Viva Davidoff #4

Viva Davidoff Issue #4 wasting time Talking about waste of time and things that were not in previous issues

#4 !

Viva Davidoff is published for the fourth time. Please note that the gap between the third and the fourth issue is smaller than between the second and the third. This is obviously a good sign despite the financial crisis. So, in these hard times, VD offers you lots of ways to waste your time.

“ T is a waste ofime money„ As usual, pictures

As you can always insert

and layout are © from

an appropriate quote from

Jean-Bernard Libert,

Oscar Wilde …

Contents are

from

Ricky Pedia. www.flickr.com/photos/jblibert www.jblibert.com

We have time to waste, so put it in order by yourself.

Grand Tour !

Page 4

Eye of the City

Page 6

Coloring the Streets

Page 8

The Art of Waiting

Page 10

Jump They Say

Page 12

Supercrema

Page 14

No Surrender !

Page 16

The Curse of the Colonel

Page 18

I Wanne Ride Yeah !

Page 20

A History of Leisure

Page 22

Socialize

Page 24

The Passing of Time and All of its Crimes

Page 26

Broadcasting

Page 28

I Don’t Have This One

Page 30

World in Motion

Page 32

A Postcard from Guy

Page 34

The Battle of Brighton

Page 36

A Technique About Faking and Modeling

Page 38

Till Kingdom Come

Page 40

66 of the Weirdest Racehorse Names Ever

Page 42

About a Famous Green Beer

Page 44

4

5

A history of leisure

L

eisure or free time, is a period of time spent out of work

Time for leisure varies from one society to the next, although

and essential domestic activity. It is also the period of

anthropologists have found that hunter-gatherers tend to

recreational and discretionary time before or after nec-

have significantly more leisure time than people in more

essary activities such as eating and sleeping, going to work or

complex societies. As a result, band societies such as the

running a business, attending school and doing homework,

Shoshone of the Great Basin came across as extraordinarily

household chores, and day-to-day stress.

lazy to European colonialists.

The distinction between leisure and unavoidable activi-

Capitalist societies often view active leisure activi-

ties is loosely applied, i.e. people sometimes do work-oriented

ties positively, because active leisure activities require the

tasks for pleasure as well as for long-term utility. A distinc-

purchase of equipment and services, which stimulates the

tion may also be drawn between free time and leisure. For

economy. Capitalist societies often accord greater status

example, criticism of consumer capitalism by Situationist

to members who have more wealth. One of the ways that

International maintains that free time is illusory and rarely

wealthy people can choose to spend their money is by having

free ; economic and social forces appropriate free time from

additional leisure time.

the individual and sell it back to them as the commodity

Workaholics are those who work compulsively at the

known as ‘leisure’. Leisure studies is the academic discipline

expense of other activities. They prefer to work rather than

concerned with the study and analysis of leisure.

spend time socializing and engaging in other leisure activities.

Many see this as a necessary sacrifice to attain high-ranking corporate positions. Increasing attention, however, is being paid to the effects of such imbalance upon the worker and the family.

6 AARRRRRRR A Girl Needs Cash Alcohol Related Barely Legal Better Than Sex Blow Me Bodacious Tatas Check My Pulse out of Heart’s Rythm Craps Cum Rocket Cunning Stunt Curried King Prawns Date More Minors Dog Meat

66

Dont Choke the Cat Dumb As A Stick DoReMiFaSaLaTiDo Get It On givemeanothername Go Down, whose sire was Service Golden Shower Hahahahahaha Hairy Potter Hard Like A Rock Hardawn Hoof Hearted

of the weirdest racehorse names ever Jail Bait

Kinky Lingerie Lagnaf

Let’s Be Gay

Maythehorsebewithyou Ménage Á Trois My Mother-In-Law Myexwifesashes No Fat Chicks No Speed No Feed Nut Buster OHBEEGEEWHYEN On Your Knees

Selected rules from the Jockey Club :

Onewaytickettothegluefactory

The following classes of names are not eligible for use :

Overdose

2. Names consisting entirely of initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc. ;

Plastered

4. Names consisting entirely of numbers. Numbers above

Pleasure Me

thirty may be used if they are spelled out ;

Pussy Galore

9. Names clearly having commercial, artistic or creative sig-

Redhotfillypepper

nificance ;

Rhythm Method

10. Names that are suggestive or have a vulgar or obscene

Search Engine

meaning ; names considered in poor taste ; or names that may

Sexual Harassment

be offensive to religious, political or ethnic groups ;

Sheikh’nnotstirred

11. Names that appear to be designed to harass, humili-

Shefoggedmyglasses

ate or disparage a specific individual, group of individuals

Short Skirt Flirt

or entity.

Sir Farts A Lot Sorry About That Sotally Tober Spank It

<_ my

Spineless Jellyfish Stake or Steak Strip Teaser Sucks To Be Me

theotherwhitemeat Tit’n Your Girdle Totally Toasted whykickamoocow Without Underwear X Rated Fantasy Yes No Yes

favourite one

7

8 Grand Tour !

W

ealthy people have always traveled to distant parts

Many leisure-oriented tourists travel to the tropics, both in

of the world, to see great buildings, works of art,

the summer and winter. Places of such nature often visited

learn new languages, experience new cultures and

are : Bali in Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican

to taste different cuisines. Long ago, at the time of the Roman

Republic, Malaysia, Mexico the various Polynesian tropical

Republic, places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts

islands, Queensland in Australia, Thailand, Saint-Tropez and

for the rich. The word tourist was used by 1772 and tourism by

Cannes in France, Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico in the

1811. In 1936, the League of Nations defined foreign tourist as

United States, Barbados, Sint Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis,

“someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours”.

The Bahamas, Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Turks and Caicos

Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in

Islands and Bermuda.

1945, by including a maximum stay of six months.

Mass tourism could only have developed with the

Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolu-

improvements in technology, allowing the transport of large

tion in the United Kingdom – the first European country to

numbers of people in a short space of time to places of leisure

promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.

interest, so that greater numbers of people could begin to

Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of pro-

enjoy the benefits of leisure time. In the United States, the

duction, the economic oligarchy, the factory owners and the

first seaside resorts in the European style were at Atlantic

traders. These comprised the new middle class. Cox & Kings

City, New Jersey and Long Island, New York. In Continental

was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758.

Europe, early resorts included : Ostend, popularised by the

The British origin of this new industry is reflected in

people of Brussels ; Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) and

many place names. In Nice, France, one of the first and best-

Deauville (Calvados) for the Parisians ; and Heiligendamm,

established holiday resorts on the French Riviera, the long

founded in 1793, as the first seaside resort on the Baltic Sea.

esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the Promenade des Anglais ; in many other historic resorts in continental Europe, old, well-established palace hotels have names like the Hotel Bristol, the Hotel Carlton or the Hotel Majestic – reflecting the dominance of English customers.

9

10 The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s.

Mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils.

The Battle

of Brighton

The rockers were motorcyclists, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets. The mods were scooter riders, wearing suits and cleancut outfits. By the late 1960s, the two subcultures had faded from public view and media attention turned to two new emerging youth subcultures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the hippies and the skinheads.

11

Contrasts Rockers wore leather jackets and rode heavy motorcycles, while the mods often wore suits and rode scooters. The rockers considered mods to be weedy, effeminate snobs, and mods saw rockers as out of touch, oafish and grubby.

Musically there was not much common ground. Rockers generally favoured 1950s rock and roll, mostly by artists like Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. Mods listened to 1960s ska music, soul and R&B, as well as British bands such as The Who, The Small Faces and The Kinks.

Physical conflicts In the United Kingdom, rockers were often engaged in brawls with mods. BBC News stories from May 1964 stated that mods and rockers were jailed after riots in seaside resort towns on the south coast of England, such as Margate, Brighton, Bournemouth and Clacton. Mods sometimes sewed fish hooks or razor blades into the backs of their lapels to shred the fingers of assailants ; the same thing was done by Teddy Boys in the 1950s. Weapons were often in evidence ; coshes, bike chains and flick knives being favoured.

The mods and rockers conflict led sociologist Stanley Cohen to develop the term moral panic in his study Folk Devils and Moral Panics, which examined media coverage of the mod and rocker riots in the 1960s. Although Cohen admits that mods and rockers had some fights in the mid-1960s, he argues that they were no different to the evening brawls that occurred between youths throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, both at seaside resorts and after football games. He claims that the UK media turned the mod subculture into a negative symbol of delinquent and deviant status.

