On the Fifth Avenue

Depressing, Nostalgic, Stimulating–my adjectives will deplete if I describe Fifth Avenue thoroughly

For the past two days, New York has been meekly trying to get on my nerves-it is deceiving me. The weather is great. The lines at the Empire State Building were shorter than I expected (yes, I am complaining that), thus depriving me of essential Soviet Uni-I mean-Big Apple experience. Both Metro (dirt cheap at 25$ for a week pass) and taxis (to whose ostentatious and signature yellow hue I don’t approve) prove to be accessible and annoyingly quick. It was just not what I had in mind.

I have been to New York once before. But behind the glasses of the limousine my mother’s company provided, and of the Millennium Hilton (also a courtesy extended to my illustrious mother), I barely witnessed the actual New York. Hotdogs, fashionable commuters, subways, that sort of stuff. (Our suite at the Millennium Hilton oversaw a depressing and drab Ground Zero and equally drab skyline of Jersey at the horizon).

So I forayed back to the familiar territory–Fifth Avenue. Yes, with my mom, I got to see the 5th Avenue. But I don’t remember it at all, and so I went back there again today. I am surprised (and almost shocked) to realize that I practically know all the names on the 5th Avenue, from famous (Cartier) to exclusive (Harry Winston) to exotic (Van Cleef & Arfels). But the jewel in the Crown of Fifth Avenue is the original Saks. Yes, Saks Fifth Avenue derived its name from the street.

I am a little disappointed in Saks too. Despite being the premier couturier to the rich and the famous (I am tempted to put the prefix in- in front of that word), Saks didn’t have bowties. After being directed from section to section (which included a foray into a men’s fashion salon on 6th Floor, occupied entirely by guys who I suspect are gay), and after being guilted into squandering my two months’ worth of allowance, I finally gave up. Also, I learnt a curious thing-although 2nd level of Saks in titled “Designer clothes & Fur” (or something along those lines), I didn’t seen a single animal hair, let alone mink or vicuna stoles. We cannot let those PETArrorists win!

Outside the stores of the 5th Avenue are not raving PETAs, but small vendors who sell everything from T-shirts to ‘designer’ eyeglasses to what-they-claimed-to-be Venetian silk. It is almost a sacrilege to see these shops there (local flair be damned); it is like seeing a brothel or a witchdoctor’s next to a Church. But I must not be too judgmental because that is what exactly the 5th Avenue is.

Cohabiting the 5th Avenue with the very abodes of the decadent luxury they denounce are Churches. At least three famed Churches coexist with the cathedrals of fashion. Cartier is just a building away from St. Patrick’s Cathedral-the largest Catholic Cathedral in the United States.

The best ways to end your Fifth Avenue Adventure exist at, surprise, surprise!, the Central Park South end of the shopping district. There are novelty horse carriages (highly reminiscent of Vienna if only the Viennese were more gaudy) on one corner, and novelty glassy Apple store on the other. [I didn't like the store that much, but at least I was in the glass elevator. Thank you, Steve, for fulfilling my Roald Dahl fantasies].

However, I didn’t end my ambulatory (writing that word is almost as tiring as the act itself) sojourn with Apple. I ended it with a well-deserved dinner to recuperate from walking and shopping at the Plaza, one of Manhattan’s best hotels which is also conveniently located at the end of the 5th Avenue to.

I won’t make a Plaza Hotel product placement here, but I will say although the choices are limited, the meal at the Rose Club restaurant there is perfectly affordable. Their appetizer is addictive to say the least, and their dessert is, there is only one word for it, sumptuous. The lobster was one of the best I have ever eaten.

May be I am little partial because my appetite was whetted (and my judgment clouded) by the hotel’s signature cocktail, the Plaza Manhattan. Created to mark the inauguration of Gov. Samuel Tilden at a Manhattan Club party way back in 1874, the Plaza Manhattan is served with Jim Beam Rye Whiskey stirred nimbly with Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth and Angostura Bitters-which I found a touch more stimulating (my codeword for intoxication).

But hey, don’t blame me. Blame it on the person who depressed me to drinking five Plaza Manhattans. And it is not Maitre d’.

An Elegy for Facebook

I remember the first days of facebook. We uploaded pictures; we poured our notes and pokes into it; we started chain letters, invited each other just to access countless useless applications. In short, we were introduced to this Brave New World of our lives. For an increasingly needy and attention-seeking society, Facebook provide a life where you can have friends (or their pale virtual selves) around you 24/7.

