Holbein's The Ambassadors & Shakespeare's Richard II

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger.

The Ambassadors, by Hans Holbein the Younger, was painted in 1533. In addition to being a double portraiture, it is famed for the long greyish mark twisted slantwise across the bottom of the picture, which, viewed at an acute angle from the edge of the frame, appears as a human skull seen in perspective.

A reference to this or similar paintings can be found in Shakespeare's play Richard II, in which the character Bushy uses it as a simile:

For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects, 
Like perspectives, which rightly gazed upon
Show nothing but confusion; eyed awry
Distinguish form.

Zo d'Axa and his Political Ass

In the year 1898, the French anarchist and satirist, Zo d’Axa, decided there were so many phoney asses in his country’s National Assembly that they were scandalously devaluing the currency. 

So he decided to present to the electorate a real ass, a pure, genuine, thoroughbred, white donkey that he baptized NUL [None], and invited the people to:

'Vote Nul and make your voices heard!'

In a series of articles Zo solicited his compatriots to support Nul as their elected representative:

'In our endeavours we have tried to find a master that no one dreamed of. .... Now, the honour has fallen on me to present the Master of the People. Please be sympathetic. The ass for whom I seek the suffrage from you, my fellow citizens, is a most charming accomplice. A loyal and excellently shod donkey with a silky coat, delicate hamstring, and a most beauteous voice.'

The day of the election arrived, and lo! from atop the hill of Montmartre, Nul swept forward, imperiously seated on a chariot, like Julius Caesar on a triumph through Rome. Escorting him were Zo and a company of his loyal supporters. Zo later described the proud moment as 'the ass paraded through the streets, past walls decked with banners and placards'. 

Proclamations were handed our to the gathering crowds exalting them to....

'Think, dear citizens. You know that your elected representatives deceive you, have deceived you, will continue to deceive you. ... Therefore, vote for Nul! Vote for an ass!'

The spectators laughed and applauded! Women threw flowers! Men doffed their hats! The procession continued through the Latin Quarter and finally arrived at the Senate, where it was greeted with rapturous applause from the university students.

Then, at around 3 p.m., the atmosphere changed. A sinister cloud appeared above them in the form of the police, as ever taking the law into their own hands. The officers erected a barrier at the end of the Boulevard St. Michel. Then the officer in charge ordered Zo to lead Nul to the nearest police station. 

But it was too late! The revolution had begun! The crowd smashed their way through the barrier and marched to the Palais de Justice, the Law Courts. 

Sadly, it was the moment that the police had been waiting for. They pounced, grabbed Nul's chariot, and led the people's would-be anointed representative away. 

Zo was philosophical:

'Like a vile politician the animal had gone sour. The police towed Nul away, the Establishment guiding him. ... For the moment Nul was only a candidate like any other. The police station opened its wide doors and the ass was with his friends.'

The forces of order had prevailed. The Revolution was over.

Hee-haw!
Hee-haw!
Hee-haw!

Doing the gemba walk

'Faster, you scurvy scum! Faster I say!'
Productivity manager doing the gemba walk.

In Japan they have a word - kaizen. The word means ‘good change’ and has been adopted by Japanese and international corporations as a term for business management and productivity.

They have another word - gemba. The word means ‘the real place’ and is used by the Japanese police for the scene of a crime. 

Gemba too been adopted by business in the phrase the genba walk, used to describe managers who prowl the work area looking for problems to solve and to keep the workers on their toes. 

Napoleon Bonaparte - Portrait of a dictator as a young writer.

Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s first and last novel, Clisson et Eugenie, was published in France in 2007 and in English translation in 2009. 

Set in 1795, the action of the 17-page epic novella centres around a young French general of Corsican origin who spends several weeks in an enchanting residence near Lyon. He is 26 years old and weary of making war, and finds solace from his melancholy in the arms of 15 year old Eugenie. 

Seven years of bliss follow, and then the general, now 33 years old, is called once more to the service of his country. Then, tragically, he is wounded in battle and sends news of his misfortune to Eugenie through one of his officers. But alas the officer does not return and his beloved Eugenie does not write to him. 

Feeling doubly betrayed, our hero launches himself headlong into the next battle, and is killed by a thousand wounds.

The dejected Emperor contemplates his betrayal.

Artificial Intelligence - Jesus needs you!

'I think the development of full Artificial Intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow, biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded.'  

Stephen Hawking's dire warning has fallen on stony ground for Florida pastor Reverend Christopher Benek. Far from it, Rev. Benek believes that we should embrace robots as our brothers and even convert them into Christians.

'I don't see Christ's redemption limited to human beings,' he said in an interview. 'It's redemption of all creation, even Artificial Intelligence (AI).'

He also surmises that AI may one day 'lead humans to new levels of holiness.' 

He could have a point. But why limit ourselves to baptising robots? What about robot marriages (or at least civil partnerships)? Inter-AI marriages - a photocopier to a shredding machine? Will we need Pre-natal Clinics for Pregnant Computers? Where will it end? Reverend Benek may have opened up an ethical as well as a technological can of worms.

Elvis has left the galaxy

In the City of Ottawa in Canada there is an organization called The Elvis Sightings Society. 

The three founding members set up the society in 1989 as they believed that 'contrary to popular opinion (and petty details such as police and coroners' reports) the King was very much alive'.

Of course, sightings of Elvis have been made around the world since his untimely 'death' in 1977. But all were either deluded, fraudulent or genuine cases of mistaken identity. 

Because we can now exclusively reveal that Elvis was in fact abducted by aliens from a nearby galaxy and taken to a planet where he now works as a waiter in a downtown restaurant.

Elvis is content in his new life, the more so as the aliens are all generous tippers, and he hopes to rise to the position of head waiter before too long.

Acknowledgement: Details on Elvis Sightings Society from their website

The day the World's Biggest Diamond was found

The uncut World's Largest Diamond

On a sunny day in January 1905 Thomas Powell made his regular descent down the Big Hole diamond mine in South Africa. 

Little is known about this humble employee of Premier Diamond Mining Company. But what is known is that on that January day he emerged from the mine brandishing the largest diamond ever to be ripped from the bowels of the Earth. A diamond so large that it filled his entire hand and weighed in at an astonished 621 grams. 

Thomas took his trophy to his foreman Frederick Wells. Frederick took it to the mine owner Thomas Cullinan. Thomas C. took it to an expert for confirmation that it was indeed what he thought it was. The expert took it... No, the expert didn't take it anywhere. But he confirmed that it was definitely a diamond. And then the terrible question arose - What shall to do with it?

After two years a buyer for the world's largest diamond emerged in the shape of the South African government. The politicians in Pretoria had decided that it would be a nice present for the English monarch King Edward VII on the occasion of his sixty-sixth birthday. And so the diamond was purchased for the sum of $150,000 and then sent across the seas to England.

The almighty diamond was presented to the king on 9 November 1907. And he was ecstatic! But that same terrible question once again arose - What shall we do with it? The decision was taken to have it cut into several stones and to use them to adorn the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

The job of cutting up the world's largest diamond was entrusted to Joseph Asscher of Amsterdam. Legend has it that he had a doctor in attendance in case his made a fateful error during the cutting and had a heart attack. He completed his work several months later when 9 large stones and 105 little pebbles were delivered to the king.

The largest of the stones, at 530 carats, is now set in the royal sceptre and is known as the Star of Africa (Cullinan I). Next is the Second Star of Africa (Cullinan II) at 317 carats, followed by Cullinan III (94 carats) and Cullinan IV (63 carats). And so on to the minor stones hardly worth talking about.