Building the Dome on the Florence cathedral (Duomo) was a gamble. They didn’t know how. Architect Brunelleschi brought an egg, broke it at the bottom so it stands erect. That was the plan lol. As you see it is egg shaped. It worked too, for 550 yrs now. (@PatrickBreukers)
That seems like a misread of the egg story. My recollection was that someone asked Brunelleschi how he would do it and didn't believe he could. He challenged them to balance an egg on its end and they couldn't. Then he smashed one end of the egg to force it to stand upright and answer his own challenge. It wasn't the plan: it was a demonstration of his willingness to think outside the box and employ original solutions to novel problems in the manner of Alexander cutting the Gordian knot... Looks like the author that attributed it to Columbus took the idea from a book about Brunelleschi written 15 years earlier. (@marshallpriddy)
May also be a misread. A documentary on the history of the Medici family (patrons of Brunelleschi) said that the egg trick was to show that he had a clear plan (he kept it as a trade secret), but if he showed them, it would give it away. (@FiveSigmaCap)
***
Bernini's Revenge: In 1665, an 18ft Egyptian obelisk was unearthed from a garden of the Dominican Monastery in Rome. Pope Alexander VII wanted to display it in front of the monastery as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. The Dominicans wanted a design that honoured the Pope, but the Holy Father went with Bernini’s design with the obelisk on the back of an Elephant: a symbol of strength and wisdom. But should they or shouldn't they include a portion of rock underneath the Elephant’s belly? The Dominicans argued that a gap would make the sculpture too fragile. The Pope eventually sided with the support idea, so Bernini tried to conceal it with a blanket hanging over the elephant’s back. The inscription reads: You, whoever you are, who see that the figures of wise Egypt sculpted on the obelisk are being carried by an elephant, the strongest of beasts, understand that it is proof of a strong mind to sustain solid wisdom.” Angered by the tinkering, Bernini set up the elephant facing away from the monastery and moved its tail to the left, so that the priests had to look at the elephant’s rear end when they walked out of the door. (@Architectolder, paraphrase)
Bernini's revenge is a term used to describe the urban legend that famous Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini sought revenge against his rival, Francesco Borromini, by designing a church that blocked Borromini's view of the Roman skyline. (@vacaytube)
***
The iron railings round London’s private squares and gardens were donated during WWII to make munitions. Children without access to green spaces moved in and played – until the railings were replaced after the War. (True so far.) The metal was actually useless – the whole proceeding was a propaganda exercise. The railings were either dropped directly on the enemy or hidden in quarries, or ended up adorning towns in far-flung locations like Mauritius. Dumped in the North Sea, adds someone. Did they take church bells?, asks another. (They didn't – perhaps because church bells were rung as an alarm.)
House next door to mine has been owned by the same family since new in 1900. During WW2 the owner was some sort of govt Minister, knew that the metal was no use but still insisted that his railings were cut down. (@Matt_Twist)
Notable that the iron railings remained in rich areas like West London. (@iloveidpol. They went too, but were replaced after the War to keep out the plebs as before.)
***
In the early days of WWII, probationers are gathered around a crate of clothes donated by Americans: Their keen anticipation, therefore, of what was coming to them out of Uncle Sam’s lucky dip, increased a hundredfold the bitterness of their disgust when the contents was revealed to them. I am prepared to believe that the sight, even of so many half-length Hessian boots in pale suede, could have been borne with a minimum of abusive epithets. But the fact that they were all made for the right foot only resulted – not surprisingly – in an outbreak bordering on the maniacal. (Court Circular by Sewell Stokes)
When I hear about schools eliminating advanced classes to reduce disparities, I’m reminded of my friend who grew up in the USSR whose shoes were the wrong size bc factories were rewarded for making as many shoes as possible and the cheapest way to do that was to make only one size. (@constans)
***
Mac'n'cheese is an American dish. Mac’n’cheese was invented by Sally Hemmings' brother! Enslaved to Thomas Jefferson, sent to France to be trained as a chef, during the war due to shortages... changes needed to be made to a classic noodle dish and Mac'n'cheese was invented. (@ZealouslyQuoted)
The earliest recorded mac'n'cheese recipe dates all the way back to 1769 and most likely comes from Northern Europe. In America, we've been enjoying this staple thanks to Thomas Jefferson. After a trip to France, Jefferson just couldn't part with all of the amazing pasta dishes in which he indulged. (rizersporkandproduce.com)
The first modern recipe for macaroni and cheese was included in Elizabeth Raffald's 1769 book, The Experienced English Housekeeper. Raffald's recipe is for a Béchamel sauce with cheddar cheese—a Mornay sauce in French cooking—which is mixed with macaroni, sprinkled with Parmesan, and baked until bubbly and golden. (Wikipedia)
James Hemmings was Jefferson's slave. Was he also, as the half-brother of his legitimate wife, his brother-in-law? You work it out.
***
You’d be amazed how often people forget/lie about their precise wedding dates when they donate their wedding gowns to museums. I always double check against public records and they’re sometimes off by weeks or even months. (@HottyCouture. Someone else points out that in the 50s a lot of first babies were “premature”. Apparently some people still believe that “first babies come early”.)
My mom said yesterday that people "just didn't do that" about premarital sex in her generation or the one before it. I was like "Have you done some of the math in our family tree, ma'am?" Those who’ve lied about the date of their wedding get into trouble when their golden wedding rolls round and their children start doing the sums. (@katheln2)
***
Two types of thinking drive human behaviour: 90% of our brain functions on automatic thinking or habit, while only 10% uses reflective thinking to drive our choices. This kind of thinking requires much more effort and is not a dominant driver of human behaviour. (Sustainablebrands.com. A lot of our brain controls our autonomic nervous system. It keeps our bodies ticking over.)
Current scientific estimates are that some 95% of brain activity is unconscious, says Emma Young in New Scientist magazine. These include habits and patterns, automatic body function, creativity, emotions, personality, beliefs and values, cognitive biases, and long-term memory. Moreover, up to 40% of behavior. (Oklahoman.com)
***
Each time I teach our online Shakespeare MA course, I'm amazed at how many people (from all over the world and from different walks of life) begin with the belief that literature has the ability to transcend time and space to speak to certain core themes of human experience. Makes me think about how much of advanced literary studies may involve disavowing students of the beliefs that made them value literature in the first place. (@bjirish. This must be related to the idea that people in different countries and epochs aren't like us in any way.)
As a creative writer, I can say this: creative writers are told all the time to find the universal themes in their work. (@EppichHarris)
***
Sometimes I read fiction set in Oxford and I think it’s unrealistic but then I remember that a room was built under the Bodleian in 1615 and the one entrance was walled up suddenly and in the dead of night in the 1930s and nobody has been in it since. (@oldenoughtosay)
Great. Now someone is going to open it up and release the curse. Just what we need. (@JR_Nelson)
Well, they’d have to find the entrance first. (@oldenoughtosay)
Please do not unwall that. (@C_is4Catherine)
I have zero intention of doing so. (@oldenoughtosay)
Why has no one been in it since? Inquiring minds just got to know! (@SpunRadish)
Mainly because there’s a solid wall of masonry and concrete blocking the doorway. (@oldenoughtosay)
My college library still had (in the 90s) a warren of subterranean corridors reaching around the neighbouring quad. Some dead-ends had finely-bound C18 books under dust an inch thick. (@the_midwits)
***
Charles Dickens was walking in Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirkyard when fading light led him to misread the gravestone of Ebenezer Scroggie, Meal Man (grain merchant). He read is as Mean Man and thought what a horrible way to be remembered. It inspired his character Ebenezer Scrooge. (@Theweewhitedug)
It is a myth. If Scroggie had been buried there the burial register would have recorded it. It doesn’t and no other burial register does. In fact there is no record of the birth of an Ebenezer Scroggie either. (@andrewgmorton)
***
“Do you know the origin of that word saunter? In the middle ages people on pilgrimages to the Holy Land were asked by villagers they passed asked where they were going they'd reply, 'A la sainte terre', 'To the Holy Land.' So they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.” (John Muir, 1838-1914)
Surely, that's too good an etymology to be true. (@chrisbbehrens)
Probably. But the heart of it is correct. (@wrathofgnon. No explanation forthcoming. See "true in a very real sense" and "this lie tells an important truth".)
More here, and links to the rest. All is revealed in my book What You Know that Ain't So.
No comments:
Post a Comment