The BBC commemorates Churchill

Words fail me. Just go and look. Pythonesque.

South African arms race

Tighter gun ownership laws are pushing South Africans to buy crossbows, spears, swords, knives and pepper sprays to protect themselves from violent crime.

"We've had to build an entirely new shop because the demand from people is so great," Justin Willmers, owner of Durban Guns and Ammo, told Reuters. "It can be anything from a Zulu fighting spear, battle axes, swords, crossbows."

From Reuters.

Jewish scribes

An honored profession that is far from obsolete, as this Jerusalem Post article explains:

The scribe writes the Torah, the parchments inserted into the boxes of teffilin and the parchment inserted within the mezuzot affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes and premises. Thus, a scribe is usually called a sofer stam - the word stam being the acronym for sefer torah, teffilin and mezuzot.

Scribes are also employed to write gittin - bills of divorce, which must be written individually, by hand, for each particular case. A scribe writes with a quill made from the feather of a fowl and uses ink specially prepared for the task. His work is exacting, time-consuming and painstaking. No mistakes are allowed and in today's technologically advanced world, there are special computer driven programs that check the work of the sofer for accuracy and correctness.

Spotted via Palaeojudaica, which as usual is full of interesting material. Jim Davila's keeping a particularly close eye on the plans of Jewish extremists to mob the Temple Mount on April 10 -- which if they should come to pass, could have severe and unpredictable repercussions.

Look what I found in the garden . . .

Grano salis?

A New Zealand man who hit a metal object while digging the garden was shocked to find it was a . . . Second World War bren-gun carrier. . .

His wife Jane said: "He started uncovering it, thinking he could pull whatever it was out, but he had no luck.

From Ananova, which misidentifies the beast as a tank. More on the Universal Carrier here.

Medieval Franciscans reburied in Glasgow

FOR 500 years, they lay undisturbed as Glasgow changed from a small market town to the engine-room of an empire. Now, as their medieval burial ground becomes a science park, the remains of 20 followers of St Francis of Assisi are making the journey across the Clyde to their final resting place.

Full story here.

Mining the house sales

One of the UK's finest collections of minerals, discovered during a house clearance in Cumbria, is to go on display at a museum in the county.

John Hamer spent his life collecting rocks and fossils from mines and geological sites, meticulously recording where each one was found.

The collection remained unseen to the public until Mr Hamer died in 2004.

From the BBC.

Don't play through

From the Isle of Wight:

A SCHEME for an 18-hole golf course that would not only turn the ancient hamlet of Chawton at Northwood into an island but would destroy and damage any archaeological remains present has been rejected by planners.

A preliminary archaeological survey has revealed a complex of substantial Roman buildings — a find that could be of national importance.
Planners would need a full archaeological survey to be carried out before making a decision but golf course developers had asked them for a decision in principle before they were required to carry out such a costly exercise.

Culture controversy catch-up

Here are a couple of stories I meant to write up more promptly. The first regards the flap over an NPR reporter fired over his coverage of MOMA's role in the dispute over Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally, alleged to be Nazi loot. Catch up with the story over at ArtNet, with additional commentary over at Slate.

Meanwhile, there's been quite a bit of talk over the revelation that 19th-century author Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins, part of the African-American literary canon since the 1950s, was about as white as they come. Catch up on the story over at Cliopatra. It would appear the misidentification arose long after the fact from a racially ambiguous author portrait in one of her books; what is fascinating is how scholars had tied themselves into knots explaining why her books seemed so thoroughly, well, white. Bit of a local angle here, too, in that Kelley-Hawkins lived much of her life in and around northern Rhode Island.

George F. Kennan obit

Rather than link to the obituaries in various major newspapers, I'm going to direct you to David Adesnik's post at Oxblog. He takes an especially critical look at the NY Times' writeup, noting:

The NYT . . . never provides its readers with even the faintest suggestion that Kennan was fundamentally opposed to democracy promotion as a matter of principle. In contrast, the WaPo obituary of Kennan quotes him as saying that

"I would like to see our government gradually withdraw from its public advocacy of democracy and human rights. I submit that governments should deal with other governments as such, and should avoid unnecessary involvement, particularly personal involvement, with their leaders."

Mind you, Kennan's statement has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was a lifelong Democrat and that, these days, democracy promotion is a Republican agenda item. I can make this assertion with such confidence because Kennan's statement above is from 1999.