The conflict came to a head at Clacton during the Easter weekend of 1964. Round two took place on the south coast of England, where Londoners head for seaside resorts on Bank Holidays. Over the Whitsun weekend (May 18 and 19, 1964), thousands of mods descended upon Margate, Broadstairs and Brighton to find that an inordinately large number of rockers had made the same holiday plans. Within a short time, marauding gangs of mods and rockers were openly fighting, often using pieces of deckchairs. The worst violence was at Brighton, where fights lasted two days and moved along the coast to Hastings and back ; hence the Second Battle of Hastings tag. A small number of rockers was isolated on Brighton beach where they – despite being protected by police – were overwhelmed and assaulted by mods.

Eventually calm was restored and a judge levied heavy fines, describing those arrested as sawdust Caesars.

Newspapers described the mod and rocker clashes as being of “disastrous proportions”, and labelled mods and rockers as “sawdust Caesars”, “vermin” and “louts”.Newspaper editorials fanned the flames of hysteria, such as a Birmingham Post editorial in May 1964, which warned that mods and rockers were “internal enemies” in the UK who would “bring about disintegration of a nation’s character”. The magazine Police Review argued that the mods and rockers’ purported lack of respect for law and order could cause violence to “surge and flame like a forest fire”.

Cohen argues that as media hysteria about knife-wielding, violent mods increased, the image of a fur-collared anorak and scooter would “stimulate hostile and punitive reactions”. As a result of this media coverage, two British Members of Parliament travelled to the seaside areas to survey the damage, and MP Harold Gurden called for a resolution for

Eventually, when the media ran out of real fights to report,

intensified measures to control hooliganism. One of the prosecutors in the trial of some of

they would publish deceptive headlines, such as using a

the Clacton brawlers argued that mods and rockers were youths with no serious views, who

subheading “Violence”, even when the article reported that

lacked respect for law and order. Cohen says the media used possibly faked interviews with

there was no violence at all. Newspaper writers also began

supposed rockers such as Mick the Wild One. As well, the media would try to get mileage from

to associate mods and rockers with various social issues,

accidents that were unrelated to mod-rocker violence, such as an accidental drowning of a

such as teen pregnancy, contraceptives, amphetamines,

youth, which got the headline “Mod Dead in Sea”.

and violence.

12

Dunbar’s number for dummies

socialize

D

unbar’s number is suggested to be a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These

are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar’s number. It has been proposed to lie between 100 and 230, with a commonly used value of 150. Dunbar’s number states the number of people one knows and keeps social contact with, and it does not include the number of people known personally with a ceased social relationship, nor people just generally known with a lack of persistent social relationship, a number which might be much higher and likely depends on long-term memory size.

Dunbar ’s number wa s first proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who theorized that “this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size ... the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained.” On the periphery, the number also includes past colleagues such as high school friends with whom a person would want to reacquaint oneself if they met again.

Research background Primatologists have noted that, due to their highly social nature, non-human primates must maintain personal contact with the other members of their social group, usually through social grooming. Such social groups function as protective cliques within the physical groups in which the primates live. The number of social group members a primate can track appears to be limited by the volume of the neocortex. This suggests that there is a species-specific index of the social group size, computable from the species’ mean neocortical volume.

13

In a 1992 article, Dunbar used the correlation observed

In dispersed societies, individuals will meet less often and

for non-human primates to predict a social group size

will thus be less familiar with each, so group sizes should

for humans. Using a regression equation on data for 38

be smaller in consequence.” Thus, the 150-member group

primate genera, Dunbar predicted a human “mean group

would occur only because of absolute necessity–due to

size” of 148 (casually rounded to 150), a result he consid-

intense environmental and economic pressures.

ered exploratory due to the large error measure (a 95% confidence interval of 100 to 230).

Dunbar, in Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, proposes furthermore that language may have

Dunbar then compared this prediction with observa-

arisen as a “cheap” means of social grooming, allowing

ble group sizes for humans. Beginning with the assumption

early humans to efficiently maintain social cohesion.

that the current mean size of the human neocortex had

Without language, Dunbar speculates, humans would

developed about 250,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene,

have to expend nearly half their time on social grooming,

Dunbar searched the anthropological and ethnographical

which would have made productive, cooperative effort

literature for census-like group size information for various

nearly impossible. Language may have allowed societies

hunter–gatherer societies, the closest existing approxima-

to remain cohesive, while reducing the need for physical

tions to how anthropology reconstructs the Pleistocene

and social intimacy.

societies. Dunbar noted that the groups fell into three

Dunbar’s number has since become of interest in

categories – small, medium and large, equivalent to bands,

anthropology, evolutionary psychology, statistics, and

cultural lineage groups and tribes – with respective size

business management. For example, developers of social

ranges of 30–50, 100–200 and 500–2500 members each.

software are interested in it, as they need to know the

Dunbar ’s sur veys of village and tribe sizes also

size of social networks their software needs to take into

appeared to approximate this predicted value, including

account ; and in the modern military, operational psycholo-

150 as the estimated size of a neolithic farming village ;

gists seek such data to support or refute policies related

150 as the splitting point of Hutterite settlements ; 200

to maintaining or improving unit cohesion and morale.

as the upper bound on the number of academics in a discipline’s sub-specialization ; 150 as the basic unit size of

A recent study has suggested that Dunbar’s number is applicable to Web 2.0 virtual relationships as well.

professional armies in Roman antiquity and in modern times since the 16th century ; and notions of appropriate

Alternative numbers

company size.

Dunbar’s number is not derived from systematic observa-

Dunbar has argued that 150 would be the mean group

tion of the number of relationships that people living in

size only for communities with a very high incentive to

the contemporary world have. As noted above, it comes

remain together. For a group of this size to remain cohesive,

from extrapolation from non-human primates and from

Dunbar speculated that as much as 42% of the group’s time

inspection of selected documents showing network sizes

would have to be devoted to social grooming. Correspond-

in selected pre-industrial villages and settlements in less-

ingly, only groups under intense survival pressure, such as

developed countries.

subsistence villages, nomadic tribes, and historical mili-

Anthropologist H. Russell Bernard and Peter Kill-

tary groupings, have, on average, achieved the 150-member

worth and associates have done a variety of field studies

mark. Moreover, Dunbar noted that such groups are almost

in the United States that came up with an estimated

always physically close : “... we might expect the upper limit

mean number of ties, 290, that is roughly double Dunbar’s

on group size to depend on the degree of social dispersal.

estimate. The Bernard–Killworth median of 231 is lower, due to upward straggle in the distribution : this is still appreciably larger than Dunbar’s estimate. The Bernard– Killworth estimate of the maximum likelihood of the size of a person’s social network is based on a number of field studies using different methods in various populations. It is not an average of study averages but a repeated finding.

Nevertheless, the Bernard–Killworth number has not been popularized as widely as Dunbar’s.

14

“The movies make emotions look strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it’s like you’re watching television, you don’t feel anything.”

Andy Warhol

15

T

he first regular television broadcasts began in 1937.

Social impact

Broadcasts can be classified as “recorded” or “live”.

The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule.

The former allows correcting errors, and removing

As with all technological endeavours, a number of technical

superfluous or undesired material, rearranging it, apply-

terms and slang have developed. A list of these terms can be

ing slow-motion and repetitions, and other techniques

found at List of broadcasting terms. Television and radio pro-

to enhance the program. However, some live events like

grams are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable,

sports television can include some of the aspects including

often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having a

slow-motion clips of important goals/hits, etc., in between

cable converter box with decoding equipment in homes, the

the live television telecast.

latter also enables subscription-based channels, pay-tv and

American radio-network broadcasters habitually

pay-per-view services.

forbade prerecorded broadcasts in the 1930s and 1940s

In his essay, John Durham Peters wrote that commu-

requiring radio programs played for the Eastern and Central

nication is a tool used for dissemination. Durham stated,

time zones to be repeated three hours later for the Pacific

“Dissemination is a lens- sometimes a usefully distorting

time zone. This restriction was dropped for special occasions,

one- that helps us tackle basic issues such as interaction,

as in the case of the German dirigible airship Hindenburg

presence, and space and time…on the agenda of any future

disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. During World War

communication theory in general”. Dissemination focuses

II, prerecorded broadcasts from war correspondents were

on the message being relayed from one main source to one

allowed on U.S. radio. In addition, American radio programs

large audience without the exchange of dialogue in between.

were recorded for playback by Armed Forces Radio radio

There’s chance for the message to be tweaked or corrupted

stations around the world.

once the main source releases it. There is really no way to

A disadvantage of recording first is that the public may

predetermine how the larger population or audience will

know the outcome of an event from another source, which

absorb the message. They can choose to listen, analyze, or

may be a “spoiler”. In addition, prerecording prevents live

simply ignore it. Dissemination in communication is widely

radio announcers from deviating from an officially approved

used in the world of broadcasting.

script, as occurred with propaganda broadcasts from Germany in the 1940s and with Radio Moscow in the 1980s.

