As you may or may not know, I went to San Fran recently for the RWA National Conference. This is what I learned from my 4 days there. You may already know this, but it's worth a Tuesday 10.
1) Always check weather.com for the 10 day forecast. Seriously, you might not think so, but there's nothing like getting there and FREEZING because you didn't bother to check weather. I did check weather.com, so dressed accordingly for the unexpected 60 degree weather.
2) Pack comfy shoes! Forget the heels, no matter how business-like you think they are. You're walking, baby. Walk in comfortable shoes. It's a must.
3) Like your roommate. Seriously. I LIKE the woman I roomed with but was so ready to murder her about 1 am when the TV was still on, she was sound asleep, and I couldn't find the remote. Talk about things like this in advance. She may think the TV was low, but once it's quiet, that light's off, and you're ready for some zzzzzzz's, it's as loud as a disco.
4) Schedule in advance. You want workshops in Sierra J and Golden Gate Hall C1? You're walking. They're far apart (like 2 floors and a block or so), they're crowded and you're most likely sitting on the floor. You really, REALLY want that workshop of dialog? Get there early. Don't dawdle, don't talk, if you must use the ladies, grab a seat then go.
5) Take notes. I can't stress this enough. Sure, you can always buy the CDs later, but there's always that right now you'll lose if you don't take notes on everything you're thinking and they're saying. Think that line about tags just helped you cure your problem? Jot it down (and don't lose the paper!) It's invaluable alter when you're going over your story and think, "Hmm, wasn't there something...?"
6) White Space. Now we're into what I really learned while I was there. Readers no longer like long pages of 1 paragraph worth of NOTHING. Break it up, especially with dialog. Using dialog is the best way to move the story along. If your character has no one to talk to, and she won't look stupid talking to herself, do that. Make it into thoughts (italicized). Cut any back story that isn't needed in the info dump and can be sprinkled later.
7) Arc-ing. I went to a wonderful workshop given by Susan Mallory called The Arc of the Trilogy. Yeah, it was on writing a trilogy, but it can work in any story, single, duo, triplets, or more. Plus, she's hysterical and a great speaker.
So...arc-ing. Pick a Big Bad and make him relevant in each story but also have 3 other baddies you get at the end of each of the 3 books. This makes it a closed story a reader can enjoy without being pissed off she came in the middle and has no idea what's going on. If you're writing a story about a commonality (rather than a baddie) it's also a good idea to make sure your H/H from books 1 & 2 are in 3. Not overwhelmingly, but enough so the reader can reconnect with beloved characters. It's why series are so popular, after all.
8) Plotting. Again by Susan Mallory and her critique/plotting group. They use others to plot aloud. This helps with holes, gaps, walls, ad corners. Sure, another opinion might not be what you're looking for, or not to your taste but it's something you haven't thought of and that's what counts.
Trapped in a hotel twice a year, each of the 5 member team gets 2 90 minute sessions to plot two entire books. You're supposed to send ideas/outlines beforehand, but for the pantsers amongst us it can be as little as "I wanted my heroine to find a baby in a life-sized Nativity." [Maureen Child's Some Kind of Wonderful St. Martin's Paperbacks December 30, 2003 this was a actual example she was kind enough to share.] It's then up to the group to blurt ideas, but you to say what you do and don't like. If you don't want your heroine looking like an idiot for the sake of plot, just say no. No matter how much everyone else likes the idea, it's your story.
9) Hooks. Took 2 workshops on this. The best, by far, was given by...it'll come to me later. I'm still sleep-deprived and not nearly at my best. Anyway, hooks. Each sentence builds on the previous one. So, if your first sentence is "I'm going insane." Then your 2nd sentence shouldn't be "Three days ago I was walking along the path by the water when I noticed the pretty fall foliage." No, it should build on the insanity sentence. Why are you insane? Who are you talking to? What's their response to this sentence?
If you need all that previous info, you're not starting your story in the right place. If the catchiest line is on page 6, cut pages 1-5. Don't eve think about the prologue, though Hilary Sayers seemed to be OK with them if they were relevant to the story and didn't introduce a character in dire straits then go into chapter 1 of the 'real' story. Big no-no there.
Ending hooks. Always end our chapter on either a hook or wretched emotional drama. If you have a 3 page chapter, so be it. The goal is to keep the reader wanting more. And by wanting more, they always want to read the next sentence/page/chapter.
10) Historicals. We've all heard the 'they're hot'...'they're not' bit but frankly they're still selling. It's all about the writing. OK, and marketing. But if the story's good they will come. So, what's the best way to write the hot historical? Research. Sure, you may not think that they'll never notice you used a sub in April 1861, but trust me...they will. And you'll get nasty emails about it.
Have a crazy tidbit from the past you think would make a great story? Go with it...but don't forget the research. Not 3/4 of every page steeped in historical fact. Sprinkled throughout. Clothes, words, accents, scents (very important), sights. Political gossip. It's the little things that make the story, not a dissertation on Dracula. (If you ever read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova you'll know what I mean. Sure it was a great story but in serious need of cutting.)
Showing posts with label Tuesday 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tuesday 10. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tuesday 10: To Knight or not to Knight
What makes Dame Judie Dench or Sir Paul McCarthy worthy of being knighted and er…damed? I have no idea. Sure, I like some of her movies and some of his songs, but knighted?
But here are 10 people knighted (ok, MEN considering the time) for various contributions to the crown. You be the judge.
- Rowland Hill, a schoolmaster, invented the adhesive postage stamp in 1837
- George Williams, President of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1894
- Isaac Pitman, inventor of the Pitman Phonetic System of Shorthand in 1894
- Joseph Hickson, manager of the Grand Trunk Railroad 1890
- Dr. J.E. Bourinot, clerk of the Dominion House of Commons
- Pryce Pryce Jones, owner of the first mail-order business (he supplied Queen Victorian with her unmentionables), 1887
- John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada, 1867 (on July 1, Canada Day!)
- James Simpson, a member of her Majesty’s Physicians [no date given]
- William Venner, introduced matches to Canada, c. 1870 [based on circumstantial evidence]
- Mayor of Wrexham (you find his name, I swear they struck it from the records!) for…drum roll please…pomp & circumstance in honor of a visit from Queen Victoria, 1889.
1. inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/mail.htm
2-3.http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E01E5D71F39E033A25750C2A9639C94659ED7CF&oref=slogin
4-5. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DE6D81539E033A25750C0A9679C94619ED7CF
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3595420.stm
7. www.suite101.com/reference/queen_victoria
8. http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/st_simons/cr9905.htm
9. http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.venner/1/mb.ashx
10. http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/victorian_values/loyalty_hierarchy.htm
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday 10: Qing China
10 Events (of dozens) in Qing China that led to the 1911 Revolution:
1. First Opium War 1839: For decades the Chinese desperately tried to stop the illegal opium smuggling conducted by foreign (mainly British) ships at Canton. Millions were addicted and corruption was rife among customs officials. Smuggling also drained the cash silver from the country, making it too poor to survive and open to invasion.
2. Treaty of Nanjing: Unequal Treat 1842: An Unequal Treaty (and China considers many they were forced to sign as such) is just what it implies – the stronger West forced horrible concessions on the weaker Qing Dynasty, as well as late Tokugawa Japan, and late Joseon Korea. The Nanjing (or Nanking) Treaty was signed aboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis by British representative Sir Henry Pottinger and Qing representatives, Qiying, Ilibu and Niujian. It consisted of thirteen articles and was ratified by Queen Victoria and the Daoguang Emperor ten months later.
3. Treaty of Wanghia 1844: A diplomatic agreement between the Dynasty and the US. Dispatched by President John Tyler under pressure from American merchants concerned about the British dominance in Chinese trade, Caleb Cussing was sent to force the Chinese into concessions much like the Treaty of Nanking. A physician and missionary, Peter Parker (I swear and had to include it because of the name), served as Cushing's Chinese interpreter. However, this one was slightly (very slightly) more favorable to the Chinese. Terms included declaring the Opium Trade illegal and handing over all offenders.
4. Taiping Rebellion 1851-1864: Led by by Christian convert Hong Xiuquanan this rebellion was against the Dynasty and included both the army and civil administration. He established the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace with capital Nanjing (Nanking) and gained control of significant parts of southern China, at one time ruling about 30 million people.
