tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88858869445510966422024-03-19T11:47:31.606-04:00One-Page Schoolhouseeducating
one page at a timeKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.comBlogger515125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-37587124159701377682024-03-19T11:47:00.001-04:002024-03-19T11:47:00.142-04:00Try Balancing An Egg On Its EndSome people believe that the Sun's gravitational pull during the spring and fall equinoxes can help keep an egg standing on its end. You might try that today as we tilt into spring.
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The balancing egg trick is often demonstrated at El Mitad del Mundo, a monument in Ecuador that celebrates the imaginary line that divides the Earth's Northern and Southern Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-5500354993680741142024-03-01T12:30:00.001-05:002024-03-01T12:30:00.263-05:00JFK, James Bond and the MoviesI have a friend who has become in his late years a real conspiracy theory believer. He doubts that people were ever on the Moon and subscribes to many theories about politics and culture. He gets a lot of his information from what I consider spurious sources - and he laughs at me because I believe in the big, established media news sources. He doesn't believe most of the popular theories Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-28709740803352185332024-01-15T16:27:00.003-05:002024-01-15T16:27:46.783-05:00The Immortal Jellyfish Jellyfish have been working their way through the Earth’s waters for 600 million years. That is before the dinosaurs, before flowers or fungi. They have survived five mass extinctions.They don’t have a brain or heart, just a nervous system. Is that part of the way they have survived? I am so hung up on the idea that our nervous system is intimately connected to our heart and brain, I cannotKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-89110544872419245932023-12-05T16:31:00.007-05:002023-12-05T16:53:30.786-05:00Agrippa's Cabinet of CuriositiesReading Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s encyclopedic study of magic is like stumbling into a vast cabinet of curiosities, where toad bones boil water, witches transmit misery through optical darts, and numbers, arranged correctly, can harness the planets’ powers. Agrippa was a Renaissance polymath, His occult insights into the structure of the universe, discovering a path that leads both upwardKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-81466469884206842382023-12-04T17:20:00.001-05:002023-12-04T17:20:13.907-05:00Planned Impermanence and a Book of the DeadAgrippa book via WikipediaAgrippa (A Book of the Dead) was published in 1992. It was a book designed to decay from its very first use. It was an unusual conceit and played into our fears about malfunctioning technology ahead of the dawning millennium.The source of the image shown above is the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This is the museum's copy of the book, first shown Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-4404635705463405612023-11-28T11:42:00.022-05:002023-11-28T11:42:00.343-05:00Putting Gatsby on the ScreenOne of the Great American Novels on my list and other lists is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.It has been made into several films. The most recent I recall is the Baz Lurhmann glam version with Leonardo DiCaprio. The earlier one I saw was with Robert Redford as Gatsby. There is an earlier one with Alan Ladd that I have not seen.Recently I came across something about the 1926 film version.Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-19899234902652622922023-11-21T08:30:00.006-05:002023-11-21T08:30:00.142-05:00Hunting for Treasure with Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1850) was a sickly, moderately successful essayist and travel writer, living in France. One evening he walked to a friend’s house, looked in through the window, and fell instantly in love with a woman sitting there at the table. The woman was Fanny Osbourne and she was both American and unhappily married and had come to Europe to get away Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-83392645311054410862023-10-15T17:03:00.005-04:002023-10-15T17:03:47.992-04:00VirgilToday is the birthday of the poet Virgil, born Publius Vergilius Maro near Mantua, Italy (70 BC). His father was a peasant farmworker who raised his own social status by marrying his boss's daughter. Virgil was sent to Milan, Rome, and Naples for his education in philosophy and rhetoric. He planned to become a lawyer, but he was too shy to speak in public. He also found that he missed the rural Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-48335059422449150842023-10-02T11:30:00.001-04:002023-10-02T11:30:00.142-04:00Killers of the Flower Moon
The final trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon - a Martin Scorsese picture - in theaters on October 20.At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-55788913860680348522023-09-06T12:00:00.004-04:002023-09-06T12:00:00.146-04:00Get to Know Your RabbitGet to Know Your Rabbit is a 1972 American comedy film written by Jordan Crittenden and directed by Brian De Palma. It stars Tommy Smothers, Orson Welles, John Astin, Katherine Ross and a gaggle of other recognizable players of the period.It is a strange film that certainly never received much attention. I read about it years ago and was finally able to see it on a big screen in college.Smothers Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-20653092601908034782023-08-29T08:00:00.001-04:002023-08-29T08:00:00.136-04:00Finding Shackleton's Ship 'Endurance'Bust of Sir Ernest Shackleton (by Anthony Smith) at the South Georgia MuseumMajor Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.In 1914, despite World War I, his ship, Endurance, departed from South Georgia for the Weddell Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-5537878471849256152023-08-25T17:00:00.007-04:002023-08-25T17:00:00.133-04:00The Buried Cities of Pompeii and HerculaneumUncovered Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background<!--wp:image {"align":"center","id":24201,"width":500,"height":548,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"}-->
