November 2010
18 posts
The Darkest Days
Despite the popularity of Black Friday among retailers and the local news media, every day of the week has at some point or another been described as “black.” In fact, an entire week can be cobbled together out of the darkness.
Black Sunday (1977)
1977 movie about a blimp pilot / Vietnam veteran driven mad by torture as a POW who uses his intricate knowledge of blimps to attempt to detonate a bomb at the Super Bowl. Much of the film was shot live at Super Bowl X, in which the Dallas Cowboys triumphed over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Black Monday (1987)
Describes the largest one-day decline in stock market history which occurred on Monday October 19 1987. Also ascribed to part of the Black Long Weekend of 1929 (see “Black Thursday” and “Black Tuesday”)
Black Tuesday (1929, 2001)
The day the financial repercussions of 1929’s Black Thursday set in, causing wide-spread panic when everyone attempted to pull out of the market at the same time. Also used to describe the events of September 11th, 2001.
More dark days here…
Benjamin Franklin's Bad News Bird
“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country…
I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America…He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”
Benjamin Franklin in a letter to his daughter. (via 18thcentury)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
“Cicero liked to believe himself wealthy. He prided himself on his books. He needed no further reason to dislike Cleopatra: intelligent women who had better libraries than he did offended him on three counts.”
—Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra. Listen to Lewis Lapham’s interview with Schiff on Bloomberg radio here. (via michellelegro)
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The Staff Recommends
Lest you think that the Lapham’s Quarterly Tumblr is run by the Cicero5000, the world’s first trans-century automaton, there is actually a full-blooded human at the helm (also found here and here) who would like to recommend the following excellent Tumblrs:
The Atlantic think’s it’s soooo old at 150 years. Pishaw.
MarkArms is a gentleman and a scholar.
Utne Reader is a compatriot in ephemera.
Mark Coatney is the fastest reblogger in the west.
The NY Observer is alive! It’s alive!
“All the pure and noble arts of peace are founded on war; no great art ever yet rose on Earth, but among a nation of soldiers. There is no art among a shepherd people if it remains at peace. There is no art among an agricultural people if it remains at peace. Commerce is barely consistent with fine art, but cannot produce it. Manufacture not only is unable to produce it, but invariably destroys whatever seeds of it exist. There is no great art possible to a nation but that which is based on battle.”
—John Ruskin, 1865. From a commencement speech delivered by England’s most renowned art critic to the cadets graduating from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, featured in our very first issue “States of War.”
“You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. Some men are cowards, but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country…”
—General George Patton, 1944. in command of the U.S. Third Army in June 1944, Patton felt obliged to explain the basic plan of operation prior to the invasion of northern France. From our first issue, States of War.
Upon Westminster Bridge
This city now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
—William Wadsworth, 1802
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