Broadcasting focuses on getting one message out and it is up to the general public to do what they wish with it.

Many events are advertised as being live, although they

Durham also states that broadcasting is used to address an

are often “recorded live” (sometimes called “live-to-tape”).

open ended destination. There are many forms of broadcast,

This is particularly true of performances of musical artists on

but they all aim to distribute a signal that will reach the

radio when they visit for an in-studio concert performance.

target audience. Broadcasting can arrange audiences into

Similar situations have occurred in television production

entire assemblies.

(“The Cosby Show is recorded in front of a live television studio audience”) and news broadcasting.

In terms of media broadcasting, a radio show can gather a large number of followers who tune in every day to specifi-

A broadcast may be distributed through several physical

cally listen to that specific disc jockey. The disc jockey follows

means. If coming directly from the radio studio at a single

the script for his or her radio show and just talks into the

station or television station, it is simply sent through the

microphone. He or she does not expect immediate feedback

studio/transmitter link to the transmitter and thence from

from any listeners. The message is broadcast across airwaves

the television antenna located on the radio masts and towers

throughout the community, but there the listeners cannot

out to the world. Programming may also come through a com-

always respond immediately, especially since many radio

munications satellite, played either live or recorded for later

shows are recorded prior to the actual air time.

transmission. Networks of stations may simulcast the same programming at the same time, originally via microwave link, now usually by satellite.

Distribution to stations or networks may also be through physical media, such as magnetic tape, compact disc (CD), DVD, and sometimes other formats. Usually these are included in another broadcast, such as when electronic news gathering (ENG) returns a story to the station for inclusion on a news programme.

The final leg of broadcast distribution is how the signal gets to the listener or viewer. It may come over the air as with a radio station or television station to an antenna and radio receiver, or may come through cable television [1] or cable radio (or “wireless cable”) via the station or directly from a network. The Internet may also bring either internet radio or streaming media television to the recipient, especially with multicasting allowing the signal and bandwidth to be shared.

The term “broadcast network” is often used to distinguish networks that broadcast an over-the-air television signals that can be received using a tuner (television) inside a television set with a television antenna from so-called networks that are broadcast only via cable television (cablecast) or satellite television that uses a dish antenna. The term “broadcast television” can refer to the television programs of such networks.

16

The Carlsberg Group is a Danish brewing company founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen after the name of his son Carl. The headquarters are in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company’s main brand is Carlsberg Beer, but it also brews Tuborg as well as local beers. After merging with the brewery assets of Norwegian conglomerate Orkla ASA in January 2001, Carlsberg became the 5th largest brewery group in the world. In 2009 Carlsberg is the 4th largest brewery group in the world employing around 45,000 people.

The first brew was finished on 10 November 1847. Exportation of Carlsberg Beer began in 1868 ; foreign brewing began in 1968 with the opening of a Carlsberg brewery in Blantyre, Malawi.

Some of the company’s original logos include an elephant (after which some of its lagers are named) and the swastika. Use of the latter was discontinued in the 1930s because of its association with political parties in neighboring Germany. Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen was a philanthropist and avid art collector. With his fortune he amassed an impressive art collection which is now housed in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in central Copenhagen.

Jacobsen set up the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1875 which worked on scientific problems related to brewing. It featured a Department of Chemistry and a Department of Physiology.

The species of yeast used to make pale lager, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, was isolated at the Laboratory and was named after it. The concept of pH was developed there as well as advances in protein chemistry. The laboratory was part of the Carlsberg Foundation until 1972 when it was renamed the Carlsberg Research Center and transferred to the brewery.

Carlsberg acquired Tuborg breweries in 1970 and merged with Tetley in 1992. The group has two breweries in China – Huizhou and Shanghai. It used to have one in Taipo, Hong Kong, but shut it down in 1999 due to high costs. Carlsberg’s Shanghai brewery started production in 1998. Carlsberg’s tagline “Probably the best beer in the world” was created in 1973 by Saatchi and Saatchi for the UK market. It began to appear in company corporate ads around the world from the 1980s onwards. The voice over for the original ad. in 1975 was voiced by actor Orson Welles, his voice has been used repeatedly over the years.

The Canadian-born voice-over artist Bill Mitchell was also used when hiring Orson Welles became too expensive. In some countries the tagline has been adapted to “Probably the best lager in the world”.

17 About a famous green beer

18 close eye on the movement, but the reputation and prestige of the Sokol continued to grow ; soon the Sokol members were known by most as the “Czech national army”.

1860s and 1870s : Initial growth, militarization, and internal problems Within the first year the Sokols expanded beyond Prague, first into the Moravia and the Slovenian regions of the Habsburg empire. Initially the majority of members were students

Jump they say

and professionals, but over time there was a trend towards increasingly working class members.

The Sokol training went through periods of greater militarized training, during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866,

The Sokol movement (from the Slavic word for falcon) is a youth

when Sokol members were hired as guards for public events.

sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in

This militaristic side of the Sokol movement continued to

Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav

resurface throughout its history.

Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. Primarily a fitness training center, the

The internal issues that were to plague the Sokol move-

Sokol, also through lectures, discussions, and group outings

ment over the years emerged almost immediately. These

provided what Tyrš viewed as physical, moral, and intellectual

internal arguments reached fruition during the 1870s with

training for the nation. This training extended to members

the power struggle in leadership between the members of

of all classes, and eventually to women. The movement also

Old Czechs and the Young Czechs parties. Theoretically, the

spread across all the regions populated by the Slavic culture

Sokol was a society “above politics.” Always flamboyantly

in German Empire (Poland (Sokół)), Serbia, Bulgaria (Macedo-

nationalistic, the more conservative members of the Sokol

nia), Russian Empire (Poland, Ukraine, Belarus), and the rest

argued that the organization should maintain its distance

of Austria-Hungary such as Slovenia and Croatia. In many

from politics while the Young Czech members advocated

of these nations, the organization also served as an early

more direct political participation. Theoretically, the Sokol

precursor to the Scouting movements. Though officially an

was also open equally to members of all classes. The informal

institution “above politics”, the Sokol played an important

“thou” (ty) was used by all members, but there were constant

part in the development of Czech nationalism, providing a

arguments over whether this was necessary or not. Different

forum for the spread of mass-based nationalist ideologies.

leaders believed that the Sokol was a mass-based institution

The articles published in the Sokol journal, lectures held in the

defined by its working class members, while others viewed

Sokol libraries, and theatrical performances at the massive

it more as a middle class apparatus by which to educate and

gymnastic festivals called Slets (Czech plural : slety- meaning

raise the national consciousness of the working classes.

“meetings of birds” from the verb “slétnout se” - come together by flying) helped to craft and disseminate the Czech nationalist

1880s : Slets, Union, and the French

mythology and version of history.

In 1882, the first slet was held. Slet came from the Czech word for “a flocking of birds”. The same word is, of course, available

Early history

in other Slavic populated regions. It meant a mass gymnastics

The idea for physical training centers was not a new one.

(1572 Sokols) festival that became a grand tradition within

The Sokol movement consciously traced its roots in physical

the Sokol movement that spread across the Central Europe

education to the athletes and warriors of Ancient Greece.

together with other Slavic movements such as the political

More directly, the nature of the Sokol was influenced by the

Pan-Slavism. This first one and the following Slets included

German Turnverein, mass-based, nation-minded gymnastics

an elaborate welcoming ceremony at the train station, mass

societies founded by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1811.

demonstrations, gymnastics competitions, speeches, and

Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of the first Sokol in Prague in

theatrical events, open to members of all Sokols.

