Clancy Tucker's Blog, page 55

28 April 2021 - GOBEKLI TEPE, TURKEY - OLDEST TEMPLE IN THE WORLD

 

GOBEKLI TEPE, TURKEY 

- OLDEST TEMPLE IN THE WORLD -

 

G'day folks,

Göbekli Tepe is often referred to as the first temple or the oldest temple in the world.  Built in 10th millennia BC, this massive, ancient temple in Turkey is made out of pillars structured into great stone rings. This remarkable stone temple was built by prehistoric people (hunter-gatherers) on a hilltop and is considered the oldest human-made place of worship ever discovered.  
Göbekli Tepe is older than written language and was built even before the beginning of agriculture and animal farming. Interestingly, the site was initially dismissed by anthropologists who believed it to be a medieval grave. However, Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute visited the site in 1994 and felt that there was something massive hidden underneath. This proved true as radiocarbon dating confirmed that Göbekli Tepe was built 11,500 years ago and is truly one of the most monumental archaeological discoveries in recent history.   Clancy's comment: Amazing discovery, eh?
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22 April 2021 - AMAZING BEACH ART WITH STONES

 

AMAZING BEACH

 ART WITH STONES

G'day folks,

Land art is a vastly underrated form that often doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves. 

 There are a number of talented artists in different corners of the world creating beautiful art on land that is usually forgotten. A major reason for this is that land art is ephemeral and will get erased sooner or later. However, there are some works from this field that leave an indelible imprint in your mind. Jon Foreman’s art falls in that category.

Foreman is the creator of various styles of land art. Sometimes, he uses stones or driftwood on beaches or draws something massive on the sand. He doesn’t get bogged down by his work getting erased due to weather and immediate climate change either, for he believes that his art is part of the creative process from which he is supposed to learn regularly. Here, we present some of the best beach stone art by Jon Foreman. These are just stones he has found on the beach and organized them in stunning arrangements that are so pleasing to the eyes.

Clancy's comment: Brilliant, and certainly time-consuming.

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25 March 2021 - WHO WAS THIS UNKNOWN FRENCH WOMAN?

 WHO WAS THIS

 UNKNOWN

 FRENCH WOMAN?

 

G'day folks,

Sometime in the late 19th century, the drowned body of a young woman was recovered from the Seine in Paris. As was customary in those days, the body was put on display at the Paris mortuary, in the hope that someone would recognize and identify her.

 Although no one came forward, she did catch the eye of one pathologist, who became so entranced by the girl’s face and her mysterious half-smile that he asked a molder to take a plaster cast of her face. The mask, which some refer to as the ‘drowned Mona Lisa’ or ‘L’Inconnue’ became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring artists like Louis Aragon, Man Ray, and Vladimir Nabokov, to imagine stories around the mystery woman. 

 

 

 But what really immortalized the face of L’Inconnue, and where you probably recognize her form is this: a Norwegian toy manufacturer specializing in soft plastic created the first CPR mannequin — using the unknown woman’s face. He drew inspiration from a replica of the mask hanging in his parent's home. His creation is now the standard CPR doll model, dubbed Rescue Annie.

Clancy's comment: It's extraordinary that an unknown woman can become so famous.

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21 April 2021 - CONSTRUCTION OF TOWER BRIDGE - LONDON 1893

 

CONSTRUCTION OF

 TOWER BRIDGE

 - LONDON 1893 -

 

G'day folks,

Great and rare photos during construction of some of the most famous structures in history, that we all know well in their completed form, but rarely have we seen photos from the times they were actually built. From the photos we can estimate the amount of hard work that went into building this huge engineering and architectural project. 


 

 

Clancy's comment: An extraordinary piece of engineering. I get shivers when I see those workmen standing on girders.

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15 April 2021 - PROHIBITION AND AL CAPONE

 

PROHIBITION 

AND AL CAPONE

 

G'day folks,

January 16, 1920 — The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution came into effect on this day, making the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquor illegal.  

It was the start of a 13-year era known as Prohibition that led to gangsterism, “speakeasies”, and widespread flouting of the law.

 Speakeasies were establishments where people could buy an illicit drink. It is widely believed the term dates back to the 1880s when a woman named Kate Hester ran an unlicensed bar in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and would tell boisterous customers they should “speak easy” to avoid unwelcome attention from the authorities.

Another word that came to prominence during the Prohibition years was “bootlegging”, meaning the illegal transportation of liquor. This is also said to date back to the 1880s and referred to the practice of men hiding a flask of liquor in their boot top when trading with Native Americans.

Prohibition came about because a burgeoning Temperance movement, which had a branch in almost every state, blamed alcohol for many of society's ills, especially crime and murder. Members of the movement also argued that prohibition would stop husbands spending their income on alcohol and it would prevent accidents in the workplace caused by drunken workers. A better world awaited.

After the 18th Amendment set the ball rolling, the Volstead Act, officially known as the National Prohibition Act, clarified the law.

It stated that "beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquors" referred to any beverage that was more than 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume. The Act also stated that owning any item designed to manufacture alcohol was illegal and set fines of up to $2,000 and prison sentences of up to five years for violating Prohibition.

The Act did not prohibit drinking alcohol but outlawed its manufacture, sale, and transportation. People were allowed to drink intoxicating liquor in their own home or in the home of a friend when they were a guest. But they were not allowed to carry a hip flask or give or receive a bottle of liquor as a gift.

President Woodrow Wilsonvetoed the Act on constitutional and ethical grounds but his veto was overridden by Congress.

