Da Vinci: Up Close

Oct28

See Da Vinci’s famous painting up close and in detail. Fascinating.

Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ Goes Online
By COLLEEN BARRY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
October 27, 2007 11:15 PM EDT
MILAN, Italy –
Can’t get to Milan to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper?” As of Saturday, all you need is an Internet connection. Officials put online an image of the “Last Supper” at 16 billion pixels –1,600 times stronger than the images taken with the typical 10 million pixel digital camera.

The high resolution will allow experts to examine details of the 15th century wall painting that they otherwise could not – including traces of drawings Leonardo put down before painting. The high-resolution allows viewers to look at details as though they were inches from the art work, in contrast to regular photographs, which become grainy as you zoom in, said curator Alberto Artioli.

“You can see how Leonardo made the cups transparent, something you can’t ordinarily see,” said Artioli. “You can also note the state of degradation the painting is in.”

Besides allowing experts and art-lovers to study the masterpiece from home, Artioli said the project provides an historical document of how the painting appears in 2007, which will be valuable to future generations of art historians.

The work, in Milan’s Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, was restored in a painstaking effort that wrapped up in 1999 – a project aimed at reversing half a millennium of damage to the famed artwork. Leonard painted the “Last Supper” dry, so the painting did not cleave to the surface in the fresco style, meaning it is more delicate and subject to wear.

“Over the years it has been subjected to bombardments; it was used as a stall by Napoleon,” Artioli said. The restoration removed 500 years of dirt while also removing previous restoration works that masked Leonardo’s own work.

Even those who get to Milan have a hard time gaining admission to see the “Last Supper.” Visits have been made more difficult by measures to protect it. Twenty-five visitors are admitted every 15 minutes to see the painting for a total of about 320,000 visitors a year. Visitors must pass through a filtration system to help reduce the work’s exposure to dust and pollutants.

“The demand is three or four times higher, but we can’t accommodate it because of efforts to preserve the painting,” Artioli said.

Back to Standard Time: NOT

Oct28

REUTERS. Don’t set your clocks back an hour this weekend or you’ll have a lot of coworkers laughing at you on Monday morning. This year, Daylight Saving Time ends 2 a.m. the first Sunday in November, instead of the last Sunday in October.
For that, you can thank the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005. To save energy, U.S. legislators set the stage then for 34 weeks of DST, beginning this year.

The savings “could be in the ballpark” of 1% of household consumption on a daily basis, said Rob Douglas, research officer at the time standards group of the National Research Council of Canada.
So it won’t be until next week that everyone rolls back the hands of time — everyone except Saskatchewan that is. The province stubbornly sticks with Central Standard Time, year round.

Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson

Oct27

Leepike Ridge was a book that my mom wanted me to read. She said that I needed to broaden my taste in books. I didn’t read it, and my mom decided that she would read it to us at night. I went along with it, and one night, we had finished reading and the end of the chapter left me in suspense. I picked up the book and started to read, and I learned that it was a very good book. Here is the basic story:

In this book, there is a boy named Tom Hammond. He lived in a house on top of a huge rock. His dad was dead, but his mother was still alive. It all starts out with a new refrigerator. He was catching crawdads in the stream next to his house. He ran to where the delivery men are grunting and heaving the heavy box up the stairs. When the delivery men were done with their job, he took the box and packing foam and brought it down the stairs to the woods. He threw the box and it hit a rock; he threw the packing foam and it fell in a tree. He knockeed it down and threw it again and started to play with it, as though he were in the army. He left it on the bank and went back home. There was his mom’s boyfriend, Jeffrey. Tom didn’t like Jeffrey, and when his mom said that he was staying for supper… Tom was close to blowing. After supper, his mom told Jeffrey about how Tom was playing with a box, and that it sounded like when he played with his army men. “I do not, play with army men.” Tom said and about one minute later, he stormed out of the house. He stood for a moment, and started to climb up the house and onto the roof. He stood on the chimney, and looked down. A couple of minutes later, his mom came out and called him, he didn’t answer. Oh, well, I don’t want to give the whole story away, so I am going to leave you there!

