May, 2023

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"This Just In..."

Happy Monday and welcome to May.

And thank you.

We created "This Just In..." for our customers to provide a bit of fun and distraction from our daily lives. A modest goal, admittedly. But how you have embraced us is nothing short of astonishing.

Today, we wanted to say thank you to all of you who read and play along with us each month. In April we had 277 customers play our quizzes - the most we've ever had.

And while apparently none of you got our April Fools joke, (our slip and slide into a huge orange sponge) we'll keep trying to entertain as best we can.

So take a moment - relax and play along with us. Happy May!

This is the Brunelleschi Dome in Florence, Italy.

It is so hard to take in – especially in one photo. But just gorgeous. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi it is part of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

Built between 1420 and 1436 it is the largest masonry dome in the world and was constructed without wood frame, support or buttresses. The inventions required and the techniques used are utterly fascinating. Maybe you should go visit it. Just a thought.

If it was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing! Tell us here what the 3-digit code to open the lock is and you may win a $25 Amazon gift card.

And, actually, it is quite easy, ‘cause I got it right in less than one weekend.

The assassin’s teapot is certainly an eye-catching name for pottery, but there’s also an interesting bit of physics going on here.

The teapot in question has two separate chambers for holding liquid, and the flow out of the pot from each chamber can be controlled by covering or uncovering small holes located on the handle.

So, as the legend goes, a would-be assassin could pour themselves a perfectly fine drink from one chamber and then pour a poisoned drink to their prey from the other chamber, just by discreetly covering and uncovering the proper holes with their fingers.

As the video explains, the mechanism here has to do with surface tension and air pressure. So, now you can invite over that ornery “guy/girl” for a very special cup of tea.

Here's the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJL0XoNBaac&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fkottke.org%2F&f

You can get your own assassin’s teapot right here.

Here are some thoughts about the vital importance of simply….

taking a walk.

Now shall I walk.

Or shall I ride?

“Ride” said Pleasure

“Walk” said Joy

           -- Welsh poet W.H Davies

Thoughts come clearly while one walks – Thomas Mann

 Walking is man’s best medicine. - Hippocrates

If I could not walk far and fast, I think I should just explode and perish

– Charles Dickens

There is nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas – J. K. Rowling

Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things – Eliz von Arnim

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking – Fred Nietzsche

Walking is how the body measures itself against the earth – Rebecca Solnit

I only went out for a walk…for going out, I found, was really going in.

-- John Muir

I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees

--- Henry David Thoreau

Walking buoys the spirits in a way that feels real and earned. It feels owned – Andrew McCarthy

So, lace ‘em up!

The word Noh means talent, skill and craft in art performance. Noh is the oldest theater style played today.

Noh is classical Japanese musical drama based on tales from traditional literature performed since the 14th century. In the story, supernatural creature transforms into human shape and tells the story. The actors tell a story through gestures and appearance in masks. They capture the essence of the story with masks, props and costumes trough dance performance.

Noh masks are carved from single piece of wood painted with natural pigments. Mask represents age, gender and social ranking of human or nonhuman being like animal, demon or divine. All of the masks have a distinctive name. There are 60 types and over 400 different masks.

Noh mask is used to emphasize and stylize the facial expressions which is accompanied with adequate body language and movement in order to stimulate the imagination of the audience of Noh play.

Masks are made to be held slightly differently providing slightly different expressions. When the mask is held slightly upward, it will get more light, and it would look more smiling. When the mask is held slightly downward, it would look more mad or sad.

The holes on the eyes are very small, so the field of vision of the performer is very limited. Not all the characters wear a mask. It is the honor of the main characters. Actors who don’t wear a mask are expected to make very distinctive face expressions like mask expression.

