft used for making airplanes, beyond the domain of modern imagination. Some of the remnants of this outstanding old technological knowledge are evident in the rare artifacts, inscriptions and symbolic carvings preserved in some of our museums while some others lie open on the face of earth, exposed to the elements.

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