Mountain Lakes International

Friday Fact 3 September 2010 Russia in Color 100 Years Ago

Shelly Withrow — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:23:09 +0000

“With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, [Alan Taylor] thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912… Photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time – when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948.” —Alan Taylor ((Link for more photos and comments.)

An Armenian woman in national costume poses for Prokudin-Gorskii on a hillside near Artvin (in present day Turkey), circa 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

A woman is seated in a calm spot on the Sim River, part of the Volga watershed in 1910. (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Alternators made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station in Iolotan (Eloten), Turkmenistan, on the Murghab River, ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

General view of the Nikolaevskii Cathedral from southwest in Mozhaisk in 1911. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC) #

A group of Jewish children with a teacher in Samarkand, (in modern Uzbekistan), ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC) #

Sart woman in purdah in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, ca. 1910. Until the Russian revolution of 1917, "Sart" was the name for Uzbeks living in Kazakhstan. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Russian children sit on the side of a hill near a church and bell tower near White Lake, in Russia, 1909. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Nomadic Kirghiz on the Golodnaia Steppe in present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Thursday Thought 2 September 2010

Shelly Withrow — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:18:36 +0000

Three men went into a diner, and each ordered a cup of coffee. The waitress brought the three cups of coffee and a dish with twelve lumps of sugar. Each man took an odd number of lumps of sugar, and when they had finished, there was no sugar left. How many lumps did each man take?

It requires only a few moments to recognize that the sum of three odd numbers must be odd itself. So there must be a trick somewhere, and there is.

The first man took one lump, the second man took one lump, and the third man took ten lumps. “Aha!” you will cry, “ten is not an odd number!” And then, we slyly inquire, “Do you know anyone who takes ten lumps of sugar in his coffee?”

– M.H. Greenblatt, Mathematical Entertainments, 1965

Thanks to Greg Ross

Wednesday Wink 1 September 2010

Shelly Withrow — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:21:28 +0000

Did you hear about the man who drowned in a bowl of muesli?
He was pulled under by a strong currant!

Tuesday Tip 31 August 2010 Plato on Play

Shelly Withrow — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:09:16 +0000

You can learn more about a person in hour of play than in a year of conversation. —Plato

Monday Motivation

Shelly Withrow — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:14:28 +0000

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” — Samuel Goldwyn, motion-picture mogul

Thursday Thought 26 August 2010

Shelly Withrow — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:20:09 +0000

Wednesday Wink 25 August 2010

Shelly Withrow — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:24:09 +0000

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?“

Shelly Withrow — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:50:25 +0000

Why good bosses tune in to their people.

Monday Motivation Everest Swim 23 August 2010

Shelly Withrow — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:01:54 +0000

Lewis Pugh\’s mind shifting Mt. Everest Swim

Friday Fact 20 August 2010

Shelly Withrow — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:05:31 +0000

On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world via commercial service.