Tag: Photography (Page 1 of 3)

7 Things I Love (8-15-2022)

Hi all, sorry I missed last week – a very dear family member, my Uncle, passed away and there was a lot going on.

My Uncle Bobby in Cuba in 1951

My Uncle Bobby was a devout Catholic and a HUGE lover of history and this week’s blog reflects those things as well as being sort of a tribute to him.

1. This Woman Who Was the First to Circumnavigate the Globe Alone – Everyone is familiar with Amelia Earhart and we all think of her as being the first woman to aviate, well, pretty much everything. But Amelia wasn’t alone when she made her infamous (and tragic) flight around the world.

“Looking back, Geraldine ‘Jerrie’ Mock might have said these were the things she preferred: a double shot of scotch over a bouquet of orchids. Pants instead of a skirt. And a trip around the world where she could’ve taken her own sweet time taking in the sights, instead of staring at the ceiling of a hotel, trying to sleep in preparation for her next flight.

Mock is the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world alone. During and after her ground-breaking 22,860-mile flight in 1964, the barely five-foot-tall pilot set 21 world records. ‘Just nobody else had the sense—or shall I say, the stupidity—to try it,’ Mock told Air & Space magazine just before she died at the age of 88 in 2014. ‘There were women who told me that they flew because of me. I’m glad I did what I did, because I had a wonderful time.’”

Who Was the First Woman to Fly Solo Around the World?
August 12, 2022 | Smithsonian Magazine

Between March 19 and April 17, 1964, Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock (above: at the start of her journey at Ohio’s Port Columbus Airport) flew her single-engine Cessna 180, dubbed “Charlie,” solo around the globe setting a world record. NASM 2007-10125, photo by Sheldon Ross, Columbus Dispatch

[Found on Smithsonian Magazine]

2. This Historic Photo – In 1906, Gabriel Lippman was the first person to create a color photograph. Although he won a Nobel Prize for his invention, his process was too time consuming and costly to be used commercially. The following year the Lumière brothers  introduced the Lumière Autochrome which allowed people to take color photographs.

Here’s how Autochromes work:

“Autochrome plates are covered in microscopic red, green and blue coloured potato starch grains (about four million per square inch). When the photograph is taken, light passes through these colour filters to the photographic emulsion. The plate is processed to produce a positive transparency. Light, passing through the coloured starch grains, combines to recreate a full colour image of the original subject.”

— From the Science and Media Museum

This process really made it much more accessible for general photographers to take color photos because they could use their existing cameras and simply purchase autochrome plates.

Kodachrome came out in 1935 and the following year a German company invented Agfacolor (but because of WWII it wasn’t released until 1949.)

The reason I’ve given a brief history lesson on color photography is because I wanted to show why it’s so unusual to have a “colour (not colorised)” photograph in 1928!

[Found by my friend Jeanne – thanks Jeanne!]

3. This Technique for Securing Letters – Before modern envelopes were invented, people used something called “letter-locking” to make sure that only the intended recipients read their missives.

Two of the most well-known individuals who used letter-locking were Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. On the eve of her execution, Mary wrote her last letter which was purported to be her last will & testament and a bid for martyrdom. She carefully made a slit to create a needle-like piece of the paper sticking out, folded the letter over and over, cut a slit through the letter, and threaded the needle through the slot until it was fastened tightly.

There are other letter-locking videos on this YouTube channel, from all through history and all over the world. They are fascinating! If makes me want to write real letters so I can try it.

There is one thing I noticed though – on some of the letter-locking videos the process ruins a small part of the letter. It made me think – what if someone was sending a love letter and they rip it open and they’re reading it and it says – I’ve waited so long to tell you this. I …. and then there’s a big splotch of sealing wax or the words were poked through by a spiral lock. AHHHH!

A reconstruction of how Mary, Queen of Scots’ last letter may have been secured shut using the spiral lock mechanism. Unlocking History Research Group Archive/MIT Libraries

[Found on Atlas Obscura and NPR]

4. These Photographs – Photographer Richard Silver has taken these breathtaking photos of the interior ceilings of churches from around the world and published them as a collection called Vertical Churches.

You can find out more about Silver’s podcast at the My Modern Met article. I’d also suggest checking out his website and his Instagram for more vertical churches photos and just more photos in general (he’s fantastic!)

[Found on My Modern Met]

5. This Juicer – Passed down from my Grandma Celeste to my Mom to me. Sometimes no amount of innovation can improve something. I mean, if you want to have a big ole’ electric juicer that might be better but there is no manual juicer better than this one, especially when you have to juice a bunch of citrus.

6. These (Not Surprisingly) Overlooked Medieval Women – In 13th century Europe, though things were prosperous or perhaps because of the prosperity, there was a lot of wars being waged. This led to many men being killed and women and children being left without a provider.