1862, continued as the most influential figure in the move-

In 1887 the Habsburg authorities finally allowed, after

ment until his death in 1884. Born Friedrich Emanuel Tirsch

over twenty years worth of proposals, the formation of a

into a German speaking family in 1834, Tyrš grew up under

union of Sokol clubs – Czech Sokol Community. The union

the influence of the Romantic nationalism that gave rise to

centralized all the Sokols in the Czech lands and sent mis-

the uprisings that swept across Europe in 1848. He received

sionary Sokol trainers to the rest of the Slavic world.

a thorough education at the University of Prague, where he

In 1889, though officially forbidden by the authorities,

majored in philosophy. It was not until the early 1860s that he

members of the Prague Sokol went to the World’s Fair in

became involved in the Czech nationalist cause, and changed

Paris. There they won several medals and established strong

his name to the Slavic form. After he failed to find a position in

connections with the French gymnasts and French public.

academia, Tyrš combined his experience working as a thera-

The Sokols have been credited with establishing the begin-

peutic gymnastics trainer with the nationalist ideologies he

ning of the strong French sympathy for the Czechs and their

had been exposed to in Prague : the first Sokol club was formed.

subsequent political alliances on this trip.

The Prague Sokol initially drew its leaders from the ranks of politicians and its members from the petite bour-

1890s : The progressive era

geoisie and the working classes. The first president was

The 1890s were a progressive era for the Sokols. In order to

Jindřich Fügner, an ethnic German who was a member of

encourage a wider range of participation, the Sokols reformed

the Czech cause. Most founders were also members of the

their programs, offering training sessions of varying intensi-

Young Czechs party, the most influential including Prince

ties, extending their libraries, emphasizing the educational

Rudolf von Thurn-Taxis, Josef Barák, and Julius and Eduard

aspect of training, and starting programs for adolescents,

Grégr. The authorities of Austria-Hungary kept a continually

youth, and women. There was an increasing focus on mass-

19

The fourth Slet, held in 1901 (11,000 Sokols), boasted a large international participation, including Galician Poles, Slovenes, Croats, Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, as well as Frenchmen and Americans. This Slet also marked the first appearance of women who grew to be a major part of Sokol members in the following decades.

The fifth Slet, held in 1907 (over 12,000 Sokols), had an increasingly Slavic focus and moved away from the more egalitarian idea of people’s gymnastics with increased competition aspects. It marked the creation of the Federation of

“Whatever is Czech is also Sokol...”

Slavic Sokols under the neo-Slavic idea of the Czechs as the strongest Slavic nation, second only to Russia.

In 1912, the first “All-Slavic Slet” (over 30,000 Sokols) was held with a largely military atmosphere, causing Augustin Očenášek (a member of Sokol) to remark, “When the thunder comes and the nations rise up to defend their existence, let it be the Sokol clubs from which the cry to battle will sound...”. The cry to battle did sound two years later, when the first rumors of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination reached the Sokol members, most of whom were attending a regional Slet in Brno.

World War I to Communism : Continued struggle of Czech nationalism With the onset of World War I, in 1915 the Sokols were offibased ideology and working class egalitarianism under the

cially disbanded. Many members were active in persuading

leadership of the Young Czechs, namely Jan Podlipný, who

the Czechs to defect from the Austro-Hungarian army to

was also the mayor of Prague 1897–1900.

the Russian side. Sokol members also helped create the

The second Slet was held in 1891 (over 5,000 Sokols) and

Czechoslovak Legions and local patrols that kept order after

the third one soon afterwards in 1895. At this third Slet the

the disintegration of Habsburg authority, and during the

congress of the Sokol union laid out its progressive new trajec-

creation of Czechoslovakia in October 1918. They also fulfilled

tory in the St. Wenceslas Day (September 28) Resolutions. The

their title as the “Czech national army”, helping to defend

leaders chose to continue to provide more accessible forms

Slovakia against the invasion of Béla Kun and the Hungarians.

of training, with less focus on competition and more on an

The Sokol flourished in the early interwar period, and

egalitarian idea of people’s gymnastics, balancing mental

by 1930 had 630,000 members. The Sokols held one last Slet

as well as physical education.

(350,000 Sokols) on the eve before the Munich Agreement of 1938 and were later brutally suppressed and banned during

1900–1914 : Competitors and neo-Slavism

the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.

The rise of the Social Democrats and Agrarian Parties in the

After World War II they held one more Slet in 1948 before

political arena played out in Sokol politics as well as national

they were once again suppressed, this time by the Commu-

ones. The Social Democrats formed a rival gymnastics society,

nists. The Communist Party tried to replace tradition of Slets

the Workers’ Gymnastics Club. Most Sokol leaders aligned

with mass exercises employed for propaganda purposes :

with the Czech National Socialists after the decline of the

Spartakiad (spartakiády).

Young Czech party, and attacked the Social Democrats as

The Sokols reappeared briefly during the Prague Spring

“Germans” and “Jews” opposed to the true Czech cause. Václav

of 1968. After years of hibernation, Sokol was revived for

Kukařdeveloped the policy of “cleansing” and sought to limit

the fourth time in 1990 ; a Slet was in 1994 (23,000 Sokols

membership to those who he believed demonstrated commit-

participating), after the fall of Communism. Presently, the

ment to purely Czech causes. Most of the progressive members

organization focuses on physical training in gymnastics

of the Sokols were purged or left voluntarily to join the DTJ.

and other athletics. Its popularity is, however, well below

Another rival gymnast society was founded by the Christian-

pre-war levels and a large percentage of members are older

Socialist party under the name Orel (“Eagle”). In the face of such

people with memories of the pre-1948 Sokol movement. A

competition, the Sokols set about reaffirming their traditional

further Slet was held in 2000 (25,000 Sokols) ; another was

mission under the leadership of Josef Scheiner.

held in July 2006.

20

Coloring the streets

The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and subversion in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Some street artists use â&#x20AC;&#x153;smart vandalismâ&#x20AC;? as a way to raise awareness of social and political issues.

Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow.

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22

T

History he hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating,

Collecting is a practice with a very old cultural history. The

An alternative

acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing,

Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty collected books from all over

to collecting physical

and maintaining whatever items are of interest to

the known world at the Library of Alexandria. The Medici

objects is collecting

the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists,

family, in Renaissance Florence, made the first effort to col-

experiences of some kind,

accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries

lect art by private patronage, this way artists could be free

through observation

of the world. Others focus on a subtopic within their area

for the first time from the money given by the Church and

or photography.

of interest, perhaps 19th century postage stamps, milk

Kings ; this citizenship tradition continues today with the

Examples include bird-

bottle labels from Sussex, or Mongolian harnesses and tack.

work of private art collectors. Many of the world’s popular

watching ; transportation,

The items collectors collect may be antique, or sim-

museums–from the Metropolitan in New York City to the

e.g. train spotting, aircraft

ply collectible. Antiques are collectible items at least 100

Thyssen in Madrid or the Franz Mayer in Mexico City–have

spotting, metrophiles,

years old ; collectibles are less than antique, and may even

collections formed by the generous collectors that donated

bus spotting, see also I-Spy ;

be new. Collectors and dealers may use the word vintage

them to be seen by the general public. The collecting hobby

and visiting continents,

to describe older collectibles. Most collectibles are man-

is a modern descendant of the “cabinet of curiosities” which

countries, states, counties,

made commercial items, but some private collectors collect

was common among scholars with the means and opportuni-

and national parks.

natural objects such as birds’ eggs, butterflies, rocks, and

ties to acquire unusual items from the 16th century onwards.

seashells. Items which were once everyday objects may

Planned collecting of ephemeral publications goes back

now be collectible since almost all those once produced

at least to George Thomason in the reign of Charles I and

have been destroyed or discarded called Ephemera. Some

Samuel Pepys in that of Charles II. Collecting engravings and

collectors collect only in childhood while others continue

other prints by those whose means did not allow them to

to do so throughout their lives and usually modify their

buy original works of art also goes back many centuries. The

aims later in life. Philately, phillumeny, and deltiology (col-

progress in 18th century Paris of collecting both works of

lecting postage stamps, matchboxes and postcards) are

art and of curiosité, dimly echoed in the English curios, and

examples of forms of collecting which can be undertaken

the origins in Paris, Amsterdam and London of the modern

at minimal expense.

art market have been increasingly well documented and studied since the mid-19th century. The involvement of larger numbers of people in collecting activities comes with the prosperity and increased leisure for some in the later 19th century in industrial countries. That is when collecting such items as antique china, furniture and decorative items from oriental countries becomes established.

