(Roughly) Daily

Finger wrestling has been used in the Alps as a method of resolving disputes since the 17th century.  Now, dueling with digits has become a sport.

Two contestants sit facing each other across a large table, with their fingers threaded into a strong strap. On a signal from the referee, the contest begins, and the competitors pull as hard as they can.  The winner is the competitor who successfully pulls their opponent across the table, using just their finger.

In Bavaria, the home of finger wrestling, it’s serious business.  Competitors train their fingers for the intense strain (and pain) of competition, by squeezing tennis balls, holding their body weight on their competitive finger, and doing one-finger press-ups…  While wrestlers are free to use any finger they wish, the finger of choice is, of course, the middle finger.

Read more about finger wrestling, and see video of the recently-completed 35th Annual Finger Wrestling Championship, at The Sun.

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As we flex our phalanges, we might send prodigious birthday greeting to G.K. Chesterton; he was born on this date in 1874.  The author of 80 books, several hundred poems, over 200 short stories, 4000 essays, and several plays, he was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, Catholic theologian and apologist, debater, and mystery writer. Chesterton was a columnist for the Daily News, the Illustrated London News, and his own paper, G. K.’s Weekly, and wrote articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica.  Chesterton created the priest-detective Father Brown, who appeared in a series of short stories, and had a huge influence on the development of the mystery genre; his best-known novel is probably The Man Who Was Thursday.

Chesterton’s faith, which he defended in print and speeches, brought him into conflict with the most famous atheist of the time, George Bernard Shaw, who said (on the death of his “friendly enemy”), ”he was a man of colossal genius.”

George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, and G. K. Chesterton

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In this 1974 clip from the BBC news magazine Nationwide, Mr. Tony McCabe demonstrates how to jump on eggs without breaking them:

 click here for video

Slow news day…

[TotH to The Presurfer]

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As we struggle to balance “nimble” and “quick,” we might light a candle for Lucifer Calaritanus, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia; he died on this date in 370 (according to St. Jerome; it may have been 371).  Though the status is elsewhere disputed, Lucifer is considered a saint in Sardinia, and today is his feast day.  In any case, his name– which means “bearer of light”– is a reminder that “Lucifer” had not in his life time attained its Satanic connotation.  Indeed, it was St. Jerome, in his translation of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) in the 390s, who made “Lucifer” synonymous with the Dark Lord… Given that Jerome was a theological antagonist of (Bishop) Lucifer, the naming may not have been altogether coincidental.

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Coming to a stadium in North London this Sunday [2010]: a tribute/replay of Monty Python’s “The Philosophers’ Football Match,” featuring Socrates Wanderers vs. Nietzsche Albion, all in support of the Philosophy Shop’s “Four Rs” campaign (a movement to get “reasoning” added to “reading, writing. and ‘rithmetic”).  Great cause; great fun.

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As we hear “Frege” and “Kant” exclaimed in response to a Yellow Card (…at least, that’s what it sounded like), we might recall that it was on this date in 1925 that John T. Scopes was served the warrant that led to his being the defendant in Scopes vs. The State of Tennessee (aka “the Scopes Monkey Trial”).

Tennessee had responded to the urgings of William Bell Riley, head of the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association, and passed a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution– the Butler Act; in response, The American Civil Liberties Union offered to defend anyone accused of violating the Act.  George Rappleyea, who managed several local mines, convinced a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, a town of 1,756, that the controversy of such a trial would give Dayton some much needed publicity. With their agreement, he called in his friend, the 24-year-old Scopes, who taught High School biology in the local school– and who agreed to be the test case.

The rest is celebrity-filled history, and star-studded drama.

Scopes in 1925

Your correspondent is a few too many time zones away to allow for timely posting of a new missives; so this is a note from a Cinco de Mayo past; regular service should resume tomorrow… Meantime, Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

From Fox News, announcing the big news story of May 1, 2011:

BREAKING NEWS
Obama Bin Laden Dead

Still, Happy World Press Freedom Day!

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As we remember that, to paraphrase Craig Newmark, a free press is the immune system of a democracy, we might wish a crafty Happy Birthday to Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli; he was born on this date in 1469.  Machiavelli wrote comedies, poetry, and some of the best-known personal correspondence in Italian; but he is best remembered as a Man of Affairs, first as a servant of the Florentine Republic in a time during which Medici influence was on the wane.  His most famous work, The Prince– first published as a pamphlet in 1513– was written mid-career to gain favor with the Medici, who were at that point regaining dominance in Florence.  The essay on the exercise of power (inspired by Cesare Borgia) not only failed to win over the Medici, it alienated Machiavelli from the Florentine public; he never again played an important role in government.  Indeed, when the Florentine Republic was established in 1527, Machiavelli was effectively ostracized.

But published in book form posthumously (in 1532), The Prince began its steady growth in influence.  And of course today, Machiavelli is considered one of the fathers of modern political theory.

Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito (source)

Your correspondent is a few too many time zones away to allow for timely posting of a new missives; so this is a note from a May 3 past; regular service should resume May 6…

Lars von Trier and The Duck

A mock trailer for a “Dogme 95” – Donald Duck movie, from Icelandic television’s Mid-Island show. The pretentious checklist of the Danish avant-garde cinematic movement seems to be followed to the letter here.

From the YouTube description:

Donald leads a tormented life on the unforgiving streets of Duckburg, where sometimes he must betray his own conscience to make ends meet.

Donald has to raise his 3 nephews, deal with a cheating girlfriend and put up with working for his stingy uncle; the richest duck in down. This is a tale everyone can relate to.

Wait for Goofy’s appearance, you’ll be glad you did.

Via the ever-illuminating Dangerous Minds…

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As we consider cultural commotion, we might recall that it was on this date that a mid-Manhattan opera house that had become a TV studio (Captain Kangaroo, Password), then fallen into disuse, reopened as Studio 54.  The club was the project of Syracuse roommates Steve Rubell and Ian Shrager; with help of Carmen D’Alessio, a public-relations maven in the fashion industry, whose Rolodex included names like Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Andy Warhol and Truman Capote, it briskly became the epicenter of disco and the most famous nightclub in the world.   In the end, Studio 54′s trajectory was tied to that of disco and of the transitional moment (part fin de siecle; part dawn of a new– Reagan’s– America) it epitomized.  It closed on February 4, 1980– with a party called, appropriately enough, “The End of Modern-day Gomorrah.”

Andy Warhol, Jerry Hall, and friends

The crowd awaits

Studio 54 photo source