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It was long believed that August 24 in the year 79 was when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The eruption destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. (The latter city is often left out of Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-61355519346582778612023-08-02T14:00:00.002-04:002023-08-02T14:00:00.152-04:00The History of AspirinI wrote on another blog about the origin of the word "aspirin." I'm repurposing some of that here because it is an interesting bit of chemistry and marketing history.The German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer received a patent for Aspirin in 1899. It was once probably the most ubiquitous of nonprescription drugs. It is probably not as popular today as people use over-the-counter painKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-55842962690141272452023-07-27T09:00:00.004-04:002023-07-27T09:00:00.146-04:00Michelangelo Buonarroti, Artist and Con ArtistMichelangelo Buonarroti, an Italian sculptor, architect, and painter, is sometimes called the original “Renaissance man.” He was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1475. Many know him as the painter of the Sistine Chapel’s elaborate ceiling. Less well known is that before he was one of history’s greatest artists, Michelangelo was a bit of a con artist. His patron sponsor convinced him to work atKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-62559106297402150582023-07-26T13:54:00.001-04:002023-07-26T13:54:00.137-04:00OcculationsAn occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks from view (occults) an object in the background. Occultations are regular, predictable events because planets, dwarf planets, moons, and asteroids Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-19179428235344416172023-03-09T08:00:00.003-05:002023-03-09T08:00:00.166-05:00What If You Gave a Party for Time Travellers and No One Showed Up?I love the idea of time travel and all the theories of it and all the fiction that has been created about it. That giant of theoretical physics, cosmology, and pop culture, Stephen Hawking, once did a simple time travel experiment. He invited time travelers to a party.It was held on a Sunday, June 29, 2009. Hawking had a nice party room set up with champagne and food at Gonville & Caius Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-11090308028401636302023-02-02T11:30:00.006-05:002023-02-02T11:30:00.182-05:00Tree TrackingTom Brown Jr, is Americas most renowned tracker, and wilderness survival expert. His book, The Tracker: The True Story of Tom Brown Jr., which I read in 1987 is still one of my favorite books to share with people. Tom's many books range from autobiography, to field guides, to the spiritual. I listed examples at the bottom of this post.In this brief video, he talks about what stories youKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-5036705720834217902023-01-23T08:00:00.001-05:002023-01-23T08:00:00.165-05:00Sir Francis Bacon and DoubtSir Francis Bacon, born in 1561 in London, is known as a philosopher, a statesman, an essayist, and a champion of modern science. Bacon was born into a family with connections at court. Unfortunately, as a young man, he criticized Queen Elizabeth's tax levy, so he fell out of favor with the royals.After Elizabeth was succeeded by James I, he got back in favor with the new King. He was named Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-90800952660953486782023-01-12T07:30:00.001-05:002023-01-12T07:30:00.175-05:00Ice Rings The lines shown here in the ice seem quite precise - and beautiful. Ice rings are likely to be a product of change in flow created by the prior ice sheets formed.The surface current creates viscous friction, slightly melting the outer areas of the prior sheets in the process, making a line where the currents are going around the obstacles, such as rocks in a river. Air flow creating Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-72493458134588185862022-12-27T12:00:00.012-05:002022-12-27T12:00:00.191-05:00The Once and Future KingArthur, the Lady of the Lake with Excalibur - by Andrew Lang (from The Book of Romance by Henry Justice Ford, 1903)For a long time, some Britons believed that King Arthur would return when they needed him. Okay, that sounds ridiculous to expect a fictional or legendary person to come to your aid, but the legend was once very strong in the culture.What would bring King Arthur back? It was Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-41720632911441189462022-12-19T14:37:00.001-05:002022-12-19T14:37:00.177-05:00Project Sign, Grudge and Blue BookOn December 17, 1969 the United States government officially closed "Project Blue Book."It was the latest in a series of Air Force projects established to study unidentified flying objects. The first, Project Sign, began in 1947 after a succession of high-profile UFO sightings began to worry the military. The investigators' official report, published in the summer of 1948, concluded that UFOs Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-16367362506056861482022-11-30T13:00:00.005-05:002022-11-30T13:00:00.167-05:00Is There Any Truthful Cinema?The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, Lumière Brothers, 1896 Truth?When I was studying film, we had several class discussions (arguments?) about what is called "cinéma vérité." The term means "truthful cinema" and is a style of documentary filmmaking. When the French Lumiére brothers invented the first movie camera in 1895 that could hold fifty feet of film stock, Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-22564253145659587712022-10-05T23:55:00.001-04:002022-10-05T23:55:00.160-04:00Judaculla Rock - Cherokee Monster or Alien? Judaculla Rock - via Onmountain, CC BY-SA 3.0There are places all over the world where rocks have been decorated with art, symbols, petroglyphs, and marks that are sometimes considered decorative and sometimes seen as much more. (see video link at bottom)In North Carolina, there is a large rock covered in petroglyphs that have yet to be deciphered. It is associated with the Cherokee IndiansKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-29007353733838450142022-09-25T16:26:00.005-04:002022-09-25T16:26:47.167-04:00The News from Lake WobegonI saw that Garrison Keillor posted an old News from Lake Wobegon segment online for today. It is from October 3, 1981, but I suspect life there is pretty much the same on like October 3, 2022. People are taking down window screens and putting on storm windows. People get ready in their own ways for winter even though it's just the start of autumn. It's a transitional time of year.At theKen Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8885886944551096642.post-67969393215207987592022-09-15T16:00:00.008-04:002022-09-15T16:00:00.162-04:00Don't I Own the Rights to My Face?Who owns the rights to my face? I assumed it was me until I read an article that reminded me that when we create social media accounts, we pretty much agree to grant those platforms a free license to use our content as they wish.In most cases, you hold the copyright to any content you upload to social media platforms. But when you created your account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, or Ken Ronkowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02900812689003111586noreply@blogger.com0