Google Doodle

Today's Google Doodle really caught my eye. It's commemorating the 374th anniversary of Nicolas Steno's birthday. He was a Danish scientist and is widely considered the father of geology. The doodle illustrates two ideas that Steno is known for: rock strata and embedded fossils. 

The Gender of Statues

Looking for some interesting trivia on statues? Well, you're in luck! A recent Washington Post article has provided just that:

Of the 5,193 public outdoor sculptures of individuals in the United States, only 394, or less than 8 percent, are of women, compared with 4,799 of men, according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Art Inventories Catalog.

The first U.S. statue of a celebrated woman was not erected until 1884 in New Orleans, according to the Smithsonian records; it depicts Margaret Haughery, who devoted her life to the care and feeding of the poor.

[Between 1860 and 1959], statues of 170 women were erected, although art historians point out that this celebrating is largely generic, similar to the Greek- and Roman-era statues that honor the female form with anonymous figures... Between 1960 and today, the Smithsonian records show, 184 public statues of individual women were installed in the United States, and 1,440 male statues were erected during the same period. [I'm just waiting for someone to write a letter to the paper saying "Oh so female statues are 'installed', but male statues are 'erected'. I don't like the phallocentric text of this article. Haha.]

After a nine-year effort, the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington was finally dedicated in 1993. Diane Evans, a founder of the memorial (and an Army first lieutenant and head nurse in Vietnam), said that bringing it to fruition did not happen easily. She explained, "We were told by J. Carter Brown, the head of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., that a woman's statue would upset the delicate balance of tension at the Vietnam Memorial."

FYI, this statue is off the beaten path and most people don't even pass by it. 

In the Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in which each state gets to pick and showcase two statues of distinguished individuals from their state, there are only 9 statues that depict women. As in 9 out of 100. The Hall was designated by Congress in 1864. The first female statue appeared in 1905. Three (of those nine) female statues have been added since 2003.
The states that showcase a female statue include (in order of the date they added the statue): Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, and Alabama. I guess the West knows what's up (kind of...). Speaking of which, did you know that Wyoming was the first U.S. state to grant suffrage to women, in 1869? Also, in 1924, they became the first state to elect a female governor. Furthermore, Wyoming had the first women serve on a jury, the first female court bailiff, and the first female justice of the peace in the country (all happened in 1870).
Did you know that the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives was Jeannette Rankin, from Montana, in 1916? (One of Montana's statues in the Statuary Hall is of Jeannette Rankin). And since I know you're now dying to know, the first female elected to the U.S. Senate was Hattie Caraway, from Arkansas, in 1932. The first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate was Rebecca Felton, of Georgia, in 1922. She was appointed by the governor after a senator died. She was more just a seatholder until the special election was held to elect a new senator. She served as Senator for one day. This is the shortest term in the Senate ever. Oh yeah, and she was a white supremacist. I'm glad you asked.

A Hidden Gem

I read a really interesting feature article by Lawrence Wright on Bolivia that discussed the country's history and culture, the current president Evo Morales (who is a socialist and the first indigenous president of Bolivia), and the country's natural resources (and the country's recent attempt to develop and nationalize their lithium deposits). I know you probably think I'm a nerd for saying that's interesting. Yes, I am a nerd. But, regardless, it is an interesting article.

Anyway, buried deep in the article was this gem:

Bolivia's coastal territories were lost in 1879, when Chile, spurred on by British investors, invaded the country to claim the Atacama Desert's rich deposits of guano (for fertilizer) and saltpeter (for explosives). The resulting War of the Pacific was just one of the five unfortunate wars that Bolivia has fought with its neighbors, which, cumulatively, have reduced its territory by half. The loss to Chile lingers most bitterly in the minds of Bolivia's citizens. There is still a Bolivian Navy, which patrols inland waterways [sad...]. Near the naval headquarters, on Lake Titicaca [definitely my most favorite lake name], is a statue of a fallen hero from the War of the Pacific, inscribed with the hollow boast known to every Bolivian schoolchild: "Surrender? Your grandmother surrenders, Damn it!"

