epiphanies

 

Epiphany (also known as Theophany in Eastern Christian traditions) is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. For Catholics, the Feast of Epiphany is celebrated on January 6. In the Greek New Testament manuscripts, epiphaneia refers also to Christ's second coming.

Though my family celebrated this holiday, the meaning that I am more likely to invoke during the year comes from my study of literature.

Epiphany in literature refers generally to a visionary moment when a character has a sudden insight or realization that changes their understanding of themselves or their comprehension of the world. 

James Joyce first borrowed the religious term "Epiphany" and adopted it into a profane literary context in Stephen Hero which was an early version of his A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In that manuscript, Stephen Daedalus defines epiphany as "a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself."

Epiphanies in common usage are any moments of revelation, oftentimes not literary or religious at all. "As he was reviewing his portfolio, he suddenly had an epiphany about investing."

The word "epiphany" descends from the ancient Greek ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ (epipháneia), meaning a "manifestation or appearance." You can break it down into the Greek words "pha" (to shine), "phanein" (to show, to cause to shine), and "epiphanein" (to manifest, to bring to light).

The pre-Christian Greeks used the word to describe the visible manifestation of a god or goddess to mortal eyes, which is a form of theophany. Early Christians adopted the term to describe the manifestation of the newborn Jesus to the Magi.

android, automaton, gynoid, fembot

 

Actroid - by Gnsin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial beings. Typically, they are made from a flesh-like material to resemble a real person. Though the word and idea come from science fiction in print and on screens, advances in robot technology now allow the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.

The word "android" has been used to refer to robotic humanoids regardless of apparent gender, but the Greek prefix "andr-" refers to man in the masculine sense. The word has a long usage history.

• The OED has the earliest use (as "Androides") to Ephraim Chambers' 1728 Cyclopaedia, in reference to an automaton that St. Albertus Magnus allegedly created.
• The late 1700s: androides are elaborate mechanical devices resembling humans performing human activities which were displayed in exhibit halls.
• "android" appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons which are machines that do human actions and may or may not resemble a human. The word "automaton" is the Latinization of the Ancient Greek αὐτόματον, automaton, (neuter) meaning "acting of one's own will." The word was first used by Homer to describe automatic door opening, or automatic movement of wheeled tripods
• A distinction between mechanical robots and fleshy androids was popularized by Edmond Hamilton's Captain Future stories (1940–1944).
• Karel Čapek's robots in the play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots, 1921) introduced the word robot to the world. But "robot" has come to primarily refer to mechanical devices which also may look like humans or animals but can also be just a humanlike arm or hand that performs a task, such as assembling a vehicle. "Robotess" is the oldest female-specific term and was used by Rossum, though it was not used widely beyond his play.

The term "droid" was popularized by George Lucas in the original Star Wars film. Though it is simply an abridgment of "android", it has been used by Lucas and others to mean any robot, including distinctly non-human form machines like R2-D2. 

Another shortening, "andy", appears in Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (adapted to the screen as Blade Runner) and was a pejorative term for an android.

Newest in this line of terms is "gynoid" which actually is anything that resembles or pertains to the female human form. The term gynoid was first used by Isaac Asimov in a 1979 editorial, as a theoretical female equivalent of the word android.

But other terms have been used for feminine robots exist. The portmanteau "fembot" (feminine robot) was popularized by the television series The Bionic Woman in 1976 and used in the Austin Powers films and others to suggest a sexualized gynoid. 

An unfortunate, though not unexpected, progression in gynoids in fiction and now in actuality are that they are "eroticized." Sensitivity sensors in their breasts and genitals to facilitate sexual response comes from male desires for custom-made passive women and is compared to life-size sex dolls. 

The HBO series Westworld is a very updated version of the 1973 film, written and directed by Michael Crichton, about adult guests visiting an interactive amusement park containing lifelike androids. The androids and gynoids in the extended TV series are used for far greater violent and sexual pleasures than the original film. 

     

From Printing: ditto, mind your p's and q's, out of sorts

I am a big reader and I also love books and the bookmaking process. I came upon a book this past week called Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History. The printing press and the democratization of knowledge through books changed the world.

One of the things in this book that I liked is how some common words and phrases come from the process of making books.

Here are a few I've found. I'm sure I'll add some more in the future.

