Welcome to the Wannaskan Almanac for Saturday, April 7th.
Some of you in the Wannaska region know that I'm working on another novel. In this one, etiquette plays a prominent role. Since I got the idea for the book in 2008, I've amassed a collection of etiquette books, researched the topic and discovered two podcasts Awesome Etiquette and Shmanners.
This week, I thought I would tackle an etiquette topic. However, after a good hour of reading about Marjorie Merriweather Post and Mar-a-Lago, I googled historic highlights on this day and it immediately changed the course of this post. So, what momentous thing happened on this day?
The internet was born!
Yes! Happy Birthday to the internet. This bundle of joy rolled out on April 7th, 1969, when the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) awarded a contract to build a precursor of today's world wide web to BBN Technologies. The date is widely considered as the internet's symbolic birthday.
Breakout the bagpipes! Sound the saxophones! Toot the trumpets!
What would the world be today without the internet?
The question is almost too big for the mind. But, for the sake of consideration, here are six ways you would be immediately affected if there were no internet. (Note: I initially wrote "three," and came up with six. I'm all about value.)
1. You wouldn't be reading this. - Blogging wouldn't exist. To get your daily dose of W.A. witty repartee, historical highlights, pondering poetry, Word Wednesdays, theatrical Thor's Days, Sunday Squibs and other fun facts and impressive, intellectual verbosity, you would instead have to subscribe to the Wannaskan Almanac in paper format which would be delivered to a mailbox. Or you could read it at the library.
2. I wouldn't be writing this. - The ease of the internet makes access to an audience easier. As a writer, there's great appeal in instant gratification. But, hey, if it weren't for the internet, maybe I would be writing for the local newspaper instead?
3. No quick links - Instead of clicking on the highlighted links for fast referencing, you would have to cross-check claims and facts with your own set of encyclopedias collecting dust on the bookshelves in the basement. Or trek to your local library and use the wealth of resources there.
4. No back issues - With a click of a button, you can access any date in the Wannaskan Almanac daily digest. Without the internet, you would have to peruse your own stack of back issues or request access to the archives at your local library or county museum.
5. No quick (or anonymous) retorts*. - If you, dear reader, wanted to leave me a comment on my post, you would have to write a letter and deliver it by hand or post. This extraneous effort stymies the steamed. And if I, as the author, wanted to respond, a correspondence would ensue, spanning several days - or perhaps weeks! - instead of hours, minutes, or even seconds. (This doesn't sound like such a bad thing.)
6. No spam. - Now that one sounds pretty good!
The takeaway here?
Libraries continue to be a wonderful resource no matter the changing times. Give love to your local library! And guess what!?!
Send me your favorite library stories, anecdotes, moments, etc., to kim@redshoeswriting.com THIS WEEK and I will post them here next Saturday for a little online library luau. (Note: I reserve the right to edit for length.)
Theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking died this year, March 14th, at the age of 76. A friend gave us the DVD Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking this past weekend. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) at the age of 21. Doctors didn't expect him to make it to 25. He outlived this dire prognosis by 55 years, making him the longest surviving patient of ALS in current history.
I've read two memoirs involving ALS. The first was Tales From the Bed: On Living, Dying and Having It All, by Jennifer Estess. There's also a documentary about her experience. Jennifer and her sisters started Project ALS, a non-profit organization that brought the best people in science and health research together to work on finding a cure. The other memoir I read is Until I Say Goodbye: A Book About Living by Susan Spencer-Wendel.
Hawking's contribution to science is as significant as Einstein's. He managed to have not one, but two spouses and fathered three children. If you're looking for a movie for this weekend, try The Theory of Everything, a dramatization of Hawking's life. He published many papers and books about the cosmos, his most famous work being A Brief History of Time. The Middle Child has been especially insistent that we watch the DVD as soon as possible, and he's been making his way through the episodes. So on that note...
- Another theory on how life on Earth came to be: Life from somewhere else that was able to withstand extreme temperatures in space were attached to an asteroid that hit the Earth.
