First Passenger Underground Railway

Photo of London Metropolitan construction courtesy London Transport Museum

On this day in 1863, the world's first passenger underground railway opened in London, called the London Metropolitan.  Click here to see pictures and photos, and for more historical information.

I've been on many underground railways around the world.  The ones I probably like the best are the NYC subways, San Francisco's BART, and the Paris Metro.  To me, by far the prettiest is the Paris Metro.  What is your favorite subway system?

Toulouse-Lautrec's Drink: The Earthquake!

Photo of "A Corner in a Dance Hall" painting by Toulouse-Lautrec courtesy AllPaintings.org

One of my favorite artists is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).  I especially like his crowd scenes.  Whenever I visit the Art Institute of Chicago, the first thing I always do is go to the Impressionists/Post-Impressionists section to see At the Moulin Rouge.  What I didn't know is that Toulouse-Lautrec is credited with creating a drink that became very popular at the time, called Tremblement de Terre or Earthquake, which is half absinthe & half cognac.  In the early 19th century absinthe was believed to cure digestive disorders, and so some thought the drink he created was almost wholesome!  In time, however, some brewers began using lethal solvents in the production of absinthe, which led to the eventual outlawing of absinthe in most of Europe and the United States.

Who is your favorite artist?

The Tower of London

Photo courtesy FreeImages

The central White Tower in the Tower of London, a castle keep, was built by the Norman, William the Conqueror (1028-1087), to signify the power he had over the Anglo-Saxons he had recently conquered at the Battle of Hastings.  Crowned William I on Christmas Day in 1066, he was the first Norman King of England.  Lacking confidence in the strength of the local building materials, William imported Caen stone from Normandy and built the edifice on top of Roman ruins, another move to signify his power over the country.  For more information, see the Royal Armouries Museum website.

If you have been to the Tower of London, what is your favorite area?

Famous Author...& Billiards Player!

Photo courtesy Mark Twain Museum

Today is the birthday of Mark Twain (1835-1910), one of my favorite authors and "characters", as we would call him in The South.  One thing I didn't know about him was that he was an avid billiards player.

Earliest Mechanical Calculator

Photo courtesy FreeImagesLive

The earliest attempt at designing a mechanical adding machine was probably by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), according to some of his notes found in 1967 in the National Museum of Spain.  The next two documented attempts were by the German Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635) in 1623.  The location or existence of the two prototypes are unknown.

In 1642, the 18 year old Frenchman, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), invented the first "arithmetical machine", and subsequently developed it further.  About 50 of these machines still exist.