Old High German is the forefather for contemporary German and Dutch. Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic affiliation and cultural context. Watch this video language tutorial and learn how to get a general linguistic overview ...
Old Swedish and Old Danish began to split off into two separate languages around the 13th century. Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic affiliation and cultural context. Watch this video language tutorial and learn how to get ...
Middle Dutch is the forefather of modern Dutch, Flemish, and Afrikaans, dating around the Middle Ages up through part of the Renaissance. Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic affiliation and cultural context. Watch this video ...
Ever wondered what the Vikings sounded like? Old Norse is the grandpa of the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish, and is actually quite similar to Icelandic. Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic aff...
Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic affiliation and cultural context. While Icelandic belongs in the same language family as English, it has a couple letters than look completely foreign to an English speaker. Watch this vide...
Polyglot Alexander Arguelles presents a series of videos to provide introductory overviews of the languages of the world. Working diachronically through various language families in turn, he demonstrates how to identify each language, translates a text sample to show how it works, and discusses its genetic affiliation and cultural context. While Frisian is spoken in parts of the Netherlands and Germany, and is in the same language family as both, it has it's own distinct characteristics. Watc...
Kuru is called the shaking disease, its name derived from the Fore word for "to shake." Caused by an organism that infects the part of the brain that controls coordination, people afflicted with kuru shake uncontrollably.
True innovation tends to come from the places we least expect as developers. The Microsoft HoloLens is still a very new product, and some of the other headsets are still just ideas, so the rules for mixed reality are not set in stone. That means all the real problems to be solved are yet to come.
Polenta can cause risotto-like anxiety for the most experienced cook. First of all, making polenta is time-consuming—it can often take upwards of 45 minutes (unless you use this shortcut). And in the midst of this long cooking time, you're constantly stirring to keep the polenta from becoming lumpy. Even after taking the utmost of care, the polenta can still turn out too loose, too firm, or too grainy.
Just a day after the release of the iPhone X, the music-meets-comedy pastime known as Animoji Karaoke quickly emerged as one of the popular (albeit frivolous) features used to justify spending $1,000 for Apple's newest smartphone.
With iOS 11, Apple is working hard towards breaking down language barriers to bring people closer together than ever before, as evidenced by Siri's newfound ability to directly translate words and phrases in different languages. In the near future, it's easy to imagine Siri as our very own real-life BabelFish.
Every recipe on the face of this planet (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration there) ends with the same six words:
Android clearly wasn't made with bilingual users in mind. When you set a default system locale, every app on your phone uses that region's language—and there's no granular control here. This really becomes an issue if you use social media or news apps that are primarily in a different language, because apps are generally written in the developer's native tongue, then poorly translated to all other languages.
If you're grossed out by anything creepy, crawly, and with more than 4 legs... then stop being so close-minded and eat some bugs already, dammit.
Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous characters in modern history, and has appeared in film more often than any other character. No less than 78 different actors have taken their turn at portraying the enigmatic deduction machine in various mediums, and each has brought their own foibles to the role. Some of the names may even surprise you: Tom Baker, John Cleese, Peter Cushing, Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, Roger Moore, and even Leonard Nimoy.
We regret to inform you the former king of third-party keyboards, Swype, has officially retired on both Android and iOS. A few weeks ago, we noticed Swype's mysterious disappearance from the iOS App Store but had hoped it was just pulled temporarily, not gone forever. Unfortunately, Swype is no more, but there's something that's ready to take its place for you on your phone.
Sports gaming company ePlay Digital, Inc. is looking to capitalize on the fall launch of iOS 11 and ARKit with an augmented reality fantasy sports app.
Tahitian style hula dancing is a cultural dance that mimics the movement of the ocean. Learn how to hula with this free dancing video series.
Weeds are the bain of a gardeners existence. Many people reach for something and spray. There are many cultural things that can be tried before spraying. Cutting the grass correctly and ensuring good drainage will go a long way towards preventing weeds. If water is puddling on top of the soil you know you're going to have to do something, some drainage tiles, bringing in more soil to level it out, somehow improve the drainage. With conditions like this you will not only have problems with wee...
