Madam Eve and "the Big Apple"
Ben Zimmer
acrylic apples placed around New York, the Toronto Globe and Mail falls
prey to some etymological mischief...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040814/APPLE14/
What would Madam Eve think?
By SIMON HOUPT
Saturday, August 14, 2004 - Page R6
[...]
What exactly is the root of New York's tag as the Big
Apple? And could it have anything to do with the
approbation, 'How about them apples?'"
Jazz aficionados point to the use of the phrase 'the big
apple' by black musicians, to refer to New York gigs in
the 1930s. Horse-racing fans can go back a couple of
decades earlier, when a reporter for the Morning
Telegraph heard the phrase around the tracks.
But the explanation that precedes them all goes back to
the early 19th century, possibly 1803 or 1804, when a
certain Mlle. Evelyn Claudine de Saint-Evremond
established a salon on the Lower East Side -- then a
well-regarded residential neighbourhood -- for
discerning gentlemen.
The anglicized version of her name was Eve, and she
apparently boasted of her "apples," her many girls on
hand, that tempted men from afar. It is said that Eve
and her apples helped New York earn the dubious
distinction of being the American city with the highest
per-capita concentration of houses of ill repute.
Some say the account is apocryphal, but Big Apple Fest
organizers stand behind it. Still, it's probably best
not to lead with that explanation when speaking with
those who believe New York is now the Disney World of
the Northeastern United States.
A family of four from North Carolina that wandered into
the midtown orchard last week, only three hours after
stepping off the plane from Charlotte, pronounced the
idea of oversized apples scattered through the streets
of New York to be "cool." They cooled considerably when
told of the bordello anecdote, then excused themselves.
Expect the Globe and Mail to incur the ire of amateur word-sleuth Barry
Popik, who takes these matters very seriously. His well-researched
website <http://www.barrypopik.com/> is devoted to the origins of "the
Big Apple". Popik debunks the bordello story, which he says is a hoax
created in 1995 on a site <http://salwen.com/apple.html> that Google
continues to rank highly in searches on the history of "the Big Apple":
http://www.barrypopik.com/article/57/big-apple-whore-hoax-1800s
http://www.barrypopik.com/article/191/big-apple-fest-2004
See also Mark Liberman's recent Language Log posting on the topic:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001232.html
Ben "apple tarts" Zimmer
NancyB
<bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, an art exhibit featuring 250 large
>acrylic apples placed around New York, the Toronto Globe and Mail falls
>prey to some etymological mischief...
> The anglicized version of her name was Eve, and she
> apparently boasted of her "apples," her many girls on
> hand, that tempted men from afar. It is said that Eve
> and her apples helped New York earn the dubious
> distinction of being the American city with the highest
> per-capita concentration of houses of ill repute.
The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the same sort
of thing, but with cows rather than apples. As a buxom Lancashire lass
myself, I'm saying nothing.
Nancy "moo" B
David DeLaney
>Ben Zimmer <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, an art exhibit featuring 250 large
>>acrylic apples placed around New York, the Toronto Globe and Mail falls
>>prey to some etymological mischief...
>
>of thing, but with cows rather than apples. As a buxom Lancashire lass
>myself, I'm saying nothing.
Knoxville TN did this a couple of years ago with acrylic bears, decorated in
a variety of fashions.
Dave "I Do Not Recall whether one of them ended up wearing chaps and a leather
hat, or not" DeLaney
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Olivers
Next door, in bigger Waco, Texas, we've had the "Wa-Cows", a hundred or so
lifesize longhorns in fiberglass, brightly painted in the buyer's chice of
designs from the highly abstract to the outright representational in
locations around town, although none quite as eye catching as the twice
actual size concrete gorilla in a frontyard in an upscale regentrified
neighborhood, freshly painted or costumed to match the
Holiday/Season/Current Societal Fixation.
TM "From Axtell's Rancho Apocalypto to Crawford's Prairie Chapel Road,
we're the Heart of Texas!" Oliver
Karen J. Cravens
news:slrnci1j6...@gatekeeper.vic.com:
> NancyB <youare.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>Ben Zimmer <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, an art exhibit featuring 250 large
>>>acrylic apples placed around New York, the Toronto Globe and Mail
>>>falls prey to some etymological mischief...
>>
>>The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the same sort
>>of thing, but with cows rather than apples. As a buxom Lancashire lass
>>myself, I'm saying nothing.
>
> Knoxville TN did this a couple of years ago with acrylic bears,
> decorated in a variety of fashions.
Wichita did it with planes. Some of them are pretty cool.
--
Karen J. Cravens
Don Freeman
"Karen J. Cravens" <silve...@phoenyx.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95477963...@130.133.1.4...
Jesse F. Hughes
New York is *always* following the lead of Wichita, ain't they?
--
Jesse F. Hughes
"Radicals are interesting because they were considered 'radical' by
the people who played with them who wrote a lot of math work that
modern mathematics depends on." --Another JSH history lesson
Karen J. Cravens
news:871xi62...@phiwumbda.org:
> New York is *always* following the lead of Wichita, ain't they?
