This is the best explanation I could come up with for why it takes me so long to do updates sometimes when, at other times, I’m typing them up like clockwork.
So, fun fact for all of you history dorks, but you know that legend about Cleopatra being so rich and trashy that she would drink her wine with crushed up pearls in it?
Pearls are mostly Calcium Carbonate. When they mix with acids (such as those in wine) they produce carbon dioxide like little balls of fancy alkaseltzer.
What Im saying is, call Cleopatra a trashy hoe all you want, but she was the trashy hoe who invented instant champagne. Bitch was living in 3018 while everyone else was in 18
Pausanias recounts that “pearls are dissolved by vinegar” (VIII.18.6), a word that derives from the Latin vinum (wine) and acer (sour). Mostly calcium carbonate, they are indeed susceptible to a weak acid solution. Wine, if it still is to be drinkable, is not more than 0.1% acetic acid and not sufficiently acidic to dissolve a pearl, at least not quickly enough to have impressed Antony. Wine vinegar, on the other hand, is approximately 5-7% acetic acid, a concentration necessary if the calcium carbonate is to be dissolved. Egyptian vinegar was stronger still—and even worse, says Martial, when it was wine (Epigrams, CXXII). The crystals of calcium carbonate are converted by acetic acid into calcium acetate, which dissolves in the residual water, and carbonate that effervesces as bubbles of carbon dioxide, the formula for which is CaCO3 + 2CH3COOH —> Ca(CH3COO2) + H2O + CO2.
How Cleopatra could manage to drink her vinegar-and-pearl concoction can be explained by the acid-base reaction that takes place, the acid being neutralized by the calcium carbonate, much like an antacid. Intriguingly, there is a name for the residue obtained from the precipitate of an acid solution—magistery. Cleopatra’s magistery of pearl, offered in toast to Antony, was thought to be an aphrodisiac, probably because pearls were associated with Venus and both were born of the ocean.
Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.
Why can’t we have a movie about him?
He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.
His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign – officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.
He didn’t simply grant visas – he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.
He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.
Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.
It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.
It’s a tragedy that the Sugiharas aren’t household names. They are among the greatest heroes of WWII. Is it because they were from an Axis Power? Is it because they aren’t European? I don’t know. But I’ve decided to always reblog them when they come across my dash. If I had the money, I would finance a movie about them.
He told an interviewer:
You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.
People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.
He died in nearly complete obscurity in Japan. His neighbors were shocked when people from all over, including Israeli diplomatic personnel, showed up at quiet little Mr. Sugihara’s funeral.
I will forever reblog this, I wish more people would know about them!
I liked this before when it had way less information. Thank you, history-sharers.
Tucked away in a corner in L.A.’s Little Tokyo is a life-sized statue of Chiune, seated on a bench and smiling gently as he holds out a visa.
The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”
I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago, but it’s since become one of my favorite pieces of public art.
Chiune Sugihara. Original antifa.
PBS made a documentary about Chiune Sugihara in 2005. If you’re interested in him, it’s definitely worth checking out. (The PBS link above even has some interactive information to go along with the film.) Ask your local library if they have a copy/can order you one from another library. You won’t be disappointed!
Okay, so here’s the deal. Tali loves the fridge. I don’t know why, but every single time we open it, she bolts for it and jumps in. She crawls into the back of the fridge and nestles int the smallest little corner she can. Now naturally, my biggest fear has been that I’ll close the fridge without knowing she’s in there. And of course, today I went to go grab my Brita filter to pour myself some water. I wasn’t really watching the fridge, and I just opened and closed it really quickly to put the Brita back while I was looking somewhere else. And then I looked around and realized that Tali had been in the kitchen, and now she was nowhere in sight. So immediately, I throw open the fridge door, and there is is, hanging out in the back, content as can be.
Fridge cat just got weirder. Today Tali got into the bathroom while I was showering, which of course made me a little nervous. I didn’t want her to freak out and hurt herself or go on a scratching spree. But evidently she loves water, so she jumped in and just splashed around for a while and got back out. But then she kept whining to get back in, so my boyfriend put a cooler down so she could get in and out with ease, which she took great advantage of. She’s soaking wet now, and very content.
I told Tali she was famous. She and her stuffed husky celebrated.
Sometimes I will put the thing off forever, sometimes I will go back and forth between the thing and other things, and sometimes I will disappear for 14 hours in a single-minded mission to finish the thing right now. On any given day, I have no idea how I’ll approach a task. It’s like the Russian Roulette of productivity.
NineofShades 