Royalty and Queens

Anthony Armstrong Jones (1930 - ), photographer and the first Earl of Snowdon, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret (1930 – 2002) between the years 1960 and 1978. He is widely believed to be bisexual.

When asked once at a party in New York about the Queen's health, Princess Margaret is said to have replied: "Which one? My sister, my mother or my husband?"

This brings to mind an anecdote about the Queen Mother, who was renowned for having a large proportion of gay men as members of staff. One evening on coming to the kitchen she reportedly found two of her courtiers in an embrace. She is supposed to have said “When you two old queens are finished, would one of you get this old queen a drink?”

And one final anecdote about queens and royalty…

Australian cinematographer Dean Semler, who won an Oscar for "Dances With Wolves," was one of the Hollywood fraternity invited to meet the Queen on her visit to the United States.

Semler's account was reported in the International Express and quoted by Chuck Conconi of the Washington Post:

"I said I was director of photography, to which she replied, 'Oh, how terribly interesting. Actually, I have a brother-in-law who is a photographer.'

"I replied, 'Oh, how terribly coincidental. I have a brother-in-law who's a queen.' She moved on without saying another word." 

Past Images

(Click on the image to enlarge).

College Street, Sydney c 1900

Some points to note:

The Australian Museum on the left and Hyde Park on the right.

Horses/horses and carts only, no cars.

Pedestrians can cross roads and intersections as they wish.

The water fountain on the right, which is now a set of steps. 

Period dress.

Quote: John F Kennedy

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

-  John F Kennedy (1917-1963)

Quote: Charles R Swindoll

“The longer I live, the more I realise the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

-  Charles R Swindoll (1934 - )

Cupid

“I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."

~Author Unknown

Cupid wasn’t always portrayed as a short chubby toddler.

In Roman mythology Cupid is a god, the god of desire, affection and erotic love, the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. Greek mythology has an equivalent god, Eros, the god both of sexual love and beauty and the embodiment of the constant creative urge of nature. Eros is the son of Aphrodite and Ares.

Cupid was usually portrayed as a young male with wings, nude or diapered and armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows. The depictions of Cupid as a young man usually show him with a female, Psyche. In both Roman and Greek mythology, Cupid’s mother Venus became jealous of the mortal princess Psyche, who was so loved by her subjects that they forgot to worship Venus. She orders Cupid to make her fall in love with an evil monster. Cupid turns himself invisible and sneaks into her room where he prepares to scratch her arm with an arrow. She awakes before he is able to do so and, despite his being invisible, she looks straight into his eyes. He is started and accidentally scratches himself, causing him to fall deeply in love with Psyche. He reports this to Venus, who becomes enraged and curses Psyche that she will never marry. Cupid, in love and hurting, resolves never to shoot any further arrows, thereby causing Venus’s temple to fall. Months pass and no one, human or animal, marries, falls in love or mates. The earth begins to grow old. Eventually Venus is persuaded to allow Psyche to be Cupid’s and he begins shooting arrows again, restoring the earth and relationships. Psych is still subject to the curse not to marry. Cupid visits her at night but will not allow her to see him or be aware of him. Eventually, after many dramas and events, the leader of the gods, Jupiter, gives Psyche immortality and she is able to be with Cupid. They have a daughter, Voluptas or Hedone (meaning pleasure).

Lawyers

Before leaving the topic of my spell in RPA, I must mention our office bookkeeper extraordinaire, Roz, who has a heart of gold but the personality and subtlety of a herd of stampeding rhinoceroses. For some reason, Roz thought that she would brighten my enforced stay by giving me a book analysing anti-lawyer jokes and why people dislike lawyers so much. Unfortunately she forgot to bring it to the hospital and gave it to me upon my return to the office. It’s a strange reasoning that someone in hospital will be made to feel better by reading a book that attacks that person’s profession, all the more so for having been a member of that profession for 35 years.