I thought they used apples.
--
Karen J. Cravens
Norm Soley
news:slrnci1j6...@gatekeeper.vic.com:
> NancyB <youare.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>Ben Zimmer <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, an art exhibit featuring 250 large
>>>acrylic apples placed around New York, the Toronto Globe and Mail
>>>falls prey to some etymological mischief...
>>
>>The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the same sort
>>of thing, but with cows rather than apples. As a buxom Lancashire lass
>>myself, I'm saying nothing.
>
> Knoxville TN did this a couple of years ago with acrylic bears,
> decorated in a variety of fashions.
>
> Dave "I Do Not Recall whether one of them ended up wearing chaps and a
> leather
> hat, or not" DeLaney
This whole idea originated in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998, they had an
exhibition called "Land in Sicht" fibreglass cows were decorated, often
very elaboratly and with much humour by artists and placed around the
city. Someone from Chicago saw this and apparantly asked for and got
permission to do the thing in Chicago in 1999. Since then it's been
copied widely, and as it usually is, the copies fade, in some cases more
than others, there were cows in Calgary in 2000 that was reasonably
successful until the vandals had their way, and moose in Toronto that
were universally lame as noboby did anything more elaborate than paint
jobs.
Louise Bremner
Are they using the same cows as those that were in Auckland three years
ago and Tokyo last year, or making their own? And the dire puns too....
________________________________________________________________________
Louise "'maru-no-ushi'" Bremner (log at gol dot com)
If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!
Lon
> begin je...@phiwumbda.org (Jesse F. Hughes) quotation from
> news:871xi62...@phiwumbda.org:
>
>
>>New York is *always* following the lead of Wichita, ain't they?
>
>
> I thought they used apples.
The Wichita planes were made of lead?
David Winsemius
I have been trying to figure out why Wet Hartford, Connecticut, has been
sponsoring a cows-for-charity-thingee these past few years. Suddenly,
this thread is shining an arc lamp on the question. If Zurich, CH, and
Waco, TX, are mooing it, then it is clearlly the thing to moo.
--
D W
Karen J. Cravens
news:t9cUc.264889$a24.109290@attbi_s03:
> The Wichita planes were made of lead?
Some of them might've been. The one at Exploration Place is made of
license plates. (And is dubbed "Pilot's License," as I recall.) Lead
wouldn't surprise me. Maybe out by Cowtown. ("Draw, podnuh!")
--
Karen J. Cravens
Karen J. Cravens
news:Xns9547E914...@130.133.1.4:
> Some of them might've been.
Amazingly, I managed to find it (Googling for "planes" in "Wichita" would
have been a really pointless exercise). The event was "Plane Crazy." The
site seems to have moved, but Google's cache still finds the images. And
#13 'pears to have lead.
--
Karen J. Cravens
Charles Bishop
> The Wichita planes were made of lead?
>
Air Force wings are made of lead
charles, navy wings are made of gold
Norm Soley
news:Xns9547D4CE519...@216.148.227.77:
> I have been trying to figure out why Wet Hartford, Connecticut, has
> been sponsoring a cows-for-charity-thingee these past few years.
> Suddenly, this thread is shining an arc lamp on the question. If
> Zurich, CH, and Waco, TX, are mooing it, then it is clearlly the thing
> to moo.
>
The original version in Zurich seemed to be, as most of these things
are, organized as a tourist draw roughly corresponding with the Zuri
fest without a charity aspect. My German (and doubly so my Swiss German)
is poor enough that I never really understood what the point was
supposed to be. The Swiss folks I was with were at a loss to explain it,
it was just yet another stupid thing the city was spending their tax
dollars on.
George Ruch
There's a similar project started in Santa Fe, New Mexico and continued
statewide. Look up The Trail if the Painted Ponies at
http://www.gopaintedponies.com/.
| George Ruch
| "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?"
NancyB
Bremner) wrote:
>NancyB <youare.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the same sort
>> of thing, but with cows rather than apples.
>
>Are they using the same cows as those that were in Auckland three years
>ago and Tokyo last year, or making their own? And the dire puns too....
I'm sure they've made their own, as they are all appropriate to their
location in the city. According to my friend, who lives there, they
will be auctioned off (individually) when the exhibition ends in
September.
Nancy "mad cow" B
Olivers
I will say in Waco's behalf (and if you knew Waco, that's a big behalf to
be in), the whole exercise was privately funded morale and fund raiser by
the local art center, with the cows purchased by coporate and individual
donors who then commissioned and paid their artists of choice. A variety
of entities donated "exhibit" space and another local group handled
installation and "tie down" (wouldn't want to have flying cows during a
summer thunderstorm or worse which for Waco, there's precedent).
