Tag Archives: Africa

1882: Jumbo

Posted on July 12, 2021 by corvusfugit

An anecdote from Matthew Scott’s biography of Jumbo the Elephant (1885): Once when I was riding him around in the Zoological Gardens, in London, sitting on his neck, with about a dozen children on a panier-saddle across his broad back, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

250 BC: Thunder, Perfect Mind

Posted on November 22, 2020 by corvusfugit

In 1945, near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, a farmer named Muhammed al-Samman discovered a sealed jar containing thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices. Written in the Coptic language and collectively known as the Nag Hammadi Library, these writings are … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

1750: First Sleep, Second Sleep

Posted on November 21, 2020 by corvusfugit

That dreaming is a less sound species of sleep, appears from the familiar fact, which has probably been observed by every individual; viz. that the first sleep is much freer from it than the second. We retire to rest, fatigued … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

1159 BC: The First Strike in History

Posted on September 7, 2020 by corvusfugit

In his first two decades on the throne, Ramesses III had repelled invasions, restored Egypt’s temples and re-established national pride. The court now looked forward to the king’s thirty-year jubilee, determined to stage a celebration worthy of so glorious a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

1939: Revolt

Posted on June 1, 2020 by corvusfugit

Hale Woodruff’s murals commemorating the revolt on the Spanish slave ship Amistad were installed in Talladega College’s Savery Library in 1939, the centennial of the uprising. The first mural depicts the moment when, on or about July 1, 1839, kidnapped … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

15 mya: Oecophylla

Posted on May 25, 2019 by corvusfugit

    Up to hundreds of weaver ants…line up side by side in militarily precise rows. They grip the edge of one leaf with the claws and pads of their hindlegs and the edge of the other with their jaws and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

1895: A-ka-u-ku

Posted on May 12, 2019 by corvusfugit

In 1895, King Njoya of the Bamum, an ethnic group from what is now western Cameroon, invented an alphabet to record the history of his people. Njoya, who traced his linaege back 16 or 17 generations of kings, was insipred … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

1987: Basebenzi Masimanyane

Posted on May 11, 2019 by corvusfugit

Congress of South African Trade Unions: 1987 Calendar In 1987, COSATU conducted a two-day strike during the general elections in May as part of its Living Wage Campaign. More than 2.5 million workers took part. Later that month, their headquarters … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

1964: Oh, My Mangled Head!

Posted on April 14, 2019 by corvusfugit

In his book Alice in Many Tongues (1964), Warren Weaver spends the last chapter using a curious method to evaluate various translations of Alice in Wonderland. He takes the same passage from each translation—a portion of the Mad Tea-Party—and asks … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

170 AD: Memnon

Posted on November 25, 2018 by corvusfugit

Portrait of Memnon: Greek, c. 170 AD Memnon was the pupil, protégé, and adopted son of Herodes Atticus, a Greek aristocrat and sophist who served as a senator of the Roman Empire. He was named after the mythological Ethiopian king … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment