The Patron Saint of the Great Unknown

A baby's murmurs: poetic echoes of a universal language, or merely "high coos"?

Two Masked Surgeons

Microscopic Colors

The Micropolitan Museum exhibits an unworldly spectrum visible only through the lens of a microscope. Painter Wim van Egmond photographs spectacular microscopic masterpieces with ethereal color palettes. To capture these hidden treasures, he uses a Zeiss Standard light microscope and an old Zeiss Photo-microscope. Several methods of illumination are employed: bright-field, dark-field, phase contrast, differential interference contrast, and Rheinberg illumination.

Van Egmond's Insectarium offers such specimens as the iridescent butterfly wing, whose tiny scales possess a microscopic texture that refracts light. Here we find lavender blue and green.

The delicate wing of the mosquito, on the other hand, is covered with ting feather-like structures. Deep greens, golds, and aquas are apparent.

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The Botanic Garden presents the vibrant red of grains of Lily pollen.

The stem of the Mare's Tail, an aquatic flowering plant, offers dazzling purples and violets.

The pine needle is ablaze with dark blue, light blue, bright red, and orange.

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

Piecing together the secret of love . . .


 

by mitzelman_99.

Moonbows: Colors of the Night

by Christian Fenn.

Just as the sun illuminates rainbows during the day, reflected sunlight from the moon can reveal moonbows and moon halos at night. The most favorable time for a moonbow to appear is during a rain shower opposite a full or very bright moon. The night sky needs to be very dark, and moonbow watchers should stand with their backs to the moon. The colors of the moonbow will be dim pastels, in contrast to the vibrant hues of a daytime rainbow.

A moon halo, on the other hand, is visible near the moon itself as a result of moonlight scattered through ice crystals in very high clouds. The colors of a moon halo tend to be brigher than a moonbow.

The headlights of a car can create a phenomenon called a fog bow as they illuminate water vapor during misty conditions. Christian Fenn reported "Fogbows are more feebly colored than their Sun illuminated counterparts (rainbows) and usually appear whitish to the unaided eye."

The rainbow appears throughout world mythology as a symbolic bridge between the divine and the mundane. Moonbows remind us that even on the darkest night of the soul, there is a glimmer of promise, however faint.

Moonbow over the Pacific Ocean in Tahiti. by Pierre Lesage.

 

After the war was over
I was coming home to you
I saw a rainbow at midnight
out on the ocean blue
—Ernest Tubb, "Rainbow at Midnight," 1946.

by Thoth, God of Knowledge.

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

This puzzle grid contains several big words. Can you find them? One of the 7-letter words refers to someone who jumps from an airplane.

• 7-letter words: 10
• 8-letter words: 5

All letters in the word must touch (in any direction), and no square may be reused.

Click to display solutions

Two For One

I find this cartoon from Punch (Aug. 8, 1917) quite intruguing.  The caption reads:


As I see it, the children have learned a formula about determining the distance of a storm, and because the formula involves chanting numbers, it has taken on mystical qualities.  Jenny acts as the shaman, besought by Betty to repel the storm with her incantation.  Betty will presumably count backward, to reverse and thereby neutralize the machinations of the storm.  The cartoon was no doubt intended as an easy laugh, but I see quite a depth of implications!

This is one of my favorite forewords.  It's from Adventures in the Arts.  Via ffffound.com.

Piecing together the secret of the lost legend . . .


 

Peace waits patiently outside the conference chamber, hoping they won't talk too much.  From the Jan. 15, 1919 issue of Punch.

Piecing together the secret of longevity . . .


 

Trojan Horse

Q: What's the best way to obtain Aunt Jemima's secret recipe? 

A: Surreptitiously!

This puzzle grid contains several big words. Can you find them?

• 7-letter words: 12
• 8-letter words: 1

All letters in the word must touch (in any direction), and no square may be reused.

Click to display solutions

Lemonade is sublime.

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

The so-called ins and outs of "Singularity Chess," played on curved space.

Piecing together the secret of the lighthouse . . .


 

Unicorn hate crimes occur daily.

Tombstone-Fake-ID Trick

A "Dream of the Dentist's Chair," from the Aug. 8, 1891 issue of Punch.

Q: What do you call fancy homemade stationery in which the rose petals tend to fall off? 

A: Loose leaf.

"All one-letter words are, by definition, stingy." —Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics (1968)

This puzzle grid contains several big words. Can you find them?

• 7-letter words: 9
• 8-letter words: 7

All letters in the word must touch (in any direction), and no square may be reused.

Click to display solutions

If it's the last stick of gum, eschew it.

