Doing unto others…
source: Foundations Magazine
George Washington was only 16 when he finished copying out by hand all 110 “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation,” a translation of a set of French Jesuit “injunctions to gentlemen” that dated from the late 16th century. Their dated diction (and the odd passe circumstance) notwithstanding, the Rules are an instructive read in these times of aggression and screed.
As we wax wistful, we might share a courteous smile with the nearest gin-soaked bar room queen– it was on this date in 1969 that the Rolling Stones released “Honky Tonk Women” in the U.S. (the very same day, as it happens, that David Bowie released “Space Oddity”).
B-side: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
Hey, squirt!…
(Photo by Helen E. Raleigh of C.W. Slagle Antiques)
Given the season, one might be grateful to Popular Mechanics for its round-up of The Top 6 Water Guns of All Time…
As we pack for the pool, we might might stutter a respectful “Th-th-th-th-that’s all, folks!,” as it was on this date that Melvin Jerome “Mel” Blanc– the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, and countless other Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes (and later Hanna-Barbera) cartoon characters– died in 1989… just a year after voicing Daffy Duck in his classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit duel with Donald…
(source: The B.S. Report)
Cultural diplomacy…
From Abstruse Goose, a reminder that we are what we watch…
As we reach for our remotes, we might spare a thought for a master of the electromagnetic spectrum: this is the birth date (1856) of Serbian-American electrical engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla.(Tesla’s birth certificate says “June 28″ in the Orthodox system– most scholars convert this to July 9; some, to July 10.) In his extraordinary career, Tesla patented over 110 innovations, ranging from the first AC motor and generator (c,f,: Niagara Falls; in the long run, Tesla was right; Edison– proponent of DC, and vicious opponent of Tesla– wrong) to the first wireless remote control. Tesla designed and began planning a “worldwide wireless communications system” that was backed by JP Morgan… until Morgan lost confidence and pulled out. “Cyberspace,” as described by the likes of Bill Gibson and Neal Stephenson, is largely prefigured in Tesla’s plan. Often mis-remembered (as a fringe figure, almost a looney), if at all, Tesla was a remarkable genius, whose talent ran far, far ahead of his luck. He died penniless in 1943.
Oh say can you see…?
source: Dark Roasted Blend
On the heels of a weekend of frankfurter-fortified patriotism here in the U.S., the good folks at Dark Roasted Blend have published a momento mori– “Flags of Forgotten Countries“…
Consider the beauty above– the standard of one of the superpowers of its time, The Most Serene Republic of Venice. A version of this pennant waved for most of the thousand years– from the late seventh century to 1797– that Venice stood sovereign… a period that ended with the city-state’s defeat by Napoleon, himself the author of a number of now-redundant flags.
See the whole collection here.
As we think timeless thoughts, we might recall that in the midst of Venetian ascendancy, on this date in 1593, across the boot in Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi was born. Influenced by her father Orazio and his mentor Caravaggio, she was the first female painter to tackle historic and heroic themes that were at the time believed to be “beyond the reach of women,” and to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence.
Seeing is… well, seeing…
Via Discover’s Bad Astronomy blog, one of the more amazing optical illusions that your correspondent has ever seen:
Alternating red and green spirals, right? Actually, they are exactly the same color. As Bad Astronomy explains,
The reason they look different colors is because our brain judges the color of an object by comparing it to surrounding colors. In this case, the stripes are not continuous as they appear at first glance. The orange stripes don’t go through the “blue” spiral, and the magenta ones don’t go through the “green” one. Here’s a zoom to make this more clear:
The orange stripes go through the “green” spiral but not the “blue” one. So without us even knowing it, our brains compare that spiral to the orange stripes, forcing it to think the spiral is green. The magenta stripes make the other part of the spiral look blue, even though they are exactly the same color.
Read the full story in Bad Astronomy here. And for a treat, visit the site of the originator of the illusion, Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka here.
As we reconsider the evidence of our eyes, we might recall that it ’twas on this date in 1852 (according to the stories) that Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, Dr. John H. Watson, was born… while Holmes did occasionally say “Elementary!” (e.g., in “The Crooked Man”), he never actually said “Elementary, my dear Watson” to Dr. Watson in any of the stories/novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The phrase was actually a kind of homage, offered by P.G. Wodehouse, who first used it in Psmith Journalist in 1915; it found more common currency as it made it’s way into the scripts of the Sherlock Holmes films, perhaps most notably on the pursed lips of Basil Rathbone… Ironically, it was on this date in 1930 that Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes’ creator, died.
Watson (left) as Holmes, as drawn by Doyle’s original illustrator, Sidney Padget
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (never actually seen in the room at the same time as Dr. Watson)