This Brave New World added a new flavor and a new layer to our lives. Universities and employers are checking their applicants’ facebook profiles. Someone was sacked because she candidly wrote she was bored at work on her facebook status. We post arrays of compromising pictures online, taking pride in those virtual Scarlet Letters. Yet, behind the facade of vicarious empathy or shallow outrage, our increasingly Schadenfreude society smiles at our collective ‘brainless’ acts and laughs at those misfortunes.

Then only last month, we realized our privacy was robbed away. Actually, more appropriate phrase will be that privacy withered—much like our money and 401(k)s. Facebook’s new terms of use is the wake-up call for many of us although many of us blithely ignored the warning signs. (I can draw endless but painful analogies to the financial crisis here, but I will spare you).

Web 2.0 sundered barriers. Instead of being six degrees away from someone, we are less than a mouseclick away. Yet, we don’t want to know about them. I don’t want to know what my less-than-popular nerdy friend from six grade math class is playing. You won’t probably want to know what your banker who is probably responsible for your toxic assets is having for lunch. But that is exactly what facebook’s latest trend, “25 things you don’t (want to) know about me” is conveying. [A friend of mine is declaring his Presidential ambitions on facebook, even naming the exact year when he will throw his hat into the ring. (If Ron Paul is dead by then, he will probably get a following over the webfolk--or as I like to call them "The Lost Generation"). But I digress.] And that is why we are immigrating to Twitter.

Yes, Twitter is ugly, and not user-friendly. It is a relic of a time where we had no iPhones and our investment portfolios looked good (oh, it seems such a long time ago). But we (I speak for myself while shamelessly invoking 2nd person again and again) like it—its minimalist approach appeals to Luddites and nerds alike. A 140-letter status bar plus a snippet of a profile picture is a synecdoche of facebook, and may even be the latter’s demise.

Just because we don’t want to know about what brand of toothpaste you use.

It is not easy being green

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (or to less religious people like me, Leprechaun Day or Ireland Day), I listed a few culturally significant things that come into mind where thinking about the color green. The word ‘green’ originally comes from the Old English verb growan (“to grow”)–an etymology shared by German and Scandinavian languages. 

Kelly Green and Leprechauns

The shade of green typically associated with St. Patrick’s day is called Kelly Green. The name derives from the fact that the surname Kelly, as well as the color green, are both popular in Ireland. However, association of leprechauns with green originated in the United States in early 20th century. Before this, it was generally agreed that the leprechaun wore red and not green. Yeats wrote as late as 1888, that a leprechaun is “something of a dandy, and dresses in a red coat with seven rows of buttons.” 

Greenbacks

In October 2003, $20 (the most counterfeited U.S. money) became the first American dollar bill since the American Civil War that wasn’t just black and green. When the federal government issued currency during the Civil War, it was backed by the Spanish dollars. To prevent counterfeiting, it was decided the back of the bills would be printed in a color other than black. The color green was chosen because it represented ’stability’, thus coining the term “greenbacks”. Since then, green not only carries a connotation of capitalism but also of money itself. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum described the Emerald City, where everyone wears tinted glasses which make everything look green as a social commentary. [Baum supported the Gold Standard.]

Soylent Green

In 1973 Dystopian movie, Soylent Green, the human race ridden by global warming and overpopulation lives on a depleted Earth beset with unemployment and poverty. Real fruit, vegetables, and meat are rare, commodities are expensive, and much of the population survives on processed food rations, including “soylent green” wafers. The film describes the efforts of a NY Police Detective Robert Thorn (played by Charlton Heston) who try to investigate a murder. At the end of the movie, Thorn sees how the corpses are processed into “soylent green” wafers, thus causing him to proclaim the movie’s most memorable last line, “Soylent Green is People.”

Evil Green 

In Othello and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare talked about envy being “green-eyed monster.” The moniker was just a Bardic interpretation of the centuries-old superstition associating green with evil. Green signified witchcraft, and base, natural desires of man, and was associated with faeries and spirits in English folklore. It is an unlucky color, and green cars, wedding dresses, and costumes are all the objects of superstition–a superstition which found its way to modern cinema. Green is the color of death [see The Shining for instance] and evil [The Grinch; Bela Lugosi who wore green makeup for black-and-white Dracula, the Wicked Witch of the West]. 