5. Third Pandemic of Bubonic plague 1855-1959: The Plague had been prevalent for centuries, since it was found in rodents in central Asia. However, due to political conflicts and global trade an influx of new people in new areas, led to the distribution of this disease throughout the world.
6. Second Opium War 1856-1860: Britain demanded a renegotiation of their Treaty of Nanjing (1850) citing their Most Favored Nation status, and wanting better terms than the Americans (Wangxia Treaty) and French (Treaty of Huangpu). Their new demands included:
a. Opening all of China to British merchants
b. Legalizing the opium trade
c. Exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties
d. Suppression of piracy
e. Regulation of the coolie trade
f. Permission for a British ambassador to reside in Beijing
g. The English-language version of all treaties to take precedence over the Chinese.
7. Burning the Old Summer Palace by British & French 1860: The destruction of the Gardens of Perfect Brightness is still regarded as a symbol of foreign aggression and humiliation in China. During the 2nd Opium War, French units diverted from the main attack force towards to the Old Summer Palace. Although the French commander, Montauban, assured the British commander, Grant, that "nothing had been touched", extensive looting, also undertaken by British and Chinese, took place. The Old Summer Palace was only now occupied by a few eunuchs, the Emperor Xianfeng having run away. There was no significant resistance to the looting from the Chinese, even though many Chinese Imperial soldiers were in the surrounding country.
8. Chefoo Convention 1876: An excuse for Great Britain to press for more concessions from China. The official reason for the treaty was to resolve the "Margary Affair", but the final treaty included a number of items that had no direct relation to the killing of Margary the year earlier. It was really Margary's own fault for traveling through semi-lawless provinces in a time when foreigners were all hated and reviled.
9. Sino-French War 1884-1885: It was fought to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin (northern Vietnam). On one had, the French achieved their war goals, so are are usually considered the victors. But the French triumph was marred by a number of defeats, and the Chinese armies performed quite well and far superior to their other 19th century conflicts. This war saw the emergence of a strong Chinese nationalist movement, and some Chinese scholars hail it as ‘the Qing dynasty’s sole victory in arms against a foreign opponent'.
10. Hundred Days' Reform 1898: Between June 11 and September 21 Emperor Guangxu and his reform-minded supporters led by Kang Youwei undertook a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform. The movement proved to be short-lived, ending in a coup d'état "The Coup of 1898" by powerful conservative opponents led by Empress Dowager Cixi. The movement aimed at making sweeping social and institutional changes in response to weaknesses exposed by China's defeat by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). The defeat was a major shock to the Chinese as Japan had been a tributary state, was much smaller than China, and was regarded as inferior. Moreover, the defeat of China by Japan led to a scramble of 'privileges' in China by other foreign powers, notably the German Empire and Russia, further awakening the stubborn conservatives.
And we wonder why China still harbors such ill-will towards the West. Can’t blame them when they were treated so horribly in the past.
1. First Opium War 1839: For decades the Chinese desperately tried to stop the illegal opium smuggling conducted by foreign (mainly British) ships at Canton. Millions were addicted and corruption was rife among customs officials. Smuggling also drained the cash silver from the country, making it too poor to survive and open to invasion.
2. Treaty of Nanjing: Unequal Treat 1842: An Unequal Treaty (and China considers many they were forced to sign as such) is just what it implies – the stronger West forced horrible concessions on the weaker Qing Dynasty, as well as late Tokugawa Japan, and late Joseon Korea. The Nanjing (or Nanking) Treaty was signed aboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis by British representative Sir Henry Pottinger and Qing representatives, Qiying, Ilibu and Niujian. It consisted of thirteen articles and was ratified by Queen Victoria and the Daoguang Emperor ten months later.
3. Treaty of Wanghia 1844: A diplomatic agreement between the Dynasty and the US. Dispatched by President John Tyler under pressure from American merchants concerned about the British dominance in Chinese trade, Caleb Cussing was sent to force the Chinese into concessions much like the Treaty of Nanking. A physician and missionary, Peter Parker (I swear and had to include it because of the name), served as Cushing's Chinese interpreter. However, this one was slightly (very slightly) more favorable to the Chinese. Terms included declaring the Opium Trade illegal and handing over all offenders.
4. Taiping Rebellion 1851-1864: Led by by Christian convert Hong Xiuquanan this rebellion was against the Dynasty and included both the army and civil administration. He established the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace with capital Nanjing (Nanking) and gained control of significant parts of southern China, at one time ruling about 30 million people.
5. Third Pandemic of Bubonic plague 1855-1959: The Plague had been prevalent for centuries, since it was found in rodents in central Asia. However, due to political conflicts and global trade an influx of new people in new areas, led to the distribution of this disease throughout the world.
6. Second Opium War 1856-1860: Britain demanded a renegotiation of their Treaty of Nanjing (1850) citing their Most Favored Nation status, and wanting better terms than the Americans (Wangxia Treaty) and French (Treaty of Huangpu). Their new demands included:
a. Opening all of China to British merchants
b. Legalizing the opium trade
c. Exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties
d. Suppression of piracy
e. Regulation of the coolie trade
f. Permission for a British ambassador to reside in Beijing
g. The English-language version of all treaties to take precedence over the Chinese.
7. Burning the Old Summer Palace by British & French 1860: The destruction of the Gardens of Perfect Brightness is still regarded as a symbol of foreign aggression and humiliation in China. During the 2nd Opium War, French units diverted from the main attack force towards to the Old Summer Palace. Although the French commander, Montauban, assured the British commander, Grant, that "nothing had been touched", extensive looting, also undertaken by British and Chinese, took place. The Old Summer Palace was only now occupied by a few eunuchs, the Emperor Xianfeng having run away. There was no significant resistance to the looting from the Chinese, even though many Chinese Imperial soldiers were in the surrounding country.
8. Chefoo Convention 1876: An excuse for Great Britain to press for more concessions from China. The official reason for the treaty was to resolve the "Margary Affair", but the final treaty included a number of items that had no direct relation to the killing of Margary the year earlier. It was really Margary's own fault for traveling through semi-lawless provinces in a time when foreigners were all hated and reviled.
9. Sino-French War 1884-1885: It was fought to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin (northern Vietnam). On one had, the French achieved their war goals, so are are usually considered the victors. But the French triumph was marred by a number of defeats, and the Chinese armies performed quite well and far superior to their other 19th century conflicts. This war saw the emergence of a strong Chinese nationalist movement, and some Chinese scholars hail it as ‘the Qing dynasty’s sole victory in arms against a foreign opponent'.
10. Hundred Days' Reform 1898: Between June 11 and September 21 Emperor Guangxu and his reform-minded supporters led by Kang Youwei undertook a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform. The movement proved to be short-lived, ending in a coup d'état "The Coup of 1898" by powerful conservative opponents led by Empress Dowager Cixi. The movement aimed at making sweeping social and institutional changes in response to weaknesses exposed by China's defeat by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). The defeat was a major shock to the Chinese as Japan had been a tributary state, was much smaller than China, and was regarded as inferior. Moreover, the defeat of China by Japan led to a scramble of 'privileges' in China by other foreign powers, notably the German Empire and Russia, further awakening the stubborn conservatives.
And we wonder why China still harbors such ill-will towards the West. Can’t blame them when they were treated so horribly in the past.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
10 Communication Discoveries 1839-1901
I could do my Tuesday 10 from now through next year on scientific discoveries, but these are all on communication.
1. Fax Machine 1843 (Fig. 1) The first fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain. In 1843, Bain received a British patent for “improvements in producing and regulating electric currents and improvements in timepieces and in electric printing and signal telegraphs”, in laymen's terms a fax machine.
2. Rotary Printing Press 1846 Made by Richard M. Hoe, a prolific New York City inventor of presses and press components, this new press fastened lead type around the circumference of a very large cylinder in the center of the press. By rotating the cylinder, he created a rotary press that turned constantly in one direction. The number of pages printed per hour now depended on how fast this large cylinder turned--and on how many impression cylinders were fitted around its circumference.
3. Kinematoscope, 1861 The invention aimed to present the illusion of motion. The patent was filed by Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as an "improvement in exhibiting stereoscopic pictures". Coleman applied stereoscopy to the existing principle of toy phantasmascopes using rotating discs.
4. Linotype, 1884 This machine enabled one operator to be machinist, type-setter, justifier, typefounder, and type-distributor all at once. HUH? Basically, now a printer could easily and quickly set movable type. Prior to Ottmar Mergenthaler's invention, no newspaper in the world had more than eight pages.