Enter the Béguines, were most likely the first feminists. They were a group of women who created female-only (and children) communes to provide refuge, support, and outreach.

“From the early 13th century, a loose movement of concerned women, the Béguines (origin and meaning of the name unknown) had started to spring up in towns and villages, not as formal institutions, but as local refuges, for mutual support and outreach. These discreet communities of like-minded charitable women were determined to respond to the suffering of the disadvantaged, beaten, abandoned, and even the rescue of children from the clutches of prostitution. Béguine women were never nuns, they had no religious affiliations, they were solely motivated by a mutual desire to provide service, support and welfare to the less fortunate in society.”

— From Surprise Surprise, a Medieval Feminist Movement Left Out of the History Books,’ June 16, 2022 | Messy Nessy Chic

[Found on Messy Nessy Chic]

7. These 3,300 Year-Old Shoes – Of course I can’t hear the words “King Tut” and not think of Steve Martin singing his song but once the song plays out in my head I am able to focus on how remarkable these sandals are. The first photo is a little misleading. It doesn’t show the wear and I thought to myself – these aren’t really over 3,000 years old.

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week


Song of the Week

Rest In Peace, Olivia.

Seven Things I Love (5-2-2022)

Hoping all those who celebrate had a blessed Eid al-Fitr

1. This Method for Poaching Eggs – I’m an egg junkie (also a toast and salmon junkie.) One of my favorite things to make – smoked salmon and cream cheese on toast with capers and an egg on top – YUM!

I used to fry the egg even though I always knew that poached would be the better option. But I didn’t think I could do poached eggs – didn’t even try. Then I found this trick. It’s so flippin’ easy!

You will probably need to test this out to see how it works with your microwave. Microwaves can vary depending upon wattage or how old they are. It may work better to start with room temp water if the egg doesn’t cook through enough. Or you may need to cook it longer. You can try out different tweaks.

  1. Fill a mug or a small bowl with about 8 ounces of cold water. Make sure to leave about an inch at the top so it doesn’t boil over.
  2. Take the egg, crack it open, and carefully slide the egg into the water. Make sure you don’t break the yolk. Toss the shells into the compost bin.
  3. Using a toothpick, poke a small hole in the egg yolk. You really won’t be able to see the hole. Make sure that the yolk stays intact and doesn’t “bleed” into the water.
  4. Cover the cup/bowl with a small plate (or one of these handy-dandy silicone lids from Food52) and microwave it for 60 seconds.
  5. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon.
  6. If it is overcooked or undercooked reduce or increase cooking time in 10 second increments.

My preference is a slightly runny egg so 60 seconds works perfectly for me. Also, just as an FYI, this won’t look like the typical poached eggs you get in restaurants (or that your Mom makes.) They are more spherical. Still, they taste the same and no pans to wash.

[Found on Well + Good]

2. This Twitter Account – It’s the Count’s Twitter account. I’ve removed myself from Twitter but that doesn’t mean I still won’t be snooping around. Frankly, I think it’s going to turn into an even bigger shit show soon but I (and many others) may be proven wrong. Only time will tell.

I will say, it’s nice not getting all those notices.

Anyway, this made me smile (and also brought me the warm fuzzies.)

3. This Chemistry Teacher – Bill Nye, the Science Guy, Magic School Bus, Beakman’s World, Emily’s Wonder Lab, and Chem Teacher Phil! I could watch his video shorts all day. Hooray for Science! GO STEM!!!

4. This Book about Women Over Fifty – Ellen Warner, the photographer responsible for this publication, started it all the way back in 2003! Filled with inspiring photographic portraits of women, aged 53 to 107.

Available at Bookshop.org.

[Found on Hyperallergic]

5. This Deodorant – Last year I decided to switch to a natural deodorant. I have been using Secret deodorant since college but then I saw this video. Although I didn’t verify her information, I knew it couldn’t hurt to switch so I tried a few out. I have a lot of friends who use natural deodorants and they said I should make sure I use one that doesn’t cause rashes.

So I read about a dozen articles. I ended up trying four:

ALL of them caused me to have a terrible red rash under my arms. As you can see, one of them is Native, Cotton & Lily scent.

After the fourth I decided to give up. It was getting expensive and frankly painful. I went back to my Secret.

THEN I watched the documentary limited series, Not So Pretty on HBO. If you haven’t seen it yet, you absolutely should. (Besides this show there are many others on HBO including Julia, Starstruck, Minx, and Our Flag Means Death, just to name a few. It would be worth subscribing IMHO.)

That’s how I found out about all the crap in our beauty products. YIKES! I already knew that the U.S. allows manufacturers to use thousands of ingredients and additives that are banned in the EU and other countries but I guess I didn’t know how bad it really was. (Seriously, you should watch ‘Not So Pretty.’)