Sherry’s review of Leepike Ridge.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born October 27th

Oct27

“For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.”

“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.”

“Don’t hit at all if you can help it; don’t hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep.”

“I don’t think any President ever enjoyed himself more than I did. Moreover, I don’t think any ex-President ever enjoyed himself more.”

Theodore Roosevelt became president at forty-two, when William McKinley was assassinated. Although he wasn’t the youngest man ever elected president (Kennedy, age 43), Teddy was the youngest to become president. When TR’s second term was over, he was still only fifty years old, making him the youngest ex-president, too.

T.R., b. 1858, is my favorite of all the presidents. I don’t say he was the best or the wisest or the one I would most agree with politically, but he would definitely be the most interesting dinner guest of all the presidents. Which president, or first lady, would you invite to your home if you could?

Bumper Stickers that Made Me Go, “Huh?”

Oct24

Almost everybody collects something. I collect books, so I don’t really have room for any other collections in my house. (In fact, my children would say that the books have taken over the house.) However, I also collect something that doesn’t take up any space: bumper stickers. Actually, bumper sticker slogans. I saw both of these when I was taking my son to canoeing class last Thursday.

On the left side of the bumper: CLEAN AND SOBER
On the right side of the bumper: SOBER AND CRAZY
(Should I be worried or reassured?)

On the back of a black car with a Goth-looking girl driving:

Knowledge is power.
Power corrrupts.
Study hard. Be evil.

Underneath that one on the same black car: Kill all the hippies.
(Is this some attempt at irony? Hippies want peace, so kill all the hippies? If so, it’s a little/lot heavy-handed, don’t you think? I guess it fits with the first syllogism.)

Have you seen any interesting bumper stickers lately?

To this Great Stage of Fools: Born October 23rd

Oct23

Robert Seymour Bridges, b. 1844. English poet, poet laureate from 1913 to his death in 1930. According to Wikipedia, “At Corpus Christi College, Bridges became friends with Gerard Manley Hopkins, who is now considered a superior poet but who owes his present fame to Bridges’ efforts in arranging the posthumous publication (1916) of his verse.” Bridges was also a translator of hymns, including O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded, When Morning Gilds the Skies, and Bach’s famous Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.
Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

Laurie Halse Anderson, b. 1961. She’s the same age as my baby sister. She wrote Speak, an excellent YA book about a difficult subject. Semicolon review here. She’s also the author of Fever 1793, a fictional account of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in that year.

To this Great Stage of Fools: Born October 22nd

Oct22

Marjorie Flack, b. 1897. Artist and children’s author. She wrote several well-loved children’s classics, including:

The Story about Ping: Ping, a little yellow duck, is the last duck to come home when the boatman calls, and the last duck across the bridge gets a spank. So instead of taking his spank, Ping hides and gets separated from his wise-eyed boat on the Yangtze River. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese.
Ask Mr. Bear Similar to Charlotte zolotow’s Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, Danny asks all the animals for help in finding the perfect birthday present for his mother.
Angus and the Ducks
Angus and the Cat
Angus Lost: Semicolon review here.
Walter, the Lazy Mouse
The Boats on the River: Caldecott Honor book in 1947, illustrated by Jay Hyde Barnum.
Wait for William William is late for the parade when he stops to tie his shoe, but he gets the best parade view of all.
Tim Tadpole and the Great Bullfrog
Neighbors on the Hill
The Restless Robin
Angus and Wagtail Bess
All Around the Town: The Story of a Boy in New York

Ms. Flack also illustrated The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward. Marjorie Flack’s second husband was William Rose Benet, brother of Stephen Vincent Benet. William Benet was a Pulitzer prize winning poet (1942) as was his brother, and Marjorie was his fourth wife. She outlived him.