5. Mimeograph, 1887 The image transfer medium is waxed mulberry paper, backed by a sheet of stiff card stock, with the sheets bound at the top. This "stencil" assemblage is placed in a typewriter to create the original, although the typewriter ribbon has to be disabled so that the bare, sharp type element strikes the stencil directly - "cutting a stencil." Edison didn’t coin the word "mimeograph", which was first used by Albert Blake Dick when he licensed Edison's patents in 1887.
6. Electromechanial Television System, 1884(See fig. 2 left) Paul Nipkow devised the notion of dissecting the image and transmitting it sequentially. To do this he designed the first television scanning device.
1. Fax Machine 1843 (Fig. 1) The first fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain. In 1843, Bain received a British patent for “improvements in producing and regulating electric currents and improvements in timepieces and in electric printing and signal telegraphs”, in laymen's terms a fax machine.2. Rotary Printing Press 1846 Made by Richard M. Hoe, a prolific New York City inventor of presses and press components, this new press fastened lead type around the circumference of a very large cylinder in the center of the press. By rotating the cylinder, he created a rotary press that turned constantly in one direction. The number of pages printed per hour now depended on how fast this large cylinder turned--and on how many impression cylinders were fitted around its circumference.
3. Kinematoscope, 1861 The invention aimed to present the illusion of motion. The patent was filed by Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as an "improvement in exhibiting stereoscopic pictures". Coleman applied stereoscopy to the existing principle of toy phantasmascopes using rotating discs.
4. Linotype, 1884 This machine enabled one operator to be machinist, type-setter, justifier, typefounder, and type-distributor all at once. HUH? Basically, now a printer could easily and quickly set movable type. Prior to Ottmar Mergenthaler's invention, no newspaper in the world had more than eight pages.
5. Mimeograph, 1887 The image transfer medium is waxed mulberry paper, backed by a sheet of stiff card stock, with the sheets bound at the top. This "stencil" assemblage is placed in a typewriter to create the original, although the typewriter ribbon has to be disabled so that the bare, sharp type element strikes the stencil directly - "cutting a stencil." Edison didn’t coin the word "mimeograph", which was first used by Albert Blake Dick when he licensed Edison's patents in 1887.
6. Electromechanial Television System, 1884(See fig. 2 left) Paul Nipkow devised the notion of dissecting the image and transmitting it sequentially. To do this he designed the first television scanning device.7. Paper, 1866 I know you’re probably thinking I’ve lost my mind, but no. Seriously, paper – from wood pulp. Benjamin Chew Tilghman refined the sulfite method of fiber reduction for paper production.
8. Three color camera, 1892 Not much on this invention by Frederick Eugene Ives, but according to the Smithsonian, he patented his ideas, but didn’t license them. Go figure.
9. Practical Mechanical Typewriter, 1867 This one, invented by Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the first commercially successful one. The patent was sold for $12,000 to Densmore and Yost, who made an agreement with E. Remington and Sons to commercialize the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer. (Contradicting claims: In 1861, Father Francisco João de Azevedo, a Brazilian priest, made his own typewriter with basic materials and tools, such as wood and knives. Don Pedro I, the Brazilian emperor, in that same year,o presented a gold medal to Father Azevedo for this invention. Many Brazilian people as well as the Brazilian federal government recognize Fr. Azevedo as the real inventor of the typewriter, a claim that has been the subject of some controversy.)
10. Wireless telegraphy, 1896 (fig. 3 below) Guglielmo Marconi invented early radio telegraph originally used to describe electrical signaling without the electric wires to connect the end points. They wanted to distinguish it from the conventional electric telegraph signaling of the day that required wire connection between the end points.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday 10 - Victorian films
I’ve done this before, a list of things I want to read/watch, but since I’m sick and have had no sleep this past weekend, here’s a list of Victorian movies I find interesting. So this 10 isn’t going to be the best I’ve ever done – fast and easy this week!
On a side note, if anyone knows of a book/movie from the early 1850s, can you pass it along?
10 Victorian films (in no particular order) I want to watch …should I ever find the time again.
1. The Inheritance - loosely based upon Louisa May Alcott's novella
2. Berkeley Square – British miniseries where three young nannies find jobs in well-to-do London households and get to know each other
3. The Buccaneers - Based on Edith Wharton's unfinished novel
4. Wives and Daughters – BBC production of Elizabeth Gaskell’s book
5. North & South – not that one, though I’ve seen it and have enjoyed it, but another Elizabeth Gaskell’s book
6. The Barchester Chronicles - Alan Rickman is in it, need I say more? OK, based on the Anthony Trollope book.
7. The Crown Prince - I’ve been meaning to watch this for a while, I love Austrian history. Hopefully soon I’ll get to it.
8. Disraeli - look at the political and personal lives of PM Benjamin Disraeli
9. The Way We Live Now – I don’t mean to be on an Anthony Trollope kick, but he did write a lot of books BBC enjoys making into movies!
10. The Woman in White – based on the Wilkie Collins novel (also wrote The Moonstone)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday 10 - Russia
10 Key Russian Events 1839-1901
The Victorian Era was a time of expansion. With expansion inevitably comes war. Russia was no exception. Her history of expansion was ancient, and by 1839, her boarders reached to the Pacific, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and Arctic . She tried reform – failed – tried again – endured revolution, revolution, revolution, and held tightly to her land. Everything that happened here directly resulted in both WWI and in the 1917 Revolution. 50 years of policies, rebellions, reforms, setbacks, and power plays reshaped the world as they knew it into what we do today.
1. Crimean War 1853-1586 between Imperial Russia (and the Bulgarian volunteers) and the United Kingdom, Ottoman Empire, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Really, it was all France’s fault…in 1851, a coup d'état put Napoleon III in power who then instructed his ambassador to the Ottoman Empire to force the Ottomans to recognize France as the "sovereign authority" in the Holy Land.
The Russians didn't like this, made counterclaims, and reminded the Ottomans of two treaties, 1757 and 1774. The Ottomans then reversed their earlier decision, renounced the French treaty, and insisted Russia was the protector of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon III responded with a show of force. England joined. France bribed Sultan Abdülmecid I. Russia eventually lost. It was a crushing blow to their moral, country spirit, and people.
2. The Treaty of Aigun 1858. Established the modern borders of the Russian Far East. Its provisions were confirmed by the Beijing Treaty of 1860. Significantly, the Treaty was never approved by the Xianfeng Emperor.
3. Emancipation reform of 1861. "It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below.” Though he carefully guarded his autocratic rights and privileges, Alexander II reformed. This particular one amounted to ending the serf dependence previously suffered by Russian peasants. The legal basis of the reform was the Tsar's Emancipation Manifesto of March 3, 1861 (February 19, 1861 (O.S.)). The Manifesto granted full rights of free citizens to serfs and prescribed that peasants would be able to buy land from the landlords. It didn't totally work.
4. Judicial reform of Alexander II 1864. Generally considered one of the most successful and the most consistent (along with the military reform), it created a completely new order of legal proceedings. The main results were the introduction of a unified court system instead of the cumbersome set of Estate-of-the-realm courts, and fundamental changes in criminal trials. The latter included establishment of the principle of equality of the parties involved, introduction of public hearings, jury trial and the institution of a professional advocate.
5. Alaska purchase 1867. Russia was in financial straits and feared losing their Alaskan territory without compensation in some future conflict, especially to their rivals, Britain. Therefore, Alexander II decided to sell the territory to the US. The purchase price was $7.2 million (about 1.9¢ per acre). American public opinion was generally positive, but some newspaper writers and editors had negative feelings about. Don’t they always? Can’t please everyone…but Washington approved it. After all, Russia had been a valuable ally of the Union during the Civil War, while Britain had been a nearly open enemy. It seemed wise to help Russia while sticking it to the British.
6. April Uprising 1876. Insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire, the indirect result of which was the establishment of Bulgaria as an independent nation in 1878. What did this have to do with Russia? On July 8, 1876, a secret treaty prepared for the division of the Balkans between Russia and Austria-Hungary, depending on the outcome of local revolutionary movements. Almost makes you think of WWI, doesn't it.
7. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. With a rise in nationalism in Balkans, the Russians used that unrest to see its goal of reversing territorial losses suffered during the Crimean War and reestablishing itself in the Black Sea. Russia annexed Southern Bessarabia and the Kars region.
