If you are not familiar with XKCD web comic, you should be http://xkcd.com/
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Boo! Facebook (again)
Starting today, Facebook is no longer allowing the connection of the Facebook notes section to blogs to automatically push new blog posts to Facebook. So much for being social and playing nice, huh?
Bad Facebook, bad - I would swat you with a newspaper if I could.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
New Blogger Templates Offer Something a Little Different
Blogger has released what they call Dynamic Views. It allows the viewer of the website to switch between views and experience the blog in different ways.
Live examples:
The only real drag is that you have to change your basic template to one of the set.If you have done serious HTML and CSS design edits to your Blogger site you're going to lose them. However, they mention that they will "be adding more ways to customize Dynamic Views int he coming weeks."
The current option list is:
Read all about it on Blogger Buzz: Dynamic Views: seven new ways to share your blog with the world
Live examples:
The only real drag is that you have to change your basic template to one of the set.If you have done serious HTML and CSS design edits to your Blogger site you're going to lose them. However, they mention that they will "be adding more ways to customize Dynamic Views int he coming weeks."
The current option list is:
- Classic (Gmail): A modern twist on a traditional template, with infinite scrolling and images that load as you go
- Flipcard (M loves M) - Your photos are tiled across the page and flip to reveal the post title
- Magazine (Advanced Style) - A clean, elegant editorial style layout
- Mosaic (Crosby’s Kitchen) - A mosaic mix of different sized images and text
- Sidebar (Blogger Buzz Blog) - An email inbox-like view with a reading page for quick scrolling and browsing
- Snapshot (Canelle et Vanille) - An interactive pinboard of your posts
- Timeslide (The Bleary-Eyed Father) - A horizontal view of your posts by time period
Read all about it on Blogger Buzz: Dynamic Views: seven new ways to share your blog with the world
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Google's Ngram Viewer
Recently watched the following TED talk: "What we learned from 5 million books"
Neat!
So I did a few searches, and these are my results:
The homepage is http://books.google.com/ngrams/ - go explore.
Neat!
So I did a few searches, and these are my results:
- fact vs. fiction: fact occurs much more often, but has taken a decidedly sharp down turn since the early 1970s. Also, fiction is on the rise.
- happy vs. sad: happy is on a serious decline. It bottomed out in the mid-late 1980s (a little cold war scare anyone?), but does seem to be on the rise again. Sad rose to a height in the late 1860s, but has been on the decline, except for a small rise in the late 1920s, ever since.
- ain't vs. isn't: these two words have an interesting relationship. there was a time just before 1900 that ain't was more prevalent. Then rightfully so isn't was used more often. Then just after 1940 they both enjoyed a wild spike in usage and both shared a huge dip in usage in the early 1960s. Also ain't remains in print, isn't has spiked beyond its 1940 era boom - thankfully.
- yes vs. no: is a most interesting graph. It seems that yes has never had much ground, and no was very famous. However no has been steadly decreasing since a peak around 1840.
- pencil vs. pen: it looks that the pen has had the upper hand for two hundred years, but both are in a steady decline.
- disco vs. funk: beginning in 1970 funk began in the lead and then there was a crutial tipping point in 1976 and disco soared while funk stagnated. However, funk enjoyed a resurgance in the 1990s, but by the time 1999 rolled around it was on the down beat again.
The homepage is http://books.google.com/ngrams/ - go explore.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Claymation Humor
These were posted by YouTube member scuzzbopper. Visit that channel for lots more. I love the rabbit in the second one.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Etymology of Mausoleum
In ancient times there was a little kingdom called Caria in the Persian Empire on the edge of the growing Greek influence.
Mausolus ruled Caria with his wife Artemisia from 377-353 BC. Mausolus became the official ruler (at the time called a satrap) when his father Tissaphernes died in approximately 395 BC. Mausolus was a fan of Hellenic culture. He moved the capital of Caria to Halicarnassus and began building it in a grand Greek fashion. (Mausolus, n.d.) He built up a fleet of warriors and and conquered several of the surrounding kingdoms. He exacted heavy taxes from his subjects in order to pay for his grand building scheme.
He died in 353 BC. After the ceremony, his widow Artemisia began the construction of a massive tomb for his body in Halicarnassus, the capital coastal city (Google map of the location) now known as Bodrum, Turkey.