Beginning a collection Some novice collectors start purchasing items that appeal to them, and then slowly work at acquiring knowledge about how to build a collection. Others (more cautious or studious types) want to develop some background in the field before starting to buy items. The term antique generally refers to items made over 100 years ago. In some fields, such as antique cars, the time frame is less stringent –25 years or so being considered enough time to make a car a “classic” if not an antique. Traditionally in the area of furniture, the 1830s was regarded as the limit for antique furniture. However Victorian, Arts and Crafts, and some types of 20th century furniture can all be regarded as collectible.

In general, then, items of significance, beauty, values or interest that are “too young” to be considered antiques, fall into the realm of collectibles. But not all collectibles are limited editions, and many of them have been around for decades : for example, the popular turn-of-the-century posters, Art Deco and Art Nouveau items, Carnival and Depression era glass, etc. In addition, there exists the “contemporary collectibles” category, featuring items like plates, figurines, bells, graphics, steins, and dolls.

Many collectors enjoy making a plan for their collections, combining education, stimulation and experimentation to develop a personal collecting style ; and even those who reject the notion of “planned collecting” can refine their “selection skills” with some background information on the methods of collecting.

23

24

25

Tourism, human circulation considered as consumption is fundamentally nothing more than the leisure of going to see what has become banal.â&#x20AC;?

Guy Debord

26 The art of waiting Since queueing can be a boring and time-consuming activity, but one that may also have high stakes (e.g. attempting to purchase a good or product with a limited availability, such as a concert ticket), people can become angry when the unwritten rules of queueing are broken.

For example, in Britain it is unacceptable to queue-jump (to push in, skip, or cut in line), although it is sometimes acceptable for one member of a party, waiting in the queue, to allow a second member of the party to join the first halfway through the queuing process, without the second member having to join the back of the queue.

In the United States, the above example from Britain (second member of a party) would also generally be accepted.

It is acceptable for waiting persons to leave the queue briefly (to use the bathroom, etc.) and return to their original place, without having to ask neighbours to hold their place or to be allowed to return (however, many individuals would still tell their neighbours in the queue). It is also common to allow others to jump to the front of the queue in a train station to buy a ticket if their train is about to leave and if waiting from the back of the queue would cause them to miss their train.

In supermarkets or restaurants, sometimes a person may be allowed to advance ahead in the queue if a person has a predetermined or basic order. This is based on courtesy of the queue members.

27

In former Communist countries, where waiting in long queues was a near-daily occurrence for some, especially at times of rationing, the act of waiting in line and the code of conduct associated with it is much more institutionalized and regimented to this day . In Russia, for example, the art of queuing is finely-honed : it is acceptable for a person to leave the queue to use the bathroom (or similar brief diversion) and then return to their original place without having to ask permission. It is also common for a person to be allowed to jump to the front of the queue in special cases, like the need to purchase a ticket for an imminently departing train. This can also be seen in Cuba, including notably at the Coppelia ice cream stores, and in Spain where an arriving patron asks “¿Quién es el último ?” (Who is last ?) and is then behind that person in the queue, which is not always a physical line.

28

29

A technique

About faking and modeling

S

elective focus via tilt is often used to simulate a miniature scene, though as noted above, the effect is somewhat different from the shallow DoF in close-up

photography of miniature subjects. Many such images are described as employing â&#x20AC;&#x153;tilt-shiftâ&#x20AC;?, but the term is something of a misnomer because shift is seldom involved and is usually unrelated to the effect produced. The term may derive from the tilt-shift lens normally required when the effect is produced optically.

Basic digital postprocessing techniques can give results similar to those achieved with tilt, and afford greater flexibility, such as choosing the region that is sharp and the amount of blur for the unsharp regions. Moreover, these choices can be made after the photograph is taken. One advanced technique, Smallgantics, is used for motion-picturesâ&#x20AC;&#x2030;; it was first seen in the 2006 Thom Yorke music video Harrowdown Hill, directed

by Chel White. As is often the case in commercials and music video, the idea was taken from an artist. In this case, the idea is from artist Olivo Barbieri who had become well known for his miniature-faking stills in the 1990s.

Model of Stirling, Scotland

30

O

noda was trained as an Intelligence officer by the a

Time in hiding

commando class “Futamata” of Nakano School, and

Onoda continued his campaign, initially living in the moun-

on 26 December 1944 was sent to Lubang Island in

tains with three fellow soldiers (Private Yuichi Akatsu,

the Philippines. He was ordered to do all that he could to

Corporal Shoichi Shimada and Private First Class Kinshichi

hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying

Kozuka). The first time they saw a leaflet which claimed

the airstrip and the pier at the harbor, his orders also

that the war was over was in October 1945 ; another cell

stating that under no circumstances was he to surrender

had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders

or take his own life.

which read : “The war ended on August 15. Come down from

When Onoda landed on the island, he linked up with

the mountains !” However, they mistrusted the leaflet, since

a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there

another cell had been fired upon a few days previously. They

previously. The officers in the group outranked Onoda and

concluded that the leaflet was Allied propaganda, and also

prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which

believed that they would not have been fired on if the war

made it easier for US and Philippine Commonwealth forces

had indeed been over.

to take the island when they landed on 28 February 1945.

Towards the end of 1945 leaflets were dropped by

Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three

air with a surrender order printed on them from General

other soldiers had either died or surrendered and Onoda,

Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. They

who had been promoted to Lieutenant, ordered the men

were in hiding over a year at this point, and this leaflet was

to take to the hills.

the only evidence they had the war was over. Onoda’s group looked very closely at the leaflet to determine whether it

No Surrender

was genuine or not, and decided it was a hoax.

One of the four, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the

others in September 1949 and surrendered to Filipino forces in 1950 after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more careful.

In 1952 letters and family pictures were dropped from

aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a hoax. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, following which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men.

Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972, when he and Onoda burned rice that had been collected by farmers, as part of their guerrilla activities, leaving Onoda alone. Though Onoda had been officially declared dead in December 1959, this event suggested that it was likely he was still alive and search parties were sent out, though none was successful.

31

Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda is a former Japanese army intelligence officer who fought in World War II, and did not surrender until 1974, having spent almost thirty years holding out in the Philippines.

Later life On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout,

Onoda was so popular following his return to Japan that

Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and was looking

some Japanese urged him to run for the Diet. He also

for “Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable

released an autobiography, No Surrender : My Thirty-Year

Snowman, in that order”. Onoda and Suzuki became friends,

War, shortly after his surrender, which detailed his life as

but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was

a guerrilla fighter in a war that was long over. However,

waiting for orders from a superior officer.

Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of so

Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself

much attention and troubled by what he saw as the with-

and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese

ering of traditional Japanese virtues such as patriotism and

government located Onoda’s commanding officer, Major

in April 1975 he followed the example of his elder brother

Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. He flew to

Tadao and left Japan for Brazil, where he raised cattle. He

Lubang and on 9 March 1974 informed Onoda of the defeat

married in 1976, and assumed a leading role in the local

of Japan in wwii and ordered him to lay down his arms.

Japanese community.

Lieutenant Onoda emerged from the jungle 29 years

After reading about a Japanese teenager who had

after the end of World War II, and accepted the commanding

murdered his parents in 1980, Onoda returned to Japan

officer’s order of surrender in his uniform and sword, with

in 1984 and established the Onoda Shizen Juku (“Onoda

his Arisaka Type 99 rifle still in operating condition, 500

Nature School”) educational camp for young people, held

rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades. This

at various different locations in Japan.

makes him the penultimate fighting Japanese soldier of wwii, 7 months before Teruo Nakamura.