8. Alexander II assassinated 1881. Ignacy Hryniewiecki of the Narodnaya Volya, or the People's Will was responsible. Though he hesitated between strengthening the hands of executive power and making concessions to the widespread political aspirations of the educated classes, he tried, which was more than any tsar or tsarina had since Catherine the Great. (And she needed the support of the nobility, so her reforms were minor.)
9. Alexander III became tsar. Finally a man of self-control. Unfortunately, he had no intention of limiting or weakening the autocratic power he inherited. He knew what changes he wanted to implement before he became tsar, and let it be known. He wanted national principles in all spheres of official activity; a homogeneous Russia—homogeneous in language, administration and religion. He died in 1884…his son, Nicholas II became tsar, and we all know how that ended up.
10. Russification of Finland 1889-1905. Aimed at the termination of Finland’s autonomy. It was a part of a larger policy of Russification pursued by late 19th-early 20th century Russian governments which tried to abolish cultural and administrative autonomy of non-Russian minorities within the empire. Finland and Russia had several skirmishes throughout the beginning of the 20th century, even while both fought the Nazi’s in WWII.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1113655.stm
www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-index.html
www.infoplease.com/spot/russiatime1.html
The Victorian Era was a time of expansion. With expansion inevitably comes war. Russia was no exception. Her history of expansion was ancient, and by 1839, her boarders reached to the Pacific, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and Arctic . She tried reform – failed – tried again – endured revolution, revolution, revolution, and held tightly to her land. Everything that happened here directly resulted in both WWI and in the 1917 Revolution. 50 years of policies, rebellions, reforms, setbacks, and power plays reshaped the world as they knew it into what we do today.
1. Crimean War 1853-1586 between Imperial Russia (and the Bulgarian volunteers) and the United Kingdom, Ottoman Empire, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Really, it was all France’s fault…in 1851, a coup d'état put Napoleon III in power who then instructed his ambassador to the Ottoman Empire to force the Ottomans to recognize France as the "sovereign authority" in the Holy Land.
The Russians didn't like this, made counterclaims, and reminded the Ottomans of two treaties, 1757 and 1774. The Ottomans then reversed their earlier decision, renounced the French treaty, and insisted Russia was the protector of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon III responded with a show of force. England joined. France bribed Sultan Abdülmecid I. Russia eventually lost. It was a crushing blow to their moral, country spirit, and people.
2. The Treaty of Aigun 1858. Established the modern borders of the Russian Far East. Its provisions were confirmed by the Beijing Treaty of 1860. Significantly, the Treaty was never approved by the Xianfeng Emperor.
3. Emancipation reform of 1861. "It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below.” Though he carefully guarded his autocratic rights and privileges, Alexander II reformed. This particular one amounted to ending the serf dependence previously suffered by Russian peasants. The legal basis of the reform was the Tsar's Emancipation Manifesto of March 3, 1861 (February 19, 1861 (O.S.)). The Manifesto granted full rights of free citizens to serfs and prescribed that peasants would be able to buy land from the landlords. It didn't totally work.
4. Judicial reform of Alexander II 1864. Generally considered one of the most successful and the most consistent (along with the military reform), it created a completely new order of legal proceedings. The main results were the introduction of a unified court system instead of the cumbersome set of Estate-of-the-realm courts, and fundamental changes in criminal trials. The latter included establishment of the principle of equality of the parties involved, introduction of public hearings, jury trial and the institution of a professional advocate.
5. Alaska purchase 1867. Russia was in financial straits and feared losing their Alaskan territory without compensation in some future conflict, especially to their rivals, Britain. Therefore, Alexander II decided to sell the territory to the US. The purchase price was $7.2 million (about 1.9¢ per acre). American public opinion was generally positive, but some newspaper writers and editors had negative feelings about. Don’t they always? Can’t please everyone…but Washington approved it. After all, Russia had been a valuable ally of the Union during the Civil War, while Britain had been a nearly open enemy. It seemed wise to help Russia while sticking it to the British.
6. April Uprising 1876. Insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire, the indirect result of which was the establishment of Bulgaria as an independent nation in 1878. What did this have to do with Russia? On July 8, 1876, a secret treaty prepared for the division of the Balkans between Russia and Austria-Hungary, depending on the outcome of local revolutionary movements. Almost makes you think of WWI, doesn't it.
7. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. With a rise in nationalism in Balkans, the Russians used that unrest to see its goal of reversing territorial losses suffered during the Crimean War and reestablishing itself in the Black Sea. Russia annexed Southern Bessarabia and the Kars region.
8. Alexander II assassinated 1881. Ignacy Hryniewiecki of the Narodnaya Volya, or the People's Will was responsible. Though he hesitated between strengthening the hands of executive power and making concessions to the widespread political aspirations of the educated classes, he tried, which was more than any tsar or tsarina had since Catherine the Great. (And she needed the support of the nobility, so her reforms were minor.)
9. Alexander III became tsar. Finally a man of self-control. Unfortunately, he had no intention of limiting or weakening the autocratic power he inherited. He knew what changes he wanted to implement before he became tsar, and let it be known. He wanted national principles in all spheres of official activity; a homogeneous Russia—homogeneous in language, administration and religion. He died in 1884…his son, Nicholas II became tsar, and we all know how that ended up.
10. Russification of Finland 1889-1905. Aimed at the termination of Finland’s autonomy. It was a part of a larger policy of Russification pursued by late 19th-early 20th century Russian governments which tried to abolish cultural and administrative autonomy of non-Russian minorities within the empire. Finland and Russia had several skirmishes throughout the beginning of the 20th century, even while both fought the Nazi’s in WWII.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1113655.stm
www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-index.html
www.infoplease.com/spot/russiatime1.html
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday 10 Easter!
How many sound familiar to you?
10 Victorian Easter traditions:
Decorate Easter eggs – not from a kit, more’s the pity, but by using cranberries, beets, spinach greens and orange and lemon peels.
Greeting cards – bunnies, chicks, or a cross printed with a simple “Happy Easter” or spiritual greeting
Church – um…pretty self explanatory there.
Lilies – the flower of the holiday, according to the language of flowers, Lily (white) - Virginity; purity; majesty; it's heavenly to be with you
Panorama sugar egg – They look like they’ll rot your teeth in a second. Or break them. Can you eat these?
Easter bonnets – a traditional start to spring, any Easter bonnet would be guaranteed to be fashionable, flirty, and fun. And in the newest colors of spring.
Easter parades - The first public Easter parade in America occurred in 1860 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when families strolled along the Boardwalk in their new spring finery after the Sunday service.
Chocolate eggs (and bunnies) - bunnies were symbols of fertility (you’ve heard the saying?), and chocolate eggs abound during the late 1800s.
Maundy Money - could be ordered from the bank or mint by anyone. The tradition dates to King Edward I or II, when the monarch washed the poor’s feet (not all of them obviously) and gave them money. This explains it much better than I could: Maundy Money an Easter Tradition
Easter Baskets – where else would you fit all the goodies in?
10 Victorian Easter traditions:
Decorate Easter eggs – not from a kit, more’s the pity, but by using cranberries, beets, spinach greens and orange and lemon peels.
Greeting cards – bunnies, chicks, or a cross printed with a simple “Happy Easter” or spiritual greeting
Church – um…pretty self explanatory there.
Lilies – the flower of the holiday, according to the language of flowers, Lily (white) - Virginity; purity; majesty; it's heavenly to be with you
Panorama sugar egg – They look like they’ll rot your teeth in a second. Or break them. Can you eat these?
Easter bonnets – a traditional start to spring, any Easter bonnet would be guaranteed to be fashionable, flirty, and fun. And in the newest colors of spring.
Easter parades - The first public Easter parade in America occurred in 1860 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when families strolled along the Boardwalk in their new spring finery after the Sunday service.
Chocolate eggs (and bunnies) - bunnies were symbols of fertility (you’ve heard the saying?), and chocolate eggs abound during the late 1800s.
Maundy Money - could be ordered from the bank or mint by anyone. The tradition dates to King Edward I or II, when the monarch washed the poor’s feet (not all of them obviously) and gave them money. This explains it much better than I could: Maundy Money an Easter Tradition
Easter Baskets – where else would you fit all the goodies in?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday Ten - Financial Fiction
The 1800s saw some of the worst financial crises ever. Banks failed with alarming frequency, entire populations lost everything (India, Ireland, South America), and bankers and bank practices were scrutinized as never before – some even prosecuted.
