There are quite a few people who’ve been called the “father of television” and the “inventor of television.” That’s because television isn’t a thing — over the years, it’s been many different things. And Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow is the father of it all. Just kidding — Nipkow is one of the people who invented… Continue reading

If you enjoy Australian literature, you probably know about the Australian “bush poets,” Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, and “Glenrowan.” Glenrowan was one of the pen names of William Henry Ogilvie, who was born August 21, 1869 in Kelso, Scotland. Ogilvie, who also used the pen names Will Ogilvie, Swingle-bar, and WHO, wrote well over 1,100… Continue reading

Today would be a good day to appreciate some striking examples of architecture, especially since it’s the anniversary of the birthday of Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen in 1873. He’s the Finnish architect famous for art nouveau buildings in the early 20th Century. And it’s also the anniversary of Eero Saarinen, the Finnish architect born in 1910… Continue reading

There are different ways to look at globes — that is, three-dimensional representations of the earth. They can be political guides, showing you where the nations and borders are. They can be geographical or oceanographical tools. And they can be works of art. The globes made by Vincenzo Coronelli, who was born August 16, 1650… Continue reading

You may have noticed how often you see sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica in corporate publications? Not to mention photos rather than drawings. Typography as a design element. Asymmetric layouts that use a grid. Those all come from the International Typographic Style, a school of graphic design dating back to the 1930s. If you’ve heard of… Continue reading

In Europe, back in the 1600s, there was a sort of a culture clash between the medieval values of stability and unchanging devotion to what everybody (who cared) “knowing everything there was to know,” and the new ideas from what we now call Renaissance humanists to recover and understand the culture, knowledge, and arts of… Continue reading

In an event never before matched, Norris and Ross McWhirter were born August 12, 1925, in Middlesex, England. The twins were the sun of William McWhirter, who was the editor of the Sunday Pictorial newspaper, and later founded a newspaper chain, the Northcliffe Newspapers. In 1943, despite being just 14 years old, both twins volunteered… Continue reading

People love a good prediction. One of the most important features of a scientific theory is that it can predict the results of experiments nobody has yet performed. Even though there isn’t much of a testable theory behind it, lots of people still read daily astrology columns— and a finalist for yesterday’s birthday person was… Continue reading

Did you know that there was a puppet maker, puppeteer, and actor who worked closely with Jim Henson in creating the Muppets and on the Sesame Street TV show, and whose first name was Kermit, but was not the namesake of Kermit the Frog? I’m talking about Kermit Ernest Hollingshead Love, who was born August… Continue reading

If you travel by air, you’re probably as annoyed as everybody else with the way airline travel has descended to the lowest levels of service, carry-on space, food, and other things. Airlines once provided much better and more inclusive service. On the other hand, you might appreciate the lower air fares you can often find… Continue reading