Go Green 

The first traffic lights were installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London in 1868. Green and red gas lamps used for the lights were taken from a railway station, but the tradition dates back to early seafaring times: port is identified by red and starboard by green in maritime right of way, where the vessel on the left must stop for the one crossing on the right. However, using green-red lights in New York in the 1920s nearly backfired: residents of Irish descent had objected to the fact that the “British” red was placed above the “Irish” green. Mao Zedong’s attempt to reform traffic lights was more disastrous; noting that Red, symbolizing Revolution must also come to symbolize ‘go’, Mao ordered the cars to go on red and stop on green. Many traffic accidents ensued and Mao had to recant his plans. 

Absinthe

In the historical literature, it is “la fée verte” (the Green Fairy). It is said that one sees green fairies everywhere under the influence of this strong (and some contend, dangerous) anise and herbal drink. Originated in the canto of Neuchatel in Switzerland, absinthe gained green popularity in the 1840s, when it was given to the French troops as a malaria treatment. The Bohemians (luminaries like Baudelaire, van Gogh, Oscar Wilde include) quickly embraced the drink, which ironically required almost dandy-esque preparation (Absinthiana). It is preparing by pouring ice water over a sugar cube placed atop of a specially designed slotted spoon patched on a glass of absinthe. [Above absinthe, below 'green' tea]

Islam Green

Prophet Muhammad once noted that,  “water, greenery, and a beautiful face” were three universally good things. Thus, the Islamic green, symbolizing religion, harmony and nature was born. In the Qur’an, people in Paradise wear fine green silk. Al-Khidur (“The Green One”), is a figure who met and traveled with Moses. The tribe of the prophet Muhammad had a green banner. Many Islamic nations and sects (Saudi Arabia, Hamas) have green flags, which culminate with Libya’s ascetically plain monocolored green flag.

All About You Forever

 

“All About You Forever.” So runs the slogan of Trinity de Cartier, one of the famed jewel house’s signature pieces. A friend of mine just got that $1,200 ring for her 23rd birthday (oh, not from me, who won’t even remember her birthday if facebook doesn’t remind me) which piqued my interest in this pinnacle of jewels.  

Made from three bands (white gold, rose gold, yellow gold), each band of the uncomfortable looking ring represents friendship, love and fidelity according to its creator, French artisan Jean Cocteau. Cocteau, who also popularized the ring by gifting many copies to his friends extravagantly, was inspired by the rings of Saturn and Russian traditional marriage rings, but Trinity de Cartier’s significance has moved on from martial scene.  

[Of course, when thinking about a wedding band, a three-band entwined ring is the first thing that come into one's mind. This reminds me of the quote, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," by Princess Diana, who once also was a proud owner of Trinity de Cartier.] 

The Trinity ring was introduced in 1924 but it remains one of the most enduring symbols of creativity, timelessness and elegance.  

To buy or to gawk at Trinity de Cartier, go to Cartier.com 

Most Beautiful Libraries In the World

The Library of Congress

The de facto national library of the United States, the Library of Congress is also the largest library in the world (by shelf-length). Although it is open to anyone, only the Supreme Court Justices, the U.S. Senators, and the President can check out books from the Library. [Among his other duties, the Librarian of Congress appoints the Poet Laureate]. 

The Westminster Libraries

The two library complexes of the House of Commons (top) and House of Lords (bottom) were built together with the Palaces of Westminster. Originally they served as map rooms, and committee rooms. The Derby Room in the House of Lords (pictured) is one of the most beautiful rooms in the building. 

J.P.Morgan Library

In an unassuming residence of J.P.Morgan exists his library, one of the hidden treasures of New York. The original private collection was preserved and expended by Morgan’s own personal librarian. The above picture is the newly renovated facade of the building.  

The New York Public Library

Featured in many movies and books, NYPL is an institution in itself. Also famous are two famous stone lions guarding the entrance–Leo Astor and Leo Lenox (named after the library’s founders, John Jacob Astor and John Lenox). The lions are also nicknamed “Patience” and “Fortitude”.

Boston Athenaeum

An art gallery and museum as well as a library, Boston Athenaeum in Boston, Massachusetts was founded in 1807. The library contains extensive Confederate war documents and papers from George Washington’s home. 

Duchess Anna Amelia Library

It burnt down in 2004–an ironic twist for a building that survived two World Wars–but its collection was saved. [In the rabble was discovered an unknown Bach aria]. Founded by Duchess Anna Amelia in Weimer, Germany, the library contains the largest collection of Faust-related manuscripts in the world.