One ingredient that is truly problematic is talc. You may have heard about the Johnson & Johnson lawsuits regarding their talcum powder – I never realized how many other products contain talc, like D-E-O-D-O-R-A-N-T. Guess what deodorant contains talc….. Secret. Ugh.

I stopped using it the next day. But then I had to find a natural deodorant, and fast, and on a weekend. In desperation I picked up Native Sensitive at Target. I figured I’d try it again (not realizing I hadn’t tried the sensitive version the first time) Bam, it works! No redness, and it last pretty much all day unless I work out.

I went back and looked at the original articles and see now that they recommended the sensitive version of Native. Sigh. Guess I didn’t notice the little purple stripe (they should really make the regular and sensitive packages look more different) and none of the articles made it clear that there were two different types of Cotton & Lily. At least I finally figured it out.

6. This Online Trivia Game – If you think that the ultimate trivia game is Jeopardy, than you will definitely love this well maintained site of the archive of all the Jeopardy games. Enjoy.

[Found on AVClub.com]

7. This Woman’s Rules for Her Funeral – If only we all could be this lighthearted about funerals.

[Found on Modern Met]

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week


Song of the Week

Seven Things I Love (3-28-2022)

Before I get started, have you watched season two of Bridgerton (Netflix) yet? Are you watching season two of Sanditon (PBS)? Also, check out Minx if you have (HBOMax).

Okay, here we go…

  1. These Chicken Sweaters – They’re just too freaking cute for words.

I read this article about these adorable sweater-wearing chickens. Ann and Nicola Congdon, a mother and daughter team in CORNWALL rescue hens raised in captivity that are kept only indoors. Hens confined indoors sometimes don’t grow enough feathers to keep them warm in colder outdoor weather. Thus the tiny sweaters.

The photos of the brightly-colored knit creations on their clucking friends went viral and farmers from around the world started requesting to buy them. Instead of trying to make a profit, the Congdons donate the money to an AIDS orphanage in South Africa. Could these two be better role models?

And if you’d like to see some wonderful photographs of non-sweater-clad poultry, check these out.

[Found on Little Things]

2. This Graphic – I love this graphic because it’s very close to how I tell a story. I don’t think I go off on as many tangents. And there’s a reason I like to include a lot of details (and it has to do with my wanting to make stories both entertaining and informative. Still, I feel better knowing I’m not alone. Frankly, I’m tired of being told I’m too wordy.

3. This Promo – Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak. Mark your calendars – June 28th can’t come soon enough!!!

If you haven’t seen ‘Only Murders in the Building’ yet, you are missing something truly wonderful. It would be worth subscribing to Hulu just for this show. Subscribe for a month, watch it and then unsubscribe. You will not be disappointed.

[Found on Pure Wow]

4. These Synchronized “Swimmers” – this is GENIUS and the boys nail it.

This is still my favorite synchronized swimming scene though,

5. This Scottish Paper Artist – Located in Edinburgh, Charles Young creates marvelous miniature buildings and other miscellaneous items (such as fountains, vehicles and rides for a circus) to go in the small towns he manufactures.

His design style tends to lean toward the first half of the 20th century with the exception of his recreation of a few historic landmarks. His work reminds me a lot of a Wes Anderson movie set. What do you think?

[Found on Present & Correct]

6. These Sisters – Meet 100-year-old Frances Kompus, 102-year-old Lucy Pochop and 104-year-old Julia Kopriva. These three sisters recently celebrated youngest sister Frances’s centennial birthday. It’s rare enough for a person to celebrate their 100th birthday (though it’s becoming a little less common) but it’s extremely rare for someone to be able to share the celebration with their elder siblings!

[Found on My Modern Met]

7. This Unofficial Guide Dog – Sterling, a Siberian Husky, was diagnosed with glaucoma nearly in 2018. His family tried to delay it by getting him special goggles to protect his eyes, but he’s pretty much lost all his eyesight.

Walker, an Alaskan Malamute was adopted by the family around the same time as Sterling (about a year apart) and the two dogs have become extremely close. So, as Sterling began needing more help, Walker started stepping in to help. Amazing!

[Also found on My Modern Met]

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week

Seven Things I Love (2-28-2022)

  1. 1. This Candle CompanyHarlem Candle Company creates luxury candles, diffusers, and room sprays using famous people and places in black history as inspiration. I haven’t received my order yet but I wanted to include this while it was still Black History Month.