I have now read the book, The Joke’s on Lawyers, by Stan Ross and it makes some pertinent observations about the reasons for lawyer jokes, notwithstanding that it was written in 1996. At the time of writing, Ross was a practising barrister and lecturer in law at the University of NSW. He is also the author of several books on lawyers’ ethics and says that a typical comment is that the books must be awfully short.

I do not propose to go into his analyses of why people hate lawyers and make jokes about them, but I will share with you some of the anecdotes and stories he uses in the context of those discussions.

Ask Otto: Who Wrote the Bible?

From Byter Maureen:

An earlier Bytes reminded us of a subject causing us some conjecture of late. Who wrote the Bible? Ok, a lot of old blokes. But then who decided what was to go into the tome? There was a Bible before King James decided on what he wanted. What is or was the difference? Mathew Mark and Luke put their names down for royalties, but who wrote Genesis? Who decided on the Psalms?

Next question, assuming the answer is some Pope or head of church, who authorised him?

The reason this has been a subject in the Sadler household is because of some opposite quotes from the Bible that you hear from time to time. Kevin says: why should I believe this one over that one? Just because one man says so? Who is that man? What authority does he give over the other?

Or is this just too big a question and that is why clergy say we have to believe what it says “with faith”. Sorry not a good enough reasoning.

“If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

- Revelation 22:18-19

A medieval Hebrew Bible scroll

Why not give me something hard next time, or something that has a bit of meat on the bone. 

On Pessimists and Optimists

There once were twin brothers, one of whom was always pessimistic and one who was always optimistic, the proverbial eternal optimist.

This presented an opportunity for scientists to carry out tests and studies, to which the parents agreed.

Accordingly the pessimistic lad was placed in a room full of toys, computer games and other diversions that were the current rage, then left for an hour.

The optimistic boy was placed in a room full of manure for an hour.

After the hour was up, the scientists opened the door of the pessimistic boy’s room and found the toys broken and the computer screen smashed. The boy was mumbling “My brother probably has lots better things than I have. He’s probably having a lot more fun.”

When they opened the optimistic boy’s door they found him still wading through the manure, digging deep with his hands and saying “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.”

Iconic Photographs: J P Morgan

Having had a lifelong interest in photographs and photography, I am fascinated by photographs that have come to be regarded as iconic for one reason or another.

One such photograph is that taken of American financier, banker and art collector John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) by Edward Steichen.

Before looking at that photograph, which appears later in this post, it is necessary to know something of the life of J P Morgan.

(Click on photographs to enlarge).

I'm back (again)..

Those who have been observant may have noticed the absence of any new Bytes items since Thursday of last week. Those of a deductive mind may also have inferred a possible hospital visit. They would have been right.

After a flying visit home two weeks ago when discharged from RPA for septicaemia, a matter reported on previously, I was admitted again with what is known medically as multiple pulmonary emboli, or in plain English, blood clots in the lungs.

I was in RPA for 2 weeks with this complaint in 2008.

Now that I have had it a second time I have been told that I will be on blood thinners – Warfarin – for good.

Warfarin, by the way, is an anticoagulant that was originally marketed as a pesticide against rats and mice. Although other poisons have been developed, it still remains popular for this purpose and works by causing massive internal bleeding. A few years after its introduction, warfarin was found to be effective and relatively safe for preventing thrombosis and embolism, the abnormal formation and migration of blood clots. It has remained popular as a medication for that purpose since the 1950’s and is the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant.

I was in a room with 3 other chaps at RPA. One was a young fellow, about 23, with cystic fibrosis. Another chap was older and I think he had the same. The third was an elderly gent with fluid on the lungs. A visit to a hospital is a great eye opener in making one appreciate one’s health and blessings.  You go in focused on your own ailment and leave grateful that that is all that is wrong.

Some Thoughts on Health...

The best six doctors anywhere

And no one can deny it

Are sunshine, water, rest, and air

Exercise and diet.

These six will gladly you attend

If only you are willing

Your mind they'll ease

Your will they'll mend

And charge you not a shilling.

~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

Mens sana in corpore sano.

(Your prayer must be for a sound mind in a sound body.)

