02021-09-28 | Uncategorized
While I was waiting for a cortado (same amount of coffee as a cappuccino but a little less milk) a husky took off from the cafe and ran diagonally across the intersection. It was totally oblivious to the fact that it was dragging a table, to which the leash was attached, with it. After all, huskies have a history of dragging sleds for long distances. A human ran after the dog and brought both back to the cafe. Nice try, dog.
I prefer a cortado over a cappuccino because the taste leans a little more toward the coffee. Many call the cortado a gibraltar. Why you ask? This is the story I heard: while training baristas Blue Bottle would have them make coffee with smaller amounts of milk/foam than one would use for a regular cappuccino because why waste milk for training. Makes sense. Blue Bottle was asked what this drink was called and since they used the Gibraltar range of glassware by an old American company called Libbey they replied it’s a Gibraltar.
A cortado is the same drink as a gibraltar, but there seems to be a regional preference for using one or the other name on a cafe’s menu. Most baristas understand either term, however, if you want to try it.
02021-09-01 | Art, Painting
Colossal has a post about the hidden image discovered in a restored Vermeer painting. It got me thinking about hidden art and an artist’s intention. It is cool if an artist hides an image inside his/her work, to be discovered eventually – or not. It could be a political statement, for example a portrait of a powerful monarch with an underpainting of some of their greatest failings, or a portrait of a smiling person with the hidden words “they never looked that happy in real life but I was paid well to make them look this way”.
In this case, however, that is not the case. Colossal writes that:
…it was assumed that Vermeer had altered the piece himself. Only after they performed a series of infrared reflectography imagings, microscopic analyses, and X-ray fluorescence examinations in 2017 did they realize that the Cupid was covered decades after the painter’s death, even though they still aren’t sure who marred the original piece or when.
What was the reason for this cover up? Did a new owner of the painting object to the nudity of the cupid? We may never know. What a story though!!
(((click on the image to see a larger version)))
02009-04-13 | Bicycle
Feb. 17, 1818: Proto-Bicycle Gets Things Rolling
Bad weather in 1812 caused oat crops to fail, and horses starved as a result. That got von Drais thinking about how you could get around quickly without a horse. His first attempt was a four-wheeled vehicle with a treadmill crankshaft between the rear wheels. He demonstrated it to the Congress of Vienna (the peace confab that ended the Napoleonic wars).
That invention went nowhere, but the eruption of Indonesia’s Tambora volcano in 1815 gave Europe a snowy summer in 1816. Oats were scarce and expensive again, horses died, and von Drais got back to work.
This time, he invented a two-wheeler on a frame that looks much like a modern bicycle frame with a seat and front-wheel steering. It didn’t have a chain drive, and it didn’t even have pedals. You drove the thing with your feet, much like a scooter. You stopped it with your feet, too: no brakes.
02009-02-25 | Internet
the thank you finger tap on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
how to say “thanks” quietly at the dining table.
“When someone is pouring tea, you will often see the recipient tap the table with three fingers three times. This is a polite form of saying thank you and has its origin in an incident from Chinese history.
Legend says that during the Qing Dynastyan emperor wanted to see how the common people really lived and decided to inspect his lands by going incognito and pretending to be an ordinary traveler. While visiting South China, he once went into a teahouse with his companions and in order not to arouse suspicion to his special status, took his turn pouring tea for his courtiers.
His shocked companions wanted to kowtow (ritual bow) to him for the great honor he was doing them, but this would reveal his identity. Therefore, the emperor told them to discretely tap three fingers on the table. One finger represented the bowed head and the other two the prostrate arms. This is the origin for the custom of discreetly ‘tapping-your-thanks’ whenever someone pours you a cup of tea. Likewise, when offering a match or light for someone’s cigarette they may tap the back of your wrist also signifying thanks.” www.chinastrategies.com/cbeexcerpt.htm
02009-02-24 | Recording
Seed: The Amazing Race
The Linguists depicts a round-the-world race to make audio recordings of dying languages, giving us a glimpse of how technology can promote language diversity.
For M.C.
