Tag: Germany

Seven Things I Love (5-16-2022)

1. This News Media Source – They had me at their mission statement:

To expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing.

These people do old-school investigative reporting. The media bias sites say that PROPUBLICA “leans left” but ProPublica has won FIVE Pulitzers so you judge for yourself. (The most common “criticism” is that ProPublica doesn’t cover issues that are of concern of conservative and/or get conservative perspectives. I think with the way things are right now, there’s a reason for that.)

2. This Cool (and Clever) Trick with Coins – Those Brits, always doing stuff like this. But I’m bummed, I have a bunch of English coins but most of them are too old! The only new one I have is the one pence (or penny) coin, which is the copper colored one on the left. I’ll need to stock up next time I’m over (if that ever happens.) Anyone need any Euro coins? I have LOADS of those.

3. These Dancing Trees – Linden trees have an amazing history. They’ve been revered by the Egyptians, the Greeks and even the Catholic Church. They’ve provided ingredients for medicinal treatments to the Gauls. And during the French Revolution more than 60,000 Linden trees were planted and the trees were consecrated as “the tree of liberty.”

The Germans came up with a lovely way to use the Linden trees. There you will find Tanzlinden, or dance lindens, throughout the country. A platform is constructed within the trees, and the Lindens are shaped into the form of a structure/building, often with windows. This creates a meeting place where celebrations, which generally includes dancing, are held. Such a lovely tradition and fantastic way to keep connected to nature.

[Found on Present & Correct]

4. This Laundry Tip – Several months ago I decided to switch to more natural cleaning products including laundry detergent and fabric softener. Finding better options for laundry detergent was easier than for fabric softener. The main reason for this is because my laundry machine doesn’t do well with thicker formulas (which aren’t really good for any washers) and most fabric softeners highlight how thick and oozy they are.

But in doing research about natural softeners I came across a lot of articles recommending the use of vinegar as a fabric softener.

Now I’ve used vinegar in my laundry before – like when I’ve accidentally forgot to put my clothes in the dryer and left them in the washer too long and they got that mildew-y smell – vinegar will fix that right up. But I never noticed that it made my clothes softer. But I thought, what the heck, I’ll give it a try.

Damn if it didn’t work! I think the reason I didn’t notice it working previously was because I wasn’t using enough (I wasn’t adding it via the little fabric softener slot.)

In addition to it being a great fabric softener (and household cleaner in general), and being very inexpensive (I buy two gigantic jugs at a time at CostCo), there are other benefits to using vinegar in your laundry:

1. Gets rid of limescale (as I mentioned, I add it via the fabric softener dispenser but you can also clean your entire machine by putting it in your detergent dispenser and running an empty load.)

2. DIY Stain Remover

3. Keeps denim from fading

4. Gets rid of lint and reduces static

5. Erase hem lines

From “7 reasons why you should use vinegar when doing your laundry” by Cynthia Lawrence on Tom’s guide

5. This Role Model – Once again, Giannis Antetokounmpo shows his fans, both young and old, how to behave.

After the Bucks lost the seventh game of the playoffs series (to the Celtics), Antetokounmpo was interviewed and not surprisingly was asked how he felt about the loss. Here’s his response.

At the end of the day, we were playing sports and there’s a winner, there’s a loser.” But at the end of the day, this is a learning curve. Nobody promised you’re going to be in the second round [of the playoffs]. There’s people that have never been in the second round; there’s people that have never been in the NBA finals. So, in my first seven seasons, I’m not viewing it as, ‘I lost.’

It was a learning experience, so hopefully, this moment, instead of thinking that we lost something, we can gain and learn in order for us to put ourselves in a position to win another championship.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

We need more of this.

[Found on Inc.com]

6. This Year’s Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 – UKRAINE winning had much more significance than just having the best song. Some are saying they got the sympathy vote, but I think that a much more accurate way to describe what happened is that Europe showed their support for Ukraine.

In a time of war this may seem like a trivial thing, but for a country that needs to feel a national identity; where even the smallest amount of good cheer is amplified because of their dire situation; this nugget of happiness will most likely give many a necessary boost.

7. This Breakfast – Amalfi Coast. Everything about it.

[Found on Everything. Just. Pure. Lovely. blog]

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week


Song of the Week

Seven Things I Love (5-24-2021): History Edition

  1. 1. This Patent Drawing – Which finally puts to rest the question over or under. I don’t mean to gloat but I KNEW IT and my Mamma never lead me astray.