Abbey Library of St. Gall

Considered one of the richest medieval libraries in the world, the abbey library at St. Gall contains 2,100 manuscripts from the 8th to 15th centuries, 1,650 incunabula (those printed before 1500) in addition to 160,000 volumes. The manuscript B of the Nibelngenlied is kept under this Swiss library’s magnificently decorated ceiling. 

Senate Library, Palais du Luxembourg

The French Senate is housed in the Palais du Luxembourg in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. Behind the wonderful Jardin du Luxembourg lies the library of the senate, decorated by various masters (including Eugene Delacroix).   

Klementinum, Prague

Currently the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Clementinum is housed in the historical complex of buildings that date back to the 11th century.  Amidst its twisted wood columns and under its trompe-l’oeil frescoed ceiling, the Baroque library contains a collection of Mozartiana and works of Tycho Brahe. The Czech Government is building a new modernistic library (above) designed by Jan Kaplický.

Rich and Famous: Bejeweled and Bewitched

Looking the Look and Talking the Talk:

A Primer Into the Glamourous World of Jewels

One important factor of being rich and famous (in short being celebrated) is based on appearing to be rich and famous–outward appearance, superficial though it may be, matters a lot. Well that is why people like my mother still have their jobs, despite clothes they design now cover less than half of what they should be covering. What they lack in sartorial coverage, the rich make up with jewelery one. Here are the names they mention (and drop) when they talk about jewels: 

Operating 17 salons (7 in the U.S alone) is Harry Winston Corporation, the current fad-favorite accessory provider for the celebrities and actresses. Harry Winston designers also work closely with another American diamond behemoth, Tiffany & Co., whose clientele is more refined: it include famous US families (the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Morgans, etc), Hollywood stars, and European royalty. Tiffany & Co. is also the patent owner of its signature Tiffany blue color. [On the left is the famous Tiffany blue box which contains a surprise every woman dreams to acquire.] In Truman Capote’s short story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the protagonist Holly Golightly mentions Tiffany & Co. as “the best place in the world, where nothing bad can take place.” 

In 2004 film, The Phantom of the Opera, the protagonists performed under a chandelier composed of Swarovski crystals (right). Swarovski is now the luxury brand name when it comes to crystals, glass and crystallized jewelry–the rich and the famous are sporting Swarvoski-studded accessories, which range from sunglasses to magazine covers. Yes, magazine covers. 

The fashionable jewellery reaches its pinnacle with Chopard, Geneva-based company which also has a considerable gravitas in watchmaking too. Chopard became the name after it started sponsoring the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, and redesigned the festival’s top award, Palme d’Or. Through its cooperation with William Goldberg Diamond Corporation (NY), Chopard dresses every celebrity on the red carpet at Cannes with its jewels and watches. 

Yet, the time-honored firm for the aristocracy in Europe has always been the Parisian firm, Cartier–which is appropriately referred as Joaillier des Rois, Roi des Joailliers (Jeweller to Kings, King of Jewellers). It is now not only the official royal warrant holder for many a royal court of Europe, but also the number one seller of luxury jewelry  in the world. Its famous slogan ”Les Must de Cartier” (Cartier, It’s a must!) paid off. 

Another Parisian firm Baccarat is the late comer into the jewelry business, but it has been supplying glass and crystalware to creme de la creme o Europe since the days of Louis XV. In Paris, it boasts the Musée Baccarat which displays many of its finest productions. Italian firm Bulgari is quite a reverse story; started by a Greek (in the days when most well-regarded jewellers are Mediterranean in origin). Bulgari’s jewels, watches and accessories are very bold, minimalist and brutal (in one word, distinctive) thus making it more of the most counterfeited luxury goods in the world. (A tip: Genuine Bulgari items have a unique serial number registered with the company.)

In the olden days, people go to Antwerp, Hatton Garden (London) or 47th Street (NY) to peer behind the drab facades of the imposing buildings to scout diamonds; since 2001 they don’t have to. In that fateful year, the diamond behemoth (and former monopoly power) De Beers entered into a retail joint venture with Louis Vuitton to establish De Beers diamond jewellery company. Like De Beers, the House of Graff symbolizes the highest craftsmanship when it comes to diamond, and it still prroduces polished diamonds from rough stones. 

