Quote: Walt Whitman

"When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with such applause in the lecture room, how soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out, I wandered off by myself, in the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

-  Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Interesting Facts: #10

Paul Simon took the title of his “Mother and Child Reunion” song from a chicken and egg dish he spotted in a Chinese restaurant menu.

Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion” is about his sorrow on the death of his dog and his thoughts on how he would feel if his wife Peggy died.

In a 1972 interview in Rolling Stone magazine he explained the inspiration for the name of the song:

“Know where the words came from on that? You would never have guessed.  I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called “Mother and Child Reunion.” It’s chicken and eggs. And I said, 'Oh, I love that title. I gotta use that one.' ”

Market Street 1875

For many years cartoonist Ken Maynard featured the Ettamogah Pub in the pages of the Australasian Post. The pub was a wooden structure with angles that were anything other than 90 degrees. There are now 3 recreations in Australia.

I was put in mind of the Ettamogah Pub when I saw a picture of weatherboard buildings at the corner of Market Street and Clarence Street, Sydney in 1875:

(Click on photo to enlarge).

Interesting Facts: #9

"It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings."

The famous proverb is actually “the opera ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.”

It is a reference to buxom Brunhilde’s 10-minute aria at the end of Wagner’s Ring cycle operas.

Although the expression is commonly used in a sports context, there was already a similar expression in use in the US South: "Church ain't over till the fat lady sings". This was a reference to the choir singing the final hymn, perhaps with a soloist.

The use of the phrase in relation to sports first occurred in 978 when writer broadcaster Dan Cook used it to indicate that the basketball playoffs were not yet over for the Washington Bullets, despite being down three games to one to the San Antonio Spurs. Bullets coach Dick Motta heard the broadcast and used it to address his team. The expression became the team’s rallying cry and they went on to win the championship.

Pheasant Pluckers

Warning:  risque content.

Many is the time when I was younger, especially when sharing an ale or two with friends, that someone would raise the pheasant plucker's son or Mrs Puggy Wuggy or various other tongue twisters that had a bawdy element.

For those who may not have heard it, the rhyme is:

I’m not the pheasant plucker, I’m the pheasant plucker’s son.

I’m only plucking pheasants till the pheasant plucker comes.

In the days of Merrie Olde England there probably were pheasant pluckers on the larger estates. Not having refrigeration and oftentimes hosting banquets, pheasant would have been a popular dish. Even the regular dinners for the lord of the manor and his family would probably have had pheasant from time to time.

These days the humour is in watching and hearing people get tongue tied and transpose the initial sounds. Strange then that it appears on a website “Poems for Children” at

http://www.poemsforchildren.org/Tongue-Twisters/top-10-tongue-twisters-young-adults-Im-a-mother-pheasant-plucker.htm

What is of greater interest is that the above tongue twister is actually part of a longer and quite humorous song.  It appears to be of some antiquity but its origins are unknown.

Hear it recited as a poem at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpnruvPtkBA

(I love the near slip at the 1.30 mark and the chuckle and comment at the end).

Interesting Facts #8

The Canary Islands are named after dogs, not birds.

When the Romans first visisted the group of islands that make up the Canary Islands, they found an endemic species of large, fierce dog in great numbers. They named the main island Insularia Canaria, meaning Island of the Dogs. The Romans took some of the local dogs and the local birds back with them to Rome. The dogs did not do well and have since died out in the islands. The birds flourished and became known as canaries.

Dogs are still featured on the coat of arms of the Canary Islands.

Eva Mylott

(Click on photographs to enlarge.  Click a second time to enlarge further).

The woman above is Australian opera singer Eva Mylott (1875-1920), photographed in Sydney in 1902.

Eva was born in Tuross Head in NSW, the daughter of Patrick Mylott, an importer of wines and spirits, and his wife, Mary Heffernan, both Irish immigrants. Patrick later diversified into shipping at Tuross Heads and started the Mylott dynasty, the family owning the whole of the Tuross Head peninsula until well into the 20th century when it was subdivided for building.

Patrick Mylott discovered Eva’s rich contralto voice at puberty, inspiring him to lease his farm in 1883 and invest in a Sydney wholesale liquor firm so that she could take singing lessons.

By 1897 Eva was a rising young star in the Sydney musical world.

Interesting Facts: #7

Google is the world's strongest brand for the fourth straight year, according to a study released Wednesday by research firm Millward Brown Optimor.

-  Report, April 2010

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-20003629-92.html 

Millward Brown Optimor is a leading global research agency specialising in advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Each year Millward Brown generates its BrandZ Top 100 report by interviewing more than a million consumers worldwide and analysing each company's financial and business performance.