I ordered a “Savoy” candle which has the following description:

The Savoy Ballroom was the soul of Harlem, and kept Lenox Avenue jumping for decades. It was a block long, dripping with glittering crystal chandeliers and an elegant marble staircase, and is known for having birthed the Lindy Hop.   The glamour and excitement of nights on that iconic dance floor are beautifully reflected with a luscious overture of blackcurrant, tart mandarin, crisp green apple and juicy pear evolving into a flirtatious floral heart of Lily of the Valley and jasmine petals. Sensual sandalwood and sheer musk bring warmth to perfectly balance this intoxicating blend.

Is that not heavenly? I’m hoping I’ll get the candle, light it, get into my comfy chair, close my eyes, and be transported back to the Savoy Ballroom of the ’20s. I hope I haven’t set my expectations too high for a scented candle (ha ha ha.)

Plus they’re beautiful.

2. This Custom LibraryJim Cardon, built this library as a gift for his brother! I mean, if this doesn’t warrant a ‘Brother of the Year‘ award I don’t know what would. He modeled it after the library in the movie ‘The Illusionist‘ (on of my favorites, the entire film is available for free on YouTube.)

Talk about book porn!

[Found on Core77]

3. This Lagoon in Australia – PINK! It’s my “signature color”. Is this not amazing? It’s called Hutt Lagoon and the color is from “the caroteinoid-producing algae, dunaliella salina – which is a source of beta-carotene; a food-colouring agent and a great source of Vitamin A.”

The photographer is from Russia and her name is Kristina Makeeva. She’s EXTREMELY talented. If click on her name ⬅ it’ll take you to her Instagram and you can see all her photos. They’ll blow you away.

[Found on My Modern Met]

4. These Knitters or “Yarn Bombers” – I love it if someone yarn bombed my mailbox. I know it doesn’t last forever but while it doesn’t last, it’s so wonderful!

5. This Wall – photo was taken at MOD GEN: a Modern General Store, in the Third Ward near downtown Milwaukee, one of my favorite shops. They have a wonderful selection of unique books, games, puzzles, stationary products, kitchen items, and well, things you won’t find anywhere else. Most importantly they have a fabulous selection of plants and succulents at the back of the store. If you haven’t been I’d suggest you check it out!

6. This Interview with Judi Dench, Graham Norton, Elton John, and John Bishop – I’m fairly certain I don’t need to explain who any of these people are except maybe the last. John Bishop is one of THE most popular comedians in Britain but if you are a Doctor Who fan you will recognize him from the current series as Dan Lewis.

Anyway, got this video from a friend (thanks Stasie!) and it is so wonderful, mostly because this is ME to a tee.

It actually reminds me of, I think it was my 15th high school reunion? I got there and ran into a friend of mine. I would have bet everything I had that she went to one of the other two high schools in Dubuque (where I grew up). I said to her, “Oh my god, what are you doing here!” I mean, I was glad to see her, just surprised. And she replied (obviously a little perplexed and miffed), “what do you mean, what am I doing here.?” She actually got pretty pissed at me because she thought I was joking around but the truth is, I couldn’t remember. I can’t remember much of anything from the past 55+ years except for little snippets here and there. And a lot of what I can remember is due to photos and mementoes I have.

Recently I found a treasure trove of documents – all sorts of certificates and papers from my youth. Going through them was truly a walk down memory lane but there were a few things that I absolutely did NOT remember doing.

For example, in 1978 and 1979 I was in the Annual Metropolitan Speech Contest In 1978 my category was “Choral Reading.” I do remember that. In 1979 my categories were “Prose” and “Pantomime.” I don’t remember ever doing pantomime, not once in my entire life. But here’s evidence in print.

7. These Ukranians – Honestly, I can’t imagine Americans fighting like this. Well, actually, the way I see it going in America if there was ever an attack like this – all the super wealthy would leave to wherever they needed to go to be safe and comfortable, the lower upper-class and upper-middle class would most likely die (except possibly for those who are POC and LGBTQ), and the lower middle class and lower class would be like the Ukrainians – we ain’t puttin’ up with no shit.

What do you think?

Anyway, these Ukrainians are KICKASS.

Okay, first this guy, who picked up a god-damned landmine and moved it off a road all the while continuing to hold his cigarette in his mouth – DAYUM!

Then there is this UNARMED woman, who told a Russian soldier to fill his pockets with the sunflower seeds she offered him so that when he died his body would grow flowers (at least then he’d be doing something good for the world).

Next is this Ukrainian man, who may be a little nuts but who single-handedly attempted to stop a convoy of Russian tanks.

And last but not least, the 13 extremely brave Ukrainians whose job it was to secure Snake Island (also called Zmiinyi Island) – when approached by a Russian battleship told them to “go fuck yourself” IN RUSSIAN before being blown up. They were initially all reported dead because there was no radio contact.