The best one sits outside a small elementary school, mostly Mexican
American students, in a strikingly "modest income middle class" (Folks who
own houses, no matter their incomes cling to the quaint but supportable
notion that they are "Middle Class", a status to which Mexican Americans
seem willing to struggle and scramble.) neighborhood of 1949-1955 GI & FHA
houses, most now bearing evidence of Hispanic occupancy, ornamental fences,
bright flowers, year round Christmas lights, certainly not among the front
rank of "Art Center" sponsor/donors. The buyer commissioned a class at the
school to "paint" the critter, provided the materials, and then "gave" the
fiberglass longhorn to the school.
It's bright and colorful (and even to a hardened cynic represents a quality
of "community" more modern Merkins would do well to emulate).
TM "When good guys (1) finish last, we all lose." Oliver
(1) Vast debate over who are the good guys. From a personal and entirely
non-political standpoint, three guys who aren't are the Bearded Trio,
Arafat, M. Moore, and Sad'r, all three of whom would better serve
encapsulated in fiberglass, brightly tinted, and mounted an high visibility
bridge approaches, there being a shortage of pike points for the
traditional display vehicle.
Hatunen
An idea copied by Tucson (with credit given to Santa Fe). The
ponies were originally scattered about town in shopping centers
and such, then gathered up for auction. Prices and photos at
http://www.poniesdelpueblo.org/ourponies.htm
We were in Berlin in June and they seemed to be doing something
similar with bears; the bears were about a meter or so high
(sizes varied), standing with "arms' upraised so trhat their
"palms" formed a level plane for holding up things. They could
also be set upside down.
Ah. Found it: Buddy Bears.
http://www.jackiechankids.com/files/Buddy_Bears_Photos.htm
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
Karen J. Cravens
> Ah. Found it: Buddy Bears.
> http://www.jackiechankids.com/files/Buddy_Bears_Photos.htm
In looking for Plane Crazy, I found out (in an article that mentions the
Chicago cows and the Seattle pigs, along with the Wichita planes) Burns,
Kansas did roosters:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/2004/07/25/entertainment/visual_arts/9235863.htm
Small, concrete roosters, though. I was picturing something more like the
giant ones in/near Rogers, Arkansas. (Well, one chicken, one turkey.
Close enough.) And from looking at the overall page:
http://www.burnskansas.com/Rooster/RoosterParade/Rooster_index.htm
it looks like not everybody "got it."
--
Karen J. Cravens
TeaLady (Mari C.)
news:c663i0l8lehecufiu...@4ax.com:
Cleveland has guitars.
http://www.cleveland.com/guitarmania/
--
TeaLady (mari)
"Indeed, literary analysis will be a serious undertaking only
when it adopts the mindset of quantum physics and regards the
observer as part of the experiment."
Flame of the West on litcrit
Vicki Robinson
>
>Cleveland has guitars.
>
>http://www.cleveland.com/guitarmania/
Rochester, NY, had "Horses on Parade" *and* "Animal Scramble"! Twice
the fun!
Actually, Horses on Parade dates from the summer of 2001, when the
youngest child was 11, so it was fun to take the map of their
locations and spend summer afternoons tracking them down. OK, it's
not geocaching, but we folks from the provinces are easily
entertained.
Vicki "Upstate" Robinson
--
Power may be justly compared to a great river; while kept within its
bounds it is both beautiful and useful, but when it overflows its banks,
it is then too impetuous to be stemmed; it bears down all before it,
and brings destruction and desolation wherever it goes." -- Alexander Hamilton.
Ron Knight
<spres...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>George Ruch <georg...@3lefties.com> wrote in
>news:c663i0l8lehecufiu...@4ax.com:
>
>> NancyB <youare.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 02:57:06 -0400, Ben Zimmer
>>><bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, an art exhibit featuring
>>>>250 large acrylic apples placed around New York, the
>>>>Toronto Globe and Mail falls prey to some etymological
>>>>mischief...
[...]
>>>The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the
>>>same sort of thing, but with cows rather than apples.
>>
>> There's a similar project started in Santa Fe, New Mexico
>> and continued statewide. Look up The Trail if the Painted
>> Ponies at http://www.gopaintedponies.com/.
>>
>
>Cleveland has guitars.
>
>http://www.cleveland.com/guitarmania/
I think this can be classed as not unusual (to defy Orwell). Casper,
Wyoming, has bison, and Lexington, NC, which produces pretty good pork
barbecue, is beginning its second round of pigs.
Take it easy,
Ron Knight
Lee Ayrton
>>
> I have been trying to figure out why Wet Hartford, Connecticut, has been
> sponsoring a cows-for-charity-thingee these past few years. Suddenly,
> this thread is shining an arc lamp on the question. If Zurich, CH, and
> Waco, TX, are mooing it, then it is clearlly the thing to moo.
Stamford, CT (IIRC) ran a similar event several years ago. A fund-raiser
recently held in Storrs, CT featured repainted and decorated pink flamingo
lawn ornaments.
Lee "Could hairspray cans be next?" Ayrton
Lee Ayrton
Yawing wildly in an effort to make the topic glide path: I Wuz Told last
week that the Pratt & Whitney shop in Middletown, Connecticut was
purpose-built to serve the atomic-powered aircraft effort. Local lore
about Sekrit Gummement Projects and all that.
