Journey Through Swiss Railway History

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It has been my good fortune to have traveled extensively throughout Switzerland by train. IMHO the Swiss railway network is unparalleled for its engineering and for the beauty of the geography that it covers. So, I was happy to learn that this month Switzerland is celebrating 175 years since the country’s railway linked two Swiss cities. In August 1847 a railway line was opened connecting the Swiss cities of Baden and Zurich. Since then the rail network has added more than 5,000 kilometers of track. Now, the Swiss broadcaster SRF is celebrating 175 years of the country’s railway network by taking you on a Journey Through the History of Swiss Railways.

SRF’s history of the Swiss railway includes a map (above) which shows the opening of new railway lines by year of construction. This map is accompanied by a graph which shows the length (in km) of railway lines opened in each year. From the animation of this map  you can see that the golden era of the Swiss railway was in its first one hundred years. Since the 1920s further extensions to the railway in Switzerland have been fairly sporadic.

 

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Venice Through The Eyes of Monet

Posted on August 28, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Claude Monet first discovered Venice in 1908 when he was 68 years old. The two months Monet spent there are documented in letters he and his wife Alice sent to friends and family in France. They tell of the highs and lows he experienced during his short visit and how he ultimately wished he’d travelled there as a much younger man.

 

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When Museumgoers Gotta Go

Posted on August 27, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Ann Agee, Sheboygan Men’s Room (detail, east wing men’s washroom), 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.

Over the years I’ve visited hundreds of museums in dozens of countries and I’ve seen my share of museum bathrooms. Many are unmemorable institutional facilities, but many are worthy design destinations. The American Alliance of Museums polled their members on their favorite museum bathrooms. Here are some of the highlights.

The winner of the unofficial poll was the Biophilic toilets at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. I’ve been there and they are spectacular.

My favorite museum facility has to be at the Hundertwasserhaus art museum in Vienna.

You can check out more of the entries by clicking here.

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The Very Definition of Irony

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

Even if you do not live in North America you are probably aware that the United States has been experiencing a wave of book bannings and attempts by a vocal neo-Fascist Christian Nationalist minority to censor both library books and school books. But this story out of Texas is particularly outrageous.

The book Life is So Good, co-written by George Dawson, is banned at George Dawson Middle School in Southlake, Texas. The same George Dawson who wrote this book is the George Dawson the school is named after.

The short video below underscores the irony of the ban on this particular book in this Texas community. NB: If the video fails to play in your email version of TBTP, please click here.

Posted in Books, Freedom of Speech, History, Libraries, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Drowned Giant

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard contains a treasure trove for fans of the English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explore the relationships between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass media. Few of this short stories have been adapted into other media. The Drowned Giant is an exception, the intriguing animated short was directed by Tim Miller.

 

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We trained some birds to steal their wheat

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

After a wonderful but all to brief road trip and light news diet, I spent some time catching up on world events. Sadly, the news of the day reminded me of the powerful Thomas Lux poem “The People of the Other Village” below.

hate the people of this village
and would nail our hats
to our heads for refusing in their presence to remove them
or staple our hands to our foreheads
for refusing to salute them
if we did not hurt them first: mail them packages of rats,
mix their flour at night with broken glass.
We do this, they do that.
They peel the larynx from one of our brothers’ throats.
We devein one of their sisters.
The quicksand pits they built were good.
Our amputation teams were better.
We trained some birds to steal their wheat.
They sent to us exploding ambassadors of peace.
They do this, we do that.
We canceled our sheep imports.
They no longer bought our blankets.
We mocked their greatest poet
and when that had no effect
we parodied the way they dance
which did cause pain, so they, in turn, said our God
was leprous, hairless.
We do this, they do that.
Ten thousand (10,000) years, ten thousand
(10,000) brutal, beautiful years.
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A Novel Way to Tell Time

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The Author Clock by Mechanical Design Labs is a novel digital clock that uses quotes from well known books to tell the time. The clever timepiece lifts passages from hundreds of years of literature to provide quotes that refer to the exact time of day. Framed in wood, the clock offers customizable fonts, is rechargable, and has a zero blue light emitting screen.  According to Mechanical Design Labs, the  “Author Clock transforms checking the time into a whimsical event, transporting you into key moments in literature and writing history. Containing thousands of quotes from a diverse range of authors, Author Clock is a creative and inspiring way to tell time. If you love a good book and great story, this is the clock for you.”

Mechanical Labs is raising funds through Indegogo to bring The Author Clock to a wider market. The current asking price is a bit steep, but hopefully the crowdfunding campaign will bring it down soon.

 

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Worst Airline Meal Ever

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Travel writer Miriam Porter recently reported on a very disappointing meal experience while flying Air Canada from Frankfurt to Toronto. Although she had pre-ordered vegan meals for the 10 hour flight a month in advance, when meal time came she was offered a bottle of water, a napkin, and a half-assed apology.

Eventually, a flight attendant managed to put together a “meal” of fruit and crackers for Porter, but couldn’t manage anything else. Air Canada has acknowledged the screw-up but hasn’t offered any compensation.

As a life-long vegetarian, I’ve had similar experiences flying for decades. Although I learned early on to pack my own food “just in case” they forgot the vegetarian or vegan meals, it’s frustrating to be on a a long haul flight and watch everyone else getting multiple hot meals all the same.

 

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Life Jackets

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The renowned Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has created a wall from 2,000 life jackets that were discarded by Syrian refugees while attempting to escape the war in their homeland by crossing the Aegean Sea as part of an installation in Quebec City, Canada.

The Life Jackets installation consists of floatation devices found on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos. These were hung on to a 17th-century stone fortification in Quebec City for Passages Insolites, an annual public art festival held in the historic city.

This dramatic installtion, which will be up until October, is designed to represent the borders that block refugees as they actively try to flee the ongoing civil war in Syria in the hope of finding refuge in Europe.

 

 

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The Swimmer

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve just returned from a short road trip that took me to barrier island towns on the Atlantic coast from Delaware to Virginia. While I was staying in the lovely town of Fenwick Island in Delaware, I noticed the same older man doing yoga on the beach each morning before going for a swim in the ocean. It reminded me of this charming short film about Walter Strohmeyer who has been swimming in the waters of his local beach in New York’s Long Island for nearly nine decades.

NB: If the video does not appear in your email version of TBTP, please visit the home page here.

 

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