Yet while the Post deserves credit for recognizing the anti-democratic elements of Kennan's thinking (including his reactionary sexism and racism -- also ignored by the NYT), its provision of a quote from 1999 fails to inform readers that Kennan's opposition to promoting democracy was a six decade-long affair.

When asked to propose a US strategy for Latin America in the late 1940s, Kennan insisted that the United States must abandon its aversion to establishing firm alliances with right-wing dictators both because they were anti-communists and because the people of Latin America weren't ready for democracy.

I'm not quite sure what Glenn Reynolds was thinking when he called Kennan "the Wolfowitz of the Cold War, but with better press" inasmuch as Adesnik quite pointedly contrasts Kennan's "realism" with democracy promotion as advocated by contemporary neoconservatives. Two "architects of foreign policy", to be sure, but of such different edifices . . .

Notable quote from the Post, not cited by Adesnik:

W. Averell Harriman, the U.S. ambassador in Moscow when Mr. Kennan was minister-counselor of the U.S. Embassy, remarked that Mr. Kennan was "a man who understood Russia but not the United States."

MMA acquires Gilman photo collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art said yesterday that it had acquired the Gilman Paper Company Collection of photographs, an archive that includes hundreds of works from the medium's earliest years and that is widely considered to be the most important private photography collection in the world.

The more than 8,500 photographs, some purchased by the Met and some donated by the foundation that owns them, will greatly strengthen the museum's photography holdings and make it, along with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, one of the world's pre-eminent institutions for 19th-century photographs. . .

Hans Kraus, a Manhattan photography dealer, said the collection's value on the open market could exceed $100 million. "In terms of its importance and breadth, it is unparalleled as a private collection," he said.

The collection was built by Howard Gilman, a paper magnate, beginning in the late 1970's. It has had a long association with the Met, which often added to its own photography collection in consultation with the Gilman collection's curator, Pierre Apraxine.

From the NY Times.

Children at war

In the dimmed light of the Imperial War Museum, the faces change. A smiling teenage boy, a girl with a rose in her hair, a young man in a tie, slowly blur into the lines of age, creases appearing around the eyes. Behind them flash images of the second world war; huddled faces, men and stretchers, St Paul's through smoke.

Standing watching this display, part of the Children's War exhibition that opens on Friday at the museum in London, is John Hipkin, now 78, who was Britain's youngest prisoner of war.

Mr Hipkin, a cabin boy in the merchant navy, had only been at sea for 21 days when he was captured by German forces and taken to a prisoner of war camp. He was 14. "I spent more time on German ships than I did on British ones," he quips. . .

When he finished school at 14, in 1941, he faced a choice of going to sea or working in the [coal] pits . . . .

From the Guardian. As is typical of Imperial War Museum exhibitions, this will be up for a good long time: three years. The exhibition website is here.

Pearls before . . . us

A pearl once owned by the builder of the Taj Mahal, another on loan from actress Elizabeth Taylor and the Hope Pearl - a former partner to the Hope Diamond - are among a dozen of the world's rarest pearls going on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. . .

The Hope Pearl, white at one end blending to greenish bronze at the other, set with a gold and red crown, measures 2 inches by 4 inches. The famed blue Hope Diamond has for years attracted visitors to the museum's Harry Winston Gallery.

The two were last together in 1839 when Hope died and his collection was dispersed. "At least for this summer they will be back together in the same room," [Smithsonian curator Jeffrey] Post said.

The Hope is on loan from an anonymous collector in England who also provided another prize, the Pearl of Asia. Sometimes called the Star of Asia, it is said by some to be the world's largest natural pearl. Neither pearl has been on public display for more than 40 years . . .

Another highlight of the exhibit, opening Friday and running through Sept. 5, is "La Peregrina," discovered in the 1500s off the coast of what is now Panama and brought to Spain's King Philip II, who gave it to his wife, Queen Mary Tudor. Later owners have included Joseph Bonaparte and French Emperor Napoleon III.

From the Guardian. Not much up yet at the Smithsonian site; their new and upcoming exhibitions page is here.

You are what you . . .

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found rare 3000-year-old human fossilised droppings revealing the healthy diet of Scotland's ancient inhabitants.

Work on a Bronze Age farmhouse in Catpund, Shetland, has unearthed the coprolites, which give clues on the population, health and wealth distribution of the former islanders.

