Among the things I learned this week:
* Sydney Chaplin, whose accomplishments include negotiating Charlie’s major contracts, speaking film’s first talkie word (“coffee”), and founding the first private US airline (which he closed because of the burden of government regulations, such as requiring pilots have licenses). (Courtesy: A Dog’s Life)
* Antam Sanskar and Sikh services. (Courtesy: MV)
* Crore, lakh, and the Indian numbering system. (Courtesy: India This Week)
* Apollo 10, the full dry run for Apollo 11’s moon landing, didn’t include enough fuel in the lander’s tanks to return home. NASA wanted to mitigate the astronaut’s desire to execute the final lander steps in order to the be the first people on the moon. (Courtesy: TechCrunch)
Tag Archives: Charlie Chaplin
Things I Learned this Week
Among the things I learned this week:
* Ulyana Sergeenko is a Russian designer with an incredible collection. The dresses, particularly the short ones, are fantastic. The shoe pairings are abysmal, though. (Courtesy: Russian Vogue, via Not Couture)
* Ulyana Sergeenko is a Russian designer with an incredible collection. The dresses, particularly the short ones, are fantastic. The shoe pairings are abysmal, though. (Courtesy: Russian Vogue, via Not Couture)
* The existence of halal cosmetics, and their attractiveness for vegetarians/vegans. (Courtesy: can’t remember, but The New Inquiry)
* Charlie Chaplin’s birth is shrouded in mystery and government absurdity. (Courtesy: New York Times)
* The term “bistro” may have developed from the Russian occupation of Paris in the early 19th century, when Russian soldiers would shout “быстро!” (quickly!). There is an alternative etymology, though, that involves coffee. (Courtesy: New Inquiry)
* “Roman writers subscribed to the idea of imitatio: they viewed their role as emulating and reworking earlier masterpieces. It wasn’t until the Romantic era, which introduced the notion of the author as solitary genius, that originality came to be viewed as the paramount literary virtue.” (Courtesy: New Yorker)