Artemisia died two years after her brother-husband. Did I mention that they were siblings? It wasn't uncommon in those times for elite siblings to marry in order to keep wealth and power in the family. During those two years of loneliness, she became renowned for two things: cunningly crushing a rebellion by the previously conquered the Greek island city-state of Rhodes thereby returning them to Caria rule, and her immense grief over the death of Mausolus.
She was so stricken with grief that she was rumored to have mixed some of his ashes with her wine. Also she paid celebrated orators to give speeches in his honor (King, 1901).
When Artemisia died it was said that grief was the cause; she was entombed with her brother-husband.
The tomb was made entirely of white marble and combined Egyptian, Greek, and Persian styles. It was completed in 350 BC (three years after his death and one year after hers). According to authors Woods and Woods, it was truly massive. “It measured 120 by 100 feet at its base and rose to a height of 140 feet. It contained a polished stone burial chamber topped by statues and a pyramid-shaped roof. At the very top of the roof…were statues of King Mausolus and his queen, riding in a chariot pulled by four horses.” (2000)
In the Wikipeda article there is a reference to Pliny the Elder, the historian, who wrote that even though the patron of the tomb (Artemisia, I'm assuming) died before it was completed, the artisans stayed and completed the work. They believed that it was a display of their artistic skills as well as a king's tomb.
There are some arguments as to if it was possible to complete and decorate the tomb in three years. According to the fifth reference (Attributed to Howard Colvin) to the Wikipedia article, some think that it was begun before Mausolus' death (Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, n.d.).
This is a scale model:
The mausoleum at Halicarnassus stood for approximately 1800 years as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world until it was likely destroyed by an earthquake sometime in the 14th century AD.
If you Google search for Mausolus you will often come across an image of the statue in the British Museum.
However, according to the British Museum (page The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue), “The statue represents a heroised member of the Hekatomnid dynasty. There is no reason to identify him specifically with Maussollos.”
Also, Maussollos seems to be an alternate spelling of Mausolus - as well as, Halikarnassos for Halicarnassus.
Two bits of knowledge to take away from this:
A nice synopsis read by Pierce Brosnan. The video and audio get a little out of sync, but worth watching. But it's better than the no-videos that the History Channel has available online for this subject. And while we're on the subject of the History Channel (please keep their name in mind) the only real information that I found on the mausoleum at Halicarnassus was two paragraphs (attributed to Britannica.com) and no videos or photos. No really, look for yourself http://www.history.com/topics/mausoleum-of-halicarnassus. On the other hand the History Channel does have plenty of content on Ice Road Truckers and Swamp Loggers!! Disappointing, very disappointing. Just as wrong as wrestling on the SyFy Channel.
Any way, watch the video, learn something, and enjoy real history.
References:
British Museum - The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue - Retrieved from: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=460572&partid=1&searchText=mausolus&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=2
King, W. C., (1901) Woman: Her Position, Influence, and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Her Biography. Her History. The King-Richardson Co., San Jose. Chicago. Indianapolis. Retrieved from: http://www.archive.org/stream/womanherpositio00kinggoog/womanherpositio00kinggoog_djvu.txt
Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausolus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausolus
Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Halicarnassus
Woods, M. & Woods, M. B., (2000) Ancient Construction: From Tents to Towers. p. 31. Retrieved from Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=Z0dNB0ijOGwC&pg=PA31&sig=65mldoc6-7dxB7rv0dU6aNcW7fI&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Additional Resources:
A detailed description of what is known about the appearance and construction of the tomb by bill Thayer:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Turkey/_Periods/Greek/_Texts/LETGKB/Mausoleum*.html
A collection of photos of the known remnants of the tomb (although the British Museum contests that there is no proof that the next to the last photo and the one before it are truly Mausolus): http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/halicarnassus/halicarnassus_mausoleum.html
Mausolus ruled Caria with his wife Artemisia from 377-353 BC. Mausolus became the official ruler (at the time called a satrap) when his father Tissaphernes died in approximately 395 BC. Mausolus was a fan of Hellenic culture. He moved the capital of Caria to Halicarnassus and began building it in a grand Greek fashion. (Mausolus, n.d.) He built up a fleet of warriors and and conquered several of the surrounding kingdoms. He exacted heavy taxes from his subjects in order to pay for his grand building scheme.
