Short run again this week: I'm about halfway through the possible information, which makes me probably about two-thirds of the way through my newspaper searches. Next week, I should be done and I'll give you an explanation of what searching through all this information entails. But for now, just a short paragraph.
My cable box has been mildly broken for months, it can't record, and it can't play broadcast channels, so it's discouraged me from watching anything on TV. So I've been going through things on Youtube. One of those that I've been using as a nightcap is a daily video where an expert sudoku solver works through a puzzle. The Cracking the Cryptic channel has been interesting for me because it's a way of watching someone work through an area of expertise orthogonal to mine. As I have been watching these, I've been struck by the mental tools used to codify the opening steps of solutions. While the last five minutes of each solution achieve a sort of sameness, the openings are full of neat shortcuts of logic which come from experience, but remind me both of chess openings and the quick elimination of incorrect possible answers in quizbowl tossups. All three are situational logic which an experienced player or solver uses to push away what cannot be in front of them. A 4-cell killer cage that sums to 11 limits the possibilities to 4 values. A chess opening reduces the next few possible moves dramatically. And opening clues in a tossup serve both to limit the possibilities of what sort of category is being asked about, but also can tease out information about nationality, time period, and language. All of these pare the tree dramatically. It's helped me see how we use the tools in our head to reach a point, not necessarily of finding an exact answer, but where the answer can and cannot be, and funnel down on that.
Stuff to Watch
If there's a go-to for my writing when forced into writing anything about archaeology, I tend to go towards Crete and the Minoan civilization. This video gives you a quick study of all the answers you'll need for most of my questions that come from there.
Stuff to Listen to
Ornette Coleman and Jacques Derrida
Stuff to Look at
At one point I was reading through "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" by Victoria Finlay, but I didn't finish it and landed in a storage box. I always wanted to go back to it because it uses the exact same building on its cover as a catalog of languages I owned at one point, and I just figured the synchronicity might be useful. I found the book while looking for something else recently and I'll probably finish it before we end lockdown. But, the subject of pigments and art is never far from my mind when writing questions. Last week I mentioned a white pigment, and this week we've got two articles, one on the palette of JMW Turner, and one on the chemical breakdown of verdigris in old paintings. I always appreciated the color aspect of chemistry even before I knew much about it.
Colors of Fireworks, I swear I had this article in the queue for July 4, and somehow it didn't get here. Well, it fits the pigment and chemistry theme.
The Articles I Learned From This Week
Bram Stoker, library defacer
The journey of the HMS Challenger
The Articles You Can Learn From This Week
Finally, Mississippi is changing their state flag.
Didn't You Learn Anything from Last Time?
1
By combining this and barium oxide as a pigment, 98% of sunlight is reflected by paint, creating a white that will encourage cooling buildings.
A. Name this polymer known for providing a non-stick surface for frying pans.
answer: Teflon or polytetrafluoroethylene
B. Teflon and barite proved to be an improvement over oxides of this transition metal, widely used as a white pigment.
answer: titanium
C. While titanium oxide reflects 85% of sunlight, it absorbs this type of radiation with a wavelength between that of visible light and X-rays.
answer: ultraviolet or UV
2
One of her abandoned projects was a true crime novel which she titled "The Reverend," about a series of six deaths linked to Reverend Willie Maxwell in Alexander City, Alabama.
A. Name this author who found a similar character in Maxwell's attorney to her own creation, Atticus Finch.
answer: Nelle Harper Lee
B. Lee's true crime interest manifested itself earlier when she assisted this childhood friend and author in documenting the deaths of the Clutter family in Kansas.
answer: Truman Capote
C. Capote's account of the deaths of the Clutters and convictions of Dick Hickok and Perry Smith is found in this non-fiction novel.
answer: In Cold Blood
3
Because its rulers fought wars against many opponents in all directions, residents of this Campanian city were forbidden to build outside city wall, creating a tall modern city as early as the 1600s.
A. Name this Italian port city which became the mainland portion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and whose cuisine became emblematic of all Italian cuisine.
answer: Naples or Napoli
B. After escaping Rome for Naples to avoid a murder charge, this painter was inspired to paint his "The Seven Works of Mercy".
answer: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
C. During a visit to Naples, this queen of a unified Italy, wife of Umberto I, was presented with a pizza of tomato, mozzarella and basil, the colors of the Italian flag. The pizza became associated with her.
answer: Margherita
4
The technique of "variolation" was a precursor to this technique.
A. Name this technique of using a weakened virus to provide immunity against later exposure to a virus.
answer: vaccination
B. Variolation was introduced to Britain as a way of lessening the effects of this disease. Edward Jenner used the bovine variant of the virus that causes this disease to perform vaccinations against it.
answer: smallpox
C. This Massachusetts clergyman arranged for variolation of the public in Boston, some years after his account of the Goodwin children in Memorable Providences helped spark events which led to the Salem witch trials.
answer: Cotton Mather
5
After several mediocre seasons, R. A. Dickey decided to perfect what he had called his forkball "The Thing", eventually becoming the first pitcher primarily using this pitch to win the Cy Young.
A. Name this pitch which relies on the ball not spinning to cause random motion as it approaches the plate.
answer: knuckleball
B. This pair of brothers combined for over 500 wins while pitching the knuckleball, putting Phil in the Hall of Fame.
answer: Phil and Joe Niekro
C. The number 49 is frequently worn by knuckleballers to honor this Hall-of-fame relief pitcher whose 20-year, nine-team career began in 1952 when he was nearly 30.
answer: James Hoyt Wilhelm