Here are a couple failed banks and financial crises:
Anglo-Indian Bundelcund Banking Company 1833
Royal British Bank 1855
Irish Tipperary Bank 1857
The Inter-Oceanic Railway of Honduras 1872
Here are 10 (mostly) Victorian authors who wrote about finance. Some were affected by their banks folding and losing everything (William Thackeray). Some merely knew how to research and had never used a bank in their lives (Emile Zola). But they all wrote what today would be called the financial-fiction genre.
Marie-Henri Beyle, generally known as Stendhal, Lucien Leuwen (1894), published 52 years after his death.
Honoré de Balzac The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau and The House of Nucingen selections from La Comédie humaine (various dates).
Harriet Martineau Illustrations of Political Economy(1832-1834) in 25 volumes. Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated (1833) in 10 volumes, and Illustrations of Taxation (1834) in 5 volumes. When Lord Brougham sent Martineau government reports to use in constructing her stories she replied "I certainly never before met with materials so fit for the purposes of fiction."
William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair (1847-1848), Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond (1849) and The Newcomes (1854).
Charles Dickens Little Dorrit (1855 and 1857).
David Morier Evans, editor Bankers' Magazine (1857) and The Banker's Daughter (1870-1873).
Gustav Freytag Soll und Haben (1855) meaning, debit and credit was the most successful German novel of the century.
Anthony Trollope The Way We Live Now(1875).
George Gissing The Whirlpool (1897).
Emile Zola L'Argent or Money (1891).
http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/bankfiction/victorian.html
Here are a couple failed banks and financial crises:
Anglo-Indian Bundelcund Banking Company 1833
Royal British Bank 1855
Irish Tipperary Bank 1857
The Inter-Oceanic Railway of Honduras 1872
Here are 10 (mostly) Victorian authors who wrote about finance. Some were affected by their banks folding and losing everything (William Thackeray). Some merely knew how to research and had never used a bank in their lives (Emile Zola). But they all wrote what today would be called the financial-fiction genre.
Marie-Henri Beyle, generally known as Stendhal, Lucien Leuwen (1894), published 52 years after his death.
Honoré de Balzac The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau and The House of Nucingen selections from La Comédie humaine (various dates).
Harriet Martineau Illustrations of Political Economy(1832-1834) in 25 volumes. Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated (1833) in 10 volumes, and Illustrations of Taxation (1834) in 5 volumes. When Lord Brougham sent Martineau government reports to use in constructing her stories she replied "I certainly never before met with materials so fit for the purposes of fiction."
William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair (1847-1848), Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond (1849) and The Newcomes (1854).
Charles Dickens Little Dorrit (1855 and 1857).
David Morier Evans, editor Bankers' Magazine (1857) and The Banker's Daughter (1870-1873).
Gustav Freytag Soll und Haben (1855) meaning, debit and credit was the most successful German novel of the century.
Anthony Trollope The Way We Live Now(1875).
George Gissing The Whirlpool (1897).
Emile Zola L'Argent or Money (1891).
http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/bankfiction/victorian.html
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
10 Things I wouldn't be able to live without in the Victorian Era
This is an almost continuation of Dee's 10 thing she loves/hates about the era. I shamelessly add to it because I have nothing else planned.
1. TV - I don't even watch a lot of it, but it's interesting and sometimes just plain frivolous. It's a good way to pass the time while cleaning, too...or procrastinate an afternoon away.
2. Computers - I can't even imagine not having them around now. I know the majority of people out there don't use them like I do (even read an article on how one executive went without for a whole week. Can't even imagine!) But there's no way I can do the research I want, or find the curious tidbits of information I'm interested in without it. The mere thought of sloughing through a gazillion books for 3 facts makes me want to whimper and hide. I email constantly, it’s so much better than writing letters to old friends.
3. Antibiotics - I have the worst immune system. I have a cold several times a season, sinus infections all the time, and need those antibiotics. Don't stand between me and the pharmacy. It's bad.
4. Allergy medicine - Granted, this goes with #3, but in a slightly different way. I have allergies and need both eye drops and prescription allergy medicine. I have nasal spray, and an unending supply of tissues. What did Victorians use? You know, I'm not even sure. But if it was just chicken soup, I'd need more. And I'd hope I was smart enough not to fall for the snake oil doctor's lines. But then desperate times and all...
5. Contacts - It's purely vain, true, but not the point. I wouldn't be able to live without my contacts 100+ years ago. I only wear glasses at night when I'm home, locked in tight, and ready for bed. I mentioned it was a vanity thing, right?
6. Planes, trains, and automobiles - Trains, well not so much. And they had rail then, and put it to better use than we do today. (Though I just heard a report this morning about Western Europe adding electric trains as competition to airlines.) But without a car I'd be lost. I'd probably hibernate away and never do much of anything, then die at a pathetically young age from boredom. I love to see new things, even if it's in my own state, let alone a quick trip across the country.
7. Telephones - today's use of them, not their original use. They're cheaper to use, more accessible, with less nosy people listening in on them and transferring you places. I can call New York AND Texas at the same time on 3-way, call the next town and the next state with a simple hit of the redial.
8. Microwave – I don’t cook. I reheat, I take out, I zap things. Without that handy little machine, I doubt I’d have moved out of my parents’ house.
9. Equal Rights – I’m way too outspoken not to have been a part of the Suffrage movement. Here’s hoping that I would’ve been then, too.
10. RWA – not the entity per se, but (you can tell I didn’t have 10 things, can’t you) by joining it, I met my fellow Victorians. And without them, I’m not certain I’d be as far with my writing as I am.
1. TV - I don't even watch a lot of it, but it's interesting and sometimes just plain frivolous. It's a good way to pass the time while cleaning, too...or procrastinate an afternoon away.
2. Computers - I can't even imagine not having them around now. I know the majority of people out there don't use them like I do (even read an article on how one executive went without for a whole week. Can't even imagine!) But there's no way I can do the research I want, or find the curious tidbits of information I'm interested in without it. The mere thought of sloughing through a gazillion books for 3 facts makes me want to whimper and hide. I email constantly, it’s so much better than writing letters to old friends.
3. Antibiotics - I have the worst immune system. I have a cold several times a season, sinus infections all the time, and need those antibiotics. Don't stand between me and the pharmacy. It's bad.
4. Allergy medicine - Granted, this goes with #3, but in a slightly different way. I have allergies and need both eye drops and prescription allergy medicine. I have nasal spray, and an unending supply of tissues. What did Victorians use? You know, I'm not even sure. But if it was just chicken soup, I'd need more. And I'd hope I was smart enough not to fall for the snake oil doctor's lines. But then desperate times and all...
5. Contacts - It's purely vain, true, but not the point. I wouldn't be able to live without my contacts 100+ years ago. I only wear glasses at night when I'm home, locked in tight, and ready for bed. I mentioned it was a vanity thing, right?
6. Planes, trains, and automobiles - Trains, well not so much. And they had rail then, and put it to better use than we do today. (Though I just heard a report this morning about Western Europe adding electric trains as competition to airlines.) But without a car I'd be lost. I'd probably hibernate away and never do much of anything, then die at a pathetically young age from boredom. I love to see new things, even if it's in my own state, let alone a quick trip across the country.
7. Telephones - today's use of them, not their original use. They're cheaper to use, more accessible, with less nosy people listening in on them and transferring you places. I can call New York AND Texas at the same time on 3-way, call the next town and the next state with a simple hit of the redial.
8. Microwave – I don’t cook. I reheat, I take out, I zap things. Without that handy little machine, I doubt I’d have moved out of my parents’ house.
9. Equal Rights – I’m way too outspoken not to have been a part of the Suffrage movement. Here’s hoping that I would’ve been then, too.
10. RWA – not the entity per se, but (you can tell I didn’t have 10 things, can’t you) by joining it, I met my fellow Victorians. And without them, I’m not certain I’d be as far with my writing as I am.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Well-Travelled Victorian
I love to travel. I haven't been to as many places as I'd like, and there are some I'd never go to for various reasons, but there are so many places in this world to see, how can you resist? Where did the well-mannered Victorian travel to? What part of the Empire did one see in the late 1800s?
