Chinook
Texts, 1894. 'The Chinook tribes inhabited the
salmon-rich lower Columbia river area in the Northwest
culture region, in what is now upper Oregon and lower
Washington state. As is evident from these texts,
fishing was at the center of their culture, and they
were also avid traders and gamblers. A creole based on
their language and several European languages, the
'Chinook Jargon', was widely used as a trade language
in the Northwest. The Chinook practised the
'Potlatch'--the charateristic Northwestern ceremony in
which wealth was ritually redistributed.'
Kwakiutl
Tales, 1910. 'This is a collection of myths and
folklore from the Kwakiutl Native Americans of British
Columbia, Canada. They originally resided on the
northern end of Vancouver Island and the adjacent
coast. The texts were collected and translated by
Franz Boas, who was one of the founders of modern
anthropology and linguistics. These stories are much
more satisfying for the Western reader than many
unfiltered Native American texts, with rich
characterizations, earthy humor, spooky supernatural
settings, and, for once, actual beginnings, middles
and ends. It is obvious that the Kwakuitl were
accomplished story tellers. '
The Great
Central Railway: A Continuing Survey of Britain's Last
Main Line Railway. 'This website is intended to
document the current state of Britains last main line
at it enters its second century. Built at the end of
the 19th Century and carelessly disposed of after only
70 years, much of it yet remains - overgrown and
largely forgotten. It is my intention to survey,
section by section as much of the remaining trackbed
and as many structures as possible. Click on a link
below to view a section of the line. Clicking on the
black circles on the map will bring up a brief
description of the feature in the right hand frame,
together with thumbnails. Clicking on a thumbnail will
load a high resolution image in a new window.'
Bizarre
Crime in Japan. A weblog. 'Japan has some very
strange and bizarre crimes. This site is my own
chronicle of these crimes. I am intrigued by their
strange nature and by the way that Japanese people,
the Japanese institutions, and public at large react
to them. Please leave some comments. '
Master
Theoderic. 'Bohemian painter (active 1350-70 in
Prague)'. Online gallery.
Some
Western Shoshoni Myths, 1943. 'The Shoshone
(also spelled Shoshoni) are Native Americans of the
Great Basin region, and south and east of the Sierra
Nevada mountain range. Shoshoneans are distributed
widely--from Southern California, Death Valley and
Mono Lake, through Utah to Western Colorado.
Sacajawea, the woman who guided the Lewis and Clark
expedition, was a Utah Shoshone. ' 'While the
beliefs of other Shoshonean tribes are fairly well
documented, there is little published information
about the mythology of the Great Basin Shoshone per
se. This collection reveals that the Western Shoshone,
who lived in central Nevada, were very similar to the
Northern Californians in this regard. Their myths are
inhabited by the lusty trickster Coyote, and other
primordial zoomorphic demigods. '
Revolution
by Design: The Soviet Poster. 'Although posters
were produced in Russia before the Revolution, they
were overshadowed by the remarkable propaganda posters
of the Soviets. Lenin takes responsibility for
creating the first truly modern propaganda machine,
from postage stamps and Mayday parades to monumental
sculptures. Perhaps its most colorful, dramatic and
original form was the poster. Through it, the greatest
artists of the time proclaimed government policies,
asked for support, and demanded greater efforts -- all
with the goal of building Soviet power. '
Tokyo
Damage Report. 'This weblog is about interesting
(meaning, fucked up) things that one can do in Tokyo.
punk, visual, cosplay, s/m, gothic, street trends,
capsule hotels, bizarre magazines, random subcultures,
and bad Engrish. . . . .also it is about tokyo's,
urban legends: square watermelons, Sanrio condoms,
politically incorrect vending machines, etc. . '
Elemental
Soup. 'You have reached elementalsoup, an
alternative Northern Irish humour site. '
Girl
Genius. Online comic. 'Gaslamp Fantasy with
Adventure, Romance and Mad Science.'
link
4th May
The Newton Project. Via
Monkeyfilter.
'Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is universally acknowledged as one of the two or three most
influential scientists in history. In his Principia Mathematica of 1687 he announced three laws
of motion and the concepts of mass, force and Universal Gravitation. In his brilliant letter to
the Royal Society of February 1672, and later in his Opticks of 1704, he showed that white light
was heterogeneously composed of more basic, primary rays, each with its own specific colour and
index of refraction. Apart from these achievements in physics, Newton's mathematical prowess was
extraordinary, and with Gottfried Leibniz he was one of the two independent inventors of the
calculus. '
'Although these achievements are fundamental to modern mathematics and physics, it is less
well known that Newton himself placed great value on his private researches into theology and
alchemy. Interest in the wealth of surviving manuscript material in these areas has increased
dramatically in recent years, and the Newton Project was formed in 1998 to make all Newton's
texts, both 'scientific' and 'non-scientific' (including those papers relevant to his three decades
service at the Royal Mint), available to a broad readership in a form that is at once scholarly and
accessible. The Project aims to create a printed edition of Newton's theological, alchemical and
administrative writings and an electronic edition of all his writings, including his
correspondence...'
Captain James
Cook 1728-1779. 'Discover the story of Captain
James Cook through the outstanding collections of the
British Library linked with material held in
institutions such as the Captain Cook Birthplace
Museum in the North East of England' 'Cook was born
in 1728 in Marton, now a suburb of Middlesbrough, and
is probably the most famous maritime explorer of the
18th century. His exploits in Canada and North West
America, the islands of the Pacific, New Zealand and
Australia and his incursions into waters of the Arctic
and Antarctic are well recorded, particularly through
the journals, logs and pictures which were made during
the voyages and today preserved in museums, libraries
and archives throughout the world.' 'Find out how,
since his death in 1779, Cook has been celebrated in
the towns and villages of his native North East of
England where there are survivals of his times in
'Captain Cook Country'.'
The
Unicorn Tapestries. 'As early as the seventeenth
century, the Unicorn Tapestries were documented as
having been displayed as a group. Surely they were
collected and exhibited together because together they
illustrate the pursuit of the elusive unicorn so
completely and in such astonishing detail, despite the
likelihood that the seven individual hangings may come
from two or more sets of tapestries. While its sacred
and secular symbolism may not be as familiar to us
today, we are still enchanted by the unicorn and its
lore. '
Titian.
'Tiziano Vecellio (ca. 1488–1576), known as Titian,
was the greatest Venetian artist of the sixteenth
century, eventually gaining international fame. Titian
is known above all for his remarkable use of color;
his painterly approach was highly influential well
into the seventeenth century. Titian contributed to
all of the major areas of Renaissance art, painting
altarpieces, portraits, mythologies, and pastoral
landscapes with figures.'
Mothers'
Day Cartoons by Donna Barstow. 'Donna Barstow is
one of America's top magazine cartoonists. She has
given us great a collection of Mothers Day cartoons! '
Edward
Teller's FBI File. 'Hungarian-born American
nuclear physicist who participated in the production
of the first atomic bomb (1945) and who led the
development of the world's first thermonuclear weapon,
the hydrogen bomb ... '
Origin
Myth of Acoma, 1942. 'The following information
was obtained in September and October of 1928 from a
group of Pueblo Indians from Acoma and Santa Ana
visiting Washington.' 'The Acoma origin and
migration myth is presented as it was learned by the
chief informant during his initiation in youth into
the Koshari, the group of sacred clowns to whom
theoretically all religious secrets are divulged. With
this myth, according to Acoma ideology, everything in
the culture must harmonize. When new practices are
adopted, there is an attempt to fit them into the
general scheme, although in recounting the tradition,
the informant was careful to differentiate between
contemporary practice and what was given in the
tradition. Frequently after his dictation, when I
would question him to bring out concrete instances, he
would say, "It is not done so any more." The tradition
is couched in archaic language so that in many places
the younger interpreters were unable to translate and
the elderly informant would have to explain in modern
Acoma phraseology. This may account in part for
certain obvious paraphrases of Pueblo or even of
merely Indian ways of speaking. Other paraphrases may
have been made for the benefit of the White man or as
interpretation of Acoma religion by one who is an
exceptionally good Catholic and no longer a
participant in the ceremonial life of Acoma ...'
The
Glory of Byzantium. 'The Metropolitan Museum of
Art's on-line exploration of Byzantium was created in
conjunction with the international loan exhibition The
Glory of Byzantium (March 11 - July 6, 1997), which
celebrated the art of the second golden age of
Byzantine art (8431261). This on-line exploration
moves beyond the time frame of the exhibition and
includes examples of art from the first golden age of
Byzantine art (324730) and the late period, which
ended with the Turkish conquest in 1453 ... ' Gallery.