Christian Bernard Group is the leading manufacturer and distributor of watches and jewellery in Europe. The skill of its jewelers (especially in its diamond section, Damiani), quality of materials and faultlessness of design render it not only accessory of fashion but also its legislator in Europe. The group’s wide-reaching range (its products are on sale in 4000 boutiques worldwide) helped too.  

It was once considered improper to wear pearls in the daytime or to afternoon-evening tea parties. However, it has changed since the days of Wallis Simpson, who like pearls so much that she defied the snobbish society (as she would later do again with her marital choice) by wearing them to daytime activities. The Duchess of Windsor would approve of Mikimoto, the name when it comes to pearls. The originator of the practice of cultivating spherical pearls, Mikimoto is also a shrewd business model too. When Japan was facing oversupply of pearls, Mikimoto decided to expand its markets to Europe and America, but popularizing pearl in the Occident. Now, it is the official jeweller of Miss USA and Miss Universe.

These are the exceptional jewel firms, but there are very few legendary firms, but one of them is Van Cleef and Arpels, Parisian jeweler whose output is very limited but whose designs and concepts are creative. It has won particular acclaim for a groundbreaking gem-setting procedure known as the Mystery Setting. My personal favorite? Its ‘Snowflake’, to which appellation jewellery is an understatement akin to dismissing van Gogh’s Starry Night as a mere painting.  [Snowflake, right]

If jewels are like paintings, you need to know the masters too: Jeanne Toussaint of Cartier and Renee Puissant of Van Cleef and Arpels once dominated the jewel world. Oher who’s who of jewel fashion include Suzzane Belperron, Seaman Schepps, David Webb, Fulco di Verdura, Paul Flato, Raymond Templier, George Fouquet, Jean Schlumberger, Andrew Grima and Fred Leighton. No one but fashion gurus can remember those names, so the tip is to just remember the firms, not the designers.

 

My Twitter Adventure, first few minutes…

Reader, I joined Twitter. I don’t know exactly why but I joined–jumping into that tech-bandwagon late. (Hey, better late than never.) However, my first hour at Twitter is marred with “wtf?” moments.

Firstly, I learnt that none of my loser friends on my primary email carrier has Twitter accounts. To add insult to injury, my secondary (and vastly expanded) email carrier is not listed, and there is no way (at least not easy or easily accessible ones) to add your facebook friends–just great, just apt, just right.

Then, Twitter offered me its menu–its a la carte choices for me to follow. I don’t know how they randomize the choices or how they recommend different Tweets to different demographics but their recommendations to me include Tweets of once popular (but perennially obnoxious) Britney Spears (along with those of two not-at-all-famous singers, both female–I think I see a trend there), a Dell computer repairshop (because only thing Dell users need are repairshops), JetBlue airways (because its channel is more useful to Twitter than that of Chesley Sullenberger), an unknown writer, someone from Slate (the only one I care to follow in Slate may be Elliot Spitzer, but that has nothing to do with his writing abilities) and last but not least, BBC Click. Yes, not the news website BBC but the small, marginally informational IT-show on it.

I gave up, and tried to add Tweets to follow. I added No.10 Downing Street Tweet, because I thought their Tweets will be more informational than those from three female singers whose combined IQ score is probably less than what I paid for my last pair of shoes. However, I may be in the minority in that line of thought.

A grim happenstance dawned upon me as soon as I clicked on “Follow” to No.10 Downing Street Tweet. I received an instant email saying, you have one follower! And guess what, that follower is No.10 Downing Street. What sort of government follows its citizens? I don’t know but this No.10 Downing Street Tweet, which claims to be the official twitter channel for HM’s First Minister apparently follows 182,247 citizens. Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling smugly.

The Greatest Predictors of the Future, Part I

Although I am not a believer in this spiritual hocus-pocus, these ten people no doubt left their mark on history: 

The Oracle at Delphi

The most important oracle in the classical Greek world, the Oracle at Delphi is the major shrine for Apollo, who he slew Python (God of the Naval of the Earth) on that side.  The priestess of the oracle at Delphi was known as the Pythia and Apollo spoke through this oracle. The sibyl sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth, fumes from which allegedly entranced her and caused her to predict in riddles. The Oracle survived under the Macedonians, Barbarians, and Romans before Emperor Theodosius I ordered to close it in 395AD.  

Robert Nixon (?)