Types of Noh Masks

• Otoko – men mask
• Chūjō – has a noble womanish look, represents sophisticated, educated, graceful and sorrowful man.
• Kagekiyo – represents a deranged person, once a great soldier who was defeated and exiled, prisoned, lost his sight and became a beggar.
• Kumasaka – a famous thief and leader of a gang of robbers, has bright eyes that represent strong caution
• Onna – women mask
• Zō – has classical features of the broad forehead and tense cheeks that show the dignity of the goddess, fairy or celestial nymph character.
• Rōjo – has the thin aged face of an old woman and straight nose and sparkle in the eyes showing a glimpse of the beauty of youth.
• Fukai – is the portrait of a middle-aged woman in her forties with wrinkles from build up experiences like love, marriage, pregnancy, children, and divorce.
• Onryō – spirit or ghost mask
• Yase-onna – looks weak and in misery, represents a woman with grudge and jealousy who could not go to Nirvana and became a ghost.
• Ja – has a frightening face with its mouth widely and menacingly opened. It represents a woman who feels extremely angry and holds a grudge and transforms into a serpent.
• Namanari – represents a woman filled with anger and holding a grudge after being deserted by her husband. She is overflowing with emotions. The mask has small horns and widely cloven mouth. It is the first stage of becoming a demon. At the same time, she has a fierce and pitiful look.
• Kishin – demons
• Shishiguchi – it represents a Buddha’s appearance, has a face of a roaring lion, has a power of exorcism and is the omen for expelling evil spirits.
• Yakan – it has two short horns and wild hair, it can impersonate an old beast having a body of a fox and a voice of a wolf. At the same time, it has charm and fear.
• Myōga-akujō – it has a grim and fierce appearance and represents a grim old man with superhuman power.
• Okina – old men mask
• Hakushiko-jō – it has a soft smile symbolizing the world at peace, long life, good harvest and prosperity of the future generations.
• Jō – elder mask
• Sankō – jō – has deep lines on its cheeks and across its forehead that show common man, a powerful fisherman struggling with a rough sea.

Traditionally Noh actors begin their training at the age of three. In the early years, all roles were played by a male. Since 1940s woman began to perform. Noah actors wear wigs, hats and colorful, rich texture silk robes called shozoku. Musicians and chorus wear formal kimono.

Much more can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh

Or here: http://www.historyofmasks.net/famous-masks/noh-mask/

Granted truth: you can’t love ice cream too much.

We know that passionistas are out there – your recommendations, last year, on the best donuts in CT were exquisite.

Here’s your chance to try some of the best ice cream in CT – though we’d like your recommendations as well. Tell us here your favorite ice cream joint.

Oh, hey, you got a bit on your chin, there.

Tulmeadow Farm - Simsbury

UConn Dairy Bar - Storrs

Rich's Farm Ice Cream – New Britain, Oxford and Bristol

ROBBS Farm Ice Cream Shop - Glastonbury

Salem Valley Farms - Salem

Scoop DuJour - Suffield

Milkcraft - Fairfield, West Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven

Arethusa Farm Dairy- Bantam, New Haven, West Hartford

We-Li-Kit - Pomfret Center

Ashley’s Ice Cream - New Haven, Hamden, Branford, Guilford, Madison

Buttonwood Farm - Griswold

Mystic Drawbridge - Mystic

Dr Mike's Ice Cream Shop - Bethel

Durham Dari Serv - Durham

Honeycone Craft Ice Cream - Chester

Les' Dairy Bar - Meriden

Sweet Claude's Ice Cream - Cheshire

see larger image here.

This made us…oh so much more than a little depressed.

HEALTH & SAFETY ALERT

QUIZ #2 (THE EASY ONE)

Three fine looking men. Name them and the movie they were in – and you may win an Amazon gift card.

As for last month – OMG! The largest response in nearly seven years of our quizzes – 261 correct answers! (more than double our monthly average!) Lisa S, Tom M, Lauren K, and John T (and nearly everyone on the planet) recognized the trout skins photos. 



Robert M and Gail S and (half of the population of North America) recognized David Bowie! Ed S was one of only two people to get the Mets-Red Sox answer which was Boston – because Boston had to come up in the bottom of the inning otherwise the Mets would have won with just needing one run in the bottom of the 17^th – if they were home. See?