The good news is that the Ukrainians discovered they didn’t die. Hallelujah! The bad news is that after being able to repel two attacks by the Russians they eventually had to surrender due to a lack of ammunition. The Ukrainian soldiers are now being held Sevastopol, Crimea, which was documented on Russian State television.

Also, SNL did a cold opening with the Ukrainian Chorus of New York singing “A Prayer for Ukraine” and I get overwhelmed with emotion every time I watch it.


[EXTRA] ICYMI, John Mahoney was the guest host on SNL on Saturday. He joined the Five Timer’s Club and there’s a new epic musical sketch to go along with Diner Lobster (2018), Bodega Bathroom (2019), Airport Sushi (2020), and New York Musical (2020).

Word of the Week


Quote of the Week

Seven Things I Love (8-2-2021)

  1. Before I get started I wanted to remind everyone that today is an important national holiday. It’s National Coloring Book Day! So be sure to pause and do some coloring at some point (well, tomorrow I suppose, but better than never, right?) And if you don’t have any coloring sheets handy, you can print out a mini-coloring book here courtesy of Dover, one of the oldest purveyors of coloring books and stickers and other fun little artsy publications. OR if you are looking for some unique, irreverent and sassy coloring books, look no further than this list. (Though don’t order them from Amazon, be sure to get them from your local bookseller or Bookshop.org.)
52232533 – woman coloring an adult coloring book, new stress relieving trend, mindfulness concept, hand detail
  1. 1. This Article about the Evolution of Female Superheroes Costumes – Many women have been writing articles lately about the impracticality of costumes for female superheroes – from Wonder Woman’s boots
  1. to Sue Storm’s boob window
Marvel’s redesign of Sue Storm’s costume in the 90s immediately comes to mind when sexist costumes are brought up.

to all the other women with skin-tight but barely there outfits. The men often have to wear skin-tight costumes, it’s true, but none of them show a lot of skin.

But more film makers are starting to take comfort into consideration when creating costumes and I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that more women are involved in the costume making.

For example, here’s a post by Sophia Di Martino who plays Sylvie in the show Loki (which has been my favorite Marvel shows/movies to date.) Sophia is showing how her costume was altered to make it easier for her to be able to breastfeed while working. Kind of pathetic that this is newsworthy/a big deal in freaking 2021 though. Sophia’s costume also covers her body completely (not the way she’s wearing it below obviously, she has it zipped open to show you how she can pump!) It’s much more practical for climbing, jumping, running and fighting off the bad guys.

2. This Video by Olympic Medal Winner Tom Daley – I mean, if there wasn’t already enough to love about this guy – did you know he knits? Could he be any more adorable????

[Found via the Guardian which was sent to me by my friend Kathy – thanks KK!]

3. These Olympics Commercials from Toyota – Honestly, watching the commercials during the Olympics is almost as good as during the Superbowl. (The first one is visually amazing!)

4. This Guest Host on Jeopardy – A LOT of people want Levar to be the permanent host and I’m in that camp!

5. This Bird Installation – Sadly it came down yesterday, and I didn’t get to see it in person, but how cool is this?!?! I love all the art going up around Milwaukee.

Special thanks to my friend Ami Bedi who took the first photo.

Photo by Ami Bedi.
Birds in front of the Milwaukee Public Market
Close up of the Birds

6. This Photo Recreation by Tracee Ellis Ross – Fabulous! (For those who aren’t aware, Tracee Ellis Ross is the daughter of singer Diana Ross and music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein.) I think this is a wonderful tribute for a daughter to do for her mom, even if her mom isn’t Diana Ross.

Here’s the original from a ’70s editorial in W Magazine (which Tracee Ellis Ross labeled “No. 1: MAMA”) –

Here’s the recreation (which Tracee Ellis Ross labeled “No. 2: ME”) –

7. This Instastory of Florence Pugh Cooking – I love her to pieces! She’s so down-to-earth and FUNNY. And I always learn at least one thing every time I watch one of her videos.

Here’s possibly my favorite video of hers, which was a fancy-schmancy one done by Vogue, where Florence tries 11 different English Foods. Wonderful!

Word of the Week


Quote 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 I Love (5-3-2021)

  1. 1. This New Rollin’ Wild Video – The first new ‘Rollin’ wild’ film short in THREE years. And was it worth the wait? I think so…. I laughed my buttootie off! Have watched it about a dozen times so far, laugh just as hard every time.

2. This Perfect Man – He really does exist! The White House decided to rebrand Doug Emhoff as “Douglas Emhoff. Apparently they believe the formality is more suited to his position and sounds more “grown-up.” I’m going to guess that all the adult men who go by the name Doug disagree with this assessment. As one late night comedian pointed out, Bernie goes by Bernie and not Bernard and no-one dares to not see him as grown-up and serious. Let’s just hope and pray that the White House doesn’t tell “Douglas” he has to cut back on the PDA! (The Vice President is SO lucky!)

