Once upon a time, so very many years ago, laundry day could almost literally be an all-day affair. Things were once very different when it came to washing and drying our clothes. There wasn’t a long list of scented detergents, nor were there settings on washing machines. Heck, at one time we were the washing machines, and the air and sun took care of the drying. Laundry Day: It Just Keeps Getting Shorter At one time, clothes were washed down in the river. It was relatively common to see washerwomen along the banks of the river with their homemade washboards, bats, and rocks. The laundry was sometimes soaked in lye back at their homes and then later brought to the river for a good washing. Laundry went on in this fashion until about the 19th century. In some countries like France, there were actual washrooms where you could find people gathered together airing their dirty laundry. Laundry In The 19th Century It wasn’t until the 19th century that people began laundering their wash in a different way. At this time, many people had a wash tub which consisted of a wooden or metal tub that was used just for washing clothes. Not all homes had a wash tub but many did. The tubs would be filled with water that was heated over an open fire or right on top of their wood stoves. The water was poured into the tub along with the laundry, and likely lye or some sort of bar soap was used for scrubbing. More often than not, there was some sort of washboard used to help wash the clothes. However, washboards weren’t factory made until the late 19th century. Before that, the laundry would soak in the water and wooden paddles, also known as bats, were used to agitate the clothes. Once they were done, the clothes would be wrung out by hand and hung up to dry. In different regions, though the wash tubs were different, the way people washed their clothes was pretty similar. For the most part, Dolly tubs, also known as Peggy or Maidens, were used. These tubs were a bit taller and instead of using paddles or bats, there was a wooden plunger called a Dolly Stick, with a long handle that was used to agitate, as well as wring out the clothes after the washing. Late 19th Century & Early 20th Century Then there came a day when someone finally invented a hand-powered wringer. This helped laundry day move a little faster. The wet clothes would be placed between the rollers of the wringer, and you would use the crank to roll them through. A couple of passes through, and the laundry was ready to be hung out on the line. Sometimes it took two people to operate the wringer, one to hold the clothing and the other to operate the machine. It wasn’t until the late 1850’s that steam-powered washing machines came to be. They used steam rather than electricity, because at this time not many people had access to electricity. 1930’s to Now Finally, there came the day that you could purchase a washing machine and plug it in. It was called the wringer/mangler washing machine. When my mother was a child, she tried to be helpful and wash my grandfather’s clothing. The wringer/mangler sucked her arm right into the wringer and hurt her arm, hence the title the mangler. The wringer was operated by electricity, and it would pull the clothing through on its own while you held it. Laundry day just kept getting shorter and shorter from here on out.   mttje1999 shows a video of how doing laundry was done in the 1900's: By the 40’s and 50’s washing machines became more of what they are today — minus the digital buttons and water saving options. This trip back in time shows us the hard work and dedication it took to air the family’s dirty laundry. What was once back-breaking labor has become a 10-minute task with little to no effort needed. I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Throwback Thursday on the Homestead. Next time you think doing laundry is a chore remember those who laundered before! Happy wash day! Have you ever tried washing the old way or have experienced someone doing so? Please share in the comments below! Read on how to dry laundry using a drying rack or clothesline for homestead living! Follow us on facebook, instagram, pinterest, and twitter!

Watch Midwit 'Journalists' Analyze the Election

This chonky alga loves a bit of carbon dioxide.

The international conference is due to begin on Monday in Azerbaijan.

Revenge is best served by stopping the water flow.

“It's one of the most fundamental problems in mathematics. It had been considered totally out of reach before this.”

Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down in episode 39...

It played a role in the formation of the asteroid and maybe even in the formation of the giant planets.