Piecing together the secret of light . . .


 

Only one of these two pictures is of Monument Valley.  Can you guess?

Throwing Off the Scent

Why did the Catholic priest put soap powder in the baptismal font?  It had something to do with the Unwashed Masses.

The following gag is courtesy of humorist Jonathan Caws-Elwitt:

Piecing together the secret of life . . .


 

Possible tire damage.

I've always found pithy fables hard to swallow, so the doctor checked my AESOPhagus.

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

Theology of Lack

It's difficult to enforce the "no belts" dress code in Amish schools.  Those rebellious kids always find a loophole.

Piecing together the secret of letting go . . .


 

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

This puzzle grid contains several big words. Can you find them?

• 7-letter words: 17
• 8-letter words: 2
• 9-letter words: 2
• 10-letter words: 1

All letters in the word must touch (in any direction), and no square may be reused.

Click to display solutions

“The One Y’ See Ain’t the One Y’ Get”

Colours of French Extraction

When we talk of colors, we're often speaking French. Many of our most exotic color names are of French origin. Let's take a pictorial tour of the colorful French countryside, where we'll encounter drunken monasteries, burrowing insectivorous mammals, jumping blood-sucking insects, earthy shadows, juicy fruits, and edible ornamentals.

 

by Funky Coda.

Umber is derived from the French phrase "terre d'ombre," literally "earth of shadow." Raw umber is a dark yellow brown pigment, while burnt umber is roasted to a dark brown.

 

by Oklahoma State University.

Puce is of French origin and literally means "flea" color. Puce is purplish-brown or dark red.

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

Some unicorns are real pigs.

Piecing together the secret of letters . . .


 

by nalilo.

No Name Colors

We are the nameless colors. No mere words can encapsulate our radiance. We are questions without easy answers. We are puzzles for the sake of enigma. We are the cats that get your tongue, leaving you speechless in our wake. We are anonymous yet individual, handleless yet graspable, inscrutable yet deep. Would a color by any other name look as sweet? We are the nameless colors--the only colors truly beyond description.

Art expert Joseph H. Krause notes that "In the English language, there are fewer than thirty words whose major function is to designate a specific color. These include auburn, azure, brown, black, blue, cerise, crimson, cyan, dun, ecru, gray, green, indigo, khaki, maroon, mauve, puce, purple, red, russet, scarlet, sepia, taupe, ultramarine, white, and yellow—they are all defined in the dictionary as either a specific location on the spectrum or with the phrase 'as having the color of' or 'being the color' followed by the names of objects bearing the color. . . .

"There are also colors that are named after specific objects—animals, vegetables, or minerals; their names, having been in use for a long time, have come to be regarded, when used in the proper context, primarily as colors. Within this group are such names as beige, buff, lavender, lilac, orange, pink, sienna, umber, rust, turquoise, silver, gold, emerald, sapphire, and fawn. And some of these names have lost their original meaning and now stand for the color alone. However, even with this list, the number of color names remains fairly small. Therefore we use a variety of linguistic devices to extend it.

1. Combining names for a single color that has two hue qualities, e.g., yellow-green, blue-violet, yellow-orange
2. Limiting names by the use of a modifier denoting lightness, e.g., dark blue, dark red, light red, light blue, light green
3. Limiting names by the use of a modifier referring to the degree of color saturation, e.g., dull red, bright red, dull green, bright green
4. Adding the suffix ish, e.g., yellowish, greenish, reddish
5. Using such descriptive adjectives as mellow, harsh, garish, or subtle

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

by Jonathan Assink

The Electrifying Colors of Candlelight

by photo-artiste.

Warm, romantic, rich, enlivening, homey, flattering to the complexion, prayerful, even mysterious and mystical—there's nothing quite like the atmospheric glow of candlelight. Though typically classified as yellow or golden, a flickering candle flame actually exhibits all the colors of the rainbow. A touch of candlelight can offer emotional appeal, a festive air, or a seductive sparkle to virtually any color palette.

According to Celtic lore, candlelight is the only illumination hospitable to shadow. "The ideal light to befriend the darkness, it gently opens up caverns in the darkness and prompts the imagination into activity. The candle allows the darkness to keep its secrets. There is shadow and color within every candle flame" (Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom, 1997).

