Family History Fun

Family History Fun? You were expecting, perhaps, geneology? We hope you are nevertheless not disappointed. Isaac, the autodidact, is delivering excerpts from a manuscript, Literati Limericks. which has come to his attention as a rather less painful way to sample cultural literacy than previously encountered. 

Kathleen is puzzled, for the 15th century history refers to the fourteen hundreds, the 16th to the fifteen hundreds, etcetera, all of which led to considerable confusion some years ago when a new millennium arrived. This has something to do with the way the calendar was set up, nor is it the only one with which we poor mortals must contend, many cultures preferring other starting points.

Ah the quatrocento!  Since the blessed day Petrarch climbed Mt. Ventoux  (1336) the sweet breath of humanism, gathering steam, blows across the land. It had its troubles, plagues and such, yet if we see farther today, it is only because we stand upon their shoulders.

1434 CE  Artist Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait

    Jan van Eyck was the first to use oil
    In painting some portraits that foil
    With panache and bravura
    The egg-based tempura
    And these facts are according to Hoyle.
   

    Van Eyck paints the pair, Arnolfini
    In a mirror, convex, very teeny,
    On the back upper wall,
    Some folks in the hall
    Are watching their pledge, nota bene.

1450 CE  Nicholas of Cusa in Germany invents concave lenses for near-sightedness.

    The year 1450 commences
    The birth of the new concave lenses
    If you couldn't see
    Far away, you'll agree
    'Twas a blessing that Cusa invents this.

How interesting! One wonders why the convex mirror came a tad earlier than the concave one? The Arnolfinis must have been quite prosperous to have such a new invention in their home, a quatrocento iPod™ of sorts? Kathleen remembers the difference with a mnemonic; a cave, of course, yawns inward. It is her habit to use memory crutches, for being like a sieve it retains only a small portion of what has been read or audited. Family History Fun hopes to address this painful situation.

The Old Biology Professor once propounded that one day all would have a tiny microchip planted someplace upon their person in which entire libraries would be accessed as fodder for what people really do best, which is to put them together in novel and interesting ways, such as, for instance, Family History Fun. My, does that not sound like the Internet?

At any rate, Edward states that Internet is best likened to the nervous system of the entire human race, a veritable collective unconscious, or if you will, or perhaps an over-soul for those spiritually inclined. He now launches into a homily about a shrinking world, with its instantaneous communication, and his hopes that sharing hopes and dreams or doggerel will bring us all together to be of one mind. In fact, he waxes so eloquent here in the pub that Kathleen has gone to fetch him some coffee.