~Juvenal (First or second century AD)

Just because you're not sick doesn't mean you're healthy.

~Author Unknown

The patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life. Don't take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop.

- Quentin Regestein (Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard)

 

More Great Moments in Letter Writing: James N Bailey

Previous great moments in letter writing have included the famous Pullman bedbug letter:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2010/05/pullman-bedbug-letter.html

and the Sir Archibald Clark Kerr “It takes a Turk to do that” letter:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2010/09/sir-archibald-clark-kerr.html

This time, let me bring to your attention another great moment dating from 1974. That was the year that one Dale O Cox, a principal of the Akron law firm Roetzel & Andress, sent a letter on his firm’s letterhead to the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Stadium. Cox, a Browns supporter, was disturbed by the practice of fans turning their programmes into paper aeroplanes and sailing them downwards, much as happens at the Sydney Entertainment Centre

(Click on the images to enlarge).

A few days later Mr Cox received a letter from James N Bailey, General Counsel for the Browns:

Quotes: Winston Churchill

On 29 October, 1941, Winston Churchill paid a visit to his former school, Harrow, a time when England was at war with Germany. The US entry into the war would not happen until the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941.

The following is an extract from his speech to the school:

"You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination.

But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period … this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Hear the last paragraph above as spoken by Churchill at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzh-xq65rMs&feature=related

An extract from Life with Gough by Barry Cohen, a collection of anecdotes concerning Gough Whitlam:

GULLIVER

No one was ever able to fathom Gough’s aversion to small men. We were never sure whether he really disliked them or whether it was just coincidence that he always seemed to be clashing with the diminutive men in Caucus.

One of the lesser giants, Dr Richie Gun (Member for Kingston, SA, from 1969-1975), always seemed to be at odds with our glorious leader. Appearing with him at a rally in his electorate during the 1975 election campaign, Gough was idly thumbing through Richie’s election pamphlet and noticed the following reference to both of them: ‘The Prime Minister has often stated his admiration for Dr Gun’s wide general knowledge.’

Gough did a doubletake and whispered to the local MP, ‘Gun, what’s all this about. I’ve said no such thing’.

‘Yes you did, Prime Minister,’ replied Richie, ‘you often called me a “fucking little know-all”.’

Quote: Isaac Asimov

“ The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

- Isaac Asimov (1920 – 1992), American author and professor of biochemistry

Reader Comment

From Byter Charles:

I have heard another version of the last line in your Adam and Eve story ....."the mutiple orgasm"!

Ask Otto: Shoe Throwing

Another word from Byter Steve:

Reading about Draco*  has sent me down a path that I always wondered about, Otto.  What is behind the throwing of shoes with some nationalities (the George Bush incident comes to mind)? Obviously it is to register some dissatisfaction or whatever, but how did it all come about?

*  The chap who died when buried under thrown cloaks and hats.

The response follows, Steve, but I can’t resist an opening quote from a favourite flick:

Man in crowd III: He has given us a sign!

Man in crowd V: He has given us...his shoe!

Man in crowd III: The shoe is the sign! Let us follow his example!

Man in crowd IV: What?

Man in crowd III: Let us like him, hold up one shoe and let the other one be upon our foot, for this is his sign that all who follow him shall do likewise!

Man in crowd II: No, no, no, the shoe is a sign that we must gather shoes together in abundance!

- Life of Brian

Although Steve has specifically raised shoe throwing in the manner of hostility or an insult, let’s look at some other forms of shoe throwing first:

On Pissing on Walls

(The earlier post that relates to the above hotograph can be found at:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2010/11/p-o-sculpture-sydney.html)

During some research recently on a Bytes item, I was surprised to come across a Bible reference to “pisseth against a wall”:

And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, [that] he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

1 Kings 16:11

It was in the King James Version, which is the version we grew up with as kids, long before plain English versions.

Intrigued that the Bible used such language, I looked up other similar references and came up with the following, again all in the King James Version:

1 Samuel 25:22

So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

1 Kings 21:21

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

Quote: Harry S. Truman

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

- Harry S. Truman (1884 – 1972), US President 1945-1953

As a point of interest, the S in Truman’s name is not a shortening of a middle name, it is complete as S.

