The Tuba in Art

I used to play the Tuba in the Kiltie band way back in college at Carnegie Mellon, so I have an eye for tuba player pictures wherever I go. This picture is by Howard Pyle and is hanging in the Delaware Art Museum.

tags: art, museum, tuba

Peace through Chemical Engineering

Actually this work is called Peace Through Chemistry IV by Roy Lichtenstein. How could I, a chemical engineer, pass up taking a photograph of this one to share with you. Roy Lichtenstein is a pop artist whose most famous works, you might remember, remind one of comic strips.

tags: art, museum, chemistry

The Flying Dutchman and others cursed to walk the earth for all eternity

This haunting picture of the Flying Dutchman at the Delaware Art Museum was painted by Howard Pyle, a renowned illustrator, in 1900. Howard Pyle was a native of Wilmington, Delaware and taught a number of artists of the Brandywine school, N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish and others.

Pay close attention to the object lesson provided by the Flying Dutchman and his accursed brethren if you want to avoid walking the earth for all eternity (or until kingdom come). For example:

• The Flying Dutchman has taught us not to swear an oath to continue your attempt to round the Cape of Good Hope until Judgment Day lest fate take you at your word.

• Don't tell Jesus to hurry along on His way to the crucifixion as the Wandering Jew did, He may tell you that you will walk until the last day.

• Don't be the centurion who pierced Jesus' side. In some legends Longinus is also forced to walk the Earth, till He comes back.

• Don't kill the albatross that leads you, your crew, and your ship out of trouble unless you want to get in more trouble. Just as in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, you'll be forced to tell your story to all you meet for all eternity to help them learn your lesson.

The trials and tribulations of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and foolish people that drink immortality potions are well known and also to be avoided.

tags: art, museum, cursed

More Fantasic Pictures from the Delaware Art Museum

I also took some pictures of whatever drew my interest. Here are some fantastic (as in fantasy) pictures.

A fearsome Indian scout from Colonial Troops with Indian Guides by Mead Schaeffer

A maiden being fought over by two gentlemen of Verona

Dragon's Run by Janny Wurts

tags: art, museum

The enigmatic Morning by Thomas Wilmer Dewing

This enigmatic painting is called Morning and was painted by Thomas Wilmer Dewey in 1879. Dewey is considered and American Impressionist. The painting was considered eccentric and difficult by its critics. To my mind the picture presages the art deco fashions of a later period.

The women and their horns.

The hounds listen quizzically.

tags: art

Washington by Rembrandt Peale at the Delaware Art Museum

In our travels to the Delaware Art Museum today we saw this portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale. It is interesting to imagine that the portrait was near the father of our country all that time ago.

Pull tab urban legend made real

I saw this little box and poster for the Ronald McDonald house to collect and donate soda pop tabs. I said to myself, this can't be real, this is the urban legend where people were convinced to collect pull tabs to exchange for kidney dialysis time. Was I a witness to an urban legend out in the wild? There was a phone number on the poster so I did more investigation.

Yes, Ronald McDonald house collects pop tabs for recycle. In my discussions with the local Ronald McDonald house personnel, I asked some questions and found out a few things. Why not recycle the whole can instead of just the tab? They say that the tab has more aluminum in it than the rest of the can. This is not true according to snopes, and common sense.

They do recycle the tabs. They get $0.42/lb of tabs and raised almost $4000 in 2005 by recycling about 7 million tabs. The money raised goes to pay bills for families that use Ronald McDonald house that are not covered by other donations or funding. Ronald McDonald house has a noble mission: Provide a "home away from home" for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.

The staff was very nice to me and showed me their tubs and tubs of pull tabs and provided the information above about the program. Still, I can't but help there is a better way for them to raise funds for their cause. Why not recycle the whole can, at 14 grams it weighs more than twenty times what the tab (0.6 grams) weighs. The person who had the tab had the can, it would have been 20 times more money raised. Better still, just collect pennies instead of the tabs. There are 181 pennies in a pound, that's $1.38 extra per pound for the charity.

I felt so bad for their misjudgment that I got some information about donating and I am sending them a check. Maybe their pull tab collection program generates donations after all.

tags: urban legend, recycle

No wi-fi for you! Four Years!

Add this to the tinfoil hat category (do they work? point, counterpoint). Fred Gilbert, the president of Lakehead University will not allow wi-fi on campus because of his concern that there may be health effects related to exposure to EM fields. He bases his decision on scientific evidence that says there is some potential for health effects, but here are his citations -

"Gilbert cited studies done by scientists for the California Public Utilities Commission, whose findings boil down to the fact that while there is no proven link between EMFs exposure and diseases such as leukemia and brain tumours, the possible risk warrants further investigation."

and

"“Even the World Health Organization in its international review says it doesn't have a great deal of concern but it admits the information is not 100 per cent."

So no proven link, but let's keep investigating anyway, and base our decisions on this lack of evidence. Are you ready to enroll yourself or send your children to this top notch school run by someone who does not make fact-based, science-supported decisions?

He draws a comparison to other effects that don't show up until 30 years after exposure, like those from asbestos or second hand smoke. While it is true that those effects often don't show until 30 years later that is the only conclusion you can draw. The comparison to wi-fi is specious, these other examples have nothing to do with the potential health effects of EM fields. Cancer is so scary it freezes everyone in their tracks.

The comments on Treehugger ask reasonably if university president Gilbert has also banned portable phones, and cellphones on the campus, which also transmit in the same frequency spectrum and are even more ubiquitous than wi-fi. Engadget has a running series on whether cell phones cause cancer or not, they are on chapter 8041 at last count. I think everyone is worried that they will be sued someday whether or not it is proven these fields cause cancer. Remember you don't need scientific proof to win a civil case.

tags: cancer, tinfoil hat, science, wifi

Cone snail shells do math

Did you know that the Delaware Museum of Natural History has a top ten collection of mollusks and birds? I am proud of my regional museum. In the rows and rows of mollusk shells on display I ran across this cone snail shell whose triangular patterns immediately reminded me of figures I have seen of cellular automata.

Cellular automata are built on a grid from simple rules that depend on only the nearest neighbor values. A table of the outcomes for each of the eight possibilities can be built and is designated by the decimal equivalent of the binary values. This example is rule 30.

Then you can build a pattern based on these rules. Rule 30 is an interesting one because it has chaotic, interesting behavior.


So now compare a closeup of the cone snail shell to the (upside down) results of cellular automata rule 30. Mother nature uses these simple rules, built up by overlapping dynamic chemical reactions, and controlled by biology to put designs on shells, spots on leopards, and stripes on zebras.

tags: cellular automata, biology, math, science, cone snail

Ethno-conchology, it's not what you think.

Contrary to what you might think ethno-conchology is not the study of conking people on the head, it is the study of shell money. I learned this on a tour of the Delaware Natural History Museum. The exhibit was full of cowrie shells, which have been used as money by many groups.