Archive for September 2009
And now, the good news…
Eat Less, Live Longer…
The chart above (courtesy of the OECD, via Swivel) plots relative levels of unemployment against life span… and suggests that there may be a silver lining in the dark cloud of recession: there’s evidence that life expectancy increases during times of high unemployment.
Specifically, this data shows the relationship between unemployment and life expectancy for the USA between 1960 and 2006. The following series are shown:
* LIGHTER PURPLE: residual life expectancy – the difference between the actual and expected life expectancy, in lay-terms, how much longer people lived than they were expected to
* DARKER PURPLE: unemployment % – the unemployment rate for the year
For another dose of encouragement, see this Freakonomics post… and relaaaaax…
As we denominate our blessings in something other than dollars, we might recall that on this date in 1956, Elvis Presley sang “Don’t Be Cruel” in the first of his three appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show…
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The (Modern) Benefits of a Classical Education…
How refreshing it is to see a group of young people who are not only familiar with the work of Aristophanes, but who are also putting its insights to pubic-spirited use!
As we analyze the applicability of Aeschylus, we might offer a great big “Buon Compleanno” to the Italian epic poet Ludovico Ariosto, the author of Orlando Furioso; he was born in Reggio Emilia on this date in 1474.
Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa. (Nature made him, and then broke the mould.)
– Orlando Furioso, X, 84
Titian’s “Portrait of a Man,” long believed to be Ariosto
Up, Up, and Away…
Czech-born artist Klara Hobza has one foot firmly planted in the past; the other, equally firmly placed in the future.
Hobza has has just published The New Millennium Paper Airplane Book,
…a collection of some of the artist’s favorite paper airplanes and stories by their creators, gathered from The New Millennium Paper Airplane Contest exhibition, held at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York, in 2008. This project was itself an homage to the historic paper airplane contest that took place in 1967 at the same venue–which, in a note of minor irony, was built to display rockets for the 1964 World’s Fair. The competition was open to the public, and participants were invited to fly their planes in a number of judging categories including distance flown, duration aloft, beauty, spectacular failure and children’s designs.
source: Susan Coolen
Each page is designed to be torn out and folded into the flyer that it describes (and– for those, like your correspondent, needing a little extra help– a complete list of step-by-step folding instructions is included).
As we concentrate on the optimal point of release, we might look spare a commemorative second to look down, as it was on this date in 1776 that the first submarine attack occurred. In anticipation of the Battle of Kips Bay, the Turtle— a hand-powered, egg-shaped submersible designed by David Bushnell– tried and failed to sink the British warship HMS Eagle, flagship of the blockaders in New York harbor; the explosives attached to the Eagle‘s hull weren’t sufficient to tank it. Still, the mission was a success: the mysterious blast in the night frightened the British, and they withdrew almost immediately.
source: Wikimedia
The Law of Large Numbers…
As we work on our routines, we might spare a commemorative thought for Ferdinand Magellan, whose expedition returned to Spain on this date in 1522, at the end of the first circumnavigation of the globe– almost three years to the day after the fleet– reduced to a single ship from the original five– had departed. Magellan never made it; he was killed by a poison dart in a battle on the island of Mactan in the Philippines in 1521.
Magellan's ship "Victoria"-- the one that made it
“His most prized possession is his library card…”
Scottish artist Frank McNab has completed a cycle of paintings– Oracles in the Community— that celebrates the libraries of Glasgow… and while they’re quite beautiful, there’s a bonus– a puzzle painted into the works, turning on William Blake’s “The Song of the Libraries.”
Travellers repose and dream among my leaves.
Magical libraries give you the whole world and take you even further. The only limits are yours.
The same number as the Pleiades can be found in these imaginings And together they form a word.
This is the tail which must be added to the comet far below before it is sent through the firmament and is put to the oracle.There is a meaning in the books which are read in the dance with wisdom.
“With it or on it” the women used to say. On it.
At the pillars the ancient symbol of knowledge is his own start.
Far distant on the gates of fire he is small and his case is low.
Above the torch it lies in Arcadia.
Left of aspiration the weeds provide it.
And the sun paints its own initial on the tree of paradise lost.Now you must attach this to what is under the veil and go to where your imagination camps next…
As we search for hidden vowels, we might recall that it was on this date in 1698 that, in an effort to move his people away from Asiatic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) imposed a tax on beards. All men were required to pay a tax of one hundred rubles a year except for peasants, who had to pay one kopek each, and priests, who were exempt from the levy.
Peter on his deathbed, still beardless
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