A legendary figure, Robert Nixon is known more famously as Cheshire Prophet. In one legend, he served under Edward IV and Richard III, while another  conflicting story notes he lived during the reign of James I two centuries later. However, in the early 18th century, he is the claimed source of various prophecies widely circulated in the leaflet form. In those, he apparently predicted the rise and banishment of Napoleon, the invention of cigars, the Jacobite rebellions and the abdication of Edward VIII.  The story surrounding Nixon’s death was equally intriguing: summoned to the court of Richard III (because he foretold the Battle of the Bosworth Field), he predicted that he would be starved to death there. The puzzled king ordered him to be kept in the kitchen but, because he was always picking at food he was locked in the cupboard. The cook was called away and Nixon did starve to death.

Ursula Southiel (Mother Shipton)

There is no really trustworthy evidence as to her ever having existed, but Ursula Southiel (allegedly 1488-1561) apparently descended from a long line of witches. Ursula from her infancy was regarded as ”the Devil’s child,” because of her sinister appearance. She got her gift of ability to foretell the future when she turned 24. Her predictions, typical of those of the time, were presented in riddles, often in verse, and dealt mainly and accurately with the the predictions of deaths of famous people, including Cardinal Wolsey. In the 1862 version of her life by Charles Hindley, Mother Shipton predicts the end of the world in 1881. In 1881 there was some panic in Britain as the prophecy had become accepted as true even though in 1873, Charles Hindley confessed that he had made up this prophecy.

William Lilly (1602-1681)

The famed English occultist William Lilly was a popular astrologer under King Charles I. Particularly adept at interpreting the astrological charts, he published his comprehensive Christian Astrology anthology, which has never gone out-of-print since, and which is now considered the textbook for the study of traditional astrology. After the Restoration, he quickly fell into disrepute because of his previous sympathetic predictions for the Parliamentarians. Lilly was at the centre of controversy in 1666 for predicting the Great Fire of London some 14 years before it happened. Many people believed that he started the fire,  and Lily was tried for the offence in Parliament but was found to be innocent. 

David Goodman Croly (1829–1889)

Although he is now remembered only for his anonymous pamphlet Miscegenation, which tried to discredit the Abolitionist movement, David Goodman Croly also left behind a legacy of predictions. He wrote a column of business, political, and social predictions for the New York Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide. He made his reputation by predicting the Panic of 1873 two years in advance, even specifying the first bank (Jay Cooke & co.) and first railroad (Northern Pacific, above) to fail. He also made fifty-three concrete predictions “to be read now and judged in the year 2000,” of which forty are proved to be correct:  World War I; the Russian Revolution; women’s rights, aerial reconnaissance, etc. However, his other predictions include the United States drafting a new constitution and conquering North and Central Americas. 

Anton Johansson (1858 – 1909)

Known affectionately as the Christian Seer of Finnmark, Anton Johansson of Sweden is famous for the prediction of the sinking of Titanic. He also predicted the First World War in Central Europe, the Russian Revolution, the defeat of Germany in the First and the Second Wars. As an old man, Johansson was highly obsessed by what he termed a Third World War. He stated it would break out at ”the end of July, beginning of August, I do not know the year”, but went on to detail a Russian invasion of Europe and Middle East. 

Evangeline Adams (1868-1932)

The best known astrologer of her day, Evangeline Adams was said to have “raised astrology to the dignity of an exact science,” by the end of her life. However, this did not prevent her from being arrested twice in New York for fortune telling. [Once, she was acquitted after recounting to the judge the details about the death of his son.] She predicted the Windsor Hotel fire, the stock market crash of ‘29, World War II, the deaths of King Edward VII, Enrico Caruso, and even herself. Her books, now all out of print, are eagerly sought after by students, and even stolen from library shelves. 

Cheiro (1866-1936)

Self-described clairvoyant, and self-titled Count Leigh de Hamong, Cheiro (born WIlliam John Warner) took his name from the word cheiromancy, meaning palmistry. He read the hands of celebrities ranging from William Gladstone to Mata Hari. The skeptical Mark Twain wrote in Cheiro’s visitor’s book: “Cheiro has exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy. I ought not to confess this accuracy, still I am moved to do so.” Cheiro predicted the date of Queen Victoria’s death, the year and month when King Edward VII would pass away, the grim destiny that awaited the late Czar of Russia, the assassination of King Humbert of Italy, the attempt on the Shah’s life in Paris, 

Homer Lea (1876-1912)

A hunchback, American mercenary Homer Lea served as the military advisor to Sun Yet-Sen in China. He wrote two seminal works on geopolitics:  The Valor of Ignorance which predicted the rise of Japanese militarist aggression and a Japanese Empire in the Pacific, while The Day of the Saxon, predicted the rise of a greater German Reich based on national supremacy and ethnic purity. His unfinished third book, The Swarming of the Slav predicted a Russian move to dominate Europe. In The Valor of Ignorance, he predicted a possible Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor, and on the US mainland (using balloon bombs).  

