Bronze Age Collapse, Harvard Admissions, and Owl Affection

Today I Learned:
1) What’s the biggest civilizational collapse you know about? Until today I would have said “the fall of the Roman Empire”. Today I can say “the end of the bronze age”. The end of the bronze age happened somewhere between 1300 and 1100 BC, and it involved the destruction of almost all of the great civilizations of the fertile crescent. Unfortunately, we don’t really know why it happened — it was followed by a dark age rather like The Dark Age in terms of recorded history.

2) The modern academic requirements of college admissions were essentially institutionalized by a couple of guys, namely James Conant and Kingman Brewster, presidents of Harvard and Yale, respectively, during the 1930s. Before them, admissions were decided by means apparently devised to select for high-society future aristocrats — preference for those with wealthy parents and athletic prowess, personal interviews to ensure personability, quotas on Jewish entrants, proficiency with classical languages, and other stuff like that. In the 30s, the ivy leagues started adding academic requirements to their admissions process, removing Jewish quotas and adding SAT and grade requirements, among other things.

3) Owls actually seem to like physical affection. This comes with some caveats — most owls *emphatically do not* like to be touched by humans. That’s because most owls have very little experience being touched by humans, and being touched by a human is really scary and stressful if you’re not used to it. Owls raised in captivity, however, and trained to accept human touch, can be surprisingly affectionate, and apparently many wild owls are very physically affectionate with each other.

(note: this does not mean you should keep an owl as a pet. Don’t do this unless you are incredibly passionate about owls, are willing to devote a lot of time and money to them, don’t mind the risk of bodily injury, and have proper legal permits to do so.)