Noting the high demand for alcohol, gangsters such as Al Capone of Chicago quickly moved to take advantage of the situation. They hired men who came to be known as rumrunners to smuggle in rum from the Caribbean while others brought in whiskey and other alcohol from Canada. Speakeasies operated by Capone and other gangsters flourished while newly hired Prohibition Bureau agents, as well as police, judges and politicians received substantial bribes to “look the other way”.

As gangland territorial wars flared bringing murder and mayhem onto the streets, and resentment against Prohibition grew, demands for the law to be repealed became more vocal. It was clear, critics, said, that the perfect world promised by the Temperance movement had not materialised.

The Stock Market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression were powerful factors in the fight against Prohibition. Put simply, people needed jobs and the government needed money. Convincing arguments were put forward that the abolition of Prohibition would create many new jobs as well as boosting revenue for the government through sales taxes.

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. It repealed the 18th Amendment, making the manufacture, sale and distribution of alcohol legal again. It was the first and only time in US history that an Amendment to the Constitution has been repealed. And it meant that Prohibition was officially at an end. Many drank to that.

 

Clancy's comment: I'll drink to that.

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12 April 2021 - BEING THERE AT THE RIGHT TIME

 

BEING THERE AT

 THE RIGHT TIME

G'day folks,

Sometimes you just get that lucky feeling... or maybe you're a dedicated photographer who spends years, months, weeks and days hiding in various bushy places to deliver such stunning photos back at us to enjoy, and we sure do. Enjoy this great selection of beautiful animal shots. 











 

Clancy's comment: Brilliant! 

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11 April 2021 - VINTAGE NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

 

VINTAGE 

NEWSPAPER

 HEADLINES

 

G'day folks,

With the dawn of the internet, printed papers may soon enough become obsolete. Yet, while there's no denying that receiving your news online is more convenient, the below printed papers from the past will make you feel nostalgic. Still, some things never change, such as the edgy headlines that editors use to attract their readers. Here are some famous samples ...














Clancy's comment: I recall the last one when I lived in Washington DC.
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23 April 2021 - PHOTO-REALISM – PAINTINGS DRAWN BY HAND

 

PHOTO-REALISM

 - PAINTINGS DRAWN BY HAND -

 

G'day folks,

Photo-realism is an art movement that astounds and humbles me. The sheer skill and patience it requires to make paintings that are so life-like, so much like a real photograph, is mind blowing. All the paintings you are about to see were drawn, not by a computer, but by the hands of talented artists, able to re-create reality with nothing but brush strokes and an artist's eye. Check out these wonderful examples.

 

Clancy's comment: Amazing talent, eh?

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19 April 2021 - Fantastic African Pen Art of Enam Bosokah

Fantastic African Pen

 Art of Enam Bosokah

G'day folks,

I'm always pleased to exhibit the work of brilliant artists, and here is one today. 

 The young African artist Enam Bosokah has the amazing ability to create hyper-realistic portraits with nothing but a regular pen! Enam continues to amaze the world with his majestic works that teach us something: To create art, the only elements really necessary are passion, creativity and talent. He obviously has all 3, as his paintings almost seem to come alive.

Clancy's comment: Stunning!

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10 April 2021 - GILETTE – FACTS ABOUT THE RAZOR KING

 

GILETTE

 – FACTS ABOUT THE RAZOR KING -

 

G'day folks,

January 5, 1855 — Safety razor pioneer King Camp Gillette, who was born on this day, may have made millions from his business but he was a Utopian Socialist at heart.

So much so that he dreamed of the day when all industry would be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public, and that everyone in the United States would live in a giant city called Metropolis powered by Niagara Falls.

Gillette envisaged setting up a company to make this vision come true and offered Theodore Roosevelt a million dollars if he would run the operation. The former President declined.

Ancestors of the strangely named King Camp Gillette were French Huguenots who moved to England, then in the 17th Century to the newly established Massachusetts Bay Colony. After King was born in 1855 the family moved from Wisconsin, where they had settled, to Chicago, where he was raised.

He became a travelling salesman of hardware and in 1895, while honing a “cut-throat” razor so that he could shave before starting work, he thought how much better it would be to avoid this dangerous and tedious daily task by using a replaceable razor.

Men had been grappling with the problem for centuries. Prehistoric cave drawings show that clam shells, sharpened flints and even shark’s teeth had been used for shaving. Gillette’s ideas were rather more sophisticated, even if they were not new.

The first safety razor was in fact invented in the 1880s by the Kampfe Brothers of New York, and as writer Brennan Kilbane of Allure magazine noted: “Gillette did not invent the razor, nor the safety razor, nor the concept of disposable blades, but he was the first to patent it. His economic legacy is best felt in the frustration that heats your face when you realise your $22 razor blade set requires you to continually repurchase a $36 eight-pack of refills.”

This all stems from advice given to the young entrepreneurial Gillette by an employer: “Invent something that will be used and thrown away so that the customer will keep coming back.”

Gillette's disposable blades created a new and lucrative retail concept in which razors were sold quite cheaply so that consumers would be locked into the need to continuously purchase relatively expensive blades. The selling technique would become known as the ‘razor and blades model’ and is perhaps most associated today with the printers and ink market.

In its first year of trading in 1903, the Gillette Safety Razor Company sold 51 razors and 168 blades. By the end of 1904, it had produced 90,000 razors and 12,400,000 blades. Gillette’s innovative sales strategy – selling the razors at a loss but making profit on the blades – would turn him into a multi-millionaire.

The fabulously wealthy King Camp Gillette died in 1932, aged 77. Today, the highly successful Gillette brand is owned by the US-based multi-national Procter & Gamble company which purchased the business in 2005 for a staggering $57 billion.

 

Clancy's comment: Imagine how many razor blades have been used?

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