- Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, philosophy, culture, technology, environmentalism, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He was called the “Timothy Leary of the ’90s”, “one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism”, and the “intellectual voice of rave culture”.
- Why Bridges Don’t Sink (practical.engineering)
The essence of a bridge is not just that it goes over something, but that there’s clear space underneath for a river, railway, or road. Maybe this is already obvious to you, but bridges present a unique structural challenge. In a regular road, the forces are transferred directly into the ground. On a bridge, all those forces on the span get concentrated into the piers or abutments on either side. Because of that, bridge substructures are among the strongest engineered systems on the planet. And yet, bridge foundations are built in some of the least ideal places for heavy loading. Rivers and oceans have soft, mucky soils that can’t hold much weight. Plus, obviously, a lot of them are underwater.