He died in 353 BC. After the ceremony, his widow Artemisia began the construction of a massive tomb for his body in Halicarnassus, the capital coastal city (Google map of the location) now known as Bodrum, Turkey.
Artemisia died two years after her brother-husband. Did I mention that they were siblings? It wasn't uncommon in those times for elite siblings to marry in order to keep wealth and power in the family. During those two years of loneliness, she became renowned for two things: cunningly crushing a rebellion by the previously conquered the Greek island city-state of Rhodes thereby returning them to Caria rule, and her immense grief over the death of Mausolus.
She was so stricken with grief that she was rumored to have mixed some of his ashes with her wine. Also she paid celebrated orators to give speeches in his honor (King, 1901).
When Artemisia died it was said that grief was the cause; she was entombed with her brother-husband.
The tomb was made entirely of white marble and combined Egyptian, Greek, and Persian styles. It was completed in 350 BC (three years after his death and one year after hers). According to authors Woods and Woods, it was truly massive. “It measured 120 by 100 feet at its base and rose to a height of 140 feet. It contained a polished stone burial chamber topped by statues and a pyramid-shaped roof. At the very top of the roof…were statues of King Mausolus and his queen, riding in a chariot pulled by four horses.” (2000)
In the Wikipeda article there is a reference to Pliny the Elder, the historian, who wrote that even though the patron of the tomb (Artemisia, I'm assuming) died before it was completed, the artisans stayed and completed the work. They believed that it was a display of their artistic skills as well as a king's tomb.
There are some arguments as to if it was possible to complete and decorate the tomb in three years. According to the fifth reference (Attributed to Howard Colvin) to the Wikipedia article, some think that it was begun before Mausolus' death (Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, n.d.).
This is a scale model:
The mausoleum at Halicarnassus stood for approximately 1800 years as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world until it was likely destroyed by an earthquake sometime in the 14th century AD.
If you Google search for Mausolus you will often come across an image of the statue in the British Museum.
However, according to the British Museum (page The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue), “The statue represents a heroised member of the Hekatomnid dynasty. There is no reason to identify him specifically with Maussollos.”
Also, Maussollos seems to be an alternate spelling of Mausolus - as well as, Halikarnassos for Halicarnassus.
Two bits of knowledge to take away from this:
- If you construct a 'Wonder of the World' it gets associated with your name. And I guess having your name be synonymous with a giant ornate tomb is better than nothing...
- There is nothing quite like the love between a brother-husband and sister-wife...
A nice synopsis read by Pierce Brosnan. The video and audio get a little out of sync, but worth watching. But it's better than the no-videos that the History Channel has available online for this subject. And while we're on the subject of the History Channel (please keep their name in mind) the only real information that I found on the mausoleum at Halicarnassus was two paragraphs (attributed to Britannica.com) and no videos or photos. No really, look for yourself http://www.history.com/topics/mausoleum-of-halicarnassus. On the other hand the History Channel does have plenty of content on Ice Road Truckers and Swamp Loggers!! Disappointing, very disappointing. Just as wrong as wrestling on the SyFy Channel.
Any way, watch the video, learn something, and enjoy real history.
References:
British Museum - The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue - Retrieved from: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=460572&partid=1&searchText=mausolus&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=2
King, W. C., (1901) Woman: Her Position, Influence, and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Her Biography. Her History. The King-Richardson Co., San Jose. Chicago. Indianapolis. Retrieved from: http://www.archive.org/stream/womanherpositio00kinggoog/womanherpositio00kinggoog_djvu.txt
Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausolus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausolus
Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Halicarnassus
Woods, M. & Woods, M. B., (2000) Ancient Construction: From Tents to Towers. p. 31. Retrieved from Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=Z0dNB0ijOGwC&pg=PA31&sig=65mldoc6-7dxB7rv0dU6aNcW7fI&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Additional Resources:
A detailed description of what is known about the appearance and construction of the tomb by bill Thayer:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Turkey/_Periods/Greek/_Texts/LETGKB/Mausoleum*.html
A collection of photos of the known remnants of the tomb (although the British Museum contests that there is no proof that the next to the last photo and the one before it are truly Mausolus): http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/halicarnassus/halicarnassus_mausoleum.html
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