Truman wrote in his autobiography that his first name, Harry, is after an uncle, Harrison Young, and  that as regards the S:

"…so that I could have two initials in my given name, the letter S was added. My Grandfather Truman's name was Anderson Shippe Truman and my Grandfather Young's name was Solomon Young, so I received the S for both of them."

Although he once joked that the S was a name, not an initial, so that it should not have a period after it, official documents do use a period. There are also numerous examples of Truman signing his name with a period after the S. In the 1960’s Truman himself said that he had no preference. It has been common to use a period since then. 

As a further point of interest, the above photograph is an iconic image of Truman after his presidential win. The win was so unexpected that the Chicago Tribune had already printed its newspapers ready for distribution with the headline “Dewey defeats Truman”.

Byters will note that we are back on track.  Yesterday's announcement that I was unwell was posted by my daughter.

The item which would have appeared on Australia Day, had I not been indisposed, appears below.

By way of explanation, last Friday night I developed a fever and thought I was coming down with flu.  By Sunday morning my temp hit 40 and I was feeling lousy (expletive deleted).  I sent a text message to my GP, who is also a friend, who told me to get myself to RPA.  I did so and was diagnosed as having septicemia, a blood infection that had its origin from some cellulitis on my leg.  I was put on intravenoous antibiotics and various other things, until I was able to come home on Wednesday.

For those who have contacted me by email, I have a lot of emails to catch up on but will respond to you.  Thanks to those who called me or sent messages to get well.

The Eureka Stockade and Its Flag

The Eureka Stockade and Its Flag

Australia Day inevitably raises the issue of what the Australian flag should be. My own feeling on the matter is that we should simply drop the Union Jack and keep what remains, based on the principle that our flag should not contain the flag of another country:

It is sometimes suggested that the flag of the Eureka Stockade be adopted as our national flag and we couldn’t do better.

Irrespective of the issue of any change to Australia’s national flag, the story of the Eureka Stockade and its flag is a fascinating and moving one.

Bytes posts

Hello Byters,

Service temporarily suspended whilst I am unwell.

Will resume Byting soon, until then please feel free to read through the archives if in need of a bytes fix.

Otto

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 (1937 - ), American poet, author and teacher

Symbols: The Portcullis

I recently used the above image in connection with a story about the British Parliament.  That image is the offical symbol for that parliament.

Some interesting trivia about the image:

• The image and thereby the emblem is of a portcullis, from the French "porte coulissante" or gliding door. Those who recall Errol Flynn or Kevin Costner as Robin Hood, or Kirk Douglas as Einar in The Vikings, or a myriad other movies of English castles being attacked, will recognise that a portcullis is the metal gate that is raised upwards by metal chains. In such movies the rope or chain holding up the portcullis is usually cut by the hero, trapping the villains and enabling the hero to make his getaway.

How Projects Really Work

  

(Click on the images to enlarge).

The above image  dates from the late 1960’s, in the days before faxes and emails. Photocopies were distributed by hand and the message was simple: interact with the customer, find out what the customer wants and resist adding unnecessary features, unworkable variations and complex implementations. Apply the KISS principle, ensure adequate oversight and have the various persons and departments involved work with each other.

Since then the image has been updated to reflect more advanced times and greater technology, which in turn have allowed even greater opportunities for foul ups and an end product quite different from what was sought.  The following is an updated image, but the message remains the same:

Strange Deaths: Draco

The word “draconian” means severe, unusually cruel or harsh, as in rules, punishments and governments, and comes from the name of Draco. Not Draco Malfoyle, the mongrel blonde kid in the Harry Potter books and movies. Not Draco the last dragon, voiced by Sean Connery in Dragonheart. Not the big Russian that Rocky Balboa fights in Rocky IV. Oops, sorry, that last one is Drago.

