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source: Ambassador Ken Fairfax, retired U.S. State Department diplomat,
who has been posted to and served in many diplomatic and advisory roles around the world.
Nov5
front page.
Tag Archives: history
Aug24
“put on some lipstick and pull yourself together.” – elizabeth taylor
Neanderthals Wore Makeup
Tens of thousands of years before skin care routines started popping up on social media, Neanderthals – our supposedly brutish, decidedly unglamorous evolutionary cousins – were wearing makeup and even jewelry. This discovery was made by archaeologists working in Spain who excavated oyster shells covered in an”attention-grabbing” colored pigment. The pigment was made of minerals including hematite, charcoal, lepidocrocite, and pyrite, which gave it a shimmering, glitter-like appearance that the researchers believe was also used on the body due to its cosmetic effect. The oyster shells were found with holes cut in them, suggesting they might have been worn as necklaces. The University of Bristol’s João Zilhão, who led the study, described the makeup to NPR as “something that people wear in order to convey what they are… in a world where you have a complex network of relations” – a means of self-expression rarely associated with Neanderthals. The shells which were 50,000 years old, wouldn’t look entirely out of place today.
By the Numbers
- Percentage of DNA shared between modern humans and Neanderthals99.7%
- Global cosmetic market in 2025 $354 billion
- Year Neanderthals were named 1864
- Maximum number of Neanderthals that lived at any one time~10,000
Neanderthals had larger brains than us.
Despite the common stereotype, their brains were larger than ours. Measured by endocranial volume, the space inside the skull,) their brain size was an average of 1,410 cm³ (~6 cups) compared to Homo sapiens’ 1,350 cm³ (5.7 cups). Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, however, as their brains were proportional to their bodies (which were denser and more muscular than ours) and supported their larger eyes, which helped them see in the low-light environments where they thrived.
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‘i like to imagine that the Neanderthals were all really good artists.’
-jim drain
*jim drain is an American textile artist who creates vibrantly colored mixed-media works that incorporate a range of materials such as fabric scraps, machine knit-patterns, found objects, and printed ephemera.
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source credits: gary larson, far side cartoon, university of bristol, npr, historynews, michael nordine
Feb26
Black history.
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968 and represented New York’s 12th congressional district for 7 terms. She helped to create the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). In 1972 she became the first Black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Throughout her career, she was known for taking “a resolute stand against economic, social, and political injustices”, as well as being a strong supporter of black civil rights and women’s rights.
Born in New York City, she spent ages five through nine in Barbados. Shirley excelled at school and earned her college degree in the United States. She began working in early-childhood education, and became involved in local Democratic Party politics in the 1950s. In 1964, overcoming resistance because she was a woman, she was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later, she was elected to Congress, where she led the expansion of food and nutrition programs for the poor and rose to party leadership. She retired from Congress in 1983 and taught at Mount Holyoke College while continuing her political organizing. Although nominated for the ambassadorship to Jamaica in 1993, health issues caused her to withdraw. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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‘Black history is world history.
it is not an elective, a footnote, or a trend.
it is the foundation, the blueprint
the unshakeable truth
that we have always been here –
building, creating, and leading.’
-andrea bolder
Dec11
words have no wings.
From the Library of Congress:
On National Christmas Card Day we are pleased to share, from the Library’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division, a copy of the first commercial Christmas card, created in 1843.
It was, by coincidence, the same year that Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol.”
The two creations, and the iconography they inspired, went a long way toward establishing the Victorian concept of Christmas, which, in turn, we now regard as the “traditional” Christmas.
Henry Cole, a British civil servant and patron of the arts, commissioned friend and illustrator John Calcott Horsley to design a card that he could send to friends and family in lieu of writing lengthy Christmas letters. Horsley used chromolithography, a process suited to making lots and lots of copies.
You can see the lines at the top and bottom of the card where recipient and sender names are meant to be written. Horsley signed this card in the “From” field in the bottom right corner.
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‘words have no wings, but they can fly a thousand miles.’
-korean proverb
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Image: The very first mass-produced Christmas card, 1843.
Illustrated by John Calcott Horsley. 1843.
Photographed by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
Oct17
haint.
this is the haint blue ceiling of the porch on the very old house
where we are staying in south carolina
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Haint Blue is a term used for a range of pale, blue-green colors that are similar to the color of water or the sky. They’re often used to paint the porch ceilings of homes in the southern United States. The reason people paint their porch ceilings this color is a tale of tradition from the Deep South.
The word “haint” is a colloquial way to pronounce “haunt,” another word for ghosts or evil spirits. The word comes from the Gullah, a community of people descended from West African enslaved people who settled on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.
The Gullah people created this color by mixing indigo with lime, milk, and other natural ingredients. They painted porch ceilings, shutters, and even doors in this shade to keep away “haints” aka. restless spirits. The idea was simple but powerful: they believed that haints were afraid of water, spirits couldn’t cross water or sky, and so the color blue would protect the home.
Haint Blue paint was a form of protection for the Gullah and the southern communities embraced it wholeheartedly. That’s why so many porch ceilings throughout the south are painted a beautiful light blue-green, which has become known as haint blue.This color is tied to memory, protection, and survival.
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‘color is a power which directly influences the soul.’
