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Typewriters of the moment: Isaac Asimov’s astonishingly prolific career
Isaac Asimov remains one of my favorite writers. He wrote well enough, and his curiosity took him to topics I often find interesting. At one time having published more books than anyone else in...
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In 2012, do we know who invented Santa Claus? Who really wrote the “Night...
An encore post and Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub tradition from 2007 Thomas Nast invented Santa Claus? Clement C. Moore didn’t write the famous poem that starts out, “‘Twas the night before Christmas, and...
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Banksy’s modern Nativity, revisited in 2012
An encore post, from 2008. Thomas Nast helped bring down the crooks at Tammany Hall with cartoons. Boss Tweed, the chief antagonist of Nast, crook and leader of the Tammany Gang, understood that Nast’s...
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Odd juxtaposition of images — but it gives me some hope
A great photo from Pete Souza, the current White House photographer. I’m hoping to track down I’ve tracked down even more details on this, because not all sources like to post all the credit...
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Punchline too brutal for work: Why it is that environmentalists are the real...
I wish it weren’t true. I wish people didn’t appear to be getting stupider, less scientifically literate, and less knowledgeable of history (see Santayana‘s thoughts in the upper right-hand corner of...
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Van Cliburn’s farewell
Van Cliburn performing at the Moscow Conservatory, 1958. Photo from the Van Cliburn Foundation; photographer unidentified. Note the roses on the stage. As I write this, the telecast of the funeral...
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Woodbadge sundancers, Heart of Virginia Council, BSA
This will make some Woodbadgers jealous: Stained glass sundancers at an unnamed site, commemorating six Woodbadge classes in the Heart of Virginia Council, BSA. Click image for better view at original...
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Renaissance shadow over contemporary art: Penultimate suppers (an encore)
It’s that Easter season among western Christian sects; this is Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus’s final entry into Jerusalem and the events leading Jesus’s crucifixion. Our congregation will stage a...
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Millard Fillmore waxes on
President Millard Fillmore, as displayed at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Washington, D.C.; photo from About.com Ever on the lookout for images of Millard Fillmore, I found this photo at About.com....
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L Banks: Artist’s version of the world’s oldest animation
L. Banks illustrated a publication about an ancient bowl found at the Burnt City, in what is now Iran. It’s a nice rendering of . . . gee, what is that? If you remember correctly, it’s a goat. It’s a...
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Flag Day poster from 1917, remembered 96 years later
140th US Flag Day poster. 1777-1917. The birthday of the stars and stripes, June 14th, 1917. ‘Tis the Star Spangled Banner, oh, long may it wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”...
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All is not lost, is it?
NPR moved offices earlier this year. Tiny Desk Concerts provide a lot of fun in live performance in the offices of a radio network. To document the move, musically, Tiny Desk called in OK Go. OK Go...
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History of America, or art in America, or American art, or . . .
Brilliant piece from Grant Snider — history teachers, this should be a poster in your classroom, no? Art teachers? Grant Snider’s “American Art, exploring a country through its paintings” In the...
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Thunder is impressive, but it’s lightning that does the work
Nice photo from Texas Storm Chasers: Finally, a good lightning photography night! Here's one shot I took around 10 PM in Norman, OK. -DR #okwx #txwx twitpic.com/d25kzr— Texas Storm Chasers...
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Postage stamp tempest: Why can’t the U.S. have scandals like this?
Hey, David Dewhurst: Do you really think the women who opposed your oppression of them were out of line? None of them has said you must lick her derriére. Here’s how they do it in Europe; from The...
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Edward Tufte channels Richard Feynman
Tufte writes at great length — well, writes and demonstrates — about yellow warning signs. (Yes, that Edward Tufte.) In one of his demonstrations, the art comes from the ideas and sayings of Richard...
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Signs of life: Tufte’s signs that ought to be
From Edward Tufte: Edward Tufte, Road Never Ends, print on canvas, 29 ½” x 29 ½”, edition of 3 Philosophy on road signs. Will it catch on? Has it caught on already?Filed under: Art, Humor, Life,...
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Signs: Cthulu’s return? Don’t kick jelly fish?
Don Knuth at Stanford University collects signs. Actually he collects photos of signs, especially the diamond-shaped informational-warning signs. What in the world is this one? A sign photographed in...
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Imagequilts, with Edward Tufte and Adam Schwartz
These are pretty cool. Can you use them in a classroom? Some of these Imagequilts pack a lot of information into a small space — such as the one for Cézanne. Here, “Subatomic Particles“: Subatomic...
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Chess games of the rich and famous: Thomas Eakins’s version
“The Chess Players” by Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), 1876; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wikipedia image One must appreciate Eakins’s great skills, even if one does not love his work — but I love it....
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