No, this Draco is Draco the Lawgiver, as he is commonly rfeferred to, a politician who lived in Athens in the 7th century. In 621 BC Draco was given the task of codifying and organising the laws of Athens, the first time that the laws had been written down. Once codified, they were displayed publicly on "steles", three-sided pyramids which could be pivoted for reading. The laws were impartial but incredibly harsh, with death being the punishment for most offences, even such trivial ones such as idleness. Hence the origin of “draconian”.

The point of this post, however, is not Draco's life but his death.

Hidden Images in Logos

So far as I know and my researches have indicated, there is no organisation known as Yoga Australia. Nonetheless, a graphic designer by the name of Roy Smith, from Norwich in the UK, has designed a logo for Yoga Australia that is hard to forget once you’ve seen it. His website mentions that it is design as a personal project.

For those who have not yet noticed, the space bounded by the leg, arm, back and buttocks of the woman in the above pic forms a map of Australia (sans Tasmania), a wonderful hidden image in a logo. It’s one of the best that I have seen.

I am always reminded of this pic whenever I see someone doing this yoga pose on the TV. It never fails that I look intently as to whether the bounded space forms a map of Oz. I have no doubt that you will now be doing likewise.

One final note.

Although this post has discussed the female form and has also mentioned the map of Tasmania, I have so far avoided any Les Patterson comments in that context. I will, however, quote from a 2009 biographical article about Errol Flynn by Mark McGinness in Quadrant Online, the context of the following paragraph being that his executor had to determine where Flynn was domiciled at the date of his death:

It is difficult to imagine that the restless Flynn was ever domiciled. The restlessness may have been preordained. His given name apparently means wanderer. He was born in Hobart on June 20, 1909. It has been suggested he put Tasmania on the map. (Sir Les Patterson would maintain that Flynn would be forever fascinated by the map of Tasmania.)

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/6/the-swashbuckler-from-hobart

 

Strangers

• A person present in parliament who is neither a member of Parliament or a parliamentary official is known as a “stranger”.

• It used to be the case in the British Parliament that if MPs wanted to have a secret session, one of them would point to the gallery from which the public watch (known as the “Strangers Gallery”) and call "I spy strangers!", whereupon the House voted "that the strangers do withdraw."

• The procedure has now been modernised, with the “I spy strangers” having been dropped in 1998.

• In 2004 the Modernisation Committee of the British Parliament recommended that visitors to the House of Commons should no longer be referred to as “Strangers”, instead being referred to either as “member of the public” or “the public”.

In support of the above, the Leader of the House said:

“I believe that our visitors, voters and citizens are entitled to view our debates, and that they should not be shunted into a pigeonhole labelled 'Strangers'.

As the Modernisation Committee said, ‘this is the last impression we should be wanting to give to people who exercise their democratic right to visit us.’

The earliest reference to a ‘stranger’ in the Commons Journal appears to be on 13 February 1575. Let us make 26 October 2004 the last.”

The motion was carried on division 242 votes to 167.

• The NSW Parliament still contains a Strangers Function Room and a Strangers Lounge, available for booking by members of the public.

Shoelaces

The inventor of the modern shoelace is supposedly Harvey Kennedy, who is often referenced as having come up with the invention in 1790.

Early civilisations used sandals as footwear, although shoes were worn in Mesopotamia as long ago as 1600BC. From there footwear moved to moccasins and shoes with buckles or buttons. An American company developed plimsolls (sandshoes) in the late 1800s. From 1917 they were marketed as "sneakers" because they were silent , enabling one to sneak around.

Lacing in connection with footwear dates back thousands of years. Laces were used to keep many types of sandals on the feet of Greeks and Romans, as depicted in pictures from the time. Native Americans used leather thongs and laces to secure animal hide moccasins and winter leggings to their feet and legs.

What Harvey Kennedy did was to:

• thread a lace through an eyehole, instead of threading it against an external fastener;

• place a binder on the end of the lace to prevent it fraying (known as an aglet);

• then take out a patent on the whole deal.

This made Harvey a very rich man. Although his name may have been lost to history, his legacy lives on.