when Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to find a water route across North America and explore the uncharted West, he expected they'd encounter woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt. What they found was no less surprising. See it all on our journey: journal entries, historical photos, drawings, and more. . . . http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
August 23, 2011
June 9, 2011
fact or fiction?
ah, the good old days before fraud was monetized.
consider the case of a brit in the early 1700s who went on trail for claiming to give birth to rabbits, aka the "pretended rabbit breeder."
(perhaps she was inspired by a french woman at the time who claimed to give birth to toads?).
consider the case of a brit in the early 1700s who went on trail for claiming to give birth to rabbits, aka the "pretended rabbit breeder."
(perhaps she was inspired by a french woman at the time who claimed to give birth to toads?).
May 31, 2011
Þingvellir
. . . location of the first parliament in the world, formed by the vikings in AD 930 . . .
May 30, 2011
queen caroline
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| portrait of the queen |
because of tough competition, queen caroline's marriage to the prince regent (future george IV) does not even rank in the top 10 of most salacious royal marriages.
hats off to the british. nobody does pomp, manners, and royal scandal any better.
will william and kate be able to continue the legacy of their ancestors?
May 10, 2011
18th century pr
catherine the great started life as a rather impoverished and inconsequential prussian named sophia. she had neither great looks as a child nor great promise. her intuitive pr skills -- long before the term public relations was coined -- would leave her known as "catherine the great."
while in her mid-teens, circumstances led to sophia being the chosen one to marry an imbecilic nephew of peter the great. catherine's instincts convinced her to immediately forgo her lutheranism and to forsake her prussian ways even before her marriage.
& long before her vicious mother-in-law would succumb, young sophia -- rechristened catherine, not yet "the great" -- knew how to maneuver in the highly political courts of a foreign country without getting tripped up by the intrigues.
she bided her time. she learned. she cultivated everything russian.
she had some indiscretions -- words that never should have been put on paper, ill advised affairs, that sort of thing -- but overall she pursued presenting herself as a devoted russian. she remained quiet and [outwardly] humble. she says in her journals that she endured what would have driven other people mad. even as a lonely young wife ignored by an idiotic husband and bullied by a powerful empress, she stayed on point and on message.
and she read all the time. voltaire, montesquieu, and whatever russian literature she could find.
when the moment was right, she banished her insipid husband, the rightful heir to the throne, seized the title of Empress for herself, and insisted on a coronation beyond extravagance. she knew she had to make a strong impression on the peasants, on her rivals, and on foreign dignitaries.
catherine went on to earn the moniker "the great," a study of her life is a study of the transformative power of good public relations.
recommended read: Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat
while in her mid-teens, circumstances led to sophia being the chosen one to marry an imbecilic nephew of peter the great. catherine's instincts convinced her to immediately forgo her lutheranism and to forsake her prussian ways even before her marriage.
& long before her vicious mother-in-law would succumb, young sophia -- rechristened catherine, not yet "the great" -- knew how to maneuver in the highly political courts of a foreign country without getting tripped up by the intrigues.
she bided her time. she learned. she cultivated everything russian.
she had some indiscretions -- words that never should have been put on paper, ill advised affairs, that sort of thing -- but overall she pursued presenting herself as a devoted russian. she remained quiet and [outwardly] humble. she says in her journals that she endured what would have driven other people mad. even as a lonely young wife ignored by an idiotic husband and bullied by a powerful empress, she stayed on point and on message.
and she read all the time. voltaire, montesquieu, and whatever russian literature she could find.
when the moment was right, she banished her insipid husband, the rightful heir to the throne, seized the title of Empress for herself, and insisted on a coronation beyond extravagance. she knew she had to make a strong impression on the peasants, on her rivals, and on foreign dignitaries.
catherine went on to earn the moniker "the great," a study of her life is a study of the transformative power of good public relations.
recommended read: Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat
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| to the victor goes the crown http://diamond-fund.blogspot.com/ |
April 4, 2011
regicide revisited
In 2001 Birendra of Nepal was killed by his son Crown Prince Dipendra in the massacre of the Nepalese royal family; Dipendra proceeded to commit suicide without having been crowned king.
Oedipus was fated to kill his father, a king, and marry his mother. His parents attempted to prevent this by leaving him on the side of a mountain as an infant. He was found and raised by a shepard. Once grown, Oedipus meets his father while his father is travelling and kills him. He then marries his mother to become king, unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy.
Tukulti-Ninurta I (r. 1243–1207 B.C.E.), Assyrian king, was killed by his own son after sacking Babylon.
Oedipus was fated to kill his father, a king, and marry his mother. His parents attempted to prevent this by leaving him on the side of a mountain as an infant. He was found and raised by a shepard. Once grown, Oedipus meets his father while his father is travelling and kills him. He then marries his mother to become king, unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy.
