Ancient Sumerian part 2

I had previously and quite briefly looked at the ancient Sumerian language.

Those Sumerians had some peculiar religious beliefs. How odd that they would worship the cat from the Mr Bean cartoon.

Right there below the tail

I suppose it could be a star which would fit with its also meaning the heavens. 

Or an asterisk which would have the odd effect of suggesting that a foot note is a call out to god. 

Ancient Sumerian

Never let it be said that this isn't a classy, high brow establishment interested in other cultures and languages.

The ancient Sumerian symbol for woman :

Sumerian pictogram for woman

Below is the Ancient Sumerian symbol for man. It seems more ambiguous. It could be a fist and forearm or a cartoon man standing in a helmet or a tailless seahorse.

spotty

Rooster helmet

I bet I can guess the nickname of the guy who owned this. Everybody would yell at him "Hey! Cockface!"

Out of Context Fun : Sweden Solar System

people standing around looking at Uranus

Out of Context Fun : Sweden Solar System :

The Sweden Solar System is the world's largest permanent scale model of the Solar System. The Sun is represented by the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, the largest hemispherical building in the world. The inner planets can also be found in Stockholm but the outer planets are situated northward in other cities along the Baltic Sea. The system was started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm[1] and is on the scale of 1:20 million.…Uranus (2.6 m in diameter) was vandalized and the new model is planned for somewhere in Gävle, 143 km from the Globe.

Like many people, upon reading this I did an image search for Uranus and found the above picture. I had assumed that vandalized meant someone had spray painted Uranus and people would have to spend hour after hour scrubbing Uranus with a harsh solvent and a wire brush. It turns out that Uranus was stolen and so Uranus had to be replaced. Because someone in Gävle apparently mistreated Uranus the location was moved. If you couldn't find Uranus, you can now find Uranus in Lövstabruk, Sweden.

Search suggestion fail

All I did was innocently search wikipedia for the admittedly obscure Dutch painter Barend Dircksz and look at what wiki thought I meant. No thanks.

There is a tiny entry on the Dutch Wikipedia. For Barend Dircksz I mean.

doing it like rabbits

click to embiggen (or super-embiggen)

Officieren van de Oude Schutterij in een landschap (Officers of the Old Militia in a landscape) by Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck, circa 1613

oil on panel, height 150cm x width 173cm
signed "C. Heck fecit" vertically on the end of a fallen log the militia men are sitting on in the lower right quadrant.

link

This is a unique among Dutch militia paintings. A few Dutch Militia Paintings are out of doors but this is the only one I'm aware of is set within a landscape (as opposed having a landscape as a background). Militias were formed to defend the towns and cities and the city of Alkmaar can be seen in the distant background.

Some militia's had their portraits painted in front of the Doelen (the militia headquarters). The reason for the setting could be that the militia went to the countryside to target shoot whereas other militias might target shoot to the city walls.

There is a house in the center of the picture and to its side is a cart/carriage. Another house is in the distance on the right. In the distance is the Sint-Laurenskerk (Saint Laurence) church.

The foreground has 17 men, the militia members. One of the foreground men gesturing to the left holds keys in his other hand.  A man pouring a drink on the right and several of the men in the foreground hold glasses. In front of the house appears to be dishes on the ground being licked clean by a dog. Many Dutch Militia Paintings were set during a meal with the members around a table. (like this one also from 1613 by Jan Tengnagel which also includes an ostentatious pouring of a drink.) The militia member sitting on the far left appears to have a dagger behind his back while, in contrast, the Tengnagel painting shows several men with swords.

The painter, Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck,  included a self-portrait of himself apparently as the man standing next to a woman in the midground in front of the house. In the background are many extraneous people (I count 15) which is uncommon for a militia painting. The painting has an assortment of sheep (11),  dogs (I count 8), and birds (including a peacock standing on the fence).

Also unique among Dutch militia paintings, in the upper left quadrant are 2 rabbits having sex :

detail of the center left section

an attempt to show the size and scale of the painting

Hi-diddly-ho, neighborino!

"Hi-diddly-ho, neighborino!"
– Ned Flanders' catch phrase (this one from The Simpsons season 7, episode #5 "Lisa the Vegetarian")

It just goes to show that if you do it with a friendly attitude and in a chipper tone of voice then you can call someone a ho.  Calling someone a ho who is high is basically the same as calling them a crack whore.

Giant-Sized

A publisher has an idea : take existing comic book titles and put out a special, extra large issue. Since it has more pages than a regular comic it makes sense to highlight that fact. So, it makes sense to add "Giant-Size" to a regular title and you get "Giant-Size Spider-man" and "Giant-Size Hulk" etc…

But one of the titles is called "Man-Thing." Oh, well, the idea is already rolling. Most kids wouldn't notice anything odd but I bet there were giggles in the office. Maybe people would buy a copy just so they can say "Sure, I have a Giant-Size Man-Thing."

Context matters

Betty and Me #16 comic book where the text out of context of the image could sound more sexually suggestive than one expects for an Archie Comic.

shaft

Shaft : a word that could be used as a sexual euphemism for either men or women.

random thoughts about wildlife

random thoughts and observations about beaver...
1) Many beavers are industrious and work hard causing them to perspire - consequently those are sweaty beavers.
2) While building dams, beavers spend a lot of time in the water and become wet and slippery.
3) Nothing seems to makes a beaver happier than having a big piece of wood between its lips.

A subtly explicit painting

click to enlarge
Kathrin by Thomas Eakins
1872, Oil, 62.75in (1.59m) x 48.25in (1.22m)

Kathrin Crowell was the sister of Thomas Eakins' school days friend and brother in law Will Crowell. In 1874 they were engaged but did not set a date. Some have speculated that Eakins wanted to establish himself before taking on the responsibility of marriage. However, apparently, progress was slow and she died in 1879. There is other speculation about their relationship but nothing definitive.

This was his first major portrait although it isn't thought to have ever been exhibited during his life. Notable is that it is a candid portrait. It isn't a stiff "someone sitting in a chair looking important while they get their portrait painted" sort of portrait. It is a brief moment of her life. She isn't looking at the viewer nor to the right or left. She is looking down with her face in shadows. My instincts say that her face is in shadows because he saw a technical challenge and wanted to show that he could.

Like many (maybe all) of Eakins' portraits he does not idealize or try to make pretty. I don't know how she felt about that. I suspect she would have wanted him to paint her as a beautiful, pink tinted angel. He studied in Paris under Jean-Leon Gerome, notable pinup artist of the 19th century, and likely had the ability but chose to paint a plain, rough reality.

In a letter to his sister in 1868 he wrote "If I ever marry it will likely be with a girl of southern feeling good impulses & heart healthy & able to bear strong beautiful children" When I first read that I thought it sounded a little strange but then i realized I'm not sure what someone should be looking for. (btw in the book there was no comma. I'm not sure if was looking for a girl of "southern feeling good impulses" (I'm not exactly sure what that would mean) or a girl with "southern feeling and good impulses")

Oh, why is this an explicit painting? Take another look at it. She is fanning her self while toying with a kitten in her lap. Or to put it another way : She is getting hot as she plays with her pussy (meow!). Yes, pussy really was a slang term used during the 1800s. I don't know if that was his intent or I have a dirty mind.