For background, a paper on the topic of nuke-powered bombers:
<URL:http://www.megazone.org/ANP/atomair.shtml>
Summary: Lots of money spent, a prototype reactor was lofted but in a
conventionally-powered airframe. The program never really got off the
ground, as it were.
Heh. Wellie well well well. It turns out my informant was partly right,
at least one building at that facility was involved:
7. NWC Review, Spring 2000: James
<URL:http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/2000/spring/art5-sp0.htm>
Mention is made of the CANEL facility -- Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear
Engine Laboratory, funded by the Atomic Energy Commission and the US Army
Corps of Engineers. (Keyword search CANEL).
Decades later the CANEL site was cleaned up by this company (note that the
words behind the acronym have been adjusted to suit the times):
2. RSA's QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
<URL:http://www.radpro.com/q-e.html>
[quote]--------------------
10. Pratt & Whitney, Middletown, Connecticut. Performed radiological
assessment of Building 450, a two-story building with associated hot
cells, storage vaults, pits, and sewers used in the 1950's and 60's by
the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Army Corps of Engineers in
the Connecticut Advanced Nuclear Engineering Laboratory (CANEL)
project. The building, unused since the end of the project, was
[unquote]------------------
Sometimes local lore is right, in spite of expectations.
Ray Heindl
I saw a painted moose in St. Ignace, MI, a few weeks ago, and another
in Manistique. Must be a UP thing. I didn't think to ask what the
significance of them was.
--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply to: rahe...@xnccwx.net)
Ralph Jones
wrote:
[snip]
>
>Summary: Lots of money spent, a prototype reactor was lofted but in a
>conventionally-powered airframe.
Yes, developing power equivalent to about half of one of the
airplane's six piston engines...gotta start small sometimes.
rj
Paul Tomblin
>I saw a painted moose in St. Ignace, MI, a few weeks ago, and another
>in Manistique. Must be a UP thing. I didn't think to ask what the
>significance of them was.
It's probably a real moose that froze into place.
--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Reliability went through the floor, tunnelled its way to the centre of
the Earth, and perished in the magma.
-- Saundo
Olivers
Mary may recall, but did it not fly about in the hull of a conventional B-
36 to test how it ran at altitude. Interestingly, just as the Stanley
Steamer and several ohter steam powered cars did pretty well, weren't there
a couple of a/c actually powered by steam generaters?
TM "Former Fireman on PanAm #2, direct service to Paris with a coaling stop
in Keyflavik" Oliver
Rick Tyler
>"TeaLady (Mari C.)" <spres...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Cleveland has guitars.
>>
>> http://www.cleveland.com/guitarmania/
>
>I saw a painted moose in St. Ignace, MI, a few weeks ago, and another
>in Manistique. Must be a UP thing.
Yeah. Moose prostitutes in Minnesota never wear more than lipstick
and a little blush.
- Rick "Ba-dum-dum" Tyler
--
"Ignorant voracity -- a wingless vulture -- can soar only into the
depths of ignominy." Patrick O'Brian
George Ruch
>On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 23:43:37 -0600, George Ruch
><georg...@3lefties.com> wrote:
>
>>NancyB <youare.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 02:57:06 -0400, Ben Zimmer
>>><bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Reporting on the Big Apple Fest, [...]
>>>The English city of Manchester is currently doing much the same sort
>>>of thing, but with cows rather than apples.
>>
>>There's a similar project started in Santa Fe, New Mexico and continued
>>statewide. Look up The Trail if the Painted Ponies at
>>http://www.gopaintedponies.com/.
>
>An idea copied by Tucson (with credit given to Santa Fe). The
>ponies were originally scattered about town in shopping centers
>and such, then gathered up for auction. Prices and photos at
>http://www.poniesdelpueblo.org/ourponies.htm
>
>We were in Berlin in June and they seemed to be doing something
>similar with bears; the bears were about a meter or so high
>(sizes varied), standing with "arms' upraised so trhat their
>"palms" formed a level plane for holding up things. They could
>also be set upside down.
>
>Ah. Found it: Buddy Bears.
>http://www.jackiechankids.com/files/Buddy_Bears_Photos.htm
Neat.
I was flying through Cincinnati a last year and spotted a book on a pig
project. Here it is, in all its porcine splendor - the Big Pig Gig:
http://www.bigpiggig.com/
| Clovis Man (aka George Ruch)
| "New! Do-it-yourself autopsy kits! Be the first on your block to get one!"
| (Stolen with pride from alt.folklore.urban)
Crashj
news:kvh8i0dtqfhg0lud4...@4ax.com...
<>
> I was flying through Cincinnati a last year and spotted a book on a pig
project.
Good lord, how low were you?
--
Crashj
Burroughs Guy
http://yn.4r.st/nm/20040819/od_nm/odd_sweden_cow_dc
Graffiti Group Kidnaps Cow, But Is It Art?
