|
|
|
Posts Archived Under Creativity
On Tuesday, we noted Hedy Lamarr's patent of a communications system, but on this day in 1930, a scientist you'd expect to get a patent got one -- but for an invention you wouldn't associate with him. It's no surprise that Albert Einstein would be granted a patent, but what is surprising (to us, anyway) is that he and fellow physicist Leo Szilard (who devised the nuclear chain reaction that made the atomic bomb possible) were granted patent number US1781541 for a refrigerator. As you might expect, it’s a special refrigerator that uses no electricity, has no moving parts, and needs only a heat source to operate, but still – Einstein invented a fridge?
As we think about refrigerators, we’re reminded that we'd better start making room in our own for Thanksgiving (and just how in the world did it get to be November already?). Contemplating Turkey Day, brings the pilgrims to mind, and today is the 290th anniversary of the Puritans sighting land off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Something that would have utterly baffled those pilgrims is Pee-wee Herman, so we don’t expect to see any puritans at the Broadway opening of "The Pee-wee Herman Show" tonight. But, Pee-wee's fan base being what it is, you never know ...
Someone we think might have appreciated Pee-wee, or, at least, appreciated his anarchic spirit, was novelist Kurt Vonnegut, born on this day in 1922. Vonnegut used black humor and satire in such novels as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Mother Night," and "Cat's Cradle" to eviscerate modern American society, politics, and organized religion.
We don't know if Mr. Vonnegut ever traveled Route 66, the "Mother Road" that ran (according to Bobby Troup's song) "from Chicago to L.A.; more than 2,000 miles along the way." The highway was established on this day in 1926, and until its decommissioning in 1985, carried millions of travelers though the heart of America, allowing them (for the first time in many cases) to see peoples they never would have met, eat strange local foods, and become more acquainted with the mosaic that was pre-war America. It's still possible to drive Route 66, but in many cases, the road is untended and in bad repair, and many of the small towns and businesses that thrived fin its heyday shut their doors when it was replaced by gleaming new interstate freeways.
The most notable events of this day are inextricably linked. In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, World War I finally ended after more than four years of senseless battle, with 16 million soldiers and civilians killed and another 21 million wounded. Starting in 1919, November 11 has been designated either Armistice Day (in honor of the cause of peace) or Veterans Day (honoring all who have served in the armed forces).
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Physicists, Kitchen Applicances, Thanksgiving Recipes, Novelists, Veterans |
|
Archived under: 17th Century, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1980s, Actors, American History, Anniversaries, Authors, Biographies, Birthdays, Books, Broadway, Celebrations, Celebrities, Creativity, Driving, Entertainment, Events, Fiction, Green Products, History, Holidays, In Character, Invention, Inventors, Literature, Men, Military, Performing Arts, Physics, Science, Scientists, Thanksgiving, Tourist Attractions, Travel, United States, Veterans, Veterans Day, WWI, Writers, Writing |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
The Sistine Chapel ceiling. It would have
gone so much faster if Michelangelo had
skipped the second coat and used
a roller. (That joke never gets old.) |
A new month brings new commemorations, events, and fun facts, so let's get to them!
Monday:
We’ll begin with the arts, and three of the artiest events occurred on this day. First, in 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was exhibited to the public for the first time. It had taken Michelangelo four years to paint this mural of images from the Bible and it remains a top tourist attraction in Rome to this day.
Not to be outdone by Michelangelo, William Shakespeare chose this day to premiere two of his most-enduring plays, the first, "Othello," opened in 1604, and the second (also Shakespeare's last), "The Tempest," followed in 1611. Both plays premiered in London's Whitehall Palace.
If you feel inclined to create your own artistic masterpiece, today is the perfect day to start, since it's not only National Author's Day - but also the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. If you're unsure whether your novel is suitable for a general audience, you might consult the guidelines of the Motion Picture Association of America, whose movie rating system of G, M, R, X, went into effect on this day in 1968. (PG-13 and NC-17 were originally not part of the lineup; they were added in later years when further clarification was needed as to who could see which movies.)
An artist of a different type was Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who turns 50 today. Valenzuela was a 19-year-old rookie at the start of the 1981 season when he got the opening day assignment. Valenzuela responded with a five-hit shutout of the Houston Astros, and "Fernandomania" was born, as crowds flocked to ballparks to see the lefthander with the unorthodox delivery (he looked to the heavens while in his windup) and Mexican-Americans across the country adopted him as one of their own. He won his first eight starts, with four more shutouts, and by the end of the year had won 13 games and both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards – the only time such a feat has occurred.