1. London - Start with the center of the Empire, the capital city. Even if you've visited every season of your life, there's plenty to do outside the social circle. If you don't want to crusade for the downtrodden, there are those balls and soirees. Then again, if you do want to help your fellow man, I hear they're offering tours of the local goals. Just remember: in 1889 they had a dock strike, so it's best you avoid travel by ship. But then there were so many other means by then.
2. Edinburgh - Take the train up to Scotland to avoid the docks. Let's face it, there's plenty of things to see and do up there. If you're not into history, there's hunting. And if you're not into that, mayhap a nice stroll about the countryside will refresh the spirits. Take a boat ride down the Caledonia Canal, then see the lochs that form 2/3 of the canal; Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. I'd be wary of Loch Ness, however. I've heard of strange sightings there.
3. Cairo - Now that you've rested and relaxed, you want a little excitement! What better place than the bazaars of such an ancient city? With the Suez Canal is open, you can continue around Africa instead of safari-ing through the interior.
4. Interior Africa - The Dark Continent. It was called many things, and even in the late 1880s when explorers mapped everything and journalists and scientists spilled many secrets, there were still things left unexplored. I caution you, when traveling through Sudan - this is an Islamic State and the Sharia Courts preside.
5. South Africa - Natives of this beautiful tip of Africa include the Khoikhoi, San and Bantu. Their customs may seem strange to us, but what is this world if not diverse? Conditions are not what one would hope for when visiting a part of the Empire, but with the discovery of gold and diamonds, it's hard to find luxurious accommodations. But then you opted for the world tour, didn't you. I'm sure you're prepared for this.
6. India - Magnificent architecture, spicy foods, history dating back thousands of years, and all wrapped up with the British Army looking after you. What more can a traveler want? It's all here, the bazaars, the markets, the cooking that results in delicious food. Sure, there are a few malcontents, but what great colony doesn't have them?
7. Burma - traveling overland might be harder than my sea, but it's such beautiful country, everyone should experience it once. Railroads are hard to construct in this backland, but believe me, the Empire is working on that. Think of it this way, you can tell your friends you saw the colonies as they once were, not after all that newfangled construction. Magnificent Buddha temples, beautiful rivers, and lush mountainous forests please the senses and inspire the soul. Not to be missed.
8. Hong Kong - our final stop on the Asian tour is this once-small outpost in China. With their own grandiose buildings and outlandish costumes, this is a place guaranteed to bring out the poet in all of us. And the tea, oh heavens, the tea! And you simply must hire a (reputable) guide to take you to see the Wall. For barbarians, their building concepts are on scale with anything we could think of. One final word of warning - the Dens. Be very careful not to fall into the Dens. The stories I've heard...!
9. Canada - Tis a long trip to be sure, but that Australian territory is filled with convicts and their outlaw descendants. (Did you perchance read of Ned Kelly? Ask the steamship porter if they can find you a copy in the next port.) O' Canada, a beautiful and vast place. I'd recommend at least 3 weeks to properly see the entire stretch of it. French upstarts or not. Try the fishing off Prince Edward Island, take the Canadian Pacific Railway to the beautiful and temperate city of Vancouver. It's worth the time.
10. Caribbean - Our final leg of this Empire trip is the Caribbean. Your ship's captain will know where to go, there are so many wonderful places to explore. Bahamas, Bermuda, The Virgin Islands, Antigua, Jamaica, even Belize on the coast of Central America. Bring your parasol, ladies, the sun is blinding bright, but expect phenomenal food and colorful natives.
1. London - Start with the center of the Empire, the capital city. Even if you've visited every season of your life, there's plenty to do outside the social circle. If you don't want to crusade for the downtrodden, there are those balls and soirees. Then again, if you do want to help your fellow man, I hear they're offering tours of the local goals. Just remember: in 1889 they had a dock strike, so it's best you avoid travel by ship. But then there were so many other means by then.
2. Edinburgh - Take the train up to Scotland to avoid the docks. Let's face it, there's plenty of things to see and do up there. If you're not into history, there's hunting. And if you're not into that, mayhap a nice stroll about the countryside will refresh the spirits. Take a boat ride down the Caledonia Canal, then see the lochs that form 2/3 of the canal; Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. I'd be wary of Loch Ness, however. I've heard of strange sightings there.
3. Cairo - Now that you've rested and relaxed, you want a little excitement! What better place than the bazaars of such an ancient city? With the Suez Canal is open, you can continue around Africa instead of safari-ing through the interior.
4. Interior Africa - The Dark Continent. It was called many things, and even in the late 1880s when explorers mapped everything and journalists and scientists spilled many secrets, there were still things left unexplored. I caution you, when traveling through Sudan - this is an Islamic State and the Sharia Courts preside.
5. South Africa - Natives of this beautiful tip of Africa include the Khoikhoi, San and Bantu. Their customs may seem strange to us, but what is this world if not diverse? Conditions are not what one would hope for when visiting a part of the Empire, but with the discovery of gold and diamonds, it's hard to find luxurious accommodations. But then you opted for the world tour, didn't you. I'm sure you're prepared for this.
6. India - Magnificent architecture, spicy foods, history dating back thousands of years, and all wrapped up with the British Army looking after you. What more can a traveler want? It's all here, the bazaars, the markets, the cooking that results in delicious food. Sure, there are a few malcontents, but what great colony doesn't have them?
7. Burma - traveling overland might be harder than my sea, but it's such beautiful country, everyone should experience it once. Railroads are hard to construct in this backland, but believe me, the Empire is working on that. Think of it this way, you can tell your friends you saw the colonies as they once were, not after all that newfangled construction. Magnificent Buddha temples, beautiful rivers, and lush mountainous forests please the senses and inspire the soul. Not to be missed.
8. Hong Kong - our final stop on the Asian tour is this once-small outpost in China. With their own grandiose buildings and outlandish costumes, this is a place guaranteed to bring out the poet in all of us. And the tea, oh heavens, the tea! And you simply must hire a (reputable) guide to take you to see the Wall. For barbarians, their building concepts are on scale with anything we could think of. One final word of warning - the Dens. Be very careful not to fall into the Dens. The stories I've heard...!
9. Canada - Tis a long trip to be sure, but that Australian territory is filled with convicts and their outlaw descendants. (Did you perchance read of Ned Kelly? Ask the steamship porter if they can find you a copy in the next port.) O' Canada, a beautiful and vast place. I'd recommend at least 3 weeks to properly see the entire stretch of it. French upstarts or not. Try the fishing off Prince Edward Island, take the Canadian Pacific Railway to the beautiful and temperate city of Vancouver. It's worth the time.
10. Caribbean - Our final leg of this Empire trip is the Caribbean. Your ship's captain will know where to go, there are so many wonderful places to explore. Bahamas, Bermuda, The Virgin Islands, Antigua, Jamaica, even Belize on the coast of Central America. Bring your parasol, ladies, the sun is blinding bright, but expect phenomenal food and colorful natives.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tuesday 10 - Christmas Gifts
Even though it's Christmas, I'm posting this beacuse I don't have to be anywhere until 2. Plus, I spent the last several days thinking of these.
Ten most memorable (but not necessarily best) gifts I’ve received over the years:
10 MP3 Player – I have one for my music, but I wanted one to download audiobooks from my library. I had to pick it out myself, but at lest I knew I was getting the right one. I opened it Christmas Eve and will be downloading Christmas Day.
9 Tea maker - I don’t drink coffee, so my godchild got me a tea maker – looks just like a coffeemaker, but with special inserts for tea bags and loose tea. One of the best things I’ve ever received!
8 Snoopy pendant – it was from Lenox, way too expensive, but absolutely adorable. I love Snoopy, ever since I was 2 and my maternal grandfather won a bigger-than-I-was stuffed Snoopy I dragged around with me by his poor neck. Same grandparents bought me this a couple years ago and I wear it every Christmas Eve.
7 Christmas Tree – yes, one year I got a Christmas tree for Christmas. Ok, early present. Pre-lighted (don’t do real), 6-footer. We loaded it into the car (you may begin laughing now). My mom of the bad hip, bad knee, bad foot and I lifted this boxed tree into the back of my Ford Escape. Done – then I went home. And had to carry the boxed tree up the initial flight of stairs to my condo…alone. I couldn’t do it; the thing was just too darn heavy! And there were steps. Tried pushing it, and watched it slide back down 12 of the 14 steps. I had to wait for my best friend’s husband to help, otherwise it might still be on the stairs, waiting.