[Thanks to Ann for this one.]

3. These Breathtaking Still Life Photographs – it’s hard to believe they aren’t paintings. If you click on the photos it will take you to each photographer’s website. Or click on the link below to see the original story where I first ran across these works of art.

[Found on ChristieRealEstate.com]

Italian Plums After G.G. 2015 by Paulette Tavormina of New York
Pronkstillife With Pheasant by Jeroen Luijt, who is inspired by the Dutch Old Masters found in his home town of Amsterdam
The hyper-natural yet accessible Reviviscere, part of the Azahar series by Julija Levkova

4. This Podcast about Florence Nightingale – It checks all my boxes: a woman fighting against the patriarchy, British history (particularly the Victorian era), nerds, how information is power – check, check, check and check.

Recently I’ve read about several people/historical events where I thought, why isn’t there a movie or best-selling book about this?!? Then I’d think, wait, maybe there is and I just don’t know about it. And I’d look up the person or event and find out that yes, there was a movie but it was filmed 40 to 50 years ago or it was a made-for-tv special or there was a book but it’s for children or by some author I’ve never heard of.

That’s what happened when I looked up Florence Nightingale. There actually are a ton of books but none that are by well-known historians (there are loads of kids books about her). There is an autobiography called Notes on Nursing.” I’m sure is interesting but doubt it’s all that readable (after all, she could do many these exceedingly well but writing wasn’t one of her talents.)

There was a tv movie with Jaclyn Smith playing Nightingale. I’m sure THAT was historically accurate. There’s a 1915 British Silent film about Florence. And there was a British film made in 2008 with not a single name in the cast I recognize (which never happens) and the one review it got on IMDB gave it one star and wrote, “One of the worst costume dramas I’ve seen in years! The acting was terrible. the script was terrible, the screenplay was dull and the characters seem like they had been plucked out of the 21st century and thrown back in time! Laura Fraser was useless, good looking, but useless. She plays the strong modern woman type which is totally out of context for the time, and all the male characters are weak.” (By the way, the review ends with “Americans will love it!” I’m not joking!)

I came across which is that Elizabeth Moss is supposedly working on a new film about Florence Nightingale. I hope this isn’t one of those projects that gets announced but never happens but the article I linked is from 2018 and I couldn’t find anything past late 2019. Well, we’ll see what happens. Maybe they’ll be a resurgence of Nightingale-mania!

[Thanks to my friend Kathy for sharing this with me!]

5. This Book about the Classic Restaurants of Milwaukee – This is a bit niche for a general blog, but I think the majority of my followers will appreciate it. Talk about a trip down memory lane! My only complaint is that it wasn’t physically bigger (it’s only 6″ x 9″) because I wish that the photos were larger and frankly I’d like to have seen more restaurants included. But it’s an Arcadia Publishing book and this is the standard size for the majority of their titles. But I suspect it’s the only way to get a book like this published anymore. Sigh. Anyway, I enjoyed reading it immensely.

6. This Reboot of Leverage with the Original Cast (minus one) – I know that people who didn’t watch Leverage won’t be as excited about this as I am (in fact, you probably won’t give a hoot) but I’m over the moon about this news. I was super bummed when they ended the show in 2012. They did tie everything up, but in the four years it aired it built up quite a following and I know we would have been happy for the show to continue for several more years.

But it’s back with the entire cast, except for Timothy Hutton. (I had no idea there had been accusations made against him too.) I’m a bit surprised, although thrilled and relieved, that Aldis Hodge is returning as Alec Hardison. I mean, he’s hit the big time with ‘One Night in Miami’ and he’s also been on ‘City on a Hill.’ The addition of Noah Wyle to the cast must also mean that a return of ‘The Librarians’ is not in our future. Oh well. You can’t have everything.

7. This Miniature Round Bookcase – If you love miniature things you’ll enjoy perusing the entire Instagram for the Daily Mini.

Word of the Day


Quote of the Day


Seven Things I Love (3-29-2021)

  1. 1. This Incredible Photo of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II – Honestly, when I first saw this I thought it must be photoshopped by the person who posted it sent me to this link on the NASA website.

The photo was taken on February 12, 1984. Are you surprised, I was! I actually thought it would have been more recent. According to the website, it was the first ever untethered space walk. “Astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.”

The photo below, which I discovered on social media, is a little more photographic/dramatic than the one found on NASA. I’m not sure if that is because there was more than one camera taking photos and this took them at a higher resolution or if someone has tweaked the “original” version, either way, the photo is amazing.

Here’s a few more photos…

2. This Door that Converts into a Ping Pong Table – Genius, no? There’s only one eensy weensy problem. It costs nearly $15,000!!!