Full story here.

RI's new fire code: historic sites try to comply

In the wake of Rhode Island's deadly Station nightclub fire, state fire codes were tightened as were inspection procedures. In many cases, however, some creative measures are required to retrofit older buildings. If this has been a burden to local institutions, they are certainly in good company: as today's Providence Journal reports, even our state capitol is now in violation:

State officials have 90 days to come up with a plan to bring the State House into compliance with the new fire codes enacted in response to The Station nightclub fire.

Inspectors found 32 fire-safety violations beneath the marble dome. And while some problems have been fixed, officials said the remaining items pose major challenges for balancing fire safety and historical character, public access and security.

UK's oldest veteran recalls Zeppelin raid

Britain's oldest war veteran has stepped back in time to recall when the country first came under aerial attack.

Henry Allingham, 108, was a Royal Naval Air Service mechanic in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, when the Germans launched a Zeppelin raid on the port in 1915.

Read the rest at the BBC. May we all look so good at 108. . . .

Leonardo parody "blasphemy"?

SUPERMODELS have fallen foul of France's blasphemy laws with an advertising campaign that parodies Leonardo da Vinci's painting, The Last Supper.

A judge ordered the advertising posters to be removed yesterday from billboards across France within three days or risk a daily fine of €100,000 (£70,000). . .

The advertising campaign for the Girbaud fashion house shows designer-clad women in the pose of the apostles and a half-naked man as Jesus Christ. . .

The campaign, which was also banned by magistrates in Milan in February, was described as offensive to Catholics by the presiding judge, Jean-Claude Magendie.

From the Times of London, spotted via Eugene Volokh. The ruling is apparently being appealed.

Dam to submerge another ancient city?

The Pan-European Federation for Heritage, Europa Nostra, asked for Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül's help in saving the ancient city of Allianoi from being flooded by Yortanlı Dam, which is to begin operation in November. . .

The flooding to be caused by the dam would constitute a great loss to Turkey's historical legacy and also deprive the country of tourism. If no solution is found, Allianoi will be submerged and lost forever under the waters of Yortanlı Dam.

Situated near Bergama at the Paşa Thermal Spa, Allianoi was founded during the Hellenic period and was transformed by Roman Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). Dr. Ahmet Yaraş and his staff discovered the ancient city Allainoi during construction of the state waterworks dam in 1995.

Full story here. The Allianoi website is here.

Send your car to the quantum mechanics

How do motor oil additives work, and how might they be improved?

To unlock the deeper secrets behind additives, Müser and his team used computer simulations to subject the most popular lubricant additives — zinc dialkyldithiophosphates, also called ZDDPs — to conditions similar to those that would be found in a running engine. . .

The researchers determined, through quantum chemical simulations, that pressure within an engine, and not heat, causes changes to occur within ZDDP. When first subjected to pressure, ZDDP has a somewhat disconnected state, where its chemical bonds are loosely arranged. As pressure builds, atoms form cross-linked, tight bonds.

When the substance was at this high-pressure stage, Müser and his colleagues were able to confirm a popular motor oil advertising claim: additives do act as "smart materials."

From Discovery News.

London church services reviews

Wonder if Zagat's will take this on in the States?

Ship-of-Fools, the online Christian magazine, is sending the religious equivalent of Mystery Shoppers to check on the quality of church services in London.

The Mystery Worshippers will visit churches across London Sunday 24 April and take note of sermon quality and length, pew comfort and the quality of after-service coffee. All visits are anonymous but the Mystery Shoppers will put a calling card, complete with picture of the Lone Ranger, in the collection plate.

From The Register. The Mystery Worshipper page is here (volunteer reviewers are still being sought!).

Skeletons in the cupboard

SKELETONS in the closet were a real-life problem for Ashford Price when he opened a cupboard in his late aunt's bedroom to be confronted with dozens of human remains.

The grand Georgian townhouse in the stately sweep of Swansea's leafy St James's Crescent had hidden a secret for decades until its owner, Brenda Morgan, 84, passed away.

Police were immediately called after the discovery, but suspicions were dampened when it was noticed all the bones had been carefully cleaned and numbered.

The remains were in fact 42 human skeletons dating back over 3,000 years to the Bronze Age. They had been discovered at Dan yr Ogof caves by the Morgan family 80 years ago.