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish graffiti artists kidnapped a fiber-glass
cow from the international art exhibit CowParade, held power drills to
its head and threatened to "sacrifice" it unless the sculptures were
declared "non-art."
A video sent to a newspaper showed the cow flanked by two masked,
black-clad figures wielding power drills in front of a sign reading
"Stockholm's Militant Graffiti Artists."
"We demand that the cows are declared non-art. Otherwise the hostage
will be sacrificed," said a voice on the video. The group gave the
organizers of the Stockholm exhibit till noon on Aug. 23 to comply
with their demand.
The video was shown to police investigating the cow's disappearance
last week from an island housing Stockholm's Modern Art Museum.
"We are very upset about the whole matter," said Helena Cederberg, a
spokeswoman for CowParade, which is touted as "the world's largest
public art event."
It has displayed life-size cows decorated by local artists across the
world starting with Chicago and New York in 1999.
The shows are sponsored by local business and promote the work of
professional and amateur local artists. When the show ends, the cows
are auctioned and 75 percent of the proceeds go to charity. The
Stockholm cows are to be auctioned next month.
There are 68 more fiber-glass cows grazing on pavements, squares and
in shop-windows all around Stockholm, but Cederberg said: "We're not
going to worry just yet about the other cows, we are waiting for
information from the police."
CowParade is also on show in the Czech capital Prague, Manchester,
England and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. It opens soon in South Africa.
Vandalism marred the Prague show, prompting ex-president Vaclav Havel,
who decorated one cow, to say: "Maybe some people can't bear to look
at anything nice, unusual or ornamental, maybe they can't even bear to
look into the mirror."
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=6&u=/nm/20040819/od_nm/odd_sweden_cow_dc
http://yn.4r.st/nm/20040819/od_nm/odd_sweden_cow_dc
--
Burroughs Guy
Vaguer memories available upon request
Lee Ayrton
> Graffiti Group Kidnaps Cow, But Is It Art?
>
> STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish graffiti artists kidnapped a fiber-glass
> cow from the international art exhibit CowParade, held power drills to
> its head and threatened to "sacrifice" it unless the sculptures were
> declared "non-art."
[snip]
In the 1970s in central Connecticut there was a group which called itself
the "Black Stable Boy Liberation Army". Their mission was to "liberate
black stable boys from their traditional servitude and restore them to
their rightful place of public prominence" -- places like the middle of
public fountains or traffic rotaries. The suburbanites were not amused.
Lee Ayrton
_An Officer And A Gentleman_ aired twice this weekend on one of the
Murrican cable channels, in a heavily-censored form.
Lee "And it hasn't aged well at all" Ayrton
Ben Zimmer
Various posters over the years have claimed that it was called the "Lawn
Jockey Liberation Army" (or "Front", or "Society", or "League"):
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=lawn-jockey-liberation
But the Nexis elf says it was really the "Black Jockey Liberation Army":
Police Crack 'Jockey' Case
New York Times, August 22, 1979
Abstract:
William Butchon, a canvasser for Connecticut Citizens
Action Group, a Ralph Nader organization, is arrested
for allegedly stealing a number of lawn statues depicting
black jockeys from homes in Hartford's affluent white
suburbs. Some 20 such statues have disappeared from lawns
in area. Notes signed by 'Black Jockey Liberation Army'
are usually left behind.
Ben "so is Nader responsible for those Travelocity ads?" Zimmer
Ray Heindl
> In a previous article, Ray Heindl <m...@privacy.net> said:
>>I saw a painted moose in St. Ignace, MI, a few weeks ago, and
>>another in Manistique. Must be a UP thing. I didn't think to ask
>>what the significance of them was.
>
> It's probably a real moose that froze into place.
Could be. The St. Ignace one was predominantly blue, so maybe it was
still cold from last winter. The Manistique one was mostly green;
maybe it had gone moldy.
Lon
> I was flying through Cincinnati a last year and spotted a book on a pig
> project. Here it is, in all its porcine splendor - the Big Pig Gig:
> http://www.bigpiggig.com/
At least the Swedish Union of Concerned Graffiti Artists has the taste
and discernment to declare plastic cows "non-art".
Mary Shafer
wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, David Winsemius wrote:
One of the first of these "decorate a model creatively" efforts was
sponsored by NASA or NASM[1] about two decades ago, with models of the
Space Shuttle Orbiter. There was a poster showing the resulting
liveries. Some were really cool.
Palm Springs is sponsoring big-horn sheep, according to a display of
two of them at the airport last fall.
[1] National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute.
The associated magazines are "Air & Space" and "Smithsonian",
respectively.
Mary "beads and sequins vs thermal-protection tile is an easy choice"
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
mil...@qnet.com
Burroughs Guy
> At least the Swedish Union of Concerned Graffiti Artists has the taste
> and discernment to declare plastic cows "non-art".
The Conundrum of the Workshops
Rudyard Kipling
WHEN the flush of a newborn sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mold;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves: "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
Wherefore he called to his wife and fled to fashion his work anew-
The first of his race who cared a fig for the first, most dread review;
And he left his lore to the use of his sons—and that was a glorious gain
When the Devil chuckled: "Is it Art?" in the ear of the branded Cain.