Built
in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/
Historic American Engineering Record 1933-.
'The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)
collections are among the largest and most heavily
used in the Prints and Photographs Division of the
Library of Congress. The collections document
achievements in architecture, engineering, and design
in the United States and its territories through a
comprehensive range of building types and engineering
technologies including examples as diverse as the
Pueblo of Acoma, houses, windmills, one-room schools,
the Golden Gate Bridge , and buildings designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright. Administered since 1933 through
cooperative agreements with the National Park Service,
the Library of Congress, and the private sector,
ongoing programs of the National Park Service have
recorded America's built environment in multiformat
surveys comprising more than 350,000 measured
drawings, large-format photographs, and written
histories for more than 35,000 historic structures and
sites dating from Pre-Columbian times to the twentieth
century. This online presentation of the HABS/HAER
collections includes digitized images of measured
drawings, black-and-white photographs, color
transparencies, photo captions, data pages including
written histories, and supplemental materials. Since
the National Park Service's HABS and HAER programs
create new documentation each year, digital images
will continue to be added to the online collections.
The first phase of digitization of the Historic
American Engineering Record collection was made
possible by the generous support of the Shell Oil
Company Foundation. '
Immigration centre
detainee dies.
'An investigation has been launched at an immigration removal centre after a
detainee died. '
'First aid staff tried to revive the collapsed inmate at Haslar detention centre in Gosport but failed. '
'The Home Office said the death was probably from natural causes, but a post mortem would
follow and a full investigation by the prisons ombudsman. '
'The Hampshire centre was the scene of riots and breakouts in 2003 and was criticised by prison
inspectors. '
Via
Frizzy Logic.
Apple
Ad. 'Apple bought all of the advertising space in
November/December special election issue of Newsweek
in 1984, and devoted it all to Macintosh. Below you
can see all 39 pages of the advertisement. ' Via Sugar &
Spicy.
Mother
Jones: The Miners' Angel. 'The elderly woman
smoothed her black dress and touched the lace at her
throat and wrists. Her snow-white hair was gathered
into a knot at the nape of her neck, and a black hat,
trimmed with lavender ribbons to lend a touch of
color, shaded her finely wrinkled face. She was about
five feet tall, but she exuded energy and enthusiasm.
As she waited to speak, her bright blue eyes scanned
the people grouped beyond the platform. Her kindly
expression never altered as her voice broke over the
audience: "I'm not a humanitarian," she exclaimed.
"I'm a hell-raiser." ' Via wood s
lot.
The
Pagan Pilgrim:
Thomas Morton of Merrymount. 'Morton, a senior
partner in a Crown-sponsored trading venture, sailed
to New England in 1624 with a Captain Wollaston and 30
indentured young men. They settled and began trading
for furs on a spit of land given them by the native
Algonquin tribes, whose culture the classically
educated, broad-minded Morton soon came to admire as
far more civilized and humanitarian than that of his
intolerant, brutal European neighbors. When Wollaston
began seeking more profits by selling off the
indentured servants to hard labor on the Virginia
tobacco plantations, Morton persuaded the remaining
servants (it wasn't hard) to reject their harsh master
and throw in with this visionary as free members of a
colony that would trade and live in harmony with the
local tribes.' Via wood s
lot.
Domestic Odyssey. 'The San Jose Museum of Art
presents Domestic Odyssey, an exhibition that features
work by national and international artists who use
household items — appliances and furniture — as
touchstones for their work. In this exhibition,
everyday objects are transformed into seductive,
whimsical, and thought-provoking meditations on
cultural, social, and autobiographical issues.
' Via art
for housewives.
Sam's
Mailbox Pictures. 'I have always been intrigued by
the ability of a craftsman to take a boring mailbox
and make it into a thing of interest, adventure or
beauty-- I know that we all see them every day but
some are really neat and make me say-- "I wish I'd
have thought of that!" '
Via Blort.
Boiled
Alive! 'Below is my personally edited collection
of drawings depicting men and women in pots. Click on
the thumbnail images or on the title of the work to
see the full drawing. Most of these images have been
downloaded from the internet. Some come from bulletin
boards. None are under restrictive copyright (at least
as far as I know). I have tried to identify the
artists whenever possible. '
Via Geisha.
The
Battle of Antietam. Official records and battle
description of 'the bloodiest day' of the American
Civil War. Via MeFi.
