Chikara @chikara@qoto.org

WATER-FILLED BOTTLES + LIGHT
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SPOTLIGHT. In the 1700s, spherical glass bottles filled with water were used to focus candlelight for fine work such as lace making and surgery. -- see "Water sphere lens" https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/water-sphere-lens; and see Brian Lemin, "The Great Deception, Lace-makers lamps"
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/webdocs/lb_lamps.pdf
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DIFFUSED LIGHT. In a modern-day emergency, a clear plastic bottle filled with water can be used to diffuse light -- converting a flash light into a lantern which illuminates an area instead of just one spot -- see "Plastic Bottle Lantern" https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/radio/bosaiweb/craft/craft_20.html
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Sometimes I come across curious tidbits -- like this -- when I'm actively searching for something else. And I'm posting this just in case others might be interested, too.
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QUESTION? I wonder how the many uses of optics and lighting technology developed worldwide? My best guess is that the genesis of this story is probably in Europe.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

@design_RG Thanks for catching my mistake. The French hashtag should have been "botanique."
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Also, I mis-spelled the French word for the study of earthquakes -- it should have been "sismologie."

FYI -- a quick review of Google image search revealed this graphic representation of some of the recorded variables that are studied by people interested in earthquakes. The graphic image suggests some -- not all -- of the plausibly relevant factors in seismological modeling.

@freemo Is it possible that the oldest ginkgo tree in Europe is alive and thriving in Utrecht?
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CONTEXT. In 1690-1692, Engelbert Kempfer worked at Japanese outpost of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). He was the physician for small group of European men on Dejima island in Nagasaki harbor.
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In 1712, an account of Kempfer's time in Japan was published in Europe. Also, he published the names and botanical descriptions of 325 previously unidentified plants native to Japan. -- see Nagata, Toshiyuki dt al. (2015). " Engelbert Kaempfer, Genemon Imamura and the origin of the name Ginkgo," Taxon. 64 (10). March 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273159910_Engelbert_Kaempfer_Genemon_Imamura_and_the_origin_of_the_name_GinkgoI; and see 1712 botanical illustration of the ginkgo below
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GINKGO IN UTRECHT.
According to Wikipedia, Kempfer was "the first western scholar to describe the tree Ginkgo biloba. He brought some Ginkgo seeds back that were planted in the botanical garden in Utrecht. The trees have survived to the 21st century." -- see "Engelbert Kempfter," Siam and Japan, 2nd paragraph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbert_Kaempfer#Siam_and_Japan
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QUESTION? Is this trivial fact about a very hardy Japanese tree well known in Utrecht? If so, what do you know?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

@design_RG Looking ahead, I'm going to be clicking on these hash tags several times a week
#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#art

I know how to send a DM in response to a toot which sparks an interest.

But what if I wanted to initiate a new thread? Is this the way to go about it?

I just want to confirm that I understand the process.

#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#art

La collection d'aquarelles pomologiques du Département de l'agriculture des États-Unis (USDA) est une archive numérisée de 7,500+ illustrations botaniques.-- https://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml

Et il y a un bot informatique qui publie une de ces images toutes les trois heures. -- see fruit toots
@pomological

La haute qualité de cette illustration scientifique est remarquable. Vous pouvez voir par vous-même ci-dessous.

L'habileté de l'artiste qui a peint une coupe transversale d'une fraise a attiré mon attention - vous serez peut-être intéressé aussi.

Le détail des épines sur la tige de l'aquarelle d'une vigne à la framboise m'a incité à jeter un deuxième coup d'œil - et c'est seulement à ce moment-là que j'ai remarqué les fins poils des feuilles de framboise.

Il y a 3,800 aquarelles de pommes. Comme moi, peut-être que le sujet des variétés de pomme ne vous intéresse pas vraiment; mais peut-être existe-t-il une autre bonne raison de tirer parti de cette bot informatique.

HYPOTHESE: Puis-je entraîner mes yeux à être plus observateur en regardant simplement des milliers d'aquarelles de peaux de pommes?

THÉORIE: Chaque artiste de l’USDA n’utilisait que la compétence et la couleur pour persuader l’œil de percevoir une surface courbe au lieu d’un plan. Que se passerait-il si j'essayais de façon décontractée de comprendre comment cela se produit? Sans vraiment y travailler, j'imagine que je vais probablement mieux "voir" de subtiles variations de couleur dans les peaux de pomme. Et avec le temps, cette pratique répétée aura peut-être des conséquences sur ce que je peux observer dans le monde réel.

Juste une pensée. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez?

Le français n'est pas ma langue maternelle. S'il vous plaît corriger mon français écrit. Alors peut-être que je ne ferai pas les mêmes erreurs à l'avenir.

Fabrice Tual
@Fabrice_tual

Je me demande si ces illustrations botaniques à l'aquarelle pourraient vous intéresser?