They builded a tower to shiver the sky and wrench the stars apart,
Till the Devil grunted behind the bricks: "It's striking, but is it Art?
The stone was dropped by the quarry-side, and the idle derrick swung,
While each man talked of the aims of art, and each in an alien tongue.
They fought and they talked in the north and the south, they talked and they
fought in the west,
Till the waters rose on the jabbering land, and the poor Red Clay had rest—
Had rest till the dank blank-canvas dawn when the dove was preened to start,
And the Devil bubbled below the keel: "It's human, but is it Art?"
The tale is old as the Eden Tree—as new as the new-cut tooth—
For each man knows ere his lip-thatch grows he is master of Art and Truth;
And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his dying heart,
The Devil drum on the darkened pane: "You did it, but was it Art?"
We have learned to whittle the Eden Tree to the shape of a surplice-peg,
We have learned to bottle our parents twain in the yolk of an addled egg,
We know that the tail must wag the dog, as the horse is drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: "It's clever, but is it Art?"
When the flicker of London's sun falls faint on the club-room's green and gold,
The sons of Adam sit them down and scratch with their pens in the mold—
They scratch with their pens in the mold of their graves, and the ink and the
anguish start
When the Devil mutters behind the leaves: "It's pretty, but is it art?"
Now, if we could win to the Eden Tree where the four great rivers flow,
And the wreath of Eve is red on the turf as she left it long ago,
And if we could come when the sentry slept, and softly scurry through,
By the favor of God we might know as much—as our father Adam knew.
Lee Ayrton
> Lee Ayrton wrote:
>> In the 1970s in central Connecticut there was a group which called
>> itself the "Black Stable Boy Liberation Army". Their mission was to
>> "liberate black stable boys from their traditional servitude and
>> restore them to their rightful place of public prominence" -- places
>> like the middle of public fountains or traffic rotaries. The
>> suburbanites were not amused.
>
> Various posters over the years have claimed that it was called the "Lawn
> Jockey Liberation Army" (or "Front", or "Society", or "League"):
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?q=lawn-jockey-liberation
>
> But the Nexis elf says it was really the "Black Jockey Liberation Army":
>
> Police Crack 'Jockey' Case
> New York Times, August 22, 1979
> Abstract:
> William Butchon, a canvasser for Connecticut Citizens
> Action Group, a Ralph Nader organization, is arrested
> for allegedly stealing a number of lawn statues depicting
> black jockeys from homes in Hartford's affluent white
> suburbs. Some 20 such statues have disappeared from lawns
> in area. Notes signed by 'Black Jockey Liberation Army'
> are usually left behind.
Interesting, my thanks to Ben and the Elf for the leg work. Butchon must
have had a lengthy career as a liberator. Looking at my resume, I
conclude that I heard this story from a cow orker sometime between the
summer of 1974 and spring of 1977. As my only remembered exposure to the
story is oral the variations on "jockey" and "stable boy" are either an
artifact of my memory or a bit of sharpening by my informant. For those
readers too young to know, the "Black [foo] Liberation Army" is clearly a
reference to the 1960s Black Liberation Army movement. In the version
told to me the BJLA left behind a "manifesto" which is where the "rightful
place of public prominence" part comes from, perhaps also a bit of
sharpening in the telling.
Lee "No one bothered to liberate the donkey from the cart of flowers"
Ayrton
Lon
> On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 10:14:26 -0400, Lee Ayrton <lay...@panix.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, David Winsemius wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I have been trying to figure out why Wet Hartford, Connecticut, has been
>>>sponsoring a cows-for-charity-thingee these past few years. Suddenly,
>>>this thread is shining an arc lamp on the question. If Zurich, CH, and
>>>Waco, TX, are mooing it, then it is clearlly the thing to moo.
>>
>>Stamford, CT (IIRC) ran a similar event several years ago. A fund-raiser
>>recently held in Storrs, CT featured repainted and decorated pink flamingo
>>lawn ornaments.
>
>
> One of the first of these "decorate a model creatively" efforts was
> sponsored by NASA or NASM[1] about two decades ago, with models of the
> Space Shuttle Orbiter. There was a poster showing the resulting
> liveries. Some were really cool.
>
few
airplanes, e.g. the flying Calder, etc.
Ben Zimmer
Checking the Proquest newspaper database, I see a number of articles
about Butchon and the BJLA in the NY Times and Washington Post, but
there are no reports of liberated lawn jockeys before the summer of '79.
> For those
> readers too young to know, the "Black [foo] Liberation Army" is clearly a
> reference to the 1960s Black Liberation Army movement.
And let's not forget the Symbionese Liberation Army (though who knows
what color the Symbionese were). The model, of course, was the People's
Liberation Army, the armed forces of China (originally named the Red
Army, the military arm of China's Communist Party, founded in 1927).