The Millward Brown ten most valuable brands worldwide for 2010, their comparative values and % movement from 2009 are:

The P & O Sculpture, Sydney

I can never drive past the above P & O wall sculpture in Sydney without recalling the related Oz obscenity trial and the photograph which gave rise to it. I guarantee that after reading the following, the wall sculpture will never be the same for you either.

The wall fountain had been completed in 1963, a time when Australian society was vastly different from today. Censorship was in force and quite restrictive. The NSW Obscene and Indecent Publications Act 1901 vested censorship in the hands of the police, who had wide powers of entry, seizure and arrest. One therefore regularly read of court cases wherein a police sergeant or detective gave evidence that works such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover was obscene and with no artistic merit. It is also said that one particular judge determined obscenity by whether or not the publication gave him an erection, and that as he became older, the test became more and more liberal.

Interesting Facts: #6

"The Gruen Transfer is named after Victor Gruen, the guy who designed the very first shopping mall. The term describes that split second when the mall's intentionally confusing layout makes our eyes glaze and our jaws slacken... the moment when we forget what we came for and become impulse buyers."

-  The Gruen Transfer website

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/default.htm

Victor Gruen. born Viktor Grunbaum (1903-1980), was an Austrian-born commercial architect best known for his pioneer designs of shopping malls in the United States. His mall design innovations included enticing storefronts with mini-arcades at the entrances to entice customers into the shop’s space , whereupon eye level displays would draw them further into the store. This was coupled with the use of music. They were dubbed “mousetraps” for customers. Two years before his death he disavowed other shopping mall developments as having "bastardised" his ideas.

Nonetheless his ideas and designs have given rise to the term Gruen Transfer, the moment when consumers respond to "scripted disorientation" cues in the shopping mall environment. This term was adopted as the name of the Australian TV program which discusses the methods, science and psychology behind advertising.

Quotes: Prince Philip

Homo sapiens, Lepidium sativum and Calliphora vomitoria - Latin for Human, Cress and Bluebottle – by artist Stuart Pearson Wright

The Duke of Edinburgh is a soft target who has turned foot-in.mouth comments into an art form. For over half a century the Duke has made comments that would no doubt have caused Her Maj to utter WTF if it were possible for her to do so. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Palace has a person employed fulltime to deal with the Prince’s gaffes. Here is a selection:

Stephen Menary, 15, was blinded when he attempted to throw away an explosive device thrown during an IRA attack back in 2002. He was later invited to the Queen’s jubilee celebration in Hyde Park. “How much sight do you have left?” asked the Queen to the young hero. “Not a lot, judging by the tie he’s wearing,” said Prince Philip before the young man had time to answer. The Queen looked at him open-mouthed. A long silence followed. Stephen Menary was wearing a red, navy, and yellow tie, which is part of the uniform of the Middlesex Cadet Force.

“Are you Indian or Pakistani? I can never tell the difference between you chaps.”

At Washington Embassy reception for Commonwealth members.

Interesting Facts: #5

The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by French physician Rene Laennec.

Before the invention of the stethoscope, doctors listened to the sounds of body organs by placing their ear on the patient’s chest. Laennec felt uncomfortable about touching the bare chest of a young woman so he used a rolled up newspaper. Afterward he said 'I was surprised and pleased to hear the beating of the heart much more clearly than if I had applied my ear directly to the chest.' He then made a stethoscope out of a hollow wooden tube, much like an ear trumpet, and further designs followed out of metal and ivory. In 1850, George Camman first used rubber in the construction of a stethoscope.

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith

Those who watched Sunday Night on Channel 7 on, not unsurprisingly, Sunday night last week, will have seen a story about documentary filmmaker Damien Lay claiming to have tracked down the final resting place of the aeroplane in which Sir Charles Kingsford Smith disappeared, the Lady Southern Cross.

Kingsford-Smith disappeared over the Andaman Sea south of Burma with co-pilot John Thompson "Tommy" Pethybridge in November 1935, while flying from India to Singapore on his way home from England. The only trace of the plane ever found was a Lockheed Altair starboard undercarriage leg recovered with a still-inflated tyre in May 1937. It was found by Burmese fishermen near Aye Island, south of Rangoon.

Lay claims to have found the plane using sonar imaging. He says that it is under 1.5 metres of mud. The thick mud and zero visibility make it difficult to assess the claim and Lay has his detractors.

What is of more interest than Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s death is his life, which few of us know beyond the fact that he is the face on the $20 note, that Sydney’s airport is named after him and that he did something famous to do with flying.

Interesting Facts: #4

The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."

(Above:  title page from the original 1900 book).

Mafiosa

"Nicolo Rizzuto, considered the head of the most important mafia group in Montreal, has been shot dead at his home in a move being blamed on rival crime clans, police and Canadian media said."