Anatomy of an Exhibition: Art Nouveau 1890-1914. 'This Web feature
offers a glimpse behind the scenes during the planning and construction
of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Art Nouveau,1890-1914,
the largest and most comprehensive exhibition on the subject ever
organized, presents one of the most innovative and exuberant of all modern
art styles and the places where it flourished. The exhibition is on view
at the Gallery October 8, 2000, through January 28, 2001.'
Landscape of Memory: The Art of Mu Xin. 'The work of Mu Xin (b.
1927) is, in part, a dialogue with the past masters of Chinese painting
and, thus, with Chinese history in general. This dialogue is a key factor
in connecting Mu Xin with the continuous tradition of Chinese landscape
painting, begun in the 10th century, which is embedded with meanings both
personal and profound. Emerging from his knowledge and interpretation of
past masters, Mu Xin created paintings that responded to the past while
criticizing the future. Although in this regard Mu Xin could be compared
with many Chinese artists, perhaps the greatest connection can be made with
the "yimin" painters of the early Yuan period (1279 - 1368) and of the
early Qing (1644 - 1911).'
Einstein Revealed. 'Welcome to the companion Web site to the NOVA
program "Einstein Revealed," originally broadcast in October, 1996.
This two-hour special presents a penetrating profile of Albert Einstein,
who contributed more than any other scientist to our modern vision of
physical reality. '
Aspirations to Sweetness. We always enjoy Jann's writing. Browse through
the archives and other areas of the site.
Sweatshop Watch. 'Founded in
1995, Sweatshop Watch is a coalition of over 30 labor, community, civil
rights, immigrant rights, women's, religious and student organizations,
and many individuals, committed to eliminating the exploitation that
occurs in sweatshops. Sweatshop Watch serves low-wage workers nationally
and globally, with a focus on garment workers in California. We believe
that workers should earn a living wage in a safe, decent work environment,
and that those responsible for the exploitation of sweatshop workers must
be held accountable. The workers who labor in sweatshops are our driving
force. Our decisions, projects, and organizing efforts are informed by
their voices,their needs, and their life experiences. '
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops
1820-Present. 'On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced
compound of seven apartments in El Monte, California. They arrested eight
operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 illegal Thai
immigrants who had been forced to sew in virtual captivity. '
'Although the El Monte incident was an extreme case of exploitation,
sweatshops are not new to America. Since the dawning of the Industrial
Revolution, many generations of Americans have toiled in sweatshops.
Then, as now, their labor has been accompanied by widespread debate over
what constitutes a fair wage, reasonable working conditions, and society's
responsibility for meeting those standards. This exhibition places the
current debate on sweatshops in the garment industry in a historical
context and explores the complex factors that contribute to their
existence today.'
The
Artistry of African Currency. 'Throughout history,
many different objects have been used to facilitate
trade for goods and to measure wealth. Today, we
usually think of dollars and coins when we define what
we regard as money, although much commerce is carried
out without any physical currency at all. Value is
counted by entries in bank and credit card accounts,
and the transfer of money often takes place through
electronic impulses between computers. Objects have
served the same purposes as well, in other times and
places. ' 'Throughout Africa's past, many objects
have served as money—salt, shells, beads, metal,
indigenous coins, European coins, jewelry, woven
cloth, weapons and tools. The keys to understanding
why a particular object came to be used as currency
are acceptability and value. Acceptability encompasses
such aspects as familiarity, usefulness and artistic
expression, which add to the intrinsic value of the
medium itself. Thus, while the scarcity of copper
might have caused it to be exchanged on that basis
alone, its use was further validated through the forms
into which it was cast. Iron was more ubiquitous in
African societies, but refining, forging, forming and
decorating similarly increased its value ... '
Southeast
Asian Monuments: A Selection of 100 Slides. '100
slides of monuments in Mainland Southeast Asia (
Burma, Thailand,Cambodia, Vietnam), selected from the
collection of Marijke J. Klokke, are presented here
(see map) .They were made in January and February
1995. They document Hindu and Buddhist structures,
dating roughly from the 9th to 15th centuries.
Overviews, sculptures, and ornamental details are
included. Duplicates of the presented slides are kept
in the Oriental Department of the Leiden University
Library. Information can be obtained via e-mail from
Aad Janson, who prepared these pages for WWW, and
Marijke J. Klokke, who wrote the texts and made the
photographs.'