Oh and we thank Gail M for her bit of prose regarding our photo of the little boy running with the big loaf of bread. And we thank you ALL for playing.

Parache the Dancer by Baro

Josep Tapiró i Baró born in 1836 in Reus, Spain was a painter; best known for his watercolor portraits from Morocco.

His parents owned a hardware store. As with many future artists, he displayed an early affinity for drawing. His first formal studies were in 1849 with Domenec Soberano an amateur painter. In 1853, he was given the opportunity to exhibit at a showing held by the Casino de Reus.

Later that year, he enrolled at the Escola de la Llotja, where he studied the German Nazarene movement, among others. At this time, he produced mostly historical and religious scenes.

Children Under the Porch (from his time in Rome)

The Sharif of Ouazzane

A Faqih of the Darqawa sect

In 1857 he moved to Madrid, where he enrolled at a branch of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

In 1871 he took a trip to Tangier. This would prove decisive for his career. In 1873, he held his first showing of Orientalist paintings at the "International Art Circle of Rome".

Rather than remain in Spain, his memories of Tangier led him to join a diplomatic mission on its way to meet with Sultan Hassan 1 in 1876. Once there, he moved into a newly built home near the Medina quarter.

Although he frequently travelled to exhibitions (as far afield as Saint Petersburg and New York) and spent the summers with his family in Reus, he would live in Tangier for the rest of his life.

In 1886, he married twenty-year-old Maria Manuela Valerega Cano, a Tangier native of Italian ancestry. By1905, his career declined and in 1907 he and his wife rented a house in Madrid in a last ditch effort to promote his work at an exhibition of the Círculo de Bellas Artes.

His health problems eventually led to his death in 1913.

But, Let’s Talk Filth.

Have you any idea the kind of dirt, dust, pet hair, mold, dandruff or old Cheetos that may be rotting in your home’s ducts?

It’s astonishing what kind of nightmares are up there.

More importantly -- You’re Breathing That Stuff!

If you suffer from breathing issues like:

• persistent sore throats
• sinus issues
• coughing
• asthma
• allergies and more

You need to make sure your ducts are clean! 

We’re ready to help.

Here’s Before and After. Seeing is breathing better.

If you haven’t cleaned your ducts in 3-5 - (OMG - 10!) years – or more - let Daniels do a complete cleaning program. 

Look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FHWKTUiykM&t=4s

A total cleaning of your system takes 3-4 hours. In the process you’ll reduce pollutants that you are breathing daily and increase the comfort of your home – immeasurably.

But Wait – There Are More Ducks To Be Cleaned

We’ve been selling Ductless Split Heat Pumps for nearly 20 years. Did you know that you must – yes, must – clean them every 2-4 years! You will not believe the dust, bugs, and debris that accumulates over the years in those heating and cooling units.

Grab a “dust bunny” off the floor and imagine pounds of it clogging your system. And we’re not just talking about the removable filters –

You can clean those yourself…no…

We’re talking about cleaning the entire unit – a 1-3 hour process that eliminates 95% of the pollutants any system collects.

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgOOrnVxZo

Now is the time to clean them. Daniels has the team ready – in and out in one day at a very competitive price.

Call Today.

Schedule your complete duct (or ductless) cleaning and breathe easier (and healthier) all year long.

860 813 9122

In 1972 according to Stefano Mariottini, he was snorkelling off the coast of Monasterace near Riace (Calabria, Italy) and noticed a human hand sticking out of the sand.

Thinking it was a corpse, he called the police. It was actually two statues of "Warriors from Riace" - ancient Greek bronze statues of the 5th century BC.

It is generally assumed that the statues were being carried on a ship that sank, perhaps in a storm, although no evidence of a wreck has been found.

Further explorations undertaken in 2004 by a joint Italian-American team of archaeologists identified the foundations of an Ionic temple on this slowly subsiding coast.

Much more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riace_bronzes