Onoda revisited Lubang Island in 1996, donating $10,000 for the local school on Lubang. His wife, Machie

Though he had killed some thirty Philippine inhabit-

Onoda, became the head of the conser vative Japan

ants of the island and engaged in several shootouts with

Women’s Association in 2006. He currently spends three

the police, the circumstances of these events were taken

months of the year in Brazil. Onoda was conferred Merit

into consideration, and Onoda received a pardon from

medal of Santos-Dumont by the Brazilian Air Force on

President Ferdinand Marcos.

December 6, 2004.

In popular culture In 1981, the English progressive rock band Camel released a concept album Nude, which derives from “Onoda”, based on the story.

The concept of holdout Japanese soldiers, living in remote areas and unaware of the end of the war, became the subject of a number of TV series episodes in the 1970s, most notable The Last Kamikaze, an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, which was broadcast in January 1975, several months after the return of Onoda.

32

Till Kingdom Come

33

T

he world’s first public park is claimed to be la Alameda

Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed Paxton is widely

de Hércules, in Seville. It is a promenaded public mall,

credited as having been one of the principal influences on

urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic

Olmstead and Calvert’s design for New York’s Central Park

center of Seville. It is located between the river Guadalquivir

of 1857.

and the Macarena neighborhood. Other early parks include

Another early public park is the Peel Park, Salford, Eng-

the City Park, in Budapest, Hungary, which was property of

land opened on 22 August 1846. Another possible claimant

the Batthyány family. In 1808 an Imperial law converted it

for status as the world’s first public park is Boston Common

to the English style. Some years later the Count Batthyány

(Boston, Massachusetts, USA), set aside in 1634, whose first

ordered that it should be established as a public park. The

recreational promenade, Tremont Mall, dates from 1728. True

earliest purpose built public park, although financed pri-

park status for the entire common seems to have emerged

vately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth.

no later than 1830, when the grazing of cows was ended and

This was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842

renaming the Common as Washington Park was proposed

and opened in 1843. The land on which the park was built was

(renaming the bordering Sentry Street to Park Street in 1808

purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and

already acknowledged the reality).

philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000. The creation of Princes

Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving

Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of

increased attention and valuation as significant community

highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provi-

assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas.

sion of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local

Neighborhood groups around the world are joining together

residents within an area that was being rapidly built up.

to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay

Secondly it took the concept of the designed landscape as a

and government neglect.

setting for the suburban domicile, an idea pioneered by John

A linear park is a park that has a much greater length

Nash at Regent’s Park, and re-fashioned it for the provincial

than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of

town in a most original way. Nash’s remodelling of St James’s

a former railway that has been converted into a park called

Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes

a rail trail or greenway (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation

he created to link The Mall with Regent’s Park completely

allowed to grow back). Parks are sometimes made out of

transformed the appearance of London’s West End. With

oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that

the establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton

often become city neighborhood parks. Linked parks may

did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town,

form a greenbelt.

albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile contingent. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence on the scene of global maritime trade before 1800 and during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself.

The form and layout of Paxton’s ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within the confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much imitated design for Birkenhead Park. The latter was commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas he pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmstead visited Birkenhead

34

Using this idea as a basis, LaMarcus Adna Thompson began

i wanna ride yeah !

work on a gravity Switchback Railway that opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in 1884. Passengers climbed to the top of a platform and rode a bench-like car down the 600 ft (180 m) track up to the top of another tower where the vehicle was switched to a return track and the passengers took the return trip. This track design was soon replaced with an oval complete circuit. In 1885, Phillip Hinkle introduced the first complete-circuit coaster with a lift hill, the Gravity Pleasure Road, which was soon the most popular attraction at Coney Island. Not to be outdone, in 1886 LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented his design of roller coaster that included dark tunnels with painted scenery.

“Scenic Railways” were to be found in amusement parks across the county.

As it grew in popularity, experimentation in coaster

T

dynamics took off. In the 1880s the concept of a vertical loop

Russia. Built in the 17th century, the slides were built to a height

near Columbus, Ohio. The rides were incredibly dangerous,

of between 70 feet (21 m) and 80 feet (24 m), consisted of a 50

and many passengers suffered whiplash. Both were soon

degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports. These

dismantled, and looping coasters had to wait for over a half

slides became popular with the Russian upper class. Catherine

century before making a reappearance.

he oldest roller coasters descended from the so-called

was again explored, and in 1895 the concept came into frui-

“Russian Mountains,” which were specially constructed

tion with The Flip Flap, located at Sea Lion Park in Brooklyn,

hills of ice located especially around Saint Petersburg,

and shortly afterward with Loop-the-Loop at Olentangy Park

II of Russia was such a fan of these attractions that she had a

By 1912, the first underfriction roller coaster was

few of these slides built on her own property. “Russian moun-

developed by John Miller. Soon, roller coasters spread to

tains” remains the term for roller coasters in many languages,

amusement parks all around the world. Perhaps the best

such as Spanish (montaña rusa), Italian (montagne russe),

known historical roller coaster, The Cyclone, was opened

French (montagnes russes) and Portuguese (montanha-russa).

at Coney Island in 1927. Like The Cyclone, all early roller

Ironically, the Russian term for roller coaster, amerikanskie

coasters were made of wood. Many old wooden roller

gorki, translates literally as “American mountains.”

coasters are still operational, at parks such as Kenny-

There is some dispute as to who was the first to put this

wood near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Pleasure Beach

operation on wheels. Some historians say the first real roller

Blackpool, England. The oldest operating roller coaster is

coaster was built under the orders of James the 3rd in the

Leap-The-Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, a side

Gardens of Oreinbaum in St. Petersburg in the year 1784. Other

friction roller coaster built in 1902. The oldest wooden

historians believe that the first roller coaster was built by the

roller coaster in the United Kingdom is the Scenic Railway at

French. The Russian Mountains of Belleville constructed in

Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, Kent and features

Paris in 1812 and the Promenades Aériennes both featured

a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels. It

wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep

was severely damaged by fire on 7 April 2008. Scenic Railway

them on course, and higher speeds. The first permanent loop

at Melbourne’s Luna Park built in 1912, is the world’s oldest

track was probably also built in Paris from an English design

continually-operating roller coaster, and it also still features

in 1846, with a single-person wheeled sled running through

a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels.

a 13-foot (4 m) diameter vertical loop. These early single loop

One of only 13 remaining examples of John Miller’s work

designs were called Centrifugal Railways.

worldwide is the wooden roller coaster at Lagoon in Utah.

In 1872, a mining company in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania constructed the Mauch Chunk gravity railroad, a brakeman-

The coaster opened in 1921 and is the 6th oldest coaster in the world.

controlled, 8.7 mile (14 km) downhill track used to deliver coal

The Great Depression marked the end of the first golden

to Mauch Chunk (now known as Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania.

age of roller coasters, and theme parks in general went into

By the 1850s, the Gravity Road (as it became known) was

decline. This lasted until 1972, when The Racer was built at

providing rides to thrill-seekers for 50 cents a ride. Railway

Kings Island in Mason, Ohio (near Cincinnati). Designed by

companies used similar tracks to provide amusement on

John Allen, the instant success of The Racer began a second

days when ridership was low.

golden age, which has continued to this day.

35

36

Eye

of

the

City

37

“ Pleasure wheels”, whose passengers rode in chairs suspended from large wooden rings turned by strong men, may have originated in 17th century Bulgaria. The travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667 describes and illustrates “severall Sorts of Swinginge used in their Publique rejoyceings att their Feast of Biram” on 17 May 1620 at Philippopolis in the Ottoman Balkans. Among means “lesse dangerous and troublesome” was one : “...like a Craine wheele att Customhowse Key and turned in that Manner, whereon Children sitt on little seats hunge round about in severall parts thereof, And though it turne right upp and downe, and that the Children are sometymes on the upper part of the wheele, and sometymes on the lower, yett they alwaies sitt upright.”

Five years earlier, in 1615, Pietro Della Valle, a Roman traveller who sent letters from Constantinople, Persia, and India, attended a Ramadan festival in Constantinople. He describes the fireworks, floats, and great swings, then comments on riding the Great Wheel : “I was delighted to find myself swept upwards and downwards at such speed. But the wheel turned round so rapidly that a Greek who was sitting near me couldn’t bear it any longer, and shouted out “soni ! soni !” (enough ! enough !)”