3. This AWESOME Tweet that Includes a Video of the Celebration that Ensued After the Ship Stuck in the Suez Canal Finally Started Moving – EPIC! It brings tears to my eyes.

4. THIS Seven-year-old Boy Who Dressed Up as Amanda Gorman for “Dress as Your Idol Day” – well done!

Poet AMANDA GORMAN at the Inauguration of President Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021

5. This SNL Video from this Past Weekend – People who actually think of themselves as the “greatest generation” are NOT the greatest generation. Just sayin’.

Man, Boomers suck! Please God, don’t let us turn into them! Too late, it’s already happening…

6. This Gorgeous Apartment in Covent Garden that you Can RENT – it’s about $900 per night but if you shared it with two other people it would be completely worth it!

7. This WONDERFUL Art Teacher – EDUCATORS ROCK!

Word of the Day


Quote of the Day


Seven Things I Love (3-22-21)

  1. 1. This VACCINATED Menopausal Broad – pardon my hair, I forgot to fix it before the photo. You can’t see it but I’m both a little teary-eyed and overjoyed.

Not surprisingly, I’ve been reading everything I can on the vaccines and post-vaccine life and I found this excellent article in the Washington Post. WashPo has a paywall, so you may not be able to read it but here’s my favorite part, where the authors, Emily Heil and Tim Carman, talk about keeping a coronavirus budget. I think it’s a brilliant idea:

“There’s no such thing as zero risk, and nothing is 100 percent risky,” says Leana Wen, a visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and contributing columnist at The Washington Post. “It’s a spectrum.” She has long urged people to think about their risks as expenditures from a “coronavirus budget,” and says the budgets of those who have been vaccinated just went way up. “You still have to think about how to spend it, and if your priority is seeing grandchildren and going to church, then maybe you’re not going to restaurants all that often.”

With encouraging headlines, springlike temperatures and our collective covid fatigue at an all-time high, it might be tempting to throw caution — and another round of takeout — to the wind. But experts agree that now is not the time to lower your guard, but instead to maintain your vigilance so we can return to something like normal by the fall.

From: ‘As vaccinations increase, you may want to dine indoors again. Here’s what to consider.‘ by Emily Heil and Tim Carman; Washington Post, Mar. 19, 2021
  1. 2. This Photograph of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs – I became obsessed with the Crystal Palace dinosaurs after reading the children’s book ‘The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins‘ by Barbara Kerley (illustrated by Brian Selznick). The book won a Caldecott Honor Medal in 2002 . I was still a Children’s Librarian at that time. It has everything I loved – London, the Victorian Era, paleontology/innovation/science and the illustrations are fantastic. Here’s a video of a reading of the book that is charming.

I thought – it would have been amazing to be there then and see the dinosaurs in person. Honestly, I didn’t realize they still existed until a couple years ago. I learned many moons ago the Crystal Palace had burned down, twice I believe, so I assumed that nothing had survived. But the dinosaurs did and I got to see them in May of 2019! Here are a few of my photos… (the guy in the photo is my London pal Rob.)

2. This Story about the Golden Tickets in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryCharlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl was my all-time favorite book as a kid. I’m not sure if I’ve already told this story but one year, I think around when I was in second or third grade, I got a hold of a copy of the book. I read it and loved it so much that I re-read it over and over and over again. Around the twelve time my Mom started getting a little concerned that I was so obsessed with just one book so she bribed me with my first Nancy Drew book. That wasn’t such a bad thing, it led to a whole new world of my favorite teenage sleuth, but I always loved Charlie and his family and Mr. Willy Wonka.

I also loved the movie with Gene Wilder. To me he will always be the one and only Willy Wonka. I was actually excited when I first heard that Tim Burton was going to give the book a try and that Johnny Depp was slated to play Wonka, but I think I’ve spent to many years visualizing the candy maker as Gene Wilder.

I stumbled across this story while searching for something else and thought it was very interesting. For fans of the story, it’s not a major thing but curious nonetheless.

For some reason the book originally had it say on the golden ticket that the visit was to in February but in the first movie they changed it to October. Here is a brief post on Roald Dahl Fans.com where the person who runs the blog received an email with a question about this difference.

Here is what it says in the book:

“And now, here are your instructions: The day I have chosen for the visit is the first day in the month of February…”

“The first day of February!” cried Mrs. Bucket. “But that’s tomorrow! Today is the last day of January, I know it is!

The person who runs the Roald Dahl Fans blog has one theory that I think is most likely/logical and that is that the filming schedule was from August to November and so it simply didn’t look like February outdoors (and it would have been too expensive to make it look like February back then.) I think that this is the most likely explanation but one has to wonder if there might be some other reason like, is October 1st someone’s birthday or anniversary?

