Made myself a case for my old Kindle; bought black craft foam and contact cement from Michael's for a couple dollars, cut it to fit a swag giveaway knock-off Moleskine notebook I got while temping at a trade show years ago. A strip of black grosgrain hides the exposed binding where I tore out the notebook pages. This is version 2.0, after my wife suggested the single tab at the top.
I had a nice-looking, vintage book case, but it wore out. Hence the replacement.
American writer, historian and poet Elizabeth Fries Ellet died #OTD in 1877.
She is best known for her works on women’s contributions to American history, particularly during the American Revolutionary War. Her extensive research and writings helped to highlight the often overlooked roles that women played in significant historical events.
"Like southern birds, whose wings of light
Are cold and hueless while at rest—
But spread to soar in upward flight,
Appear in glorious plumage drest;
The poet’s soul—while darkly close
Its pinions, bids no passion glow;
But roused at length from dull repose,
Lights, while it spurns, the world below."
LIKE SOUTHERN BIRDS. Poems, translated and original (1835)
~Elizabeth Fries Ellet (October 18, 1818 – June 3, 1877)
“Of aal the fish there iss in the sea,” said Para Handy, “nothing bates the herrin’; it’s a providence they’re plentiful and them so cheap!”
Neil Munro (1863–1930) – journalist, novelist, short-story writer, & poet – was born #OTD, 3 June. Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of Herring discusses Munro’s PARA HANDY stories, as well as giving the full text of the tale “The Herring – A Gossip”
Kafka's works were not widely known during his lifetime, and he published only a few of his stories. Most of his major works were published posthumously by his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, despite Kafka's instructions to destroy his manuscripts.
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? ... A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."
Danish poet and novelist Karl Adolph Gjellerup was born #OTD in 1857.
His first novel, "En Idealist Shwa," was published in 1878, marking his transition from theology to literature. His novel "Germanernes Lærling" (1882) is an example of his work from the Modern Breakthrough movement, where he focused on psychological realism and social issues.
French mathematician Évariste Galois died #OTD in 1832.
Galois developed a deep understanding of the relationship between polynomial equations and group theory. He showed how the solutions to polynomial equations are related to the structure of certain groups, now called Galois groups. This connection helps determine whether a polynomial can be solved by radicals (i.e., using a finite number of root extractions).
«Je rêve d'un jour où l'égoïsme ne régnera plus dans les sciences, où on s'associera pour étudier, au lieu d'envoyer aux académiciens des plis cachetés, on s'empressera de publier ses moindres observations pour peu qu'elles soient nouvelles, et on ajoutera " je ne sais pas le reste".».
Herwegh's poetry is characterized by its passionate advocacy for freedom and democracy. He became famous with his collection "Gedichte eines Lebendigen", published in 1841. This work was widely acclaimed for its revolutionary zeal and critique of the existing social and political order.
"The anxious night is now over,
We ride silently, we ride silently,
And ride to our doom.
How sharply the morning wind blows!
Mrs. Innkeeper, one more glass quickly
Before dying, before dying."
Austin served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1896 until his death in 1913. Despite holding this prestigious position, his poetry received mixed reviews, and he is often remembered more for the controversies surrounding his appointment than for his literary accomplishments.
"So, timely you came, and well you chose,
You came when most needed, my winter rose.
From the snow I pluck you, and fondly press
Your leaves 'twixt the leaves of my leaflessness."
American writer Randolph Silliman Bourne was born #OTD in 1886.
Bourne's career was marked by his prolific writing and his engagement with contemporary social and political issues. His essays and articles were published in influential magazines like The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Dial. His incisive critique of World War I and his vision of a pluralistic America have left a lasting impact on American thought and cultural studies.
"The secret of life is then that this fine youthful spirit should never be lost. Out of the turbulence of youth should come this fine precipitate—a sane, strong, aggressive spirit of daring and doing. It must be a flexible, growing spirit, with a hospitality to new ideas, and a keen insight into experience. To keep one's reactions warm and true, is to have found the secret of perpetual youth, and perpetual youth is salvation."
British physicist Peter Higgs was born #OTD in 1929.
In 1964, Higgs proposed a theory explaining how particles acquire mass. This mechanism involves the interaction of particles with a field, now known as the Higgs field. The field has an associated particle (Higgs boson). The search for the Higgs boson became a major focus of particle physics experiments. In 2012, scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider announced the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson.
Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
The Eddington experiment was organised by the astronomers Frank Watson Dyson & Arthur Stanley Eddington in 1919. The observations were of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 and were carried out by two expeditions which aim was to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun.
In 1919 Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin went to Sobral, in Brazil, and measured the amount of deflection of light caused by the gravitational field of the Sun. The results from these observations were crucial in providing confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity, which Albert Einstein had proposed in 1916.
"We have found a strange foot-print on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own."
English author, philosopher, literary and art critic G. K. Chesterton was born #OTD in 1874.
Chesterton created the character Father Brown, a Catholic priest and amateur detective. The first collection, "The Innocence of Father Brown," was published in 1911. His most famous novel is "The Man Who Was Thursday" (1908), a metaphysical thriller that explores themes of anarchy and order.