Today, I hosted two academic professionals, Andrew Simmons from Washington DC and Lourdes German from Cambridge MA, who confessed that they had been following my search for extraterrestrial artifacts over the past few years. They asked me how I came to pursue this search. I explained that my interest was triggered by the discovery of the first astronomical object from outside the Solar system, `Oumuamua on October 19, 2017. This 100-meters-size object was anomalous in its inferred pancake-like shape and non-gravitational acceleration with no sign of evaporation. In short, `Oumuamua did not resemble familiar asteroids or comets from the Solar system. `Oumuamua’s wake-up call revealed a research opportunity that I never encountered before in the preceding thirty years of my academic career. The search for extraterrestrial artifacts could carry huge implications for the future of humanity but is largely abandoned by the scientific community.Other transformative themes, like the search for the unknown nature of dark matter, often have a long history and are crowded with many competing practitioners. This means that the prospects for making a unique contribution to their knowledge base is small. However, here was a research path not taken, to which I can make a major contribution. My training was in theoretical physics, but I was willing to lead the experimental Galileo Project, aimed to collect evidence that could guide us towards a better understanding of our cosmic neighborhood. The general public resonated with my agenda and was extremely interested in my research. Paradoxically, the more attention I received from the world outside academia, the more intense were the push back and personal attacks I received from science popularizers, reporters, social media influencers or jealous scientists, who pretended to `defend’ science. Their attempts to suppress the scientific collection of evidence through the Galileo Project reflected an anti-science bias, which is meant to protect cherished beliefs from the burden of attending to anomalies. Andrew and Lourdes asked why is this research area avoided by the academic mainstream? I reasoned that the public is definitely intrigued by the possibility that some Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) near Earth may reflect extraterrestrial technologies. Surely, members of academia are drawn from the public, so deep down many of them must share this sentiment. However, because of stigma they never discuss it openly. Paradoxically, the stigma is promoted by members of the SETI community who banned discussions about UAP in their conferences. I started in an academic culture of `chess players,’ where considering new possible signatures of dark matter is rewarded, but now I find myself among `mud wrestlers’ who resist thinking outside the box. They prefer to speculate that the anomalies of interstellar objects like `Oumuamua represent rocks of a type that we had never seen before but at the same time dismiss artificial interpretations as speculative. Some of them ignore the vast collection of papers which attempted — with serious difficulties — to explain `Oumuamua’s anomalies, and suggest to forget the anomalies and move on. They miss the fundamental lesson from the history of science that revolutionary knowledge first appears in the form of anomalies. As of now, the academic gates in the search for technological signatures of extraterrestrial civilizations are occupied by gatekeepers who tolerate unsuccessful searches for radio signals but ban a possible technological interpretation of the anomalies exhibited by interstellar objects like `Oumuamua. Whether the U.S. government has classified data on UAP that indicates an extraterrestrial origin will be discussed at the congressional hearing to be held next Wednesday, November 13, 2024. Andrew and Lourdes asked me how would the academic community respond to disclosure of related government data, if it exists? In response, I quoted Arthur Schopenhauer, who wisely stated: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Based on my experience, I added a fourth stage: “Finally, the early critics claim that they were first to propose it.” As a scientist leading the Galileo Project, I wish to collect as much data as possible so that my critics will have no way out but to admit that at least one of the anomalous objects in our sky is of extraterrestrial technological origin. But I am not delusional. If other astronomers will use the Rubin Observatory and the Webb telescope to conclude that a new object like `Oumuamua is artificial in origin, they would still insist that `Oumuamua could have been a natural rock. This would constitute their version of the fourth stage. Nevertheless, I am at peace with Schopenhauer’s forecast. What really matters is the knowledge that humanity will gain from a superhuman intelligence, including its technologies and scientific insights. If we had the benefit of surveying all the inhabited planets in the ten-billion-year history of the Milky-Way, we could have found evidence for past civilizations that perished billions of years ago by self-inflicted wounds or natural catastrophes. This knowledge would have allowed us to avoid their mistakes. Instead, by staying at our current vantage point and looking around, we could learn from the most accomplished civilizations which managed to reach us with their technological products. This local search would be most effective if government agencies and private donors funded it on a larger scale. Without searching, we will surely not find anything. The post Could UAP Save Us from Ourselves? appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Making several appearances Thursday on CNN to discuss the aftermath of Donald Trump winning the presidential election, CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir fretted over a second Trump administration's climate policies, and declared that the President-elect is "the most notorious climate denier in history" who will let the climate "go to hell." This is the same Bill Weir who famously declared "even the seagulls" were "awed" with Barack Obama's first inauguration.  Shortly before 9:00 a.m. during extended election coverage, CNN host Sara Sidner hinted at global warming being to blame for recent extreme weather, and provocatively called Trump a "climate denier" as she set up the segment: These wildfires are just the latest in a slew of unprecedented severe weather events -- including, as you remember, back-to-back hurricanes and extreme heat. President-elect Donald Trump is a known climate denier vowing to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord a second time. His election comes on the heels of startling new data showing worsening effects of delaying action against climate change. Her reference to a high hurricane frequency being "unprecedented" flies in the face of data showing there have been many times since the mid 1800s that several hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S. in just one hurricane season. Weir then came aboard and recounted the different possibilities for how many degrees warmer the world might become and argued that it is necessary to cut back fossil fuel burning within five years to prevent dire consequences. He soon took aim at President-elect Trump: "Every country in