Similar wheels also appeared in England in the 17th century, and subsequently elsewhere around the world, including India, Romania, and Siberia. A Frenchman, Antonio Manguino, introduced the idea to America in 1848, when he constructed a wooden pleasure wheel to attract visitors to his start-up fair in Walton Spring, Georgia.

In 1892, William Somers installed three fifty-foot wooden wheels at Asbury Park, New Jersey ; Atlantic City, New Jersey ; and Coney Island, New York. The following year he was granted the first U.S. patent for a “Roundabout”. George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. rode on Somers’ wheel in Atlantic City prior to designing his wheel for the World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1893 Somers filed a lawsuit against Ferris for patent infringement, however Ferris and his lawyers successfully argued that the Ferris Wheel and its technology differed greatly from Somers’ wheel, and the case was dismissed.

The original Chicago Ferris Wheel, was built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

With a height of 80.4 metres (264 ft) it was the largest attraction at the Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, where it opened to the public on June 21, 1893. It was intended to rival the 324-metre (1,063 ft) Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition. There were 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160. The wheel carried some 38,000 passengers daily and took 20 minutes to complete two revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50 cents.

The Exposition ended in October 1893, and the wheel closed in April 1894 and was dismantled and stored until the following year. It was then rebuilt on Chicago’s North Side, near Lincoln Park, next to an exclusive neighborhood. This prompted William D. Boyce, then a local resident, to file a Circuit Court action against the owners of the wheel to have it removed, but without success. It operated there from October 1895 until 1903, when it was again dismantled, then transported by rail to St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair and finally destroyed by controlled demolition using dynamite on May 11, 1906.

38 Nutella, manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, was introduced on the market in 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero spread released in 1949. Nutella is now sold in over 75 countries.

An older recipe, Gianduja, was a mixture containing approximately 50% almond and/or hazelnut paste and 50% chocolate. It was developed in Piedmont, Italy, after taxes on cocoa beans hindered the manufacture and distribution of conventional chocolate.

Pietro Ferrero, who owned a patisserie in Alba, in the Langhe district of Piedmont, an area known for the production of hazelnuts, sold an initial batch of 300 kilograms (660 lb) of Pasta Gianduja in 1946. This was originally a solid block, but in 1949, Pietro started to sell a creamy version in 1951 as Supercrema.

In 1963, Pietroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son Michele revamped Supercrema with the intention of marketing it across Europe. Its composition was modified and it was re-named Nutella. The first jar of Nutella left the Ferrero factory in Alba on 20 April 1964. The product was an instant success and remains widely popular according to Andreas Johnsonâ&#x20AC;Ś

39

40

the Curse of the Colonel Curse of the Colonel refers to an urban legend regarding a reputed curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Harland Sanders. The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues.

The Hanshin Tigers are located in Kansai, the second largest metropolitan area in Japan.

They are considered the eternal underdogs of Nippon Professional Baseball, in opposition to the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo, who are considered the kings of Japanese baseball. The devoted fans flock to the stadium no matter how badly the Tigers play in the league.

As is common with sports-related curses, the Curse of the Colonel is used to explain the Japan Championship Series drought that the Hanshin Tigers have had to endure since their first and only victory in the 1985 Japan Championship. The curse is said to have happened when Hanshin fans, excited over winning the 1985 championship series, tossed the statue of Colonel Sanders into the Dotonbori River.

Since then, fans have said they would never win another Japan Series until the statue was recovered. Comparisons are often made between the Hanshin Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, who were also said to be under a curse, the Curse of the Bambino, until they won the World Series in 2004. The Curse of the Colonel has also been used as a boogeyman threat to those who would divulge the secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices that makes the unique taste of KFC chicken.

In 1985, much to Japanese peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surprise, the Hanshin Tigers faced the Seibu Lions and took their first and only victory in the Japan Series, largely due to star slugger Randy Bass, an American playing for the team. The fan base went wild, and a riotous celebration gathered at Ebisubashi Bridge in Dotonbori, Osaka. There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; names, and with every name, a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking someone to imitate MVP Randy Bass, the rabid crowd seized a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.

According to the urban legend, this impulsive maneuver cost the team greatly, beginning the Curse of the Colonel, which states that the Tigers will not win the championship again until the statue is recovered. Subsequently, numerous attempts have been made to recover the statue, often as a part of variety TV show. Most of the statue was recovered in March, 2009.

41

18-year losing streak After their success in the 1985 series, the Hanshin Tigers began an 18-year losing streak placing last or next-to-last in the league. Brief rallies in 1992 and 1999 brought hope to fans, but they were soon followed with defeat. During this time attempts were made to recover the statue, including sending divers down and dredging the river, but they all failed. Fans apologized to the store manager, but the statue remained in the canal and the Tigers â&#x20AC;&#x153;cursedâ&#x20AC;?.

2002 World Cup Although the leap into Dotonbori canal and the Curse of the Colonel is usually associated only with a Hanshin Tigers victory, in 2002 when Japan beat Tunisia in the football World Cup, some 500 fans jumped into the canal as a celebration, in spite of heavy police security.

In addition, a Colonel Sanders statue was taken from the storefront of a KFC in nearby Kobe, and its hands were cut off supposedly in imitation of Sharia law.

2003 Central League In 2003, the Tigers had an unexpectedly strong season. Their chief rivals, the Yomiuri Giants, lost their star player, Hideki Matsui, while the Tigers gained a pitcher Hideki Irabu, who had returned from playing with the Texas Rangers. The Tigers won the Central League to qualify for the Japan Series, and many newspapers speculated that the Curse of the Colonel had finally been broken. The Tigers lost the Japan Series, this time to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, so the curse is presumably intact. Fans were enthusiastic about winning the Central League, and repeated the celebratory leap into Dotonbori Canal. However, instead of the individual leapers representing the players, over 5,300 fans plunged into the canal. Many KFC outlets in Kobe and Osaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. The newly replaced Colonel Sanders statue in the Dotonbori KFC branch was bolted down to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Death in the canal For 24-year-old Hanshin Tigers fan Masaya Shitababa the 2003 celebration was a tragedy. He drowned in the canal, with all reports being that he had been shoved in by the revelers. To prevent future incidents, the Osaka city council ordered the construction of a new Ebisubashi bridge beginning in 2004, which will make it more difficult for fans to take the celebratory leap should the Curse of the Colonel be broken and the Tigers win again.

Finally found after 24 years The Colonel was finally discovered in the Dotonbori River on March 10, 2009. Divers who recovered the statue at first thought it was only a large barrel, and shortly after a human corpse, but Hanshin fans on the scene were quick to identify it as the upper body of the long-lost Colonel. The right hand and lower body were found next day, but the statue is still missing its glasses and left hand.

42

43 The passing of time and all of its crimes

T

Specious present ime perception is a field of study within psychology

The specious present is the time duration wherein a state of

and neuroscience. It refers to the sense of time, which

consciousness is experienced as being in the present. The

differs from other senses since time cannot be directly

term was first introduced by the philosopher E. R. Clay. and

perceived but must be reconstructed by the brain. Humans

developed by William James. A version of the concept was

can perceive relatively short periods of time, in the order of

used by Edmund Husserl in his works and discussed further by

milliseconds, and also durations that are a significant fraction

Francisco Varela based on the writings of Husserl, Heidegger,

of a lifetime. Human perception of duration is subjective and

and Merleau-Ponty. The experienced present is an interval ;

variable. Some researchers attempt to categorize people by

it is not a momentary instant except ‘speciously’.

how they differ in their perception of time.

The concept was further developed by William James.

Pioneering work, emphasizing species-specific differ-

James defined the specious present to be “the prototype

ences, was done by Karl Ernst von Baer.Experimental work

of all conceived times... the short duration of which we are

began under the influence of the psycho-physical notions

immediately and incessantly sensible”. C. D. Broad in Sci-

of Gustav Theodor Fechner with studies of the relationship

entific Thought (1930) further elaborated on the concept

between perceived and measured time. Work with animals

of the specious present, and considered that the Specious

conducted by Jakob von Uexküll included measurement of

Present may be considered as the temporal equivalent of a

length of momentum in snails.

sensory datum.