Ben "the red and the black" Zimmer
Ad absurdum per aspera
France several years ago? It seemed (if true) to be some sort of
pop-cultural grafitti, and although uniformed officialdom felt obliged
to sympathize with the owners they didn't appear to be taking it too
seriously. This occasionally gets namechecked here and there -- I
recently saw a TV commercial or magazine ad that featured a gnome
bound and gagged as if held for ransom, which is what reminded me of
the issue.
(As is supposedly typical of a lot of really imaginative ads, I don't
remember a thing about the product or service being offered, just the
gnome.)
I never heard how it all came out. Did the gnomenapping run its
course, or were the dastardly perpetrators brought to justice, or was
it all blown out of proportion by the media in the first place, or
what?
As for lawn jockeys (which I understand to be sort of a minstrel-show
cartoon of a servile black man), the only one I've ever seen in person
was displayed, with no apparent irony, in the front yard of a large
old house in an Atlanta burb in the mid-1980s. I was surprised that
such an artifact of the bad old days didn't inspire civic outcry
and/or surrepetitious sledgehammering.
--Joe
Ralph Jones
aspera) wrote:
>So whatever happened with the supposed garden-gnome liberators in
>France several years ago? It seemed (if true) to be some sort of
>pop-cultural grafitti, and although uniformed officialdom felt obliged
>to sympathize with the owners they didn't appear to be taking it too
>seriously. This occasionally gets namechecked here and there -- I
>recently saw a TV commercial or magazine ad that featured a gnome
>bound and gagged as if held for ransom, which is what reminded me of
>the issue.
>
>(As is supposedly typical of a lot of really imaginative ads, I don't
>remember a thing about the product or service being offered, just the
>gnome.)
>
>I never heard how it all came out. Did the gnomenapping run its
>course, or were the dastardly perpetrators brought to justice, or was
>it all blown out of proportion by the media in the first place, or
>what?
>
According to this site:
http://www.tvacres.com/enchanted_gnomes_travelocity.htm
the practice diminished in 1997 when a ringleader was let off with a
suspended sentence. Personally, I had never heard of it until I saw
"Amelie."
rj
Edward Rice
Mary Shafer <mil...@qnet.com> wrote:
> One of the first of these "decorate a model creatively" efforts was
> sponsored by NASA or NASM[1] about two decades ago, with models of the
> Space Shuttle Orbiter. There was a poster showing the resulting
> liveries. Some were really cool.
> ...
> [1] National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute.
> The associated magazines are "Air & Space" and "Smithsonian",
> respectively.
Smithsonian /Institution/.
The Smithsonian Institute, where they write hysterical letters to kooks who
submit exhumed dolls as proof of ancient civilizations, has been located in
downtown DC, just across the street from the Wash. Biol. Surv.
I think NASA and NASM both had something to do with it -- NASA in
commissioning the art, and the SI in producing and distributing the poster
inside its magazine.
Edward
David Winsemius
Last year the US network (damn, I'm a guy, all I can remmeber is is the
changer sequence, 550, wait, oh yeah ..) HBO ran a series called The Wire
and had a sub-plot-conceit that the crooked labor leader's van had been
stolen and the perps were sending him Polaroids from different locales.
--
David Winsemius
JoAnne Schmitz
<dwin$emiu$@fnord.comcast.net> wrote:
>Last year the US network (damn, I'm a guy, all I can remmeber is is the
>changer sequence, 550, wait, oh yeah ..) HBO ran a series called The Wire
>and had a sub-plot-conceit that the crooked labor leader's van had been
>stolen and the perps were sending him Polaroids from different locales.
Close.
It was a crime van, under the control of Baltimore Police Major Stanislaus
Valchek. It was sent around the country by Frank Sobotka, the crooked
labor leader, and his cronies, who all hate Valchek's guts. The pictures
show the van in different ports, in or near the container it's being
shipped in, making it clear that the perp is someone in the ports system.
JoAnne "can't wait for September 19" Schmitz
--
The new Urban Legends website is <http://www.tafkac.org>
That's TAFKAC.ORG
Do not accept lame imitations at previously okay URLs
Maggie Newman
> As for lawn jockeys (which I understand to be sort of a minstrel-show
> cartoon of a servile black man)
The ones people call "lawn jockeys" really are figurines made to look
like jockeys. A typical example:
http://www.horseinfo.com/cart/jockey.html. They abound in the
northeast, but most of them have been either painted white or allowed
to weather to a non-specific skin tone.
A lot of people seem to believe that lawn jockeys were guideposts on
the Underground Railroad:
http://www.horseinfo.com/info/misc/jockeyinfo.html
http://www.blackvoices.com/feature/bhm_99/rr/alton.html
I keep finding cut-and-paste jobs of a certain 1998 article. A better
researched article, at
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j4.html
talks about a lantern on a *hitching post* being a signal on the URR.
But the hitching post in the picture isn't a "lawn jockey." It's an
older type of figurine hitching post, in this case of a young slave.
Not exactly a minstrel-show cartoon, but certainly servile.