- News report, SMH 11.11.2010

http://www.smh.com.au/world/mafia-boss-shot-dead-20101111-17oqp.html

Mafia. The Mob. The Black Hand, The Honoured Society. Cosa Nostra… interesting names, interesting people, interesting culture. Mario Puzo created expressions in connection with the Mafia that have become part of our language – “Make him an offer he can’t refuse.” “A man with a briefcase can steal more than a man with a gun.” Even movies pay homage to The Godfather, as in You've Got Mail: “The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question.”

It started me thinking as to how the term Mafia originated. Following is what I found:

Interesting Facts: #3

The most common computer passwords are:

1.123456

2.12345

3.123456789

4.Password

5.iloveyou

6.princess

7.rockyou

8.1234567

9.12345678

10.abc123

11.Nicole

12.Daniel

13.babygirl

14.monkey

15.Jessica

16.Lovely

17.michael

18.Ashley

19.654321

20.Qwerty

Quotes: Ellen Kelly

"Mind you die like a Kelly, Ned."

- Ellen Kelly (1830-1923), mother of Edward "Ned" Kelly.

The last words of Ned Kelly as he was about to be executed by hanging on this day, 11 November, in 1880, are quite well known: "Ah well, so it has come to this then. Such is life."

Less well known is that on the evening before his execution, he was met in his cell by his mother, herself an inmate of Melbourne Gaol. In 1878 Mrs Kelly had been sentenced to 3 years hard labour by Mr Justice Redmond Barry for the attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick. In highly suspect circumstances and with questionable evidence, she was convicted, Judge Barry stating that if her son Ned had been present, he would have given him 15 years for his part in the matter. Ned claimed he wasn't even present. It was this incident which resulted in Ned and his brother being declared outlaws. Two years later Barry sentenced Ned to death. At the meeting between mother and son, her last words to him were "Mind you die like a Kelly, Ned", as recorded by another person present.

Above:

Mrs Kelly, aged 79 (1909), with two of her grandchildren, in front of the last house occupied by her.

"People blame my boys for all that has happened, they should blame the police. They were at the bottom of it all ... We were not getting too rich but were doing all right. It was a lonely life but we were all together and we all loved each other so dearly. The trouble began over a young constable named Fitzpatrick ... He tried to kiss my daughter, Kate, and the boys tried to stop him. They were only trying to protect their sister but his story was believed ... After that, nothing but misery. And it has been nothing but misery ever since."

 

Interesting Facts: #2

(Click on pic to enlarge).

A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.

The wingspan of a Boeing 747 is 64.67 metres.

On 17 December, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight of a powered, heavier than air flying machine at Kittyhawk.  The picture above is of that first flight, with Orville piloting and Wilbur running at wingtip.  The plane, named the Wright Flyer 1, travelled 37 metres in 12 seconds. 

According to Orville:

"This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but nevertheless it was the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power in the air in full flight, and sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started."

Three further flights were made:  the second travelled 53 metres, the third flew 61 metres and the final flight made 177 metres, remaining aloft for 59 seconds.

Quote: Stephen Levine

“If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?”

-  Stephen Levine (1942 - ),

American poet, author and teacher, best known for his work on death and dying.

Interesting Facts: #1

Earth is the only planet not named after a pagan god. 

All other planets are named after gods from Greek and Roman mythology.  The name Earth comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Erda (Erdaz), which means ground or soil.  The word changed to Eorthe or Erthe in Old English and to Erde in German. In Roman mythology, the goddess of the Earth was Tellus, the fertile soil, and in Greek Gaia, Mother Earth.

Moments in History: Lady Diana

During a royal tour in 1983, Diana approached a crowd of young children in Southern Australia. She walked up to the nearest child and, while patting him on his head, asked him why he wasn't in school that day.

"I was sent home," he explained, "because I've got head lice."

Quote: Marilyn Monroe

"All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren't."

-  Marilyn Monroe m(1926-1962)

Smokie, Alice and Angels

(Warning:  this item has risque language).

Getting ready to go to work a few days ago with Sunrise on in the background, I saw Smokie, who are currently touring Australia, perform Living Next Door to Alice. Funnily enough, although they sound like an American band, Smokie are actually from Bradford, Yorkshire.  They had a hit with Alice in 1976 and were originally called Smokey, but changed the spelling to Smokie when American soul singer Smokey Robinson threatened them with a law suit.

An early Smokie performance of Alice can be seen at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcVLeUFW-AM

Vo Vos, Dough Vos and More

“Friends, tomorrow, the work begins. You can have a strong cup of tea if you want, even an Iced Vo Vo on the way through. But the celebration stops there."

- Kevin Rudd to his parliamentarians in his victory speech on winning the Federal election in 2007.