Theories

Long-term

William J. Friedman also contrasted two theories for a sense

Psychologists assert that time seems to go faster with age,

of time :

but the literature on this age-related perception of time

The strength model of time memory. This posits a memory

remains controversial. One day to an eleven-year-old would

trace that persists over time, by which one might judge the

be approximately 1/4,000 of their life, while one day to a

age of a memory (and therefore how long ago the event

55-year-old would be approximately 1/20,000 of their life.

remembered occurred) from the strength of the trace. This

This is perhaps why a day would appear much longer to a

conflicts with the fact that memories of recent events may

young child than to an adult. In an experiment comparing

fade more quickly than more distant memories.

a group of subjects aged between 19 and 24 and a group

The inference model suggests the time of an event is inferred

between 60 and 80 asked to estimate when they thought 3

from information about relations between the event in ques-

minutes had passed, it was found that the younger group’s

tion and other events whose date or time is known.

estimate was on average 3 minutes and 3 seconds, while the older group averaged 3 minutes and 40 seconds, indicating

Short-term

a change in the perception of time with age. People tend

Although the sense of time is not associated with a specific

to recall recent events as occurring further back in time

sensory system the work of psychologists and neuroscien-

(backward telescoping) and distant events occurring more

tists indicates that human brains do have a system governing

recently (forward telescoping).

the perception of time, composed of a highly distributed

It has been proposed that the subjective experience

system involving the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and basal

of time changes with age due to changes in the individual’s

ganglia. One particular component, the suprachiasmatic

biological makeup.

nucleus, is responsible for the circadian (or daily) rhythm,

The apparent speeding up of time as we grow older is

while other cell clusters appear to be capable of shorter-

depicted in the Time’s Paces poem of Henry Twells as modi-

range (ultradian) timekeeping. Experiments have shown that

fied by Guy Pentreath : “For when I was a babe and wept and

rats can successfully estimate intervals of time around 40

slept, Time crept . . .”

seconds despite having their cortex entirely removed, which suggests it is a low level (subcortical) process.

44 world in motion

Fan psychology

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death.

I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.” Bill Shankly

The drivers that make people fans, and in particular sports fans, have been studied by psychologists, such as Dan Wann at Murray State University. They attribute people becoming fans to the following factors : One element is entertainment, because sports spectatorship is a form of leisure. Sports is also a form of escapism, and being a fan gives one an excuse to yell at something, an activity that may be constrained in other areas of one’s life. Fan activities give participants a combination of euphoria and stress (about the potential for their team to lose) for which they coin the name “eustress”. Fans experience euphoria during moments when play is going well for their team, and stress when play is going against their team. This tension between the two emotions generates an unusual sense of pleasure or heightened sensations.

Aesthetics are another draw for some fans, who appreciate the precision or skill of play, or of the coordinated movement of the players during a pre-planned “play”. Family bonding is a reason for some fan activities. Some families go to sports games every month as a family outing to watch a sports event and form a psychological bond with one another as a family.

Going to sports events can create a borrowed sense of self-esteem if fans identify with their teams to the extent that they consider themselves to be successful when their teams have been successful (e.g., as seen in the phrase “we have won”).

Underpinning psychology

Fan loyalty, particularly with respect to team sports, is different from brand loyalty, in as much as if a consumer bought a product that was of lower quality than expected, he or she will usually abandon allegiance to the brand. However, fan loyalty continues even if the team that the fan supports continues to perform poorly year after year.

Several psychologists have studied fan loyalty, and what causes a person to be a loyal fan, that sticks with a team through adversity, rather than a fairweather fan, that switches support to whatever teams happen to be successful at the time. They attribute it to the following factors : Entertainment value : The entertainment value that a fan derives from spectating motivates him/her to remain a loyal fan. Entertainment value of team sports is also valuable to communities in general.

Authenticity : This is described by Passikoff as “the acceptance of the game as real and meaningful”.

Fan bonding : Fan bonding is where a fan bonds with the players, identifying with them as individuals, and bonds with the team.

Team history and tradition : Shank gives the Cincinnati Reds, all-professional baseball’s oldest team, as an example of a team where a long team history and tradition is a motivator for fans in the Cincinnati area.

Group affiliation : Fans receive personal validation of their support for a team from being surrounded by a group of fans who also support the same team.

Fair-weather fans : Fans who only follow their team when they are winning.

Die-hard fans : Fans who follow their team no matter they are winning or losing.

“All that I know most surely about morality and obligations I owe to football.” Albert Camus

45

46

a broad margin

of leisure is as beautiful in an manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life as in a book.

haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping.

keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

Henry David Thoreau

47

Thanks to the inspiring music of Brian Eno and The Talking Heads.

See you on #5.

Aircraft spotting

Cloud watching

Home brewing

People watching

Tea tasting

Airbrushing

Coin collecting

Home repair

Photography

Tennis

Airsofting

Collecting

Home theater

Piano

Tesla coils

Acting

Collecting antiques

Horse riding

Pinochle

Tetris

Aeromodeling

Collecting artwork

Hot air ballooning

Playing music

Texting

Amateur astronomy

Collecting music albums

Hula hooping

Playing team sports

Textiles

Amateur radio

Compose music

Hunting

Pottery

Tombstone rubbing

Animals/pets/dogs

Computer activities

Illusion

Puppetry

Tool collecting

Arts

Cooking

Internet

Pyrotechnics

Toy collecting

Astrology

Cosplay

Jet engines

Quilting

Train collecting

Astronomy

Crafts

Jewelry making

Rafting

Train spotting

Backgammon

Crafts (unspecified)

Jigsaw puzzles

Railfans

Traveling

Badminton

Crochet

Juggling

R/c boats

Treasure hunting

Baseball

Crocheting

Keep a journal

R/c cars

Trekkie

Basketball

Cross-stitch

Kayaking

R/c helicopters

Tutoring children

Beach/sun tanning

Crossword puzzles

Kitchen chemistry

R/c planes

Tv watching

Beachcombing

Dancing

Kites

Reading

Urban exploration

Beadwork

Darts

Kite boarding

Reading to the elderly

Video games

Beatboxing

Diecast collectibles

Knitting

Reading Viva Davidoff

Volunteer

Becoming a child advocate

Digital photography

Knotting

Relaxing

Walking

Bell ringing

Dolls

Lasers

Renting movies

Warhammer

Belly dancing

Dominoes

Lawn darts

Rescuing abandoned animals

Watching sporting events

Bicycling

Drawing

Learn to play poker

Robotics

Windsurfing

Bird watching

Dumpster diving

Learning a foreign language

Rock collecting

Wine making

Birding

Eating out

Learning an instrument

Rockets

Woodworking

Bmx

Educational courses

Learning to pilot a plane

Rocking aids babies

Working in a food pantry

Blacksmithing

Electronics

Leathercrafting

Running

Working on cars

Blogging

Embroidery

Legos

Saltwater aquariums

Writing

Boardgames

Entertaining

Listening to music

Scrapbooking

Writing music

Boating

Exercise (aerobics, weights)

MacramĂŠ

Scuba diving

Writing songs

Body building

Fast cars

Magazine design

Sewing

Yoga

Bonsai tree

Fencing

Magic

Shark fishing

Yoyo

Boomerangs

Fishing

Making model cars

Skeet shooting

Etc.

Bowling

Football

Matchstick modeling

Shopping

Brewing beer

Four wheeling

Meditation

Singing in choir

Bridge building

Freshwater aquariums

Microscopy

Skateboarding

Bringing food to the disabled

Frisbee golf - frolf

Metal detecting

Sketching

Building dollhouses

Games

Model rockets

Sky diving

Butterfly watching

Gardening

Modeling ships

Sleeping

Button collecting

Garage saleing

Models

Smoking pipes

Cake decorating

Genealogy

Motorcycles

Snorkeling

Calligraphy

Geocaching

Mountain biking

Soap making

Camping

Ghost hunting

Mountain climbing

Soccer

Candle making

Glowsticking

Musical instruments

Socializing with friends/neigh-

Canoeing

Going to movies

Needlepoint

bors

Car racing

Golf

Owning an antique car

Spelunkering

Casino gambling

Go kart racing

Origami

Spending time with family/kids

Cave diving

Grip strength

Painting

Stamp collecting

Cheerleading

Guitar

Paintball

Storytelling

Chess

Handwriting analysis

Papermaking

String figures

Church/church activities

Hang gliding

Papermache

Surf fishing

Cigar smoking

Hiking

Parachuting

Swimming

Š Jean-Bernard Libert 2012