Yesterday was, of course, Halloween, and tomorrow is All Souls' Day and the Day of the Dead, so that must mean that today is All Saints Day. Mentioning saints makes us think of heavenly foods, and few are more heavenly than peanut butter – a happy accident, since November is Peanut Butter Lover's Month. Even more coincidentally, today is World Vegan Day, the perfect day to indulge in a nice PBJ (provided there's no bacon, of course).
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Master Artists, Travel in Rome, Playwrights, Baseball History, Vegans |
|
Archived under: 1960s, 1980s, Anniversaries, Artists, Arts, Athletes, Authors, Awards, Bacon, Baseball, Baseball Players, Biographies, Birthdays, Buildings, Celebrations, Creativity, Dia de los Muertos, Eating, Entertainment, European History, Events, Festivals, Fiction, Food and Drink, Halloween, History, Holidays, In Character, Italy, Literature, London, Los Angeles, MLB, Movie History, Movies, NaNoWriMo, Performing Arts, Recipes, Rome, Sandwiches, Sports, Tourist Attractions, U.K. History, United Kingdom, United States, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Vegetarianism, William Shakespeare, Writers, Writing |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
Upside down? Right-side up?
Beats the hell out of us |
It's quiet this week. As we look over our files, we see little of consequence. We assume folks are still getting into an autumnal mood, but we persevere and submit herewith our own events and commemorations of the week.
Monday:
We begin the week by noting it's a big one for Thomas Edison. On this date in 1878, his company made electricity available for household usage. In 1931, on this day, he died, and Thursday marks the 131st anniversary of the demonstration of his first light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, now known as "Edison."
It's a notable week for other inventions, too. For example, in 1954, Texas Instruments introduced the transistor radio. Up until the '50s, radios were big bulky things, full of vacuum tubes and wires. With the invention of the transistor in 1947, it was suddenly possible to make radios, televisions, and pretty much anything electronic small and portable. The transistor radio came along just in time for post-war teenagers to carry rock and roll music anywhere, driving their parents and other adults crazy. And Friday will mark the anniversary of the creation of the first Xerox image in 1938. Before then, people actually had to write or type things on a sheet of paper to duplicate them. Now, plagiarism is only the push of a button away.
Speaking of "crazy," "The Talk" debuts on CBS today, featuring Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini, Julie Chen, Holly Robinson Peete, and Marissa Jaret Winokur in a show that's absolutely nothing like "The View." (We mention that it's also World Menopause Day - completely in passing ...)
While we've mentioned science, let's not forget art. In 1896, the world's first comic strip, "The Yellow Kid," debuted. It wasn't so much a "strip" as a daily cartoon featuring something outlandish in society that the otherwise-mute Kid would comment on with writing on his nighshirt. What he would have had to say about Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau," we can only imagine. It went on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art on this day in 1961 - and it wasn’t until 116, 000 viewers and 47 days had passed that someone noticed that the painting had been hanging upside down.
We finish by noting it's Alaska Day, commemorating the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States in 1867. (No jokes about seeing Russia from your house, please ...)
Tuesday:
Only two events of note today. One is the 1745 death of Jonathan Swift, the cleric, novelist, and satirist who gave us "Gulliver's Travels" (whence originated our corporate name) and "A Modest Proposal." One is tempted to hope he was eaten by cannibals, but, alas, he met his end via a stroke.
In 1945, Harris Glen Milstead was born in Baltimore. Glenn led an ordinary life until he met aspiring filmmaker John Waters, who cast him as "The Smoking Nun" in his film "Roman Candles," renaming him "Divine," the name he used the rest of his life. Divine was described by "People" magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century" (though was there that much competition?) and spent the rest of his career going from one outlandish role to another in Waters' films before his untimely death at the age of 42.
Wednesday:
We have three seasonal events today that are absolutely appropriately for this time of year. In 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, took out their home-movie camera, photographed a guy in a gorilla suit, and claimed they’d filmed a Bigfoot. The veracity of the footage has been the subject of debate ever since, though we're prepared to say it's a fake.
In the otherwise-sleepy hamlet of Circleville, Ohio, the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show will begin its four-day run today. Since 1903, the festival has presented thousands of these flavorful squashes to an adoring public who come for the sculpting, bands, and beauty contests, but who stay for the World’s Largest Pumpkin Pie, baked fresh every year by Lindsey’s Bake Shop.