In Case Your Mule Trivia Isn't Where It Should Be

I read an interesting article in The New Yorker by Susan Orlean about the use of mules in the military (especially in places like Afghanistan, where the mules carry huge loads and are able to traverse hazardous mountain passes like the Hindu Kush). She also discussed the history and modern-use of mules. Honestly, Susan Orlean can make anything fascinating. And I like trivia as much as the next person (ok, I probably like trivia more than the next person), so I was actually fascinated to learn new stuff about mules. For example:

[A mule] will carry as much as three hundred pounds, seven hours a day, twenty days straight, without complaint, strolling along under the huge, heavy cargo as if it were a bag of balloons. On the other hand, a mule knows its limits. It is characteristic of the breed to have an inviolable commitment to self-preservation, which is often misinterpreted as stubbornness. In truth, it is probably a form of genius. A horse will eat until it founders and dies; a mule will only snack, even if it happens upon an open bin of oats. A horse can be enticed to gallop, fatally, over a cliff. In 1942, the Army was researching ways to deliver mules to combat zones. Someone thought that teaching the animals to skydive would be a good way to do this. As an experiment, twelve mules were fitted with parachutes and taken up in a cargo plane. The first six, caught by surprise, were pushed out the door and immediately fell to their deaths. The next six survived. This is because they must have figured out what was going on and absolutely refused to go near the door.

The mule's commitment to survival is interesting in a Darwinian context, because mules -- the hybrid result of mating a male donkey with a female horse -- have an uneven number of chromosomes and are therefore sterile. Every mule, then, is sui generis; it leaves no legacy beyond itself, no radiating gene pool to mark its visit to this world. It is as if each mule knew that it had one shot at being here on earth, and risky behavior, such as jumping out of an airplane at ten thousand feet, would interfere with that. Even the sheer persistence of the breed seems a stroke of genius. Since a horse and a donkey rarely mate on their own, mules are essentially man-made. It has been a successful invention -- in fact, mules are probably the most successful and enduring animal hybrid, with beefalo coming in a distant second.

If you breed in the reverse -- a male horse and a female donkey -- the offspring is called a hinny. Some people think that hinnies are harder to breed, others that they get the worst of both parents; either way, hinnies are far less popular than mules.

A 2008 study of mule cognition at the University of Sussex found that mules, over all, not only understood things better than either horses or donkeys but were also better at following instructions.

Back in My Day...

New phrases like "Tweet Me" and "Text Me" have been added this year

...if someone said to me "Tweet me", I'd press charges.

Huh...

A crazy tidbit I picked up from a New York Times article:

A small study* conducted by the Smell and Taste Research Foundation in Chicago (using 31 participants) found that men are turned on by the smell of donuts mixed with licorice. The next-highest turn-me-on scent for men was the combination of lavender and pumpkin pie. Women are most aroused by the smell of baby powder and by the combination of Good & Plenty candy mixed with cucumber (it's a tie). Second place was a combination of Good & Plenty and banana nut bread. The smell of cherries resulted in a drop of arousal for women, as did the scent of meat cooked over charcoal.

*The study involved measuring "vaginal and penile blood flow" while the participants wore masks that emitted various food aromas.

Huh. Do those results weird anyone else out?

This study gives a whole new meaning to the name Good & Plenty...

The man who conducted the experiment said that his study did not prove that the effect of these scents are ingrained physiologically. Instead, he suggested the scents could have evoked memories for his small sample of subjects. Another researcher who is an expert on the psychology of smell (who was not involved in the study) said that the study was too limited to lead to any credible conclusions.

I Know It's Not Very Mature That I Find This Humorous

Canada has a history magazine called "The Beaver". It was first published in 1920 by Hudson's Bay Company, and is currently published by Canada's National History Society. It recently had to undergo a name change to "Canada's History" because of internet filters.

To be more precise, the title was doomed by a vulgar alternative meaning that causes web filters at schools and junk mail filters in e-mail programs to block access to material containing the magazine's name. "It's only been in the last two years or so that it's been a problem," said Deborah Morrison, the president and chief executive of the history society, which is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "'Beaver' is one of those key words students are denied access to on the internet."

"Canada's history: Formerly the beaver. Now dick." -- I think that was Canada's centennial slogan...

Thoughts on Maine

I came upon this article about a 240-year-old elm tree in Yarmouth, Maine that was chopped down. The tree, named Herbie, was New England's largest and oldest. The tree succumbed to Dutch elm disease (after surviving 14 previous bouts of the disease. Herbie was a fighter!). Interestingly, the tree's caretaker was a man who is 101 years old. What is in the water in Maine?!

