"Write now is good."

July 14th, present and past

An image from today's travels.

Time blends: A history and Photoshop gallery

Photo: "Berlin 1945/2010. Wrecked tank "Tiger" in Tiergarten park" by Sergey Larenkov

This photo set by Sergey Larenkov stunningly shows how even though time passes, ghosts or echoes of past events remain. Larenkov's images, including the one featured above, provide eerie glimpses of the violence and cost of World War II in Europe (his pictures focus on Berlin, Moscow and Vienna) merged with contemporary life that has clearly moved forward.

Using these with students could prompt a lot of understanding and discussion about historical events and the nature of history itself. Perhaps the photographer/artist should consider creating an educational book with historical commentary about the events and locations he shows.

A technically masterful use of the powerful tools and artistry in Photoshop, too. Compelling.

Found via Google Reader's shared postings stream — glad I happened upon it!

Tweets throughout the ages

Today, I learned something surprising. Twitter, the purportedly new microblogging service, has been around for thousands of years. The digital archeologists behind Historical Tweets are slowly unearthing relevant 140-character messages from the past and revealing them via their blog for posterity. (See above tweet from Abraham Lincoln.)

So, this form of social media is actually a bit ancient. Since humans have been tweeting for generations, it makes sense that many 21st-century technologists have adopted the practice so readily.

I wonder what the first-ever tweet was. (If you have some inkling about the tweet which started it all, please leave a comment. I'll post the ideas and link to your blog if you do.)

Mined from a tweet by CrossTheBreeze.

UPDATE: Two bloggers so far have submitted possibilities for the "first-ever tweet." They are:

1. "Hello, world" — Leah
2. "Got fire?" — Tumblewords

3,000 photos=3 million words+imagination spark

Photo: Rural school children, San Augustine County, Texas, 1943 April | Photographer: John Vachon, 1914-1975 | Library of Congress Photo Collections

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. If you have 3,000 photos ... well, I've done the math for you in the post's title (look slightly above these words).

The U.S. Library of Congress has opened a public Flickr account and has posted just over 3,000 photos so far. Why? They are hoping that the world Web community will help tag many of them. More will surely follow; the LoC photographic collection is beyond extensive.

Get ready to spend hours looking at these images. Wonder at them. Daydream about their subjects. Put yourself in their places. What was life like back then? I chose this image above merely as a sample; so many of the photos are quite moving. In true Flickr fashion, other viewers are leaving comments on the photos, sharing their takes on what they're seeing. (Click on the above image to go to the Flickr page and see what others have said — very interesting.)

Browsing last night, I found my imagination completely sparked. I felt transported back in time. I stared, letting my thoughts wander. Many of these images are staying with me; I'll take them in small portions, as they are so visually strong. Their stories speak loudly.

Read more about this Library of Congress—Flickr partnership on the LoC's own site: "My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven"

Thanks to ExperienceCurve for the heads-up about this (via Twitter).

A blog, 90 years in the making

Photo: Albert 1916 by amandabhslater

Where will your blog be in ninety years? Will you pass it down to your heirs to continue, or will you leave it, complete and archived, in cyberspace for future generations to peruse?

When Harry Lamin wrote letters to his loved ones as he served in the English army during World War I, the correspondence was completely private. Lamin lived in a world dominated by radio, newspaper and snail mail. Only a few were able to broadcast their most intimate thoughts to a massive audience then; the rest of the world's inhabitants never dreamed it possible to do so.

Yet here are Lamin's WWI letters, now available for the Web public to read. From WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier:

This blog is made up of transcripts of Harry Lamin's letters from the first World War. The letters will be posted exactly 90 years after they were written. To find out Harry's fate, follow the blog!

History textbooks can never convey the reality and loss of war; Harry Lamin's hand-written correspondence and diaries do. They capture the essence of this time and tell the real story.

I wonder how two to three generations ahead of us will view our online wordiness. There will be so much for them to read — how will they process it all? Will they even attempt to understand the many millions of us? Will it be possible for them to do so?

Thanks to [BB-Blog] for the link.

Google Books' map function — wow.

Do you know about Google Books? It's in beta, but it already does something that no online other book search function does:

It provides an interactive map of ALL places mentioned in the book.

How many places are mentioned in "Around the World in 80 Days"? This map will show you (see image above).

Where does the action take place in "War and Peace"? From looking at its map, all over Europe and into the Middle East.

The adventures in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"? They take place in a much more global sense than I'd remembered.

Here's how to find these illuminating maps using Google Books:

1. Go to Google Books.
2. Type the book's title in the "Search books" field.
3. Click on which version of the book you want from the list that Google Books provides.
4. On the right-hand side of the page, there will be a "Summary" of the book. Underneath the shortened summary is a link for "More about this book". Click on the "More about this book" link.
5. On the book's summary page, you'll find:

- Selected pages
- Related books
- References from other books
- References from scholarly works
- Key terms, and
* Places mentioned in the book

6. Gaze in wonder at the map. Bonus: If you click on any of the red Google map pinpoints, a dialog window will appear which tells you what page (and sometimes a quotation from the passage) in the book this precise place is mentioned.