- If a train was going 99.9% of the speed of light, one week inside the train would be 100 years outside the train.
- Hawking was only able to control the muscle in his right cheek which is how he communicated.
1990 - An arson attack on the passenger ferry, Scandinavian Star, kills 159. Insurance fraud is considered the most likely motive for the attack. According to a 2013 report, 9 crew members started the fire and sabotaged the fire crew's attempts to extinguish the blaze.
1948 - The World Health Organization is established. The WHO is a United Nations agency concerned with fighting disease and epidemics worldwide, building up national health services, and improving health education in its 194 member states.
1933 - Prohibition ended! April 7th has been celebrated as National Beer Day since 1993.
1827 - The first friction match is sold. English chemist John Walker produced and sold the first operable matches. They were soon banned in France and Germany because burning fragments would sometimes fall to the floor and start fires.
1724 - Johann Sebastian Bach's, St. John Passion is premiered. The sacred oratorio is the oldest extant Passion by the German composer. The highly popular work is a dramatization of the final days of Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel of John. AND a Happy Belated Birthday to dear Johann, who was born on March 31st, 1685. (My apologies for not giving a proper shout-out a week ago.)
1534 Jose de Anchieta, Spanish jesuit/missionary (Brazilian Tupi-Indians)
1613 Gerard Dou, Dutch painter (Night School) (d. 1675)
1622 Louise Hollandine, daughter of King Frederik V & Elizabeth Stuart
1629 Juan Jose, of Austria, Spanish general/governor of Netherlands
1644 François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
1648 Ferdinand van Kessel, Flemish painter
1694 Coelestin Praelisauer, composer
1699 Andreas Benedikt Praelisauer, composer
1718 Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
1727 Henri Hardouin, French composer, born in Grandpré (d. 1808)
1727 Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
1745 Georg Druschetzky, composer
1748 Georg Wenzel Ritter, composer
1756 Charles Felix, King of Sardina (1821-31)
1763 Domenico Dragonetti, composer
1768 Karl Theodor Toeschi, composer
1770 William Wordsworth, English poet laureate (The Prelude)
1915 Billie Holiday, [Eleanora Fagan], jazz singer (Lady Sings the Blues)
1929 "Crazy" Joe Gallo, American mobster
1939 Francis Ford Coppola, American director (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
1954 Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial arts actor (Rumble in the Bronx)
1964 Russell Crowe, Australian-New Zealand actor (A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator)
1978 Vladimir Voltchkov, Belarusian tennis player
1979 Adrián Beltré, Dominican baseball player
1981 Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 Sonjay Dutt, Indian American professional wrestler
1986 Brooke Brodack, American internet celebrity
And because I want you to feel what life without internet would be like, I'm not posting any quick links to these fascinating people. Get out those encyclopedias, folks! Mwah-ha-ha...
A special shout-out to William Wordsworth who celebrates a birthday today. According to poets.org, "William Wordsworth, who rallied for “common speech” within poems and argued against the poetic biases of the period, wrote some of the most influential poetry in Western literature, including his most famous work, The Prelude, which is often considered to be the crowning achievement of English romanticism." (A big thank you, again, to the internet for ease of locating this information, although a trip to my public library to learn would have been fun and would have included free coffee.)
Here's a poem to inspire hope on this wintry April Saturday.
Lines Written in Early Spring
by William Wordsworth
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played:
Their thoughts I cannot measure,
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
Kim
*For quick or anonymous retorts, responses or comments, please send all handwritten correspondence to my mailing address which you can find in the Wannaskan White or Yellow pages.
Some of you in the Wannaska region know that I'm working on another novel. In this one, etiquette plays a prominent role. Since I got the idea for the book in 2008, I've amassed a collection of etiquette books, researched the topic and discovered two podcasts Awesome Etiquette and Shmanners.
This week, I thought I would tackle an etiquette topic. However, after a good hour of reading about Marjorie Merriweather Post and Mar-a-Lago, I googled historic highlights on this day and it immediately changed the course of this post. So, what momentous thing happened on this day?