the world says we're going to try to hold the line at 1.5, and now we're here just as maybe the most notorious climate denier in history takes power once again." As he appeared again in the afternoon shortly before 3 p.m., Weir fearmongered that there would be "hell on Earth" if the world fails to cut carbon emissions, and then took aim at Trump again: "Once we hit two degrees, if you think things are bad now, imagine the hell on Earth that would be three degrees of global warming. Well, Donald Trump is basically saying, 'Go to hell -- go to that hell,' because he doesn't want to even acknowledge the existence of the problem." He soon repeated his claim that Trump is "the most notorious climate denier in the public eye these days." Transcripts below: CNN November 7, 2024 8:57 a.m. Eastern SARA SIDNER: These wildfires are just the latest in a slew of unprecedented severe weather events -- including, as you remember, back-to-back hurricanes and extreme heat. President-elect Donald Trump is a known climate denier vowing to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord a second time. His election comes on the heels of startling new data showing worsening effects of delaying action against climate change. CNN's Bill Weir is joining us now. What could a second Trump administration mean for the -- for the planet? Which is a huge question. BILL WEIR: It is a very big question at such a vital time. Science says these next five years are everything when it comes to winding down the fuels that burn, replacing them with the abundant clean energy of the sun in the sky. But he wants to roll it all back. If the first term was any indication, he will gut all environmental regulation, give oil and gas producers sort of carte blanche, as he promised there, as well. It will be interesting to see how much he can claw back of the Inflation Reduction Act because a lot of that money is going to the Republican districts -- over 75 percent of it right now. But this is really the crux of it. Take a look at this temperature chart, Sara. This year, 2024 -- according to Copernicus, the European space unit -- will shatter all records, being the warmest ever. And it's the first year where we've blown past the 1.5 degrees Celsius or three degrees Fahrenheit limit of the Paris climate accords. Every country in the world says we're going to try to hold the line at 1.5, and now we're here just as maybe the most notorious climate denier in history takes power once again. SIDNER: It is concerning to a lot of people -- young people have talked about this quite a bit. What does this tell us about what we will see? I mean, temperatures hottest ever this year? WEIR: Right, right. And it stalls the knockoff effects and a new report out that insurance losses in the last decade 50 percent higher than the decade before. It's changing property values and building codes and immigrant streams and supply chains. All of this is happening in real time. So you have to adapt to the pain that's already built in while trying to mitigate the price of it right now. And then there's disaster response. under the Trump and Biden administration which we saw the very different approaches under the Trump and Biden administration as to who gets the aid -- sometimes it's a political favor under Trump. So all of this has folks in the climate environmental space very, very worried. And it also has a lot of brave faces. You've got folks from California saying, "We will continue to lead." The state of Washington passed a sweeping climate bond bill there and laws to sort of protect that. Californians passed that bond bill. So what you might see is a kind of balkanization of states like Minnesota, Michigan, California that are going to lead the way on this clean technologies. But at the end of the day, these cleaner alternatives now are the cheapest in human history. So Texas leads the nation in green energy right now. So we'll see. But the immediate pain -- that's what folks have to deal with -- these immediate storms and wildfires. SIDNER: Yup, and we're seeing them play out right now in California -- a place where some insurers have pulled back because they can't keep affording to rebuild those houses. It is always a pleasure to see you even though you bring us sometimes disappointing and sad news. (...) CNN News Central November 7, 2024 2:53 p.m. Eastern BORIS SANCHEZ: There is a wildfire raging in Southern California; a late-season hurricane tearing through Cuba and threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast; and also record autumn heat across the country. These are now just some of the realities of climate change. The question is: How will the U.S. respond to it under a second Trump administration? BRIANNA KEILAR: Yeah, there's a new report that finds that 2024 is on track to be the warmest year ever. I know we're feeling that in Washington, D.C., today for sure, and it may cross a red line scientists are really worried about. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is here with more on this. Bill, 2024 will be the first calendar year to exceed the Paris agreement threshold. What does it mean for the planet? BILL WEIR: Well, that line -- that 1.5-degree Celsius or three degrees Fahrenheit was the idea that anything beyond that would just be so hard to adapt and to do it in time. Once we hit two degrees, if you think things are bad now, imagine the hell on Earth that would be three degrees of global warming. Well, Donald Trump is basically saying, "Go to hell -- go to that hell," because he doesn't want to even acknowledge the existence of the problem. He won with a promise to supercharge the economy and fix the border and heal America, but climate change is the hole in every one of those buckets, making it that much harder to deal with streams of immigrants coming from Central America after storms or droughts down there, dealing with the economy in places like Asheville, North Carolina, completely devastated. We'll put up a map of the ocean temperatures as well, hitting records around the globe, especially around the United States -- the Atlantic and the Gulf there. That, of course, makes hurricanes stronger, faster. It moves water cycles in much less predictable ways. It effects everything from insurance rates -- there's a crisis on that -- to supply chains. And the wildfires that you're talking about now in California -- these warm planet dries things out faster, makes a more flammable Earth. And so at the absolute time scientists saying that humanity must rally together, decarbonize as quick as humanely possible, and brace for the pain that's built in, the United States has really elected the most notorious climate denier in the public eye these days. Next week at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the world is supposed to meet to talk about finance for developing countries, helping them adapt and get green in time. But we're already hearing diplomats may not be going because of the clues from the United States the Trump administration not interested. And certainly global climate diplomacy, for the countries that really take this seriously, that's a major issue. But there may be enough built-in momentum green energy projects, especially in Republican districts, Brianna and Boris, that it will be hard to claw those back here in the United States.