Full story here.

Taj Mahal to be repossessed?

The Indian state is facing an extraordinary legal challenge to its ownership of the country's most famous national monument, the Taj Mahal. And the claim of ownership comes from the minority that has arguably faced the most discrimination and mistreatment in recent decades: Muslims. . .

The ownership claim comes from the Sunni Waqf Board, a Muslim trust. The Waqf claims it has a legal title to the Taj because the Indian government granted it ownership of all Muslim tombs and graveyards in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the Taj is located.

Read the rest here.

Einstein speaks

Spoken with an extremely strong German accent, some of the words are not even recognisable in the 57-second broadcast - but the the expression "E=mc squared" is unmistakable.

For the first time, a commercial CD of Albert Einstein explaining the world's most famous equation is available today, to celebrate the birthday of the most remarkable physicist of the 20th century.

The CD, published by the British Library, includes George Bernard Shaw's speech in praise of Einstein, which is regarded as one of the finest examples of a public eulogy. . .

From the Telegraph.

Mycenaean tomb near Athens to be reburied & overbuilt

An impressive tomb used by a Mycenaean family that ruled parts of eastern Attica over 3,000 years ago is to vanish from sight, 10 years after its discovery, due to the Culture Ministry’s straitened finances.

According to a decision by the ministry’s Central Archaeological Council late on Wednesday, the large subterranean chamber tomb — which archaeologists describe as unique in Attica — will be reburied to allow development on the plot where it was found, at Glyka Nera, on the eastern fringes of Athens.

From Kathimerini.

Thai temple loot on exhibit

A temple raider struggling with 50 years of guilt has admitted looting priceless Thai treasures in the hope that his confession will secure the return of a gold crown from an American museum.

Li Kasemsang, 78, has revealed that he was part of a gang that stripped 300lb of gold crowns, swords, jewellery and statues - some dating back to the 15th century - from one of the biggest temples in Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital.

After the raid in 1957, only 20 per cent of the haul was recovered. The Thai authorities had no idea that an ornate gold crown which they believe could have been stolen was in the United States until it emerged last month at an exhibition in San Francisco. The Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is now fighting to get it back, plunging the exhibition into controversy and putting the crown at the heart of the latest fine art "custody battle".

The crown, which is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was listed in a catalogue for The Kingdom of Siam exhibition as "probably from the crypt of the main tower of Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya" - the temple emptied by Mr Li and 20 accomplices.

From the Telegraph.

Venetian glass, Venetian painting

While sifting through 15th- and 16th-century documents at the state archives in Venice, Louisa Matthew came across an ancient inventory from a Venetian seller of artist's pigments. The dusty sheet of paper, dated 1534, was buried in a volume of inventories of deceased persons' estates. . .

This inventory of artists' materials could hold the answer to a question that had long vexed conservation scientists: How did Venetian Renaissance painters create the strong, clear, and bright colors that make objects and figures in their paintings appear to glow?

The diversity of items on the list amazed Matthew. It included not only painters' pigments such as azurite, vermilion, and orpiment, but also raw materials used in a variety of crafts. "So, it wasn't just the painters who were buying from the color seller," she says. Glassmakers and dye-makers were also frequenting the shop. If the color shop was a nexus for all these different craftspersons, she reasoned, "maybe they were sharing ideas"—and materials too.

Sure enough, there is quite a bit of glass incorporated in contemporary Venetian paintings. What I find a bit surprising, though, is that this hadn't been noted before -- or had it? Nonspecialist articles like this often fail to make clear what is an entirely new discovery and what is a refinement of something already known in outline.

Mixing glass with paint may have served a non-aesthetic purpose as well. Marika Spring, a conservation scientist at the National Gallery of London, has found glass in several works by two other Italian Renaissance painters—Perugino and Raphael—who mixed powdered colorless glass with red lake pigments and many others.

Rather than enhancing the colors, the glass likely functioned as a desiccant, or drying agent, Spring says. . .

The transparency of the glass may also have been important, she notes. The red-lake pigments were already quite transparent. It would have made sense for painters to choose a transparent drying agent, such as colorless glass, to preserve the transparent quality of the paint, says Spring.

In Perugia, Italy, at a workshop in 2003 on Perugino's painting technique, Spring ran into several other conservation scientists who have found powdered colorless glass in 15th- and 16th-century Italian paintings.

Full story here.