Sing it with me Mick: Goodbye Herbie on Tuesday.

Eagan's mom is from Maine and I said to him, "I wonder if your mom knew Herbie...Everyone knows everything about everyone else in Maine (I'm pretty sure that's the state motto). Even if it is a tree."

Eagan replied, "Probably. That is the most exciting thing to happen in Maine since, well, something else that happened..."

The Unlikely Tale of a Mormon Writing a Hanukkah Song

I just came across an article that made me do a double-take. From the article:

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a solemn-faced Republican with a soft spot for Jews and a love of Barbra Streisand, has penned a catchy holiday tune, "Eight Days of Hanukkah."

This is his first Jewish song, and he says it will not be his last. Apparently he was asked to write a Hanukkah song by a Jewish writer named Jeffrey Goldberg. They were talking about Hatch's love for songwriting and Goldberg said he has a problem with "the general lameness of Hanukkah music." So he asked Hatch to write a song (he enlisted a Mormon to write a non-lame religious song? Not possible). And finally Hatch wrote a song. And thus a miracle was born! A cheesy, synthesized miracle (that includes a very festive "HEY!" in the song).

There was a whole lot of head-scratching going on throughout the article:

"Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do," Mr. Hatch said

At one point, Mr. Hatch unbuttons his white dress shirt to expose a golden mezuzah necklace he wears every day. Mezuzahs also adorn the doorways of his homes in Washington and Utah. Mr. Hatch keeps a Torah in his Senate office. "Not a real Torah, but sort of a mock Torah," he said. "I feel sorry I'm not Jewish sometimes."

Mr. Hatch enlisted his collaborator, Madeline Stone, a Jewish songwriter from the Upper West Side of Manhattan who specializes in Christian music...

[Hatch] said his ultimate goal would be for his idol, Ms. Streisand, to perform one of his songs. "It would be good for her and good for me," Mr Hatch said.

I don't know if I'd go that far...let's just say it would be good for you, Orrin.

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

I love how at the end of the video, one of the guys in the studio calls it a "A hip-hop Hanukkah song". It definitely doesn't get more hip-hop than that.

Wait, They're HOW Old?

I tend to underestimate people's age.

Alison Lohman

Age: 30.

The first two movie roles I saw her in she was portrayed as a 14 or 15 year old (Both White Oleander and Matchstick Men). I didn't think she was actually 14 or 15 in the movies (she was actually like 23!), but I just always think of her as being younger as a result of her movie roles. So I was surprised to learn that she'll be 30 in a September.

Jason Mraz

Age: 32. I thought he was like 25.

Thanks

I think I've seen this fact mentioned in every article I've read on the Air France plane crash:

That it's a common occurrence for planes to be struck by lightning.

That's not something I want to know. Yeah, they say the strike is usually harmless. But still, I don't want to know the odds are relatively good that I'll be on a plane that could be struck by lightning.

From The Washington Post:

"Lightning strikes on passenger airlines occur daily, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere and the equatorial belt where massive thunderstorms are frequent throughout the year ... With approximately 25,000 commercial jets in service with the world's airlines, there are statistically about three dozen lightning strikes that occur each day."

A Groundbreaking Election

Interesting findings from Census Bureau data:

The 2008 U.S. presidential election had a record-breaking 131 million votes

It also was the most racially and ethnically diverse election in United States history. A record one-in-four votes were cast by non-whites (23.7% of the electorate). This is attributable to both the increase in the non-white population as well as a higher turnout among minority groups.

The levels of participation among black, Hispanic, and Asian voters increased from 2004 to 2008.

Out of all racial, ethnic, and gender groups, black women had the highest voter turnout rate in the 2008 election. For the first time ever.

I Know, I'm a Horrible Person

There was an interesting article on the BBC news website that mapped out HIV's spread around Europe.

From the article:

"Their map shows Greece, Portugal, Serbia, and Spain are big HIV exporters, with many tourists to and migrants from these countries leaving with the virus."

This is a very important and serious health issue...so I recognize that the idea that popped in my head to make tourist t-shirts that say "I went on vacation to Greece and all I got was HIV" is completely inappropriate.