Still in use
Something still in use when something else began, long after it should have been gone.
What this page collects
Every juxtaposition here trades on the same kind of surprise. Grouping them is a way to find more of the one you liked, rather than a claim that the grouping means anything in itself: the same two subjects could be put together a different way and land somewhere else entirely.
The surprise is almost always the same underneath. People judge historical distance by how much they know about a period rather than by how long it lasted, and we know far more about the recent past, so it feels longer than it was. Everything older collapses toward everything else older. Drawn to scale, that collapse is visible, and the answer stops being a matter of opinion.
Why time feels compressed goes through that properly.
Where does the Great Pyramid of Giza belong?
oldest and largest of the three pyramids
- Alfred Russel Wallacelived 1823 to 1913
Placed against Alfred Russel Wallace
Where does John Muir belong?
Scottish-American naturalist
- the Great Pyramid of Gizadated 2560 BC
Placed against the Great Pyramid of Giza
Where does Antonín Dvořák belong?
Czech composer
- the Punic Warsran 264 BC to 146 BC
Placed against the Punic Wars
Where does William Herschel belong?
German-born British astronomer and composer
- Hadrian's Walldated 122
Placed against Hadrian's Wall