Apparently there was a signaling system of placing lanterns and/or
ribbons on the hitching posts, but this doesn't exactly make the
hitching post itself a symbol of liberation.
Maggie "hitching one's wagon to the north star" Newman
David Winsemius
> On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 21:14:20 GMT, David Winsemius
> <dwin$emiu$@fnord.comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>Last year the US network (damn, I'm a guy, all I can remmeber is is
>>the changer sequence, 550, wait, oh yeah ..) HBO ran a series called
>>The Wire and had a sub-plot-conceit that the crooked labor leader's
>>van had been stolen and the perps were sending him Polaroids from
>>different locales.
>
> Close.
>
> It was a crime van, under the control of Baltimore Police Major
> Stanislaus Valchek. It was sent around the country by Frank Sobotka,
> the crooked labor leader, and his cronies, who all hate Valchek's
> guts. The pictures show the van in different ports, in or near the
> container it's being shipped in, making it clear that the perp is
> someone in the ports system.
>
> JoAnne "can't wait for September 19" Schmitz
>
You mean I got every particular wrong? A perfect score? What a memory!
BG, can I borrow your sig for a week?
Lon
> On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 21:14:20 GMT, David Winsemius
> <dwin$emiu$@fnord.comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Last year the US network (damn, I'm a guy, all I can remmeber is is the
>>changer sequence, 550, wait, oh yeah ..) HBO ran a series called The Wire
>>and had a sub-plot-conceit that the crooked labor leader's van had been
>>stolen and the perps were sending him Polaroids from different locales.
>
>
> Close.
>
> It was a crime van, under the control of Baltimore Police Major Stanislaus
> Valchek. It was sent around the country by Frank Sobotka, the crooked
> labor leader, and his cronies, who all hate Valchek's guts. The pictures
> show the van in different ports, in or near the container it's being
> shipped in, making it clear that the perp is someone in the ports system.
>
> JoAnne "can't wait for September 19" Schmitz
>
Mary Shafer
wrote:
> In article <q4qbi0dc2fsmg287f...@4ax.com>,
> Mary Shafer <mil...@qnet.com> wrote:
>
> > One of the first of these "decorate a model creatively" efforts was
> > sponsored by NASA or NASM[1] about two decades ago, with models of the
> > Space Shuttle Orbiter. There was a poster showing the resulting
> > liveries. Some were really cool.
> I think NASA and NASM both had something to do with it -- NASA in
> commissioning the art, and the SI in producing and distributing the poster
> inside its magazine.
I think so, too, although NASA may have produced the poster, too.
This was part of the NASA art program. I think every Federal agency
has such a program, by the way.
Mary "how about a Calder B-52?"
Charles Bishop
[snip]
>
>I think so, too, although NASA may have produced the poster, too.
>This was part of the NASA art program. I think every Federal agency
>has such a program, by the way.
>
>Mary "how about a Calder B-52?"
As part of a mobile? What would you hang it from?
charles
Karen J. Cravens
news:ctbishop-250...@user-2ivfmue.dialup.mindspring.com:
Lobby of the Cosmosphere's already got a T-38 and a SR-71. They'd just
have to expand a little (they need to make it big enough you can get the
Blackbird all in one picture without a fisheye, for one thing). Maybe
take out the half-a-Shuttle-Endeavor:
http://nathan.phoenyx.net/blog/20040717b.jpg
(Okay, so technically the Blackbird's on pylons...)
--
Karen J. Cravens
Moe Trin
>Mary "how about a Calder B-52?"
During the Viet Nam war, Braniff was a MAC charter operator, flying
between Travis (just North of San Francisco) and Tan Son Nhut (Saigon).
They used a DC-8-51 or -62 (can't remember which) painted a bright orange
just one time. _Rumor_ has it that the bird was hit by ground fire on it's
only approach to TSN. _Fact_ is that thereafter, they were using the birds
that were painted a light blue, pale green, or occassionally a light brown.
(One rumor had it that the first brown aircraft appeared in the pattern,
and someone on the radio asked "What the heck did that thing fly through?"
Answers from pilots of other airlines were not "politically correct". This
_probably_ actually happend on one of the regular routes in the Americas,)
Remember that the original "Flying Colors" paint jobs were a single
color. There were (_appearently_) just two aircraft that were multicolored.
One was a DC-8-62 (N1805) and the other a B727-291 (N408BN) if the English
airline enthusiast books (World Airline Fleets - various editions, by
Gunther G. Endres published in the UK by "Airline Publications and Sales
Ltd" of Hounslow, Middlesex) are to be believed. The 1979 edition (ISBN
0-907117-52-2) has a color photo on the front cover of N404BN (727-2B7) in
the "Sparkling Burgundy" livery taken at KCI in June 1978.
Old guy
Billzz
news:slrnciqknl.j...@atlantis.phx.az.us...
Braniff flight B2A4 went from Saigon to Travis in June of 1969 with me on
board. Funny, how I can remember the flight number. The plane looked like
a regular airplane to me, but the sound was different - nothing but cheering
men.
Bill "another factoid for the AFU gristmill"