Sexual
Firsts. 'I always thought I was sexually
adventurous but my husband's been whining and he says
I've always been a prude in our relationship. Because
I won't stick my finger up his ass. Any ideas on what
to do?'
8 Million Stories in a New York Minute. 'New York
has enough eccentrics to make the normals seem crazy.
Heather Holland Wheaton has captured quite a few in
her new collection, Eight Million Stories in a New
York Minute. Excerpts from a pint-sized book. '
Call
Centre Confidential. 'Call Centre Confidential is
the story of my life as a Team Manager in a Call
Centre.' A blog about one of working in one of the
UK's growth industries.
link
2nd May
Visited Countries. Generate your own map. Well worth playing
with - this is a great site. Don't forget the map of
most
visited countries. I believe that I linked to
this site previously, but the comments in
this thread are worth a read too. (Comedy platinum!)
'The UK isn't actually a country you know, it's simply the name for a collection of countries.'
... AND ... 'You're missing the scottish, where do all us keltic folks come form then? '
... AND ... 'Read the site owner's rule at the top of the page. "My basic rule is that a nation has to be
internationally recognized, i.e. by the UN." FIFA doesn't count. '
'Where's Sicily? Doesn't it count as a serparate country? ' ... AND ...
'um... i was wondering where Brussels was ? ' ... AND ...
'dude Brussels, Scotland, Wales and Holland are all missing, ' ... AND ...
'Where is Cyprus as it aint Greek or turkish where is it ' ... AND ...
'what about teneriffe and all that lot? are they on there or am i just blind?' ...
AND ...
'I don't think you can generalize so much but I do think Europe should be split into a few decent sized countries. Like maybe combine the Balkans with Hungary, Poland and Belarus. And combine Germany, Austria, and Italy. Then Join France Portugal and Spain since their not too different places. And then all of Scandanavia can join the UK. That would be reasonable I think.'
'But I am missing Palestine. Also, just clicking "United States" marks everything from New
York to Hawaii and from Houston to Alaska. Would make much more sense to have the US
states isolated. ' ... AND ...
'Your map is pretty crap, and, to make it more accurate, you should include more countries,
and separate places like the states in america and have small countries like all the things people said
before me ' ... AND ...
'Well, as somebody said, it would be nice to mark each US state separately. '
... 'So, clearly many Americans don't feel significant enough, having been overseas
once or twice, so they want their trip to New Orleans and camping in Nevada to be exhibited
on the map..' ...
'look at the map, nimrod. we've got a LARGE country. in fact, it's a UNION of
SEPARATE STATES. ' ... 'Sweden should be much bigger on the map. You see,
Sweden is by far the most mighty and powerfull country on the face of the earth. Therefor it
should be bigger!'
'Now that you've used this service, I think you ought to know where singapore is. Not
that it's a great country, but this'll probably stop people in chatrooms from asking where
singapore is. '
'What about a map showing the oceans that you have [swam] in? Now that would be cool.'
'How come Iraq isn't shown as a territory of the US? ' And whither
Greenland?
The F Scale.
'Fifty years ago, the Authoritarian Personality studies attempted to "construct an instrument
that would yield an estimate of fascist receptivity at the personality level." ' 'This
online, interactive F Scale presents that instrument in its final form. Additional infomation, including
an explanation of the personality variables the F Scale tries to measure, is given below after the
questionnaire. So take the F Scale now --- and enjoy! ' (I'm a whining
rotter).
Via the LGF Quiz.
Hungary (along with nine other mostly eastern European countries)
joined the European Union on the stroke of midnight last night.
There was a big fireworks display and outdoor concert in Heroes'
Square, next to City Park.
It was quite a pleasant trip. Budapest has the feel of a much
smaller town than it is - I suppose this may be partly because
the Hungarians are the only non-Indo-European-speaking people
in central Europe, which may set them apart to some extent;
maybe also the Catholic and central European familial quality of
close-knit community. Budapest is a pleasant city to walk in -
every day while I was there, I went for five-to-ten mile walks across
the city. Architecturally and visually, the city is very interesting,
with lots of interesting feature, and the art nouveau influence much
in evidence. It might have been worth staying longer.
(It occurs to me that the former Hapsburg countries of central Europe
are among those I've visited most over the years. Hmmm).