The internet was born!
Yes! Happy Birthday to the internet. This bundle of joy rolled out on April 7th, 1969, when the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) awarded a contract to build a precursor of today's world wide web to BBN Technologies. The date is widely considered as the internet's symbolic birthday.
Breakout the bagpipes! Sound the saxophones! Toot the trumpets!
What would the world be today without the internet?
The question is almost too big for the mind. But, for the sake of consideration, here are six ways you would be immediately affected if there were no internet. (Note: I initially wrote "three," and came up with six. I'm all about value.)
1. You wouldn't be reading this. - Blogging wouldn't exist. To get your daily dose of W.A. witty repartee, historical highlights, pondering poetry, Word Wednesdays, theatrical Thor's Days, Sunday Squibs and other fun facts and impressive, intellectual verbosity, you would instead have to subscribe to the Wannaskan Almanac in paper format which would be delivered to a mailbox. Or you could read it at the library.
2. I wouldn't be writing this. - The ease of the internet makes access to an audience easier. As a writer, there's great appeal in instant gratification. But, hey, if it weren't for the internet, maybe I would be writing for the local newspaper instead?
3. No quick links - Instead of clicking on the highlighted links for fast referencing, you would have to cross-check claims and facts with your own set of encyclopedias collecting dust on the bookshelves in the basement. Or trek to your local library and use the wealth of resources there.
4. No back issues - With a click of a button, you can access any date in the Wannaskan Almanac daily digest. Without the internet, you would have to peruse your own stack of back issues or request access to the archives at your local library or county museum.
5. No quick (or anonymous) retorts*. - If you, dear reader, wanted to leave me a comment on my post, you would have to write a letter and deliver it by hand or post. This extraneous effort stymies the steamed. And if I, as the author, wanted to respond, a correspondence would ensue, spanning several days - or perhaps weeks! - instead of hours, minutes, or even seconds. (This doesn't sound like such a bad thing.)
6. No spam. - Now that one sounds pretty good!
The takeaway here?
Libraries continue to be a wonderful resource no matter the changing times. Give love to your local library! And guess what!?!
Send me your favorite library stories, anecdotes, moments, etc., to kim@redshoeswriting.com THIS WEEK and I will post them here next Saturday for a little online library luau. (Note: I reserve the right to edit for length.)
Theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking died this year, March 14th, at the age of 76. A friend gave us the DVD Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking this past weekend. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) at the age of 21. Doctors didn't expect him to make it to 25. He outlived this dire prognosis by 55 years, making him the longest surviving patient of ALS in current history.
I've read two memoirs involving ALS. The first was Tales From the Bed: On Living, Dying and Having It All, by Jennifer Estess. There's also a documentary about her experience. Jennifer and her sisters started Project ALS, a non-profit organization that brought the best people in science and health research together to work on finding a cure. The other memoir I read is Until I Say Goodbye: A Book About Living by Susan Spencer-Wendel.
Hawking's contribution to science is as significant as Einstein's. He managed to have not one, but two spouses and fathered three children. If you're looking for a movie for this weekend, try The Theory of Everything, a dramatization of Hawking's life. He published many papers and books about the cosmos, his most famous work being A Brief History of Time. The Middle Child has been especially insistent that we watch the DVD as soon as possible, and he's been making his way through the episodes. So on that note...
On to our regularly scheduled program...
Kid-provided, Stephen Hawking-related Fun Facts
- A theory on how life on Earth came to be: There were all these chemicals floating around and they contained amino acids. After millions of years of clinking around, six of these amino acids stuck together in the right sequence and - poof! - mytosis started and an organism was formed.- Another theory on how life on Earth came to be: Life from somewhere else that was able to withstand extreme temperatures in space were attached to an asteroid that hit the Earth.
- If a train was going 99.9% of the speed of light, one week inside the train would be 100 years outside the train.
- Hawking was only able to control the muscle in his right cheek which is how he communicated.