3. This Instagram Post by 99 year-old Betty White – how is it that I have only just thought to follow Betty White now???? So many shows like this that I would love to watch – thank goodness they aren’t available to stream because I don’t have enough time in the day! (If you haven’t watched the Betty White documentary on Netflix yet I highly recommend it. Ill be posting my ‘Menopausal Broad’s Guide to Netflix’ soon, hopefully within the next week.)

4. This Number from the 1957 Movie, Funny Face – Pink has always been my favorite color. I’d like to think it would have been even if I wasn’t born a girl, but in the 60s in Iowa there were only two options – girl or boy – and it wasn’t kosher for boys to like pink. Having said that, you just know that at least half of the guys in those white painter jumpsuits wish their suits were pink too. But they still look like they’re having fun! Aren’t the clothes fabulous?

5. This 360 Degree Van Gogh Painting – you may want to actually visit it on Facebook to so you can make it bigger.

6. This Website that Lets You Create Your Own Bayeux TapestryThe Bayeux Tapestry is made up of seventy-five scenes depicting events leading up to the Norman Conquest in 1066. It has a very distinct style and has been studied in depth (in fact they even know that there are 93 penises, not all belonging to men, included in the art piece.)

Here’s my first attempt…

And here is an artist named Andrew Swainson’s clever version of the Bayeux Tapestry in a tribute to Monty Python…

Andrew Swainson’s Pythonesque take on the Bayeux Tapestry
Photograph: Andrew Swainson/Monty Python

7. These “Personless Protests” in Myanmar – human ingenuity knows no bounds.

Word of the Day


Quote of the Day


Seven Things I Love (3-15-2021)

  1. 1. This Modification to ‘Fearless Girl’ Showing her Breaking the Glass Ceiling – In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8th State Street Global Advisors installed a broken glass ceiling around the now iconic statue. ‘Fearless Girl’ was installed on March 7, 2017 and was originally placed at the northern tip of Bowling Green on Broadway, facing down the Wall Street Bull. But the artist of the ‘Charging Bull’ (Arturo Di Modica) complained so the statue was moved to its current location across from the New York Stock Exchange Building.
  2. Not everyone, however, thinks the alteration was done well. What do you think?

2. These EXTREMELY Lucky People Who Got an Impromptu Concert from Yo Yo Ma at this COVID Vaccine Center in Massachusetts – I wouldn’t mind waiting at all under these conditions.

3. This Instagram Post Showing How Oranges are Collected in Valencia, Spain – ingenuity at its finest!

4. This Piece of Art by Bharti Kher called ‘Squaring the Circle’ – created in 2007, Indian artist Bharti Kher used thousands of bindis (Hindi: बिंदी, from Sanskrit बिन्दु bindú, meaning “point, drop, dot or small particle”; is a coloured dot worn on the center of the forehead, originally by Hindus and Jains from the Indian subcontinent) to create this colorful mandala. Mandalas are found in many of the southeastern religions. They are sometimes used as a map representing deities or as an aid during meditation.

To create a mandala out of bindis is extremely significant, not only because it is empowering to women but because it represents a strong community of women.

(Thanks Ann for find this for me!)

5. This FABULOUS Website Called ‘Window Swap‘ That Lets You See Out of People’s Windows Around the World – and it isn’t just that you get to see a photo, it’s an ongoing video so you can hear birds or traffic or whatever sound is found outside the window.

Leeds, UK
South Korea
Brussels, Belgium

6. This Artist Who Creates Animals Out of Flowers & LeavesJosh Dykgraff is astonishingly talented! (Discovered on My Modern Met.)

7. The Group That Should Have Won Record of the Year at the Grammys – mind you, I like Billie Eilish but Black Pumas appeals to a far broader audience on many levels and the message in their music is so important.

FYI – I loved the dress (it’s Oscar de la Renta) that Taylor Swift wore to the Grammys…

FYI – if you have Disney+ and haven’t watched WandaVision, YOU MUST! (I am obsessed!) I will admit, I’m a HUGE Marvel Universe fan but I think even those who aren’t would enjoy how they recreated television sitcoms of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Admittedly, it would be very helpful to know a bit about the Avengers movies, especially the last two. Also, Captain Marvel’s storyline is quite relevant. There is a lot more but those two things I felt are the most significant. Wandavision is definitely not your typical MCU production. It has the usual easter eggs, humor and villains but it is also about love, loss, and grief. Since we all have or will experience the loss of a loved one it makes it incredibly relatable.

Word of the Day

This is an AWESOME Inuit word. I haven’t done this much lately but I look forward to doing it again as soon as I finally get vaccinated!

Quote of the Day


Have a fantastic week!

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