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945)

An American psychic Edgar Cayce demonstrated abilities to answer questions while in a self-induced trance. Although many critics say Cayce exploited the contemporaneous newspaper articles, affidavits, anecdotes, and testimonials to gather information, many of his recorded predictions are proved to be accurate. He foresaw the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression, the existence of a ninth Planet, WWII, the independent India and the birth of Israel and noted that Hitler would remain in power until it will “come as an overthrow or an outside war.” His most famous prediction is on the existence of Atlantis, which he noted, populated ancient Egypt and pre Columbian America. During the height of World War II, he saw the possibility of a united world assembly but died before he had chance to see its fruition.   

(To be continued, with Nostradamus & co. in Part II)

Top 10 Astronomers

Sic itur ad astra: To commemorate the Kepler mission, NASA’s first mission to search for worlds that could potentially host life, here is a post about the greatest astronomers in history, chronologically: 

 

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) 

An alchemist and an astronomer, Tycho Brahe known more for the sheer volume of his observations than for his discoveries. Being a Danish nobleman, he had his own observatory/castle built by his king, from which he observed all known celestial objects. Although it has been down previously before, Brahe measured the Earth’s axial tilt more accurately than ever before. Brahe was not a Copernican, however; he proposed a stem in which the Sun orbited the Earth while the other planets orbited the Sun, while denouncing Coperinicus’ transparent rotating spheres. He observed a supernova now known as “Tycho’s supernova” and made the most precise observations of stellar and planetary positions. His death itself was surrounded in mystery, but his records of planetary motions enabled his protege (and alleged killer) Kepler to discover the laws of planetary motion and dispel the heliocentric theory for once and for all. Above, the monument to Brahe and Kepler in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

A true Renaissance man, Galileo published his initial telescopic astronomical observations in 1610 in a short treatise entitled Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger). In the last portion of Sidereus Nuncius, Galileo reported his discovery of four objects that appeared to form a straight line of stars near Jupiter–four first Jovian Moons. Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede were originally named after the members of the Medici family (Galileo’s patrons) but later renamed as Galilean satellites. By proving Venus exhibited a full set of phases similar to that of the Moon, Galileo refuted Ptolemaic pure geocentric model. Galileo also observed the planet Saturn but mistook its rings for planets, thinking it was a three-bodied system. Galileo was one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots, lunar mountains and craters and also stated that Milky Way was made up of stars, instead of nebulous as previously thought. He even observed the planet Neptune but marked it down as a dim star, thus delaying the discovery for more than three centuries.  Above: the Inquistion confronts Galileo on his beliefs. 

Giovanni Cassini (1625-1712)

An astrologer as well as an astronomer, Giovanni Cassini served as the Count Astronomer/Astronomer to King Louis XIV of France. During his time at the Court of the Sun King, he accurately measured the size of France for the first time, which turned out to be considerably smaller than expected. The amused king noted that Cassini had taken more of his kingdom from him than he had won in all his wars. Along with Robert Hooke, Cassini was credited with the discovery of the Great Red Spot in Jupiter. He was also the first to observe four of Saturn’s moons. Those moons he once named Sidera Lodoicea (Louisean Stars after the Latinized name of King Louis), are now known as Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione. Above: Cassini (arrowed) arrived at the Sun King’s court. 

Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) 

Like many scientists of his days, Christopher Huygens is known for the discovery of many breakthroughs. In his annus mirabilis of 1655, he designed a refracting telescope, discovered the first of Saturn’s moons (Titan), formulated that Saturn is surrounded by a solid ecliptic ring, and discovered and sketched the Orion Nebula. He also observed planet Mercury’s solar transit in 1661, and wrote two monumental books Systema Saturnium and Cosmotheoros. In the latter, he speculated about life on the other planets, and imagined a universe brimming with life. A fellow of the Royal Society and of the French Academy of Sciences, he worked together with Giovanni Cassini at the newly completed Paris Observatory (opened in 1671) under the patronage of Louis XIV.  Above: King Louis and Minister Colbert visits Director Cassini and Huygens at the newly completed Paris Observatory in 1671. 