“The Krispy Kreme doughnut chain has entered voluntary administration because of poor sales at some stores. The locally owned Australian arm of Krispy Kreme has 50 sites across the east coast that employ 660 staff."

- News report, Sydney Morning Herald 1 November 2010

Those who watch Iron Chef (the Japanese one, not the Aussie knock-off) will be aware that the program always begins with a quotation from 1826 by French philosopher Anthelme Brillat-Savarin:  "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”

We live in an age where whole sections of supermarkets are devoted to biscuits: Monte Carlos, Tina Wafers, Chocolate Creams, Family Assorted, Spicy Fruit Rolls, Ginger Nuts, Scotch Fingers, Tiny Teddies… and so the list goes on.

Vintage Ads: Colored Kids

(Click on the ad to enlarge).

Vintage ads often reflect changing social values and customs.  What was acceptable in the past may not be acceptable today, so that quite a number of ads that are sexist or racist raise eyebrows now.  So it is with the the above ad from 1917.

By way of comment, the following is from a website that shows the ad:

The ad is using wordplay. In this case that means it is blending two different meanings for certain words: "colored" and "kids". The problem is it doesn't make sense to us today unless we understand the old meaning of the words as they used them back then...

We all know about the old meaning of "colored" meaning blacks (and other non-white races) but it also meant (and still means) dyed a custom and/or non-natural color.

The word "kids" was old slang for kidskin boots. Kind of like today we sometimes say "kicks" meaning shoes.

Knowing this its easy to see that the ad is just selling lady's boots made of soft goatskin that has been dyed. The wordplay then is blending the real meaning (dyed kidskin boots) with the other meaning (little black children) to try and make the ad seem clever.

Finally, in those days the word "costume" did not just mean like Halloween costume but also was often used when talking about a fancy dress ensemble. There is no wordplay here, its just a use of the word that was common then but not now.

So when the ad says "Colored kids make a costume vastly more attractive" you just translate that to mean "Dyed kidskin boots make your fancy outfit look great".

http://www.oddee.com/item_96917.aspx

But why does the little girl on the right look so freaky?

R Cobb

Given the enthusiasm that Australians embraced Halloween a few days ago, I started wondering whether we will soon also be celebrating Thanksgiving (25 November) and Independence Day (4 July).

Thanksgiving is the day in America when they give thanks to God, family and friends for relationships and possessions. Historically it developed from the days of the Pilgrims giving thanks for bountiful harvests.

Thinking about it caused me to remember a cartoon I had seen in my uni days, a great comment on Thanksgiving by Ron Cobb.

(Click on pic to enlarge). 

Origin: The Wheeled Shopping Trolley

The first shopping cart was developed in 1937 by Sylvan Goldman, the owner of the Humpty Dumpty Supermarket chain in Oklahoma City.

Having purchased the bankrupt chain of retail grocers in the South in 1934, the tail end of the Great Depression, profit margins were smaller as people bought the cheaper items. His chain was facing ruin. Looking at ways to increase profits, he had noticed that shoppers did no further shopping when their carry basket was full. Invariably they took the basket to the cashier, rather than starting a new basket, weight seeming to be the determining factor. Pondering this in his office whilst looking at a chair in front of him, an ide developed.  In the cartoons a light bulb suddenly switches on.  His idea was to take the weight of the shopping basket out of the equation by adding wheels and a metal basket to a frame similar to a wooden folding chair. The final design allowed for the wire baskets to be removed from the frame and for the frame to be folded, like a chair, for storage and stacking.

Quote: Herman Goering

"The people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

-  Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering (1893 - 1946),

in a conversation with Nuremburg prison psychologist and U.S. Army Captain Gustave M. Gilbert

Melbourne Cup 1942

(A repost of a past email, from the days before Bytes was a blog).

In 1942 the Melbourne Cup was won by Colonus, ridden by H McCloud, trained by F Manning and owned by L Menck.

War was on Australia’s doorstep with Darwin having been bombed in February of that year. Interstate travel restrictions were in force for both people and animals, the result being that the 1942 Cup was contested only by Victorian horses. Colonus won by 7 lengths. For the years 1942, 1943 and 1944 a cup was not presented. Instead, in keeping with the theme of austerity, the winner was given a £200 Austerity Bond. The race was known as the Austerity Cup.

In the hellish Sandakan prisoner of war camp in Borneo in 1942, a place far beyond austerity, the race was still known as the Melbourne Cup and the trophy was still a cup.

The person who made the improvised 1942 Melbourne Cup from a bully beef tin in the Sandakan camp is unknown. Below the 1942 date is another metal plate with the year 1943, the same cup having been used the following year at Sarawak. 

Quote: Woody Guthrie

"This machine kills fascists."

-  The slogan Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) had on his guitar when performing.