6 Seesaw – I don’t know how old I was, but my paternal grandfather built one for me. Okay, okay, and my brother. I have no idea how my parents managed to fit it into the house, I never asked. But on Christmas morning when I came downstairs, there it was, and it was beautiful – I still have a very vivid memory of it in the living room. My cousin got one, too, but lucky for me I did have a brother; she was an only child. It’s really hard seesawing alone.
5 Draino – yes, you read correctly. When I moved into my current place, the tub didn’t have one of those honeycombed drains, so my very long hair ran straight down, clogging it every other week. One year, I got a 3-pack of Draino, neatly wrapped.
4 PJs, slippers, and a stuffed animal – every year my maternal grandparents gave them to me. Every year. I suspect this year will be no exception. The pjs I can deal with, they’re usually warm and big, and now my grandmother lets me pick them out. The slippers are great; my feet are always cold. The stuffed animal was cool when I was a kid, even as a teen. Now…I have nowhere to put them. Some are jammed into a box in my parents’ attic. Some are jammed into corners in various closets in my own house. I don’t know what to do with them!
3 Santa shops at Bamberger’s – You didn't know that? Well, he does. (Or did, since Macy’s bought them out and changed the name – probably still shops at Macy’s.) I was maybe 6. Clothes are staples when it comes to Christmas, and there I was, couldn’t even spell the word (had to look it up now bur or ber?), but I recognized that green box. “Hey,” I said in a story that’s still repeated today, “Santa went to Bamberger’s!”
2 Mustard Yellow Sweater - This was a strong contender for #1. It was my senior year in high school, the week before Christmas my grandmother had died, and this was what she got me; a hideous yellow sweater. I don’t know why she thought I’d look good in it, or why she hadn’t asked my mom (my mom claims to have told her neutral colors). I hated it. But I wore it twice because she had just died and I loved her dearly, questionable taste in Christmas presents aside.
1 A Roaster - Now I don’t cook. I can bake because of my addiction to chocolate, I can microwave, I can reheat, I can make noodles. My cooking/baking maternal grandmother insisted I needed a roaster. The thing is huge! I mean fit for a 30 pound turkey huge. I have no idea what to do with it except keep it in the box (where it’s happily resided for 4 years) and hope I never have to make Thanksgiving dinner.
What was your most memorable (but not necessarily best) gift? And don't forget to comment for our January 7th basket drawing!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Tuesday 10 - Sports
Sports with ties to or origins in Victoriana
There are lots of sports I could list here. With the advent of more leisure time, there was more time for the playing and watching of sports. Canoeing, rowing, running, hockey, all of it gathered momentum during the mid-to-later half of the 19th century. Here are 10 of those.
1. Baseball – Let’s forget the history of it, it’s too hard to track down. (And hey, Jane Austen made a reference to children playing "base-ball" on a village green in Northanger Abbey, written between 1798 and 1803, published 1818.) In 1845, Alexander Cartwright of New York City led the codification of an early list of rules (the so-called Knickerbocker Rules), from which today's have evolved. 19th Century Baseball
2. American Football – There are pads and helmets and braces! American Football, it is often said, is for wimps. I’ve seen Rugby, and that’s for crazy people. Walter Camp, player and coach at Yale University set down some rules in 1879. Read all about him and the significant rule changes from rugby and soccer.
3. Rugby – It’s convoluted, it’s mystifying…1838-39, 1841-42, 1845…here, just read it yourself, the site does a lot better explaining it than I could. Rugby
4. Football or Soccer – In America, it was a mishmash of changing rules until 1862 when Oneidas of Boston became the first organized soccer club in America. Princeton and Rutgers Universities engaged in the first intercollegiate soccer match November 6, 1876 (Rutgers won). The American Football Association was organized in 1884 in Newark, NJ, to maintain uniformity in the interpretation of rules and provide an orderly and stable growth. Elsewhere, though having been played for centuries in several similar incarnations, it wasn’t until 1848 and The Cambridge Rules that evolved into subsequent codes, including Association football.
5. Curling – I love Curling - it's one of the few WInter Olympic Sports I watch all the games to. When I visited Scotland, I saw the so-called first boulder they used. And I have no idea how they did anything with that but hurt themselves. The first Curling club was founded in Kinross, Loch Leven in 1668. The first national association was the Grand Caledonian Curling Club (founded in 1838). In 1843, the club got the privilege to be the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. This Club was the World Federation, till 1966, when the ICF (International Curling Federation) was founded.
6. Tennis –In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales. It was based on indoor, or real, tennis. Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis. The first championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877.
7. Croquet – John Jaques II introduced croquet into England at the Great Exhibition in 1851. His display attracted such wide attention that the game speedily became the vogue, in Europe and throughout the British Empire.
8. Basketball - James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor, invented this sport in 1891. Here are the original 13 rules. Thirteen! I wonder how many there are now.
9. Roller Skating - Introduced in 1863, it was quickly made fashionable by the elite of New York City. Special skating dresses, allowing more freedom of movement, became popular by the 1870’s. The popularity of roller skating waned by the 1890’s, but like ice skating it helped lead to more freedom in dress and behavior for women.
10. Olympic Games – in Ancient times, it was last celebrated in 393AD, only to be revived by Evangelos Zappas in 1870 and 1875. The International Olympic Committeewas founded in 1894, and their first games were the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. (The First Olympics: Athens 1896. Great movie, probably not that historically accurate, but great movie!)
There are lots of sports I could list here. With the advent of more leisure time, there was more time for the playing and watching of sports. Canoeing, rowing, running, hockey, all of it gathered momentum during the mid-to-later half of the 19th century. Here are 10 of those.
1. Baseball – Let’s forget the history of it, it’s too hard to track down. (And hey, Jane Austen made a reference to children playing "base-ball" on a village green in Northanger Abbey, written between 1798 and 1803, published 1818.) In 1845, Alexander Cartwright of New York City led the codification of an early list of rules (the so-called Knickerbocker Rules), from which today's have evolved. 19th Century Baseball
2. American Football – There are pads and helmets and braces! American Football, it is often said, is for wimps. I’ve seen Rugby, and that’s for crazy people. Walter Camp, player and coach at Yale University set down some rules in 1879. Read all about him and the significant rule changes from rugby and soccer.
3. Rugby – It’s convoluted, it’s mystifying…1838-39, 1841-42, 1845…here, just read it yourself, the site does a lot better explaining it than I could. Rugby
4. Football or Soccer – In America, it was a mishmash of changing rules until 1862 when Oneidas of Boston became the first organized soccer club in America. Princeton and Rutgers Universities engaged in the first intercollegiate soccer match November 6, 1876 (Rutgers won). The American Football Association was organized in 1884 in Newark, NJ, to maintain uniformity in the interpretation of rules and provide an orderly and stable growth. Elsewhere, though having been played for centuries in several similar incarnations, it wasn’t until 1848 and The Cambridge Rules that evolved into subsequent codes, including Association football.
5. Curling – I love Curling - it's one of the few WInter Olympic Sports I watch all the games to. When I visited Scotland, I saw the so-called first boulder they used. And I have no idea how they did anything with that but hurt themselves. The first Curling club was founded in Kinross, Loch Leven in 1668. The first national association was the Grand Caledonian Curling Club (founded in 1838). In 1843, the club got the privilege to be the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. This Club was the World Federation, till 1966, when the ICF (International Curling Federation) was founded.
6. Tennis –In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales. It was based on indoor, or real, tennis. Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis. The first championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877.
7. Croquet – John Jaques II introduced croquet into England at the Great Exhibition in 1851. His display attracted such wide attention that the game speedily became the vogue, in Europe and throughout the British Empire.
8. Basketball - James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor, invented this sport in 1891. Here are the original 13 rules. Thirteen! I wonder how many there are now.
9. Roller Skating - Introduced in 1863, it was quickly made fashionable by the elite of New York City. Special skating dresses, allowing more freedom of movement, became popular by the 1870’s. The popularity of roller skating waned by the 1890’s, but like ice skating it helped lead to more freedom in dress and behavior for women.
