Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Vertumnus (a 16th century Carmen Miranda)

By Jack Brummet, Painting Ed.

In this painting, The Holy Roman Emperor is painted as Vertumnus, Roman God of the seasons.

According to the Wikipedia, “Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c.1526–1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books”

Carmen Miranda has nothing on the Emperor. . .

Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Vertumnus

Carmen Miranda

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The Tunnel Of Love

By Mona Goldwater, Romance Ed.

The Tunnel of Love. You've probably seen one in cartoons like the Flintstones or Scooby-Doo.  The Boss released an a song, and an album Tunnel Of Love, and Dire Straits released a song with that title. When I was young, the Puyallup Fair had a ride called "The Old Mill" that was popularly known as the tunnel of love.

tunnel of love, Chicago, 40's

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Digital art: Craters

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Remembering mainframe ASCII printouts (with images of Lincoln, Marilyn, Mickey Mouse, Mona Lisa, Jack B)

By Jack Brummet, Technology Ed.

I took a tour of some large company with a main frame computer sometime in the mid- to late-60's.  We saw the tapes and punchcards, cooling systems, reports, etc.  What really stuck in my mind--and they knew this was a hit with visitors--were the ASCII images they generated programmatically and then printed out on their chain/line printers.  I remember seeing a Marilyn and an Abe Lincoln, among other images.

You don't see these much anymore, now than we can print high definition images.  But, like all good retro technologies, there are people out there keeping it alive.  You can create your own ASCII images using one of several on line image generators.  I created the one of myself on the Ascii art Generator website at http://asciiart.ca/.

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Yoga-nursing

By Mona Goldwater, New Age Ed.

I don't know the provenance or photographer of this picture.  Thanks to reader Dean for passing it along.

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Mind your P's and Q's!

By Mona Goldwater, British Folklore Editor

Way back when, at local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers.  A barmaid's job (Jack reminded me of Shakespeare's 'Mistress Quickly') was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the beer flowing.  She had to pay close attention to remember who was drinking  pints and who was drinking in quarts, in order to charge them for their drinks.  From this, the phrase "minding your "P's and Q's " has been handed down to us.

On the other hand, many people believe the phrase actually stems from type foundries and printers, as illustrated in this comic:

I asked Jack what he thought and he said two things:  1)  "Why are you writing about this? I'm a folklorist and who cares?" and 2) He suggested that the reference was actually about the male and female genitals, respectively [penises and quims].  He could be right.  But I doubt it.

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Drawings: found birdhouse in progress

By Jack Brummet

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Michael Jackson as Charlie Chaplain

By Pablo F

I can't find the provenance or photographer of this great pic. . .

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1954: Miss Venezuela collapses

By Jack Brummet, Pageant Ed.

A photograph from 1954:  Miss Venezuela collapses mid-competition and no one dares break their pose (a chime of the Kitty Genovese story?).  And the band played on. . .

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President Richard Nixon's backpocket statement in case of an Apollo 11 disaster

By Jack Brummet, Aerospace Ed.

RMN speechwriter William Safire composed this statement in July, 1969 as we awaited news of the astronauts' moon landing. He actually wrote two statements:  one for a successful landing, and another in the event the Apollo crashed or exploded, or Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin became stranded on the moon.  Fortunately, Dick Nixon was able to deliver the "success" statement.  

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Selfie

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Kamloops Caution Sign

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