Month: February 2021

Crate of Curios part 21

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It’s already past midnight, Cinderella has left the ball and the realization that this week’s Crate is late is slowly dawning upon me. However, an effort of willful ignorance overpowers the embarrassment and the process commences. Hence, albeit slightly late, the Crate will be opened as if nothing had happened and as if it were still Sunday.

  1. It’s just about to be the time of the year that during “normal” times is one of the few occasions when one can legitimately sport a mask – indeed it’s Carnival time! And in Japan it’s possible to get a mask that’ll take one directly to the Uncanny Valley.

2. Walking is good for many reasons – not only for physical exercise, but it’s now been scientifically proven that walking also makes one more creative. The Dadaists also dedicated a lot of thoughts to the poetics and politics of walking in a city and seemingly got up to some rather surreal shenanigans themselves while practicing it.

3. As I already mentioned in connection with Ig Nobel prizes in the previous Crate, science when it’s done right involves great opportunities for laughter and wonder. A good example being the Nautilus Ocean Exploration team observing a gulper eel.

4. We all know that friends are important – but what about acquaintances, casual mates or the local newsagent? As it turns out, they are much more important for our mental welfare than we’ve ever realized.

5. The UK is a home to a great number of charming oddities and one of them is a crinkle crankle wall. As unusual as it looks, in fact it has a greater stability and strength than a regular straight brick wall.

And that was it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!

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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.
The Crate is now also available on Medium.

Crate of Curios part 20

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Athens was cold on this Valentine’s Day, and if the weather forecast is to be believed, it will get colder still. So it’s all about layers, layers, layers, warm food and rejoicing in the pleasures of a warm heater. But all this is just to keep the body temperature stable. In order not to have the mind go into hibernation state, let’s go ahead and open this week’s Crate without further ado.

  1. Why do we actually consider steak to be ‘manly’ and ‘salad’ to be feminine food? Well, it’s actually an oddity that we owe to the Victorians.

2. Continuing on the subject of food, it’s estimated that there are about 350 types of pasta. This rather extensive infographic shows about a half of them.

3. Would we have chairs if we had tails? How would a nursery look like if we laid eggs? How do science fiction writers come up with all this stuff? Unsurprisingly, it depends on the particular writer. (On the photo – Nnedi Okafor)

4. The famous quote attributed to Isaac Asimov goes something like “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …”. Science is generally considered a serious business, but Ig Nobel prizes are awards celebrating precisely this sentiment – or as they themselves put it – they are all about research that makes people laugh and then think.

5. The limelight has finally started to seek out female artists who for different reasons have not made it to the mainstream art curricula. Gabriele Münter, one of the initiators (although not a full-fledged member) of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter deserves every bit of it.

6. And, just because it’s Valentine’s Day, I’ll throw in an extra poem. This one by Edith Wharton and dates all the way back to 1909.

And that was it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!

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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.
The Crate is now also available on Medium.

Crate of Curios part 19

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It’s Sunday again and our weekend curfew has been moved up to 6 pm, but the weather gods have somewhat ironically been kind this weekend – the Halcyon Days are in full force, so we’ve enjoyed delightful spring temperatures. However, now it’s time to open the new Crate.

  1. Everyone needs to see Shetland ponies being dressed in hand-knitted jumpers.

2. Generally we think of depression as something entirely negative and disabling, but could there be an evolutionary upside to it? A new theory argues that it could have evolved as a survival technique. (Comic by the brilliant Hannah Hillam).

3. Mold is by and large a good sign that something is no longer fit to eat. Yet it’s an integral part of some delicacies like the Hungarian Tokaji wine where the botrytis fruit fungus is the component giving the wine its characteristic sweet taste and mild antiseptic properties.

4. Every creative person knows how difficult in can be to get started with a new project – and I mean really started, besides the preparation and research phase. Yet there’s no way around it – Khe Ky gives some very workable tips on how to get around the typical excuses. (Cartoon by the amazing Gemma Correll)

5. Art and science are usually not considered to be bedmates, yet they have had their moments. One of those involves the skeleton of a stegosaurus and Gary Larson’s ‘thagomizer’.

And that was it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!

_________________________________________________________

If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.
The Crate is now also available on Medium.

Crate of Curios part 18

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This week has passed rather fast, mostly with rather miserable winter weather. There was a little hope for more things opening up from the starting week, but that didn’t last long – at the moment we can feel lucky for not having the evening curfew changed to 6pm in stead of 9pm. As there are only counted minutes left of this Sunday, let’s get right to it and open this week’s Crate.

  1. Fairy tales (at least in their original form) can be rather sordid affairs, but now it turns out that some of them might also hide a grain of historical truth. The story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin who, after not getting his due payment, led the all the children of Hamelin out of the village never to return, seems to point to a real historical event from 26 June 1284. What exactly transpired in Hamelin on that date is still a target of much speculation among historians.

2. Our current obsession with too much screen time is apparently just another one in a long line of historical grievances – as documented by Pessimists Archive. In 1898, it’s ‘too much reading’, in 1938 ‘ too much radio’ that might cause ‘boiler factory ears’ and in 1956 ‘too much TV’.

3. Snoozing, as these candle clocks show, is definitely not a new phenomenon either.

4. Artists tend to think that eventual fame is only dependent on the quality of their work, but research has shown that it -surprise, surprise – also comes down to who they are acquainted with. (Photo from 1911,
from left: Maria and Franz Marc, Bernhard Koehler sen., Heinrich Campendonk, Thomas von Hartmann, sitting: Wassily Kandinsky.)

Wassily Kandinsky with group of artists from the Blue Rider. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

5. Cars can be used for showing off many things, starting with one’s self-esteem and ending with other products. The practice of using cars as marketing vehicles in fact, dates back all the way to 1920’s and a number of these curious vehicles are still out and about.

And that was it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!

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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.