10. Olympic Games – in Ancient times, it was last celebrated in 393AD, only to be revived by Evangelos Zappas in 1870 and 1875. The International Olympic Committeewas founded in 1894, and their first games were the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. (The First Olympics: Athens 1896. Great movie, probably not that historically accurate, but great movie!)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Tuesday 10
Look - it's Tuesday! I totally missed that, what with the holiday (well it was for me, did you thank a Vet this weekend?) and the long weekend I took...ahem. No excuse. None. But I do have a list of ten for everyone.
10 Famous Firsts that debuted at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (otherwise known as the Colombian Exposition (which happened to be in Chicago) of 1893). Many of these are from The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Eric Larson, a great book (if you skim the boring menu parts) about serial killers, grand designs, and great Victorian history.
10 Famous Firsts that debuted at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (otherwise known as the Colombian Exposition (which happened to be in Chicago) of 1893). Many of these are from The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Eric Larson, a great book (if you skim the boring menu parts) about serial killers, grand designs, and great Victorian history.
Ferris Wheel - George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. had the idea while the Fair's committee searched for something to rival the Eiffel Tower showcased at the Paris Fair. He was laughed at, ridiculed, told it couldn't happen, and made a ton of money off it. - Juicy Fruit Gum - It was a huge hit, and profits certainly have decreased in the ensuing century.
- Aunt Jemima's pancake mix - an all-in-one pancake mix for those busy Victorian women.
- Cracker Jack - originally called 'Candied Popcorn and Peanuts', it was a mixture of popcorn, molasses, and peanuts.
- Cream of Wheat - invented by wheat millers in Grand Forks, ND, where a warm breakfast seems to be a necessity.
- Quaker Oats - despite that huge lawsuit, still going strong and tasty, and still based in Chicago.
- Shredded Wheat - it wasn't expected to take off, for who would want what that was shredded? Guess those fair-goers didn't know anything.
- Pabst Blue Ribbon - actually it was just Pabst, but since it won the blue ribbon at the fair, was forever known as Pabst Blue Ribbon.
- Elongated coins - those 51¢ pennies with a neat design on both sides? Yeah, they debuted here, too.
- Vertical File - No, not food, which seemed to be the big thing to debut at the fair, but pretty darn important. Melvil Dewey (the guy who invented the ambiguous Dewey Decimal System) invented it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
10 ‘modern’ Victorian things
It’s amazing that what we take for granted now was new and fascinating slightly more than 100 years ago. I admit, some might be a stretch, but you can see the connections! The very first link at the bottom is a short blurb about Christmas in Victorian times, and highlights a lot of new inventions we take for granted today.
CD – yeah, you thought it was invented in the 1980s, didn't you. Technically, yes, but the phonograph was invented in 1877, and the gramophone record in the 1887. It took nearly 100 years for the jump, but jump it did.
Tires – yeah, the ones we still use on our own cars. Charles Goodyear (recognize the name?) announced vulcanization in 1844; rubber ones were invented by Robert Thomson in 1845; in 1888 John Boyd Dunlop patented the pneumonic tire (the kind we use today).
Which brings us to Cars…they were invented in 1885 – technically. But in 1850 gasoline was developed, there were already those rubber tires, in 1859 oil was discovered in the US, and in 1892 Rudolph Diesel discovered, well, diesel.
Cell phones – now follow me here. We all know about phones; they were invented in 1876, then came the wireless radio in 1895. Sure, I could’ve just put phones, but this was much more interesting!
Still, since you insist on connecting it all to a computer, what about Charles Babbage’s Calculating Machine? Sure, he didn’t invent the first computer, but he tried hard enough to do so. And sure, his Difference Engine really only made sense to about 5 people in the world, but it is the foundation of our modern day computer.
Christmas Cards - designed by John Calcott Horsely in 1843.
Vacuum Cleaner – 1901 by Hubert Booth who began the British Vacuum Company.
Escalators – yup, those very same moving stairs we take to the upper level of the department store or the 2nd floor of the airport. Jesse Renno and Charles Seeberger made it all possible in 1899.
Paper Clip – so small, so innocuous, so hard to find one when you need one! Samuel B. Fey made them in 1867; however advertising didn’t really begin until 1899.
Machine gun – Contrary to Hollywood culture, it didn’t suddenly pop up in the 1920s on a gangster’s arm. There was the Gatling Gun in 1861, a popular weapon of the American Civil War, and Hiram Maxim made the Maxim Machine Gun in 1885.
http://www.aboutbritain.com/articles/victorian-inventions.asp
http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/history/information/victorians/inventions/inventions_home.htm
http://cbg.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cbg/victorians/inventions/home/
http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/militaryhistoryinventions/a/firearms.htm
CD – yeah, you thought it was invented in the 1980s, didn't you. Technically, yes, but the phonograph was invented in 1877, and the gramophone record in the 1887. It took nearly 100 years for the jump, but jump it did.
Tires – yeah, the ones we still use on our own cars. Charles Goodyear (recognize the name?) announced vulcanization in 1844; rubber ones were invented by Robert Thomson in 1845; in 1888 John Boyd Dunlop patented the pneumonic tire (the kind we use today).
Which brings us to Cars…they were invented in 1885 – technically. But in 1850 gasoline was developed, there were already those rubber tires, in 1859 oil was discovered in the US, and in 1892 Rudolph Diesel discovered, well, diesel.
Cell phones – now follow me here. We all know about phones; they were invented in 1876, then came the wireless radio in 1895. Sure, I could’ve just put phones, but this was much more interesting!
Still, since you insist on connecting it all to a computer, what about Charles Babbage’s Calculating Machine? Sure, he didn’t invent the first computer, but he tried hard enough to do so. And sure, his Difference Engine really only made sense to about 5 people in the world, but it is the foundation of our modern day computer.
Christmas Cards - designed by John Calcott Horsely in 1843.
Vacuum Cleaner – 1901 by Hubert Booth who began the British Vacuum Company.
Escalators – yup, those very same moving stairs we take to the upper level of the department store or the 2nd floor of the airport. Jesse Renno and Charles Seeberger made it all possible in 1899.
Paper Clip – so small, so innocuous, so hard to find one when you need one! Samuel B. Fey made them in 1867; however advertising didn’t really begin until 1899.
Machine gun – Contrary to Hollywood culture, it didn’t suddenly pop up in the 1920s on a gangster’s arm. There was the Gatling Gun in 1861, a popular weapon of the American Civil War, and Hiram Maxim made the Maxim Machine Gun in 1885.
http://www.aboutbritain.com/articles/victorian-inventions.asp
http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/history/information/victorians/inventions/inventions_home.htm
http://cbg.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cbg/victorians/inventions/home/
http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/militaryhistoryinventions/a/firearms.htm
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday 10
We’re starting a new thing here. You might’ve heard of Thirteen Thursday. We’re doing Tuesday Ten (it’s the alliteration). This is a list of 10 interconnected items that may or may not have to do with writing, the Victorian era, or anything except each other. Since this was loosely my idea, I’m going first.
10 historical novels I’ve read this year:
10 historical novels I’ve read this year:
So Worthy My Love by Kathleen Woodiwiss. Arguably my first romantic historical, and my favorite Woodiwiss book – when she died, I had to re-read it.
Dark Angels by Karleen Koen. I’d always wanted to read her Through a Glass Darkly, but never got around to it. When this prequel came out recently, I jumped at the chance. It’s not so much a romance, but the depictions of Charles II’s court are outstanding – intrigue, politics, backstabbing, and more.
In the Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in Barcelona during the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, this is a mystery, a so-called coming of age, romance, tragedy, and pretty much anything else you can think of. There were some clichés I could have skipped, but overall the descriptions were vivid and the plot compelling.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence. Not exactly what I thought it’d be, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The rigid social and moral codes of post World War I are strong and confining here, as are Lady Chatterley’s attempts to circumvent them.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Tragic and moving, it’s the epitome of Russian literature. There are no happy endings in Russian literature, of course.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It’s Heathcliff. That’s all I can really say about it. Heathcliff. I was reading Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series and had to re-read this one afterwards.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Granted, I loved the movie more, and the book was really a short story, but it was wonderful. The imagery, the angst, the pain. I loved it all.
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follet. Rebelling against authority while seeking justice, with a (slightly unbelievable) romance thrown in.
A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follet. Late Victorian bankers, it’s all trashy and scandalous, how could you not love it?
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. 12-century England and a fictional cathedral, there are ambitions, politics, 40 years of all sorts of upheaval, and that precarious balance that holds everything together. It was great. And I hear there’s a sequel.
What have you read this year?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
