1. From 1929 until 1931 the Russian Gregorian calendar had 5 day weeks. Each day of the week was given either a color or a Roman numeral and each worker was assigned a color or a number to identify their 1 day of rest. There was some experimentation with a 5 day work week. The 7 day work week was reintroduced June 1940. The October Bolshevik revolution occurred in October 1917 of the Julian calendar, but November of the Gregorian.
2. Hemingway committed suicide in 1961. The years before he died he had been treated with electro-convulsive therapy at the Mayo clinic under a false name.
3. Tom Schaar is the first person in history to complete a 1080 - a skateboard trick of 3 full revolutions. Shaun White tried, Tony Hawk tried, Tom Schaar is 12 years old.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Coupled Cousins
1. Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico from 1876 to 1911, who fell to the Mexican Revolution, married his niece Delfina Ortega Diaz. The 35 years in which Díaz ruled Mexico are referred to as the Porfiriato.
2. Voltaire and Fredrick the Great are rumored to have been lovers. The German king gave him a stipend and he wrote Micromegas, perhaps the first piece of science fiction ever, where ambassadors from another planet watch the follies of humankind. When he wrote Diatribe of Doctor Akakia, a book criticizing the President of the Royal Academy of Science at Berlin, he had all the copies of the document burned and arrested Voltaire at an inn.
3. Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin Virginia Clemm at age 27 when she was only 13, though her age is listed as 21 on their marriage certificate. Her death from tuberculousis at age 24 is considered an inspiration for The Raven and Annabel Lee. Their marriage is believed to never have been consummated.
2. Voltaire and Fredrick the Great are rumored to have been lovers. The German king gave him a stipend and he wrote Micromegas, perhaps the first piece of science fiction ever, where ambassadors from another planet watch the follies of humankind. When he wrote Diatribe of Doctor Akakia, a book criticizing the President of the Royal Academy of Science at Berlin, he had all the copies of the document burned and arrested Voltaire at an inn.
3. Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin Virginia Clemm at age 27 when she was only 13, though her age is listed as 21 on their marriage certificate. Her death from tuberculousis at age 24 is considered an inspiration for The Raven and Annabel Lee. Their marriage is believed to never have been consummated.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
1. Ladybugs be pretty holy. The Yiddish word for ladybug is meshiekhl - little Messiah. In French the ladybug is called Marienkaefer - Mary's beetle and in French its bete a bon dieu - the dear L-rd's animal." In England the insect is called ladybird, short for 'Our Lady's bird' - our lady being the Virgin Mary (Kvetch).
2. Maine is the only 1 syllable state (Blanca).
3. In Yiddish, a woman's three collective mitsves - hadloke (lighting the candles on Shabbat and other fesitvals), khale (burning a piece of baked Challah to commemorate the challah that would have been set aside for the priests if the Temple were still standing) and nide (ritual bath after menstration) - are Khanoh - Khale, Nide, Hadloke. In a similar fashion you can say that someone speaks spek yidish - bacon Yiddish - based on Shmuk, Puts, Kugl - about as much Yiddish as they goyim are likely to know (Kvetch).
2. Maine is the only 1 syllable state (Blanca).
3. In Yiddish, a woman's three collective mitsves - hadloke (lighting the candles on Shabbat and other fesitvals), khale (burning a piece of baked Challah to commemorate the challah that would have been set aside for the priests if the Temple were still standing) and nide (ritual bath after menstration) - are Khanoh - Khale, Nide, Hadloke. In a similar fashion you can say that someone speaks spek yidish - bacon Yiddish - based on Shmuk, Puts, Kugl - about as much Yiddish as they goyim are likely to know (Kvetch).
Friday, May 11, 2012
Sartre, Druze and Cucumbers
1. Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist author, declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature alongside all other honors because he felt that, "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
2. The Druze are a monotheistic religion that embodies predominately Israel, Syria and Lebanon with over a million followers. The name Druze comes from the name Anushtakin ad-Darazi who was an early preacher, even though the Druze consider him a heretic. In Druze religious books he is narrow minded, hasty and refered to as the "insolent one."