Charles Messier (1730-1817) 

Although many listings in his eponymous catalogue were discovered by his assistant Pierre Mechain, and many are not organized scientifically (by type, or location), Charles Messier left behind a lasting standard for astronomy. In 1774, he published first of his astronomical catalogues, which contained the observational data for 45 celestial objects. By the time the final version of the catalogue was published in 1781, the list of Messier objects had grown to 103. A comet hunter, Messier complied his ”Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d’Étoiles” (“Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters”) in frustration from his list of non-comet objects that frustrated his hunt for the comets. 

William Herschel (1738-1822)

A Hanoverian émigré to England, William Herschel was obsessed with music and telescopes since young. Working as a lowly music teacher in Bath, he discovered the planet Uranus in 17981 using a small homemade telescope. He named the new planet Georgium Sidus (Georgian Star) after his king, George III, but the French vocally protested it, and the planet was known as ‘Herschel’ until the name ‘Uranus’ was universally adopted. Handsomely rewarded in England and knighted, Herschel became the King’s Astronomer, and retired to become a telescope maker–his primary hobby. He, however, coached his sister Caroline (above) to become one of the greatest astronomers of her day. Caroline Herschel became the first woman to discover a comet. William himself went to measure the Sun’s motion, and to become discoverer of the  sunspots and the infrared range of sunlight. 

Thomas James Henderson (1798-1844) 

The first Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Thomas Henderson was the first person to measure the distance to a star (Alpha Centauri, the nearest stellar system to Earth). Working at the British Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, he made a number of stellar observations for which he is mainly remembered today. The 1830s version of the “space race” was to be the first person to measure the distance to a star using parallax, a task which is easier the closer the star. Doubts about the accuracy of his instruments kept him from publishing, but after he was beaten to the punch by Frederic Wilhelm Bessel (who measured 10.4 light years to Sirius) in 1838, Henderson published his results, thus claiming his rightful spot in history.  

William Lassell (1799-1880) 

Although he is today remembered as the pioneer of the age of “Grand Amateurs” in astronomy, WIlliam Lassell appeared as if he is least suited for this avocation–he is a career beer brewer from Liverpool. When “Le Verrier’s Planet” (later to be named Neptune) was first observed in Berlin, Lassell used the new planet’s co-ordinates, published in The Times, to discover its satellite (Triton) and its ring. Within a month of Neptune’s discovery (and before the planet was even named), Lassell announced his discoveries to The Times. Two years later in 1848, he independently discovered Hyperion (a moon of Saturn) and in 1851, he discovered Ariel and Umbriel, two moons of Uranus. Lassell also pioneered the use of an equatorial mount and built a 48-inch (1,200 mm) telescope on Malta. 

 

Urbain Le Verrier (1811-1877)

Best remembered for his discovery of planet Neptune, le Verrier was a mathematician first. From the illustrious Director chair at the Paris Observatory (its first director was Cassini, no less), Le Verrier predicted the existence of a then unknown Transuranian planet using only mathematics and astronomical observations of the known planet Uranus. Unknown to Le Verrier, similar calculations were made by an Englishman John Couch Adams, but le Verrier announced his prediction two days before Adams’s final solution. Encouraged greatly by his success, le Verrier went on to predict an unknown planet closer to the Sun than Mercury, which he tentatively named Vulcan. This prediction became his long-lasting, and controversial legacy, triggering a wave of false detections, which lasted until 1915, when Einstein explained Mercury’s anomalous motion with his theory of general relativity.  

 

Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997)

On the New Horizon spacecraft, launched for a flyby of Pluto in 2014, is a container inscribed: “Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system’s ‘third zone’. Adelle and Muron’s boy, Patricia’s husband, Annette and Alden’s father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906-1997).” Best known for discovering the planet/dwarf planet Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh was working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona while he was given the job to search for the Planet X (the trans-Neptunian planet), which had been predicted by the observatory’s founder Percival Lowell and William Pickering. Using the photographers taken by the observatory’s 13-inch astrograph, he found Planet X on Tuesday, February 18, 1930, using images taken in January of the same year. The name “Pluto” was suggested by an English schoolgirl, which was chosen because it was after the Roman god of the Underworld (who was able to render himself invisible) and because Percival Lowell’s initials PL formed the first 2 letters.