On This Day
Historic Highlights (Other than the internet's birthday.)1990 - An arson attack on the passenger ferry, Scandinavian Star, kills 159. Insurance fraud is considered the most likely motive for the attack. According to a 2013 report, 9 crew members started the fire and sabotaged the fire crew's attempts to extinguish the blaze.
1948 - The World Health Organization is established. The WHO is a United Nations agency concerned with fighting disease and epidemics worldwide, building up national health services, and improving health education in its 194 member states.
1933 - Prohibition ended! April 7th has been celebrated as National Beer Day since 1993.
1827 - The first friction match is sold. English chemist John Walker produced and sold the first operable matches. They were soon banned in France and Germany because burning fragments would sometimes fall to the floor and start fires.
1724 - Johann Sebastian Bach's, St. John Passion is premiered. The sacred oratorio is the oldest extant Passion by the German composer. The highly popular work is a dramatization of the final days of Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel of John. AND a Happy Belated Birthday to dear Johann, who was born on March 31st, 1685. (My apologies for not giving a proper shout-out a week ago.)
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
1506 Francis Xavier, saint/Jesuit missionary to India, Malaya, & Japan1534 Jose de Anchieta, Spanish jesuit/missionary (Brazilian Tupi-Indians)
1613 Gerard Dou, Dutch painter (Night School) (d. 1675)
1622 Louise Hollandine, daughter of King Frederik V & Elizabeth Stuart
1629 Juan Jose, of Austria, Spanish general/governor of Netherlands
1644 François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
1648 Ferdinand van Kessel, Flemish painter
1694 Coelestin Praelisauer, composer
1699 Andreas Benedikt Praelisauer, composer
1718 Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
1727 Henri Hardouin, French composer, born in Grandpré (d. 1808)
1727 Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
1745 Georg Druschetzky, composer
1748 Georg Wenzel Ritter, composer
1756 Charles Felix, King of Sardina (1821-31)
1763 Domenico Dragonetti, composer
1768 Karl Theodor Toeschi, composer
1770 William Wordsworth, English poet laureate (The Prelude)
1915 Billie Holiday, [Eleanora Fagan], jazz singer (Lady Sings the Blues)
1929 "Crazy" Joe Gallo, American mobster
1939 Francis Ford Coppola, American director (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
1954 Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial arts actor (Rumble in the Bronx)
1964 Russell Crowe, Australian-New Zealand actor (A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator)
1978 Vladimir Voltchkov, Belarusian tennis player
1979 Adrián Beltré, Dominican baseball player
1981 Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 Sonjay Dutt, Indian American professional wrestler
1986 Brooke Brodack, American internet celebrity
And because I want you to feel what life without internet would be like, I'm not posting any quick links to these fascinating people. Get out those encyclopedias, folks! Mwah-ha-ha...
A special shout-out to William Wordsworth who celebrates a birthday today. According to poets.org, "William Wordsworth, who rallied for “common speech” within poems and argued against the poetic biases of the period, wrote some of the most influential poetry in Western literature, including his most famous work, The Prelude, which is often considered to be the crowning achievement of English romanticism." (A big thank you, again, to the internet for ease of locating this information, although a trip to my public library to learn would have been fun and would have included free coffee.)
Here's a poem to inspire hope on this wintry April Saturday.
Lines Written in Early Spring
by William Wordsworth
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played:
Their thoughts I cannot measure,
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
Kim
*For quick or anonymous retorts, responses or comments, please send all handwritten correspondence to my mailing address which you can find in the Wannaskan White or Yellow pages.
Dear Wannaskan Mom,
ReplyDeleteWordsworth said, "The child father of the man." Please ask the various Kid Fact Checkers if: (a) this is a true statement;
(b) the child might also me the mother of the woman.
I'd be interested in hearing the facts and logic they use in their expert responses.
Happy Sunday!
Woe
Hey, you live in Warroad. Why are you listed in Wannaska? I suspect you mean that gargantuan, many-village tome, our regional phone book. Still, Wannaska? Or are you just a wannabe Wannaskan, like us real residents. Ha! Neener-Neener.
ReplyDelete