In 1882, Bela Blasko was born in Lugos, Romania. At 12, the stage-struck Bela dropped out of school, became an actor, and changed his last name to Lugosi. As Bela Lugosi, he was a matinee idol in his own country, before coming to America in 1921. He worked as a laborer and occasional actor until 1927, when his continental good looks and accent made him a natural for the title role in the Broadway production of “Dracula." While the play was a smash hit, and led to a Hollywood contract, his accent baffled casting directors, who could see him only as a romantic vampire, and he was soon type-cast in horror films. Despite some occasional “straight” roles (most notably in 1938’s "Ninotchka," his career quickly headed to not-very-good parts in B-pictures, usually parodying his image. He always gave his utmost, even when the material was sub-par, as in his final films with Ed Wood, Hollywood’s worst director. He died of a heart attack in 1956.
Thursday:
More unrelated (but still interesting) events for the day:
In 1849, the first tattooed man to be put on public exhibit, James F. O’Connel, was put on display at the Franklin Theatre in New York City. Not sure what more can be added to that.
Except perhaps noting that today is Reptile Awareness Day, so we encourage you to go out and be aware of some reptiles -- perhaps while enjoying a big plate of nachos, since it’s also the International Day of the Nacho.
Friday:
When we compile these lists, we’re overwhelmed with celebrations of "National This Day" and "International That Week," so imagine our surprise and disappointment when we discovered that one of our sources lists October 22 with this note: “There are no holiday events on record for this day,” Is it possible that only one day out of 365 is bereft of some kind of celebration? It may be true, though (alas!), as the only other events of note we could find are the 107th birthday of Stooge Jerome "Curly" Howard, and the fact that it’s International Stuttering Awareness Day.
Curly is probably the most popular of all the Stooges, combining a unique physical and vocal style into a characterization that was breathtakingly bold in the 1930s and has been a boon to adolescent boys (of all ages) in the decades since.
Saturday:
Looking for something fun to do today? We have three suggestions.
1) Celebrate the 80th anniversary of the world’s first miniature golf tournament in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The tournament was won by J.K. Scott, though the record neglects to state whether he was better shooting through the windmill or the castle.
2) If you’re near Oklahoma City, you might join the Ghouls Gone Wild celebration headlined by The Flaming Lips and participate in their annual March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons. Be warned, though, you’ve got to handle a live torch - and those costumes can be flammable.
3) You can celebrate Mole Day. The “Mole” is a method of counting the Avogadro number - 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power of anything. Amodeo Avogadro discovered that the number of molecules in a mole is the same for all substances, which allows chemists are able to precisely measure quantities of chemicals in the lab. Mole Day is intended to help everyone become enthusiastic about chemistry. If you understood a word of that, the first two events may be too strenuous for you, so our advice is to stick with the chemistry.
Sunday:
To finish off the week, we’ll note the near-irony of it being the Feast of Good & Plenty, because yes, we had a number of good events this week, but not plenty of them.
It’s also World Origami Day, which somehow runs through November 11 (must be that those origami artists are able to fold time and space, as well as paper).
Speaking of folding, we also have to mention that, on this day in 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. How she didn’t end up folded herself is one of the miracles of the age - especially considering she did it to celebrate her 63rd birthday. She’d sent her cat over the falls in her specially-padded barrel the day before, and when the feline emerged unscathed, she figured it was safe enough for her. Mrs. Taylor suffered a cut on her head, but was otherwise unharmed, though she did tell the press, "If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat. I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Falls."
If all the above sounds like a lot of baloney, we merely note the appropriateness of today being National Bologna Day, and leave you make up your own mind.