From My Modern Met:

Over or under? This is the question that has plagued the Western world since the invention of modern toilet paper. It was in 1857 that New York-based inventor Joseph C. Gayetty developed the first packaged variety to be made widely available in the U.S. However, it wasn’t until 1871 that perforated rolls of toilet paper were invented. Seth Wheeler filed a patent for his innovative design for the first time that year, and he filed another for a refined version of his invention again in 1891.

The illustrated diagram from Wheeler’s 1891 patent sheds some light on how the toilet paper roll was originally intended to be used. According to the image, it appears that the dangling end was designed to hang over—rather than under—the roll. This may be a crippling blow to those who are of the persuasion that under is the way to go. Even so, if hanging your toilet paper roll under is wrong, they probably don’t want to be right.

Original Patent Drawing Puts an End to the Great “Over or Under” Toilet Paper Debate” by Arnesia Young; May 13, 2021; My Modern Met

2. These Videos about Women’s Clothing in History – They are all just too good. The first talks about how women’s clothing may actually have been created to help protect. The second gives the history of how standard sizes came to be and the motivations behind doing so (hint, it’s always money.) The third video is a fascinating history of why men traditionally wear pants and women traditionally wear skirts (or did they….)

And last but not least (and this is a a wee bit of a stretch but I’m including it) a video about the clothing in the show ‘The Nevers‘ – my current favorite television show, which can be seen on HBO Max. They’ve already aired the first half of season one (8 episodes) and will be airing the second half sometime in the fall I believe (another 8 episodes.) As the vlogger mentions, the show is extremely historically accurate with their costumes (and she should know, it is her area of expertise.) She takes the opportunity to bust the myth that clothing from that era was extremely restrictive. There have been anti-corset campaigns for some time. Certainly the extremely boned corsets that reshape the body are not/were not good, but for women of this era most weren’t wearing the tightly drawn or heavily boned corsets (like Scartlett O’Hara). Unless a woman was from a wealthy family she would have been quite active and probably wouldn’t have had the luxury of having a ladies maid.

3. This Article about the New Version of the Game ‘Oregon Trail’ – A fascinating essay where the author, who is a black historian, is in a battle between his longing for childhood nostalgia and truth-telling in history. Is there really any correct way to make a game about colonialization?

John Gast, “American Progress” (1872), oil on canvas, 12 3/4 inch x 16 3/4 inch
(image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, painting in possession of Autry Museum of the American West)

4. This Article on Book Curses – In medieval times, because books were handmade, written by scribes, and took a long time to make, they were rare and had great physical value. Most scribes and book owners did not have the financial means to protect their libraries with armed guards so instead they used words to fend off would-be thieves. Fortunately for them, most people believed in curses so it worked fairly well.

What I want to know is why don’t we use book curses today? They would look so nice on a bookplate. Even if most people don’t believe in curses anymore, at least it would remind them to keep their paws off of things that aren’t theirs.

I looked up some more and found one [here] that I am going to make into stickers so I can put it inside all my books:

Whoever steals this book
Will hang on a gallows in Paris,
And, if he isn’t hung, he’ll drown,
And, if he doesn’t drown, he’ll roast,
And, if he doesn’t roast, a worse end will befall him.

From a 15th century manuscript owned by Count Jean d’Orleans.
12th century Hell. Herrad von Landsberg/Public Domain.

5. These Articles about Coco Chanel and Her Nazi Connections – I’ve always been a huge fan of Coco Chanel so when I first read about this it made me extremely sad. The first article was from nearly a decade ago and appeared on MessyNessyChic. It was written about eight months after the book Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War by Hal Vaughan was released. This was the first book to really include details about her involvement with the Nazis (not just that she was dating one) such as her code name, agent number, that she was included in nazi missions and worst of all, that she had taken advantage of her “Aryan rights” (meaning the seizing of Jewish-owned property and businesses.)

The second article was equally interesting. This one appeared on Forbes last year. The author is trying to determine if we can justify overlooking such a horrifying past in someone like Coco Chanel, whose left such a legacy. It’s an interesting question. I think this might be a good analogy – what if there was a building built by the nazis and after the war, all that remained was the foundation. So the French come and build a ground floor and the English build a 1st floor and the Norwegians build a 2nd floor (I’m doing the european counting of floors) and the Danish build a 3rd floor and so forth. And each floor is filled with beautiful things. But ultimately that base was built by nazis – should the entire thing be torn down and rebuilt? Should it be moved? I don’t think so.

BUT what I do think is that Chanel should stop avoiding Coco Chanel’s horrific history. I know that they think it can’t be good for PR but what they need to do is use it to help and get ahead of it. Just admit – we realize that our founder was a nazi sympathizer, possibly a nazi collaborator and our response is that we are appalled by the information as much as you are. Our founder was a talented woman and we cannot deny that Chanel wouldn’t exist without her genius but the nazi atrocities were unforgivable and that she was involved is a huge black stain on the origin of our company. They could put their money where their mouth is and contribute to a Holocaust organization.