-wassily kandinsky
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charleston, south carolina, usa, October 2025
Aug26
fighting words.
our founding fathers irked england by inventing american english
thomas jefferson is credited with coining over 100 words — more than any other president. among the words the third president introduced are “indecipherable,” “belittle,” and “pedicure,” the latter of which means to care for the feet and toenails. “Pedicure” was one of several words that Jefferson borrowed from the French after spending many years in Paris.
next time you get your pedicure,
you’ll have TJ to thank for bringing this word to us,
otherwise you wouldn’t have known what service to ask for
when you booked your appointment.
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‘where can i find a man who has forgotten words so i can have a word with him?’
-zhuangzi
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source credits: VOA, Saturday Evening Post
Feb3
history.
February is Black History Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
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‘all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity.’— Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
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image credit: pbs
Sep21
waffle frolic.
‘why can’t i just eat my waffle?’
– barack obama
Early Americans held waffle-eating parties called “waffle frolics.”
Brunch has an understandable hold on Americans — after all, who can pass up the opportunity to enjoy a delicious smattering of sweet and savory plates (alongside good company, of course)? Apparently, Americans of the past couldn’t say no either, gathering to share food and fun at so-called “waffle frolics.” These waffle-eating get-togethers were most popular during the colonial era, eventually petering out by the mid-20th century. At their peak, they were elaborate, multi-course meals that showcased freshly ironed waffles as the main course.
Little is recorded about the particulars of early waffle frolics, but one description, by William Livingstone, a 21-year-old Yale student who recounted his party experience in a 1744 letter, describes the soiree as a lavish affair. “After a few games, a magnificent supper appeared in grand order and decorum,” he wrote. “But for my own part I was not a little grieved that so luxurious a feast should come under the name of a wafel-frolic, because if this be the case I must expect but a few wafel-frolics for the future.”
Waffles have been widely eaten throughout Europe since the Middle Ages, sold by street vendors and often consumed on religious holidays. Eventually, they made their way to the American colonies alongside the Pilgrims, and it was in the New World where they were paired with maple syrup for the first time. Culinary lore sometimes suggests it was founding father Thomas Jefferson who ignited the waffle frolic craze in the 1790s upon his return from France, after he arrived with four waffle irons in his luggage. As president, Jefferson reportedly served the treat to Meriwether Lewis at the White House prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition.
‘a wafffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap.’
-mitch hedberg
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Waffles cooked and served every minute at Waffle House restaurants -145
Weight (in pounds) of the world’s largest waffle, created in the Netherlands in 2013 – 110
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image and source credits: interesting facts, waffle house, babycenter.com, king arthur baking
Aug28
unfit for consumption. but so good.
Johann Bach is remembered as one of the world’s greatest composers, known for orchestral compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos. But one of Bach’s lesser-known works is Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (“Be Still, Stop Chattering”) — a humorous ode to coffee popularly known as the Coffee Canata. Written sometime in the 1730s, Bach’s mini comic opera makes light of fears at the time that coffee was an immoral beverage entirely unfit for consumption. In the 18th century, coffee shops in Europe were known to be boisterous places of conversation, unchaperoned meeting places for young romantics, and the birthplaces of political plots. A reported lover of coffee, Bach wrote a 10-movement piece that pokes fun at the uproar over coffee. The opera tells the story of a father attempting to persuade his daughter to give up her coffee addiction so that she might get married, but in the end, she just becomes a coffee-imbibing bride.
“If I couldn’t three times a day,
be allowed to drink my little cup of coffee, in my anguish,
I will turn into a shriveled-up roast goat.“
-Johann Sebastian Bach
*thank you for putting this to music, johann, i feel the same.
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source credits: interesting facts, flypaper, wikipedia, etsy mug
Aug8
neither rain, nor sleet, nor children….
ask anyone in my family
they’ll tell you
i’m a huge fan of going to the post office
i love mailing hand-written letters
buying cool stamps
sending packages to my special people
filled with things i just know they’d love
even though they don’t know it yet.
all this being said
the post office does have
its own huge set of negatives and challenges
as i’ve written about a number of times
and even a bit of a dark past from the early days.
People Used to Mail Their Children Via the Postal Service
(can’t say if i may have wondered if this was an option
during those sleep-deprived times with 3 small children, back in the day,
just kidding for my now-grown and non-mailed children
who i love dearly and are likely to read this.)
When the United States Postal Service launched their parcel service in 1913, Americans immediately began testing its boundaries. People started mailing coffins, eggs, and even dogs, and a few decided to mail the ultimate precious cargo: human children.
The first known case of baby-shipping happened that same year, when an Ohio couple mailed their 10-pound infant to his grandmother a mile away, which cost them about 15 cents. Some kids traveled farther, like 6-year-old Edna Neff, who was mailed 720 miles from Pensacola, Florida, to her father’s home in Christiansburg, Virginia.
There was only a brief window for mailing kids, though; the postmaster general instituted a strict no-humans rule in 1914. At least two more children managed to slip through: Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed via rail to her grandparents’ house with the appropriate postage stuck to her coat in 1914, but a postal worker relative escorted her (her story was later turned into a children’s book called ‘Mailing May’). The last recorded case was in 1915, when 3-year-old Maud Smith’s grandparents mailed her 40 miles across Kentucky to visit her sick mother. In 1920, the Postal Service declined two applications to mail children who had been listed as “harmless live animals,” a classification for creatures that don’t require food or water on their journey.
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Many of us have heard the postal carriers’ motto in one form or another. “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.”
The original saying was spoken about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus. He actually said “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This was said during the war between the Greeks and Persians about 500 B.C. in reference to the Persian mounted postal couriers whom he observed and held in high esteem.
From that time on the saying has been associated with U.S. postal carriers.
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source credit: interesting facts