3. A great idiom for "I don't care" in Spanish is "me importa un pepino" - I care a cucumber. Also, as far as I can tell, there is no Spanish word for vegan.
2. The Druze are a monotheistic religion that embodies predominately Israel, Syria and Lebanon with over a million followers. The name Druze comes from the name Anushtakin ad-Darazi who was an early preacher, even though the Druze consider him a heretic. In Druze religious books he is narrow minded, hasty and refered to as the "insolent one."
3. A great idiom for "I don't care" in Spanish is "me importa un pepino" - I care a cucumber. Also, as far as I can tell, there is no Spanish word for vegan.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Unexpected Catholics, Arabic Numbers and Betty Friedan
1. 98% of East Timor is Catholic, but East Timor's first Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri (May 2002) is a Muslim.
2. All parts of Arabic are written right to left, except for Arabic numerals, which are written left to right. And while the written form is in descending unit measurements, you would say "four and twenty" rather than "twenty four."
3. Betty Friedan, writer of the Feminine Mystique was opposed to the 1991 Pornography Victim's Compensation Act. The Act would have made it legal for the victim of sexual assault to sue a pornography company if they were attacked if their attacker had been spurred or driven by pornography they had previously watched.
2. All parts of Arabic are written right to left, except for Arabic numerals, which are written left to right. And while the written form is in descending unit measurements, you would say "four and twenty" rather than "twenty four."
3. Betty Friedan, writer of the Feminine Mystique was opposed to the 1991 Pornography Victim's Compensation Act. The Act would have made it legal for the victim of sexual assault to sue a pornography company if they were attacked if their attacker had been spurred or driven by pornography they had previously watched.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Anarchist Russians, Princes in the Towers and Jewish Bonfires
1. Dmitri Mendeleev, credited with creating the periodic table, was also a Russian anarchist. Mendeleev proposed to, and married, his second wife before he was divorced from his first wife. Even still he was a bigamist because the Russian Orthodox Church requires 7 years in between remarriages. When pressed to punish Mendeleev the Russian Czar responded, "Mendeleev has two wives, yes, but I have only one Mendeleev"(The Disappearing Spoon).
2. During the War of the Roses, Richard usurped the throne from his 12 year old nephew, Edward the V, son of Edward the IV. Edward the V and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York were the two princes in the tower. The War of the Roses ended at the Battle of Bosworth Field where Richard was killed and Henry was named king, thus beginning the Tudor dynasty (In Our Times).
3. Lag BaOmer is a Jewish holiday is most well identified with its custom of lighting bonfires. The holiday originally was a celebration of the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a Mishnaic rabbi and on the same day he revealed the secrets of kabbalah in the Zohar (foundational Kabbalahist text). Zionist have repurposed it as a celebration of the success of the Bar Kokhba revolt - or the Third Jewish Revolt - in 132–136 CE against the Romans, the success of which allowed an independent Jewish state to exist for 2 years. But then the Jews lost hardcore.
2. During the War of the Roses, Richard usurped the throne from his 12 year old nephew, Edward the V, son of Edward the IV. Edward the V and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York were the two princes in the tower. The War of the Roses ended at the Battle of Bosworth Field where Richard was killed and Henry was named king, thus beginning the Tudor dynasty (In Our Times).
3. Lag BaOmer is a Jewish holiday is most well identified with its custom of lighting bonfires. The holiday originally was a celebration of the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a Mishnaic rabbi and on the same day he revealed the secrets of kabbalah in the Zohar (foundational Kabbalahist text). Zionist have repurposed it as a celebration of the success of the Bar Kokhba revolt - or the Third Jewish Revolt - in 132–136 CE against the Romans, the success of which allowed an independent Jewish state to exist for 2 years. But then the Jews lost hardcore.
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