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: GEOPHAGY [n]
In December of last year, Australian Feliks Zemdegs broke the human world record for solving a Rubik's Cube with a time of 4.737 seconds. Well, this robot did it way, way faster by solving one in under 1 second. Don't tell me a robot takeover isn't real possibility.
In yesterday's tidbit, we learned that across the planet women seek material wealth in their mates. This stems from our hunter-gather past in which females depended on male hunters to provide them and their children the meat necessary to support their large brains.
Many people find Steampunk problematic for a whole host of reasons, not least of which is the glorification of an era of Western history that featured institutionalized slavery, racism, sexism, elitism, and many more -isms.
Shot at the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre in Australia, this video shows how to properly throw a boomerang. Take a look this video and give it a try.
The dance of the Philippines uses movements and costumes to tell cultural stories. Learn about Filipino dancing in this free dance lesson video from an award-winning Filipino dancer.
Burmese dance is an ancient cultural dance style that uses simple movements and gestures to tell a story. Learn more about this dance from Burma in this free dance lesson video series from a professional Burmese dancer.
The draw of wireless earbuds is convenience, and many still offer the same sound performance as their wired counterparts. The difficult part is finding a pair that will stay in your ear reliably, work when you need them, and give you the best audio quality.
Data makes the world go round. It has gotten to the point that it's considered the most valuable resource, perhaps even more important than oil. Businesses use data to collect critical information about their users and improve their services; governments utilize it to improve things like public transportation; doctors analyze data to find more ways to save lives.
If you're a frequent Null Byte reader, chances are you're already up to speed with at least one or two programming languages or development platforms. But in a world that's becoming increasingly reliant on high-powered apps and responsive websites, knowing the fundamentals of just a few go-to programming languages isn't going to cut it if you want to be competitive and successful.
The 280-character limit for tweets on Twitter is double what it used to be back in the day, but it's still not enough to express in-depth thoughts, ideas, commentary, rants, blogs, stories, and the like. These tweetstorms, as they're called, are the reason why Twitter created its threads feature.
In the summer of 1976, 4,000 American Legionnaires descended upon the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a four-day convention. Several days later, many of the attendees experienced symptoms of severe pneumonia. By the beginning of August, 22 people had died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about 180 people were sickened and 29 people died before this mysterious outbreak burnt out.
Dumplings have been around for centuries in various forms; spätzle, as well as chicken and dumplings, are dough-y dumplings with no filling, whereas Russian pierogis and Chinese jiaozi are dumplings that contain meat, vegetables, or both.
Soup can be one of the most finicky dishes to make. While seemingly innocuous at first, the texture of this meal can change in an instant. For example, adding too many vegetables can result in soup that's too watery, such as tomatoes, which contain a lot of liquid.
Foodies and big-time chefs like Thomas Keller go crazy for fleur de sel. This finishing salt appears in fancy eateries and cookbooks the world over, and in the early 2000s, it was not uncommon to see diners in a high-end restaurant sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel on their plates from their own personal stash.
One feature of Samsung devices that's less useful than I had expected is S Voice, the voice assistant that ships with all new Galaxy devices. The voice is annoying, the features are lacking, and it's an all around subpar product. With Google Now, Siri, and now Microsoft's Cortana, Samsung needs to really step up their game—even on the new Galaxy S5.
While there are countless ways to welcome in the new year, many of them involve imbibing copious amounts of delightfully spirited libations. If you're anything like me, I know you're fearing the monster hangover on New Year's Day.
As we settle into our new normal, this extra time provides a perfect opportunity to learn new skills. Speaking a foreign language is a great way to expand your cultural boundaries while also training your brain. Not only will you pass the time more effectively, but you'll also be doing something positive for your health.
Fans attending the US Open Tennis Championships in Queens, New York, which kicks off on Monday, will have the opportunity to meet tennis star Venus Williams in an augmented reality game sponsored by American Express.
These past few days have brought more bad news for our national parks. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke confirmed that there will definitely be big cuts to national park budgets. This comes after Donald Trump's budget request revealed a call for $300 million cuts to national parks.
A new dating advice site, WittyThumbs, launched today that lets users offer advice to others as well as seek it; the site combines that collaboration with advice from designated dating experts.