Tukulti-Ninurta I (r. 1243–1207 B.C.E.), Assyrian king, was killed by his own son after sacking Babylon.
March 16, 2011
174,465
us patent issued for "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound" on march 7, 1876.
and we all know the story of a. g. bell and his invention, but did you know that one elisha gray, a fellow dabbler in acoustic telegraphy, filed a caveat with the patent office that same morning?
not sure what it means exactly to file a caveat, but one result of that action is that we all learn that alexander graham bell invented the telephone and we've never heard of elisha gray (w/apologies to mr gray's descendants)
and now for a patent of a device that just never made it big time . . .
and we all know the story of a. g. bell and his invention, but did you know that one elisha gray, a fellow dabbler in acoustic telegraphy, filed a caveat with the patent office that same morning?
not sure what it means exactly to file a caveat, but one result of that action is that we all learn that alexander graham bell invented the telephone and we've never heard of elisha gray (w/apologies to mr gray's descendants)
and now for a patent of a device that just never made it big time . . .
January 27, 2011
1864 or 1865: does it matter
the short answer is yes, emphatically yes, details matter.
the long answer is at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/a-blot-on-lincoln-historians/?scp=1&sq=lincoln&st=Search where you can read the story of a scholar gone bad who wanted the recognition of discovering something profound so badly that he doctored a document written in President Lincoln's hand...and, perhaps even more amazingly, for years he was lauded by the Lincoln experts and the fraud perpetuated. You look at the picture of the forgery and wonder how no one noticed the blotchy writing...
. . . what "history" is in the digital age when fraud is much easier to do and harder to notice;
. . . how deeply the perpetrator wanted recognition: what would you do for fame/recognition as you would like it (as an athlete; as a movie star; as a scholar; as an artist; as an upstanding member of your community; as the hardest worker in the office?)
. . . how deeply the perpetrator wanted recognition: what would you do for fame/recognition as you would like it (as an athlete; as a movie star; as a scholar; as an artist; as an upstanding member of your community; as the hardest worker in the office?)
January 21, 2011
Hawaii and Alaska
The Captain James Cook who was killed on the island of Kauai in what became the State of Hawaii also explored Alaska. In 1778 he explored the coast of Alaska while looking for a northwest passage that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Cook's navigator was WIlliam Bligh; there is a reef in ALaska named Bligh Reef. Bligh, of course, went on to greater fame as the captain of the HMS Bounty.
January 19, 2011
54
When Thomas Hardy turned 54, he learned to ride a bicycle. When Christopher Columbus was 54, he died. [Courtesy of Eric Hanson, A Book of Ages (New York: Harmony Books 2008)]
January 12, 2011
the vondel of vondel park
the vondel park is a big, lovely open space in one of the coolest cities of the world and i've enjoyed jogging around the park, performances in the park, and ice creams while strolling around the park. but what does vondel mean?
so today's project i researched vondel and w/apologies to the legions of dutch people appalled by my ignorance...JOOST VAN DEN VONDEL...is considered Holland's national playright and is a "prince of poets"...according to the book i got from the library.
his masterpiece, lucifer, was written in the 1650s, before the age of the sound bite and no simple tidbits lend themselves to a quick note in a blog. not sure this is my kind of writing since my appreciation of poetry kind of starts and stops w/dr seuss but it would appear that beelzebub and lucifer are very bad, trying to corrupt corruptible mankind, and i think all ends satisfactorily, though not heavenly.
since i appreciate the man's park more than the man's literary contributions, a picture of the park courtesy of google images it is:
so today's project i researched vondel and w/apologies to the legions of dutch people appalled by my ignorance...JOOST VAN DEN VONDEL...is considered Holland's national playright and is a "prince of poets"...according to the book i got from the library.
his masterpiece, lucifer, was written in the 1650s, before the age of the sound bite and no simple tidbits lend themselves to a quick note in a blog. not sure this is my kind of writing since my appreciation of poetry kind of starts and stops w/dr seuss but it would appear that beelzebub and lucifer are very bad, trying to corrupt corruptible mankind, and i think all ends satisfactorily, though not heavenly.
since i appreciate the man's park more than the man's literary contributions, a picture of the park courtesy of google images it is:
January 1, 2011
Talent helps ... a lot
Hans Holbein, a German, painted at least half - Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Anne of Cleves - of Henry VIII's six wives. Thomas Cromwell was Holbein's patron during his time in England. Holbein was clever - and talented - enough to avoid disfavor when Cromwell and other reformers fell from Henry's grace.
And, Hampton Court was originally Cardinal Wolsey's palace.
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