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The Court Jester Whose Wit Saved His Life

How a court jester slapped the king's butt, then brilliantly convinced him not to kill him Triboulet served as court jester under King Francis I, who ruled France from 1515 to 1547 . Triboulet's quick humor rescued him from Francis I's deadly wrath, not once, but twice. Court jesters hold a unique place in history. Playing the fool for kings and queens meant they were always in close proximity to royalty, but so very far from their rank and station. Comedians often like to push boundaries, but that can be a dangerous business when your job is to entertain the peope who have executioners at their beck and call. Especially when you forget your place—or purposely ignore it, as the case may be—and playfully smack the reigning monarch square on the behind. That little whoopsie was the claim to fame of Triboulet, a court jester who served King Francis I in 16th-century France. But it was how he got away with slapping the king on the butt and living to tell about it that earne...
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Mystery of Enormous Gravity Hole in the Indian Ocean

Scientists Crack Mystery of Enormous Gravity Hole in the Indian Ocean



Giant ‘gravity hole’ in Indian Ocean possibly caused by ancient sea that sank millions of years ago.

A huge, mysterious so-called “gravity hole” under the Indian Ocean might have been formed from the remnants of an ancient sea, according to a new study.

Researchers recently offered the possible origins of a massive expansive depression at the bottom of the sea — where Earth’s gravity is at its weakest.

The new study makes the case that the Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL) is made up of slabs from the long-lost Tethys Ocean that sank within the planet millions of years ago, according to Scientific American.

The IOGL spans about 2 million square miles (about two-thirds the size of the lower 48 US states) and is more than 600 miles below Earth’s crust, according to Science Alert. 

And according to the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, it could have been caused when the Tethyan slabs “perturbed” the African Large Low Shear Velocity province, which is also known as the “African blob,” leading to plumes beneath the Indian Ocean.

“These plumes, along with the mantle structure in the vicinity of the geoid low, are responsible for the formation of this negative geoid anomaly,” lead author Debanjan Pal and Attreyee Ghosh wrote in the study.

The origin of the “gravity hole” might have finally been explained thanks to a new study.


The Tethys Ocean existed tens of millions of years ago, separating the mega-continents of Gondwana and Laurasia, according to Scientific American.

There have been different theories to explain the gravitational anomaly.

“All these [previous] studies looked at the present-day anomaly and were not concerned with how this geoid low came into existence,” the study states.

The results were based on more than a dozen computer models, Scientific American reported.

The depression is deep in the Indian Ocean.


Geophysicist Shijie Zhong told the outlet the study offers an interesting take that could help better understand the IOGL.

“We like to talk about the positive gravity anomalies, such as the superplumes over Africa and the Pacific,” he said. “But the geoid low in the Indian Ocean is one of the most profound gravitational anomalies on our planet.”

The gravity hole likely took its current shape about 20 million years ago and will likely last millions more, Pal reportedly said. 


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