A candle flame is composed of four distinct layers, visible to the naked eye. Each layer is a distinct color: white, light yellow, dark red (or brown or orange), and blue. At the base is a relatively cool blue layer (800° C), where the material of the burning candle is in contact with oxygen. A dark red cone surrounds the wick. Of low temperature (1000° C), this cone is formed of vaporized carbon molecules. Around the dark cone is a brighter layer of incandescent carbon (1200° C), light yellow in color. A thin outer envelope of hot white light (1400° C) is faintly luminous and tends toward yellow at the tip (where the carbon is completely combusted). A spectroscope reveals bright gaseous bands surrounding the outer envelope, colored yellow, green, blue, red, and violet.

The magic of candlelight offers a gold leaf finish to even the most squalid surroundings. "Candlelight takes the edge off clutter, mutes the blemish of poverty—the unupholstered, the unplastered, the peeling the tarnished, the unfinished. Candlelight relegates dust and dinge to the shadows, antiques all objects in a golden sepia tone and casts an oscillating incandescence that romanticizes even the sparest of dwellings. Candlelight elevates the street-picked, the shabby, the scavenged to haunting grandeur" (Laren Stover, Bohemian Manifesto, 2004).

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

What Can Be Said of a Non-Book?


A mention of "non-book indexing" led me to explore the current state of non-book literature.  The first item I found was entitled Energized Hypnosis: A Non-Book for Self Change.  It promises to put the reader into a hypnotic state, automatically.  (A marketing idea for computer manuals?)  This non-book has received several five-star reviews, but then again, by definition the raves would suggest themselves, eh?  One five-star review noted that, "For one thing, you don't have to do, think, or know anything."  Finally--the act of reading made as mind-numbing as watching television!  One three-star review had me in stitches:


I suppose I can agree that the market is saturated with "normal" books.  And I agree that while italics can blow one's mind on an occasional basis, they become dangerous with long-term use.  But to complain about directly communicated information?!  (Going back to that line, "I certainly didn't feel entranced," imagine a bad review of a horror film saying, "It's bullshit -- I didn't puke even once!")

Trivia about non-books:

"Many times the cataloging record for non-book items is much longer than the record for books.  This is due to the fact that there are more pieces of information needed in a non-book record.  The physical description is often longer, and there are usually more notes that are useful or required in a non-book record" (Idaho's Alternative Basic Library Education Program).

"A non-book is a non-book is a non-book, even if it comes from the pen of a distinguished political scientist" (Lewis A. Coser, review of Political Promises: Essays and Commentary on American Politics by Nelson W. Polsby).

"A publisher selling to a non-book retailer might well be asked to provide books marked with the Universal Product Code (UPC)" (Barcode-US.com).

"The non-book book is not a new phenomenon in publishing, but it has become more commonplace. ... A non-book differs from a book in several respects. It feels padded, reading more like a newspaper or magazine story in which a lack of time, adequate space, or brain matter keeps the writer from conveying complexity, perspective, gravitas. It trains its eye too much on today's headlines. And it too often prosecutes rather than explains" (Ken Auletta, review of Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters).

"In dealing wlth a 'non-book collector' who has a rare and valuable volume, express surprise and enthusiasm" (Delmar French, NYT Review of Books and Art).

The Old “Separated for 15 years, and Back from the Dead” Ruse

by MrUllmi.

Lens Flares: Sunbeams at Play

Stray rays of sunlight bouncing inside the lens barrel of a camera leave ghostly trails of stars, glowing halos, subtle rainbows, and specular orbs. Photographers may abhor these secondary traces of light, but lens flares serve a purpose: they create a sense of depth, focus intensity, provide an accent, and lend a dreamy glow to the scenario. The colors of lens flares are typically bright, desaturated, somewhat foggy, and somehow ethereal. Their charm lies in their uncontrolled, unpremeditated, and exuberant nature. Lens flares represent light at play within the tools we use to capture it. They offer brilliant highlights beyond our normal reach.

 

A ghostly green spectral crescent and pink aura of the moon inspired this palette. by Chealion.

 

A lens flare bathes a street preacher in a veritable patchwork quilt of colors (left). A sunrise over a church spire creates a lens flare rainbow of bright reds and blues (right). by Ouij and Guerito.

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

Piecing together the secret of the lamp . . .


 

Ne'er-do-wells shouldn't get all the attention.  What about:

Someone who is always helpful: an "e'er-do-well"
A kindly atheist: a "non-belie'er-do-well"
A most fetching labrador: a "retrie'er-do-well"
A protector of broad-tailed semi-aquatic rodents: a "bea'er-do-well"
A butcher who expertly wields his heavy broad blade: a "clea'er-do-well"
A mechanism's reliable projecting arm: a "le'er-do-well"
A 24-hour do-gooder: a "whene'er-do-well"
Someone who attempts to do the right thing: a "endea'or-do-well" (Brit. "endea'our-do-well")