See you next time!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Inventors, Talk Shows, Cult Movies, Cryptozoology, Candy |
|
Archived under: 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 19th Century, Actors, Alaska, American History, Animals, Anniversaries, Art Museums, Artists, Arts, Authors, Autumn, Beauty Pageants, Bela Lugosi, Biographies, Birthdays, Books, Brands, Broadway, Cameras, Candy, Cartoonists, Celebrations, Celebrities, Cities, Comic Strips, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, Creativity, Cross-dressing, Dead Celebrities, Delicatessen, Design, Disease, Eating, England, Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Fiction, Filmmaking, Food and Drink, Halloween, Health, History, Hoaxes, Holidays, Horror, Horror Films, Humor, In Character, Invention, Inventors, Issues and Causes, Jack-O-Lanterns, Literature, Media, Medicine, Men, Miniature Golf, Monsters and Creatures, Movies, Mysteries, Mythology and Folklore, New York, Nostalgia, Paranormal, Pink Flamingos, Pranks, Pumpkins, Radio, Rock and Roll, Scams, Science, Scientists, Small Towns, TV, Technology, The Three Stooges, Tourist Attractions, United States, Urban Legends, Vampires, Vegetables, Weird Stuff, Women, Writers, Writing, Yahoo! |
| Post a comment (2) | Email this posting |
It's not a Casio, that's for sure
(Photo by Don Pezzano) |
What do you get when you combine Victorian corsets, aviation goggles, and rocket ships? Why the glorious world of steampunk, of course! This week we celebrated International Steampunk Day, and although June 14th has (like the Victorian Era) sadly come and gone, there are still plenty of ways to embrace your inner 19th century Western space explorer. Steampunk is as much a fashion statement as it is a quirky sub-genre of science fiction. Although the genre is itself inspired by such Victorian science fiction writers as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, steampunk is a relatively new artistic movement. Coined in the 1980's, the term is generally attributed to writer K.W. Jeter, who used it to describe a new type of science fiction novel that combined futuristic technologies with 19th century fashion and old-fashioned steam power.
Today, some of the most well-known examples of steampunk fiction include such films as "Van Helsing" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," and Joss Whedon's television series "Firefly" and its companion piece "Serenity" -- although some fans argue that the last two more closely resemble space opera than true steampunk.
Beyond the silver screen, many steampunk fans have adopted elements from the genre and turned them into a lifestyle. Fans spend hours creating intricately-designed costumes,
retrofitting modern machinery, and crafting sculptures that look like they
belong on the inside of a pocket watch. However, unlike other fantasy genres, steampunk culture often requires a large investment of time (and money) to recreate its unique look. Since the genre heavily revolves around 19th century machinery, aficionados find that simulating the mechanical look of spinning cogs and brass gears takes long hours and a
keen eye.
When you're finally done creating your souped-up Victorian look, you'll want to show all that hard work off, of course. There are several steampunk conventions in the United States, each paying homage to neo-Victorianism, bastardized industrial fashion and other mechanical marvels.
So strap on your goggles, hop into your Utopian flying machine, and set sail for uncharted territory. It's going to be a stylish ride.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Authors, Victorian Era, Conventions |
|
Archived under: 19th Century, Authors, Books, Creativity, Cultures, Events, Fanatics, Fiction, Homemade, Nostalgia, Science Fiction, Society and Culture, Technology, Vintage |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
The Easter Bunny: Neither
Democrat nor Republican
(Photo by dbking)
|
Today is the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, a tradition at the Executive Mansion since 1878, and thousands of lucky kids will take part in the egg hunt, games, and storytelling. If you aren't in D.C. for today's activities, you can still order cool environmentally-friendly wooden souvenir eggs. But perhaps you have enough eggs left from your own Easter activities -- even if you didn't boil 13,000 eggs as they did at the White House last year -- that you don't need to hunt for more. After you've hidden and hunted for your eggs, what can you do with them?
Well, if you enjoy eating egg dishes, but find plain old boiled eggs boring, you might make potato salad, scalloped eggs and ham, or even deviled eggs that retain the Easter colors.
And since we're in the midst of school science fair season in lieu of eating your leftover eggs, you could conduct science experiments with them. The very act of boiling the eggs can be an educational experience. Once it's boiled, you can, with the help of a few common household items, watch a peeled egg get sucked into a bottle (this experiment includes fire, so adult supervision is required). Other egg experiments include making a "rubber" egg, learning about air pressure, and suspending an egg in water to make it float. Be warned, though: Some of these experiments, such as the classic egg drop, must be done with raw eggs.
If you'd like to preserve your eggs as works of art, you need to plan ahead. You should blow out your eggs before decorating them, and seal them after. Regardless of what you choose to do, it’s Dyngus Day -- so get cracking, come out of your shell, and have fun!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Easter, Easter Games, Easter Eggs, Egg Recipes, Kids Science Activities |
|
Archived under: Arts, Barack Obama, Children, Cooking, Creativity, Easter, Eggs, Events, Food and Drink, Holidays, How-To, Kids, Recipes, Society and Culture, Spring |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
|
Cape Cod Lodging
We have affordable rates. Heated pool and family fun on site.
www.holidayhillmotorin...
|
Cape Cod Luxury Rentals
Waterfront Homes, 7 Bedrooms, Private Beach, Water Sports and more….
www.truroadventures.co...
|
LG Refrigerator Reviews
Free expert LG Refrigerator Reviews ratings, buying guide and more.
RefrigeratorInfo.com/L...
|
|