Type in a few favorite book titles, and see what you get.

Now if Google figures out how to produce these maps for science fiction and fantasy books, I will be beyond impressed.

Found via NOTCOT.

Note: I tried to find "Siddharta" by Herman Hesse, but it was not part of Google's database, though it did provide a link for me to find it in other libraries. Perhaps this is why it's in beta — they're still working to complete the book database.

World cultural treasures, now available online

Turning the Pages™, the British Library's online rare books and manuscripts gallery, is an inspiration. It reveals some of the most influential texts in world history. When I stumbled across the site, I felt like I'd found treasure, now open for all to see. It is also one the most comprehensive, beautifully done and easy-to-use multi-media set-ups I've seen online.

Some of the great books featured are:

• Leonardo da Vinci's personal notebook — It's breathtaking to see his scribbles.
• The oldest printed "book" — the Diamond Sutra printed in China in 868. You actually turn the scroll to see the entire work.
• The first atlas of Europe, which Mercator put together in the 1570's
• Mozart's musical diary — This also includes 75 audio excerpts.

There are many additional books featured on the site, and too many great works to list them all.

The British Library has made it fun to look at these books. All items can be magnified; to do so, click the magnify button and drag a large, flat virtual magnifying glass across the map or text. Click the audio button to hear more facts about the notebook, or simply read the text by clicking the text button. The help button is nearby, but the site is so effortless to use, it doesn't seem it will get much attention.

For a quick, wondrous peek, take the online highlights tour. Experts' articles on the works are part of the features section. Block out some free time, and enjoy.

In the excitement of finding this site, I forgot to note where I first found the link...

A little blog history

Blogs have been around long enough to have a genuine documentary produced about the phenomenon.

True to its subject, the entire film is available in the "sphere" (you know — "blogosphere").

Behold Blogumentary: A documentary about blogs by Chuck Olsen, founder of Minnesota Stories. His personal weblog lives here.

Found at swissmiss.

Family chronicles

This poem chronicle is based on recently shared family stories.

After we said goodbye to another,
We turned to those already long gone.

To a time when killing was as common
As breathing
Or, perhaps, more so.

The remaining eldest of our bunch
Finally opened up on this day,
Sensing that now was another occasion
To pass the intangible gifts of
History —
The chronicles —
To the young,
More ready than ever
To accept them.

How did he perish?
He encouraged his friends
And provided a haven,
In the face of oppressors,
To break curfew and meet —
Meet —
To discuss bits of tattered news,
To dissect rumors,
To aid the resistance.
Then,
When all were lined against a barn's weathered wall,
Ready to let go of this life's cruelties and joys,
(Though, even at this point, it had been mostly joy,)
He stepped forward
And spoke the truth:
I am the one —
The only one—
You are looking for.
Though not even a trace of youth
Showed in his face,
(Had they not looked closely at his eyes?)
They snatched him on the spot,
And threw him in a boxcar,
Bound for hard labor.
And with that,
He was gone.

How did brother escape?
After being rounded up
With all able-bodied men,
Rife with potential uprising,
They tossed them into boxcars,
Yet did not secure the door.
A few bold ones leapt for their lives
Or their deaths,
Hid for days
In a dense, ancient, forgotten forest,
Then stepped forward —
In one weak moment —
To believe in kindness one more time and
Ask for a piece of bread.
The giver gave pointed guns instead,
And back to the boxcars
The officers forced the bold.
Until the next opportunity arose:
Boxcars stopped at a frozen midnight,
Bombs raining all around —
Perfect cover for an escape —
Which worked
Until the bombs kept coming.
They pretended to die,
Lying in ditches
For almost a day
Hoping not to give up all their ghosts.
When the bombs finally ceased,
He arose from the cover
Of mud and filth and decay and,
Finding himself alive,
Walked home —
This time
Not stopping for bread.

How did uncle hide?
In his kitchen,
In a crawlspace,
A human-sized wall safe,
Throughout much of the war.
To the oppressors,
His wife disowned him,
His children forgot him,
His friends no longer spoke of him.
As he became invisible
To his loving circle,
He became invisible
To the officers always looking
For labor-camp workers.
He crawled out of his blessed prison at night,
Always on edge, on numbed and cramped limbs,
For kisses and hugs and giggles and tears,
Then back in again,
To pray that one day soon,
He would no longer live
As a fugitive
From his own life.

This is my third Sunday Scribblings, and this week's topic is "chronicles." To read more Sunday Scribblings, click here.

On this day

Thank you, Dr. King.

Read about other Nobel Peace Prize winners at Nobelprize.org.