No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As Billions Of Checkers Boards

24 snips
Mar 5, 2026
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INSIGHT

Romans Framed Britain As The Empire's Savage Edge

  • Ancient Roman writers depicted Britain (including Scotland) as peripheral, uncivilized and swamp-dwelling to contrast Rome's civility.
  • Cassius Dio and Strabo described Caledonians as wall-less, tent-dwelling people who endure swamps, a rhetorical device to mark Britain as the empire's edge.
ANECDOTE

How Wallabies Ended Up Living Wild In Scotland

  • Daniel Sloss recounts the origin of wild wallabies on a Scottish island as an aristocratic pet import from Australia that was released onto a loch island.
  • The wallabies thrived without predators; visitors can canoe to the island and the wallabies will approach campsites and fires.
ANECDOTE

Nikola Tesla's Pigeon Relationship In New York

  • Andrew describes Nikola Tesla's late-life attachment to a single pigeon he called beautiful and claimed loved him back.
  • Tesla fed many pigeons near the New York Public Library but said one female pigeon visited his room, nursed with him, and her death ended his life's work.
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