My believe is that we should not be completely erasing bad history but instead we should be making it accurate and using it as a teaching opportunity.

6. This Article about How Women in the UK/Ireland Were Duped into Believing it was Bad to Drink Tea – Though it’s me who is saying that the women were actually duped. The article implies it but doesn’t come right out and say it. Neither does this one.

Here’s the situation – first and foremost, tea was considered expensive back then. So was sugar if you wanted to sweeten it (because milk and honey in tea just doesn’t work.) Right away men (husbands and fathers) were going to say that women shouldn’t be drinking something as expensive as tea.

Then there were the wealthy, who liked to feel that drinking tea was something the gentrified did, certainly not the poor.

And of course, there was concern that women who sat around drinking tea would have time to talk to one another and that could lead to anarchy.

Even without social media, the “powers that be” managed to get messages out that women shouldn’t be drinking tea – said it was “unhealthy”, it made you lazy, etc. And the worse part is that the poor, uneducated women were the ones that bought into the lies and helped spread it. Hmmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar.

c. 1900 The Glencar Tea House in County Leitrim

7. This ‘Self Portrait’ by Photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston – I was thrilled when I finally found out who this photo was of and what it was about. I’ve loved it for years! Taken around 1896 by the photographer herself, it is supposed to represent the “new woman.”

Here’s a great article about the photo and the photographer from Smithsonian.

Frances Benjamin Johnston could be both ladylike and bohemian, which abetted her career as a photographer. (Library of Congress)

Word of the Day


Quote of the Day

Seven Things that I Love (8-10-2020)

1. This videoclip from a 1996 episode of Sesame Street with Patrick Stewart (aka Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise) where he helps the Count get ‘Number One’ back in his(?) proper place. Those who know me know that I’ve been a HUGE fan of Sir Patrick for decades (that voice), and I’m a fan of the Count as well, so this is a two-fer. (Found on Laughing Squid.com)

2. This story about George Washington, who called for a temporary cease fire so he could return the dog to his enemy’s commanding officer. Although there currently is a bit of controversy surrounding our Founding Fathers due to their ownership of slaves, we will never be able to deny what they accomplished and contributed to the creation of our democracy (despite its current state.) And George Washington, for good or bad, will always be our first president and he seems to have had some good qualities despite not being able to recognize that slavery is abhorrent.

One memorable story that stands out to dog lovers alike, is when George Washington showed his loyalty by returning a terrier to it’s rightful owner–even when the owner was the enemy. After the Battle of Germantown, Washington found a small terrier running around the battlefield between British and American lines. It turns out that General Howe’s dog had gotten loose, as it was identified by it’s collar. Washington’s soldiers suggested that the dog be kept as a trophy of the British to weaken the morale of the British General Howe.

Instead, Washington took the pup back to his tent where he fed him, brushed him and cleaned him. He then wrote a letter and attached it to the dog’s collar. To everyones surprise, he ordered a cease fire and had his aide return the terrier under a flag of truce.

From “George Washington Loved Dogs So Much, He Wrote To A British General About A Dog Mid-Battle” on BarkPost.com

3. Library Porn

4. The Playlist from the series POSE – 80s bliss! (And the show is damned good too.)

5. Mapleworth Murders on Quibi – it’s like a hilarious, gay Murder, She Wrote. Dammit Quibi, why do you have to have to be so addictive???? (and for those of you not familiar with Quibi yet, it’s only available as an app for your phone/tablet and the shows/series episodes are all around 7 to 10 minutes long. I know that sounds strange but it totally works!)

https://youtu.be/YTlamTqFWjk

6. Jessie Gallan – Ms. Gallan passed away in 2015 after being declared not only Scotland’s but the entire UK’s oldest woman at 109 years of age. She said the secret to her longevity was avoiding men and eating porridge every day. I read this article several years ago but came across it again and have decided it’s time to take up a new life plan.

7. The Flying Train, Germany, 1902 – Denis Shiryaev is a master craftsperson the way he takes old black and white films and repairs them, colorizes them, and adds sound to make them look and feel so much more approachable. He’s done this to several videos but has difficulty actually finding clips that he can works with that are interesting and copyright free. He worked really hard on one video and apparently the organization that stored it told him he could put it online. Truly awful, considering how much work it takes to do just one short video. Anyway, enjoy this. It’s amazing.


Have a GREAT Week!