Jesús Malverde

Not from The Onion, news of an unofficial patron saint of drug dealers, Jesús Malverde, the "narco-saint":

Mexican Robin Hood Figure Gains Notoriety (New York Times)
Jesús Malverde (Wikipedia)

Julia Ringma wins juice challenge

The challenge of The Three Juices has ended. Julia Ringma correctly guessed all three Platonic liquids: pineapple, loganberry, and tomato. Well done, Julia!

Thanks too to Ben and Stephen for playing.



This Libby's ad appeared in the April 29, 1940 issue of Life.

About loganberry juice (which I'd never heard of, and which would make breakfast really different): Wikipedia helps out.

The Three Juices

Yes, this grapefruit juice is marvelous. It's also economical, "table-ready," and "refreshing any time o' day."

But Mommie has a secret! What is she keeping from us? Reader, are you ready to meet the challenge of The Three Juices?

Here are two hints:

1. Each juice's name begins with a letter found in the name Plato.

2. Orange juice is not one of the three.

Leave a comment with your best guesses. You can guess again and again, and I'll give more hints (in the comments) as needed. You're on the honor system here: no looking online for the rest of this ad. (I don't think it's out there anyway.) The prize: undying fame in the form of a follow-up blog post. I'll also post the rest of the ad when (if?) there's a winner.

Update: We have a winner.

Manicule

Did you know what the hand-with-pointing-finger symbol is called, other than "hand-with-pointing-finger symbol"? Neither did I.

Manicule isn't in the Oxford English Dictionary, but it is a name for this symbol.

Related reading and viewing
Toward a History of the Manicule
Flickr manicule group

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

That striking line in Barack Obama's speech tonight comes from a Hopi prayer.

And "repair this world" comes from Judaism: tikkun olam.

A timeline of ancient history

[Illustration by Benjamin Leddy.]

The recent discovery of evidence of sacrifice to a pre-Greek, pre-Zeus deity enhances our understanding of the ancient world. So too this timeline, which my son Ben created some years ago, at the age of ten perhaps.

(Thanks, Ben, for the okay to show this work!)

Related post
Blue crayon

Free fonts from Jos Buivenga

You can find seven free fonts, all well designed, at Jos Buivenga's exljbris Font Foundry. I'm partial to Fontin Sans, my favorite sans serif for the past month.

The "Yes, We Can" song

It's meant for people younger than I am. I recognize only a handful of those involved: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock, Scarlett Johansson. But it brings tears to my eyes anyway.

If anyone can identify other participants (in a comment), I'd be grateful here in Squaresville.

Related reading
More Barack Obama posts

[Update: Here's a story, with at least some names: New Celeb-Filled Music Video for Obama (ABC News). I think I recognize Moby and Usher, not named in the ABC piece. Am I right?]

[Update, 2.5.07: I'm grateful to everyone who named names in the comments. Wikipedia now has an article that lists the participants, though not in sequence: Yes We Can.]

Tag
Yes, We Can

"Across the Universe," across the universe

NASA is to beam the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into space. But which "Universe"? NASA hasn't said. There are four official releases:

1. From a 1969 World Wildlife Fund charity record, with bird sounds at beginning and end, and two Apple scruffs (female fans) on the refrain. Now available on The Beatles' Past Masters, Volume Two. This version speeds up the tape, sounding in D# rather than D.

2. The Phil-Spectored version from Let It Be (1970). I grew up loving the song in this form (side 1, track 3), angelic chorus and all. This version slows down the tape, sounding in Db rather than D.

3. The Anthology 2 version (1996), a 1968 alternative take, with spare instrumentation. Here we hear the song at speed, in the key of D.

4. A de-Spectored remix of the 1968 master, released on Let It Be... Naked (2003). Also at speed.

My choice would be the Anthology version, which sounds warmest and, well, trippiest to me. No. 4 seems aggressive by comparison. Please, NASA, don't send up Spector.

Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono have both made statements about this project. Says cheeky Paul: "Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul." And Yoko: "I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe."

Related reading
Voyager music (NASA)

The Last Calligraphers

The Last Calligraphers, a forthcoming film by Premjit Ramachandran, tells the story of the Urdu publication The Musalman, Asia's only handwritten newspaper (est. 1927).

The Last Calligraphers is scheduled for summer 2008 release.

The Last Calligraphers (trailer, via moleskinerie)
A Handwritten Daily Paper (Wired)
Photo tour of The Musulman (Wired)