I have used the word "ditto" and heard it used. Going back to schools 50 years ago, you might have recalled what we called a ditto machine that teachers used to make copies of handouts. In printing, ditto is shorthand to mean to repeat something that’s already been said. Its origin is the Italian word detto, the past participle of “to say.” 

The word came into wider usage with that early 20th-century duplicating machine which was produced by DITTO, Inc. And their simple logo was a single set of quotation marks " which is still used to mean "ditto" or same as above.

An 18th-century type case, with tools for typesetting

A phrase that I don't hear as much today as I did as a child is to "mind your p's and q's." When I was in seventh grade, I took a printing class and we actually learned to set type and use a printing press. (Yes, I must be old!)  This phrase when said by a teacher or parent meant to be on your best behavior or to pay close attention. But if my print shop teacher had said it in the printing context it would apply to setting type. In that process, you put each letter in backward, so that when the inked type is pressed into paper, the mirror image reads the right way forward. That meant that compositors had to be especially careful when it came to letters that look like mirror images of each other. In older type cases, each letter was kept in a segregated section to be picked out by the compositor setting the type. The lowercase p’s and q’s were nastily put right next to each other. If the placement had been different, maybe the phrases that would have emerged would have been “mind your b’s and d’s.” 

Related to those type cases, the capital letters were usually on the top rows and so were referred to as uppercase letters. 

Also from this typesetting area is the phrase "out of sorts." In common usage, it means to be feeling a bit off, perhaps unwell, or just grumpy. For printers and typesetting compositors it meant you were literally out of sorts. A sort is an individually cast piece of type. If you run out of out of type in the middle of a job, it would certainly make you feel out of sorts figuratively and literaaly.

Blue Cheer

Dickie Peterson, Randy Holden, and Paul Whaley in 1968

Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s in San Francisco. They were formed in 1966 by Dickie Peterson. He had been in a band, The Oxford Circle, with future Blue Cheer members Paul Whaley and Gary Lee Yoder. The band went through many personnel changes but eventually became a power-trio with bassist/singer Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stephens, and Whaley on drums.

They played in a psychedelic blues-rock style. They are also credited as being pioneers of heavy metal. Their cover of "Summertime Blues" is sometimes cited as the first in that genre. They are also considered by some to be early punk rockers, stoner rock, doom metal, experimental rock, and grunge. They were also widely considered to be the loudest band ever at the time when they emerged - loud to the point of pain for the audience. 

Their first hit was a cover version of Eddie Cochran's rockabilly "Summertime Blues" redone in a very hard rock version. It was on their debut album Vincebus Eruptum (1968). The single peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, their only such hit. The album peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart. In Canada, the single peaked at No. 3 on the RPM Magazine chart. 

The band's name comes from the "Blue Cheer" which was a 1960's nickname for a high-quality LSD. The drug was promoted by "LSD chemist" and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley. 

Coincidentally, Cheer is a laundry detergent sold in the United States and Canada that was introduced in 1950. It had distinctive blue granules, which formerly gave it the nickname "Blue Cheer" though it was marketed primarily as just Cheer and still is sold. 

first album 1968

Vincebus Eruptum
The History of Blue Cheer: Good Times are So Hard to Find
What Doesn't Kill You
The Beast Is Back: The Megaforce Years
Outsideinside
Live in Japan
Blue Cheer

Kwanzaa

 

Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrating African-American culture that is held from December 26 to January 1. It is a modern-day holiday based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of Africa, including West and Southeast Africa. 

American Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 during the aftermath of the Watts riots in Los Angeles as a specifically African-American holiday. Karenga said his goal was to "give blacks an alternative to the existing holiday of Christmas and give blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."

Though it began as part of the 1960s "cultural revolution" and civil rights, it has become more of a family cultural celebration.

Karenga gave the origin of the name Kwanzaa as derived from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits". First fruits festivals exist in Southern Africa, celebrated in with the southern solstice, and Karenga was also inspired by an account he read of the Zulu festival Umkhosi Wokweshwama. He decided to spell the holiday's name with an additional "a" so that it would have a symbolic seven letters since the holiday would be 7 days in length and mark 7 principles.

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day, a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second or third day of Christmastide.

As with a number of holidays, it originated as a holiday with good intentions. Originally, it was a day to give gifts to the poor. Unfortunately, Boxing Day is now primarily known as a shopping holiday. 

It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. 