Mike Huckabee: It’s Time to Support a Conservative Values Candidate

Oct22

I’ve not written anything on my blog about politics for a very long time. Some of you who are new readers may not even know that I am one of those scary Christian conservatives. And, yes, I’m to some extent a one-issue voter: I believe abortion is wrong, that as Americans we are destroying our nation by destroying our children in the womb. I can’t vote for anyone who believes that abortion is just another choice, so I’m going to have a real problem if our choice come election time is between Rudy Giulani, Mr. Pro-Abortion Republican, and Hilary Clinton, Ms. Pro-Abortion Democrat.

I have resisted becoming mentally engaged in choosing a candidate for an election so far in advance. I think many people, even those who have been politically active in the past, have been reluctant to even think about an election that doesn’t even take place for another year. However, if you agree with the position I took in the first paragraph of this post, we have to try to do something about it now rather than later. The first primaries may take place as early as the beginning of January. If people of faith, those who oppose abortion and believe in limited government, don’t start now to suppport a candidate who shares those values, we will be left with a Hobson’s choice come election time. Either take this pro-abortion Republican or don’t vote, and thereby throw the election to an even more pro-abortion Democrat.

So I’m supporting Mike Huckabee for President. I think he can win. I think we should start talking about his ideas and positions, start sending him money, start blogging about him, support his candidacy in any way we can. And I’m going to be doing just that on Mondays for a while here on Semicolon. If you don’t want to read about Huckabee or about politics or about the election, skip Mondays. But if you’re interested in finding out more, here are a few links to get you started.

Athol Dickson: Should We Give Up?: I would like to send a message to the kingmakers that they are wrong, that we should not give up, that we should have some faith for crying out loud, that democracy is not yet dead and there can still be a real choice in 2008. Do you believe that’s possible? If you do, I strongly suggest that you get busy right now.

Joel Griffith at the Seventh Sola: “Mike Huckabee’s performance last night was solid given the constraints. He clearly stated his positions on social issues of concern to Christians, and they match up with mine. More than that, despite the short time alloted him by the questioners, he even pitched some quick, innovative ideas on health care and the Social Security question. I’d love to see those ideas fleshed out substantively.”

Quaid at Thinklings: “Instead of being like Bob Jones III, who has chosen a candidate for the chief reason of their ability to beat Hillary Clinton (btw – this is some of the more-flawed reasoning I’ve seen in a while), maybe you should choose a candidate who actually believes what you believe, stands what you stand for and honors God in the process. Forget the fact that he doesn’t seem electable now – if you and enough others choose to stand on principle instead of politics, what seems impossible quickly becomes probable.”

Mike Huckabee’s website:

My faith is my life – it defines me. My faith doesn’t influence my decisions, it drives them. For example, when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth. I don’t separate my faith from my personal and professional lives.

Real faith makes us humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same frailties we have. Faith gives us strength in the face of injustice and motivates us to do our best for “the least of us.”

I agree with Mr. Huckabee, and if this attitude makes us “scary” sobeit. Let’s have a lot more strength and justice and a lot less cowardice and fear.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born October 21st

Oct21

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, b. 1772

Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

Ursula K. LeGuin b. 1929. Does this brief piece by LeGuin on “What Makes a Story?” make sense to you? Ms. LeGuin has written some fine fantasy, including the Earthsea novels.

Ann Cameron, b. 1943. Author of easy-to-read chapter books for children. I like the Julian books very much, especially the story in which Julian and his little brother, Huey, eat their father’s special lemon pudding, a pudding that tastes “like a whole raft of lemons, like a night on the sea.” When Father wakes up from his nap to find the pudding gone and Julian and Huey hiding under the bed, he hauls them out and makes the punishment fit the crime.

Janet Ahlberg, b. 1944.

Also on this date in 1879, Thomas A. Edison first demonstrated his incandescent lamp. And it’s the birthday of Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, who left his fortune to endow the Noble Prizes.