ENGLISH OAK AND IRON ALMS BOX. ROCHE ABBEY. CIRCA 1450

The origin of the name "Boxing Day" is not definitive, but the European tradition of giving money and other gifts to those in need dates back to the Middle Ages. One possibility is that it refers to alms box (poor box) placed in the narthex of Christian churches to collect donations for the poor. There was also a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era of placing alms boxes placed in churches for the Feast of Saint Stephen which is on December 26.

In the early 1800s in Britain, Boxing Day was expanded to be the first weekday after Christmas day and seen as a time to give service people (postmen, errand boys, servants etc.) a "Christmas box."

Boxing Day is the 27th if the 26th is Christmas Sunday. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or one or two days later (if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday). 

Boxing Day is not really marked in the U.S. but in Massachusetts it was declared in 1996 that every 26 December is Boxing Day, in response to the efforts of a coalition of British citizens to "transport the English tradition to the United States" though it is not an employee holiday.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are still often referred to as "the world's greatest rock and roll band." The English band was formed in April 1962. The original members were guitarist and harmonica player Brian Jones, pianist Ian Stewart, vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards and Bill Wyman on bass with drummer Charlie Watts.

Their early setlists relied heavily on rhythm and blues songs and straight-ahead blues. Brian Jones and Keith Richards were big fans of Chess Records' artists such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf and their Chicago blues style.

Muddy Waters' song "Rollin' Stone" was the inspiration for the band's name. According to Wikipedia, Jones named the band during a phone call interview with Jazz News. When asked  for the band's name - and they hadn't decided on one - Jones saw a Muddy Waters LP lying on the floor and took the song name. After signing to Decca Records in 1963, the band changed their name from "The Rollin' Stones" to "The Rolling Stones". Many fans and even the band members refer to the band as simply "The Stones."

Chess Records was based in Chicago, Illinois and was also the home to other artists they admired including seminal rockers like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Their most famous studio was on South Michigan Avenue and The Rolling Stones recorded an instrumental track titled "2120 South Michigan Avenue" there during their first U.S. tour in 1964. They recorded in the Chess Studios on two more occasions. (The building is now home to Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation.)

1964

Brian Jones actually led the band until Jagger and Richards' songs became the bands' big early hits and they took the lead roles. By 1969, Jones' contributions to the records had diminished and after he was unable to tour the United States for legal reasons, he left the band by mutual agreement. Jones' died in 1969. Mick Taylor was the replacement guitarist from 69-74. He was later replaced by Ronnie Wood from The Faces.

2016

The Rolling Stones discography includes 25 studio albums, 10 live albums, and more than 30 compilation albums including multiple "greatest hits" collections. 

The band's Official Web Site is  www.rollingstones.com

=Studio album #1 to album #25

• The Rolling Stones Box Set
• Ladies & Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones- Deluxe Edition 3DVD Numbered Box Set
• Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
• Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
• Rolled Gold+: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones ( 2 Discs/40 Tracks )
• Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones 1971-1993
• Singles Collection: The London Years

The Rolling Stones 2015. Watts on drums, Wood on a silver guitar and Jagger playing guitar along with Richards. Photo: Jim Pietryga  CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Point Nemo

Point Nemo is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. In fact, though it is real, it is nowhere. At least it is not anywhere you can go to live if you want to get away from it all.

Is it a fictional place found in literature? No. It is a point in the Pacific Ocean. It is a spacecraft cemetery. It is the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area. It is an oceanic pole of inaccessibility.

It's not the only one. Other poles of inaccessibility include the Eurasian Pole, in China and the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility in Antarctica.

Point Nemo is in the southern Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. It has become where spacecraft that have reached the end of their usefulness are routinely de-orbited and destroyed.

It is a good spot to use since it is 2,688km away in every direction, to be precise, to the Pitcairn Islands, Moto Nui in the Easter Islands, and Maher Island in Antarctica.

The name, Point Nemo, might remind you of a certain animated fish, but that is not its origin. It has a double significance. “Nemo” is Latin for “no one” which certainly is appropriate for a place where no one will ever live. It also is an allusion to Jules Verne's submarine Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. 

Point Nemo is so isolated that the closest people to it are not on any of the nearest landmasses. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are around 258 miles from their home planet at any given time, so they are the closest people to Point Nemo as they pass over it. The inhabited area closest to Point Nemo is more than 1,000 miles away.

For some more about Point Nemo see One-Page Schoolhouse and an expanded and more personal take on being in the middle of nowhere, check out this at Weekends in Paradelle.