HYPOTHESE: Le fait d’entraîner votre œil à voir les fines variations de détail des couleurs utilisées dans les aquarelles conventionnelles peut vous aider à reconnaître les variations de couleur dans les ukiyo-e japonais

#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#art

You may not know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pomological Watercolor Collection is a digitized archive of 7.5K botanical illustrations. -- https://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml

And there's a Fediverse bot which posts one of these images every three hours. -- see fruit toots
@pomological

The high quality of this scientific illustration is noteworthy. You can see for yourself below.

The skill of the artist who painted a cross-section of a strawberry caught my eye -- maybe you'll be interested, too.

The fine detail in the thorns on the stem of the watercolor of a raspberry vine caused me to take a second look -- and only then did I notice the fine hairs on the raspberry leaves.

There are 3.8K watercolors of apples. Like me, maybe you're not really interested in the subject of apple varieties; but maybe there's another good reason to take advantage of this bot option.

HYPOTHESIS: Can I train my eyes to be more observant by simply looking at thousands of watercolors of apple skins?

THEORY: Each USDA artist used only skill and color to fool the eye into perceiving a curved surface instead of a flat plane. What would happen if I try in a casual way to figure out how this happens? Without really working at it, I'd guess that I'll probably get better at "seeing" subtle color variations in the apple skins. And over time, maybe this repeated practice will produce consequences in what I'm able to observe in the real world.

Just a thought. What do you think?

#introduction + #introductionfr
#seismology + #seismologie
#volcanology + #volcanologie
#geology + #géologie
#metallurgy + #métallurgie
#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#fishing + #pêche

I'm interested in these subjects in the 18th century. How do these pieces of a puzzle fit together?

Je m'intéresse à ces sujets au 18ème siècle. Ces pièces d'un puzzle, comment s'emboîtent-elles?

#citation
#lecture

@Fabrice_tual Thank you for posting your ukiyo-e of a Ushigome street in Tokyo.

The evocative Shinjuku scene caused me to recall a trivial snapshot I'd saved -- no special reason, I just liked something about this ordinary rainy day on Teramachi-dori in Kyoto.

In truth, I admit I never understood why I held on to this old photo. And I didn't see what it had to do with your woodblock print.

At first, I thought your Shin-hanga print sparked an interest in looking again at the accumulated water on the sidewalk in the foreground.

And then, when I actually did look again, it became clear that what I wanted to see was the puddling on the asphalt paving. This helped me to appreciate Koitsu's skill as an artist.

I really like your ukiyo-e of a Tokyo neighborhood street on a rainy day. You have a good eye.

PLUTO + Percival Lowell
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IMO, the most important thing about Pluto isn't its "discovery" in 1930.
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In truth, I'm not much interested in whether Pluto is or isn't labeled or classified as a "planet"
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What does fascinate me is Percival Lowell. In 1914, this American polymath predicted that there must be an object in the location where Pluto was eventually found. He used mathematical calculations to "guess" the existence of something that was not otherwise observable using the technology of the early 20th century. -- see "February 18, 1930" https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pluto-discovered
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One sentence captures my imagination in the 1930 news story which reported the first photographic evidence of a previously unknown object in space. -- see "Ninth Planet is Found Far from Neptune" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 14, 1930. https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-march-13-1930-pluto-discovered-20140305-htmlstory.html

"All observations indicate
the object to be the one
Lowell saw mathematically."
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I'm fascinated by the phrase "saw mathematically."
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Today Pluto is no longer considered a "planet;" however, the search for a ninth solar system planet is ongoing -- see "There’s probably another planet in our solar system," MIT Technology Review. March 5, 2019. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613060/theres-probably-another-planet-in-our-solar-system/

The Associated Press news story published on March 13, 1930 reported that the first photographic image of a previously unknown object in space was made on January 21 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. -- see "Ninth Planet is Found Far from Neptune" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 14, 1930. https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-march-13-1930-pluto-discovered-20140305-htmlstory.html

This object was named Pluto in 1930. Did you know that an Italian astronomer, Emilio Bianchi, is credited with proposing the name we all know. -- see "Italian Scientists Propose 'Pluto' as New Planet's Name" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 25, 1930; and see "Emilio Bianchi," Pontifical Academy of Sciences. http://www.casinapioiv.va/content/accademia/en/academicians/deceased/bianchi.html

Pluto was called a planet between 1930 and 2006. -- see "February 18, 1930" https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pluto-discovered

@freemo

WHAT IS A PLANET, and what isn't?

In August 2006, however, the International Astronomical Union announced that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet, due to new rules that said planets must “clear the neighborhood around its orbit.” Since Pluto’s oblong orbit overlaps that of Neptune, it was disqualified. -- see https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pluto-discovered; and see Wikipedia "IAU definition of planet" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_definition_of_planet

@cowanon @freemo Qui tacet consentire videtur = He who is silent is taken to agree

@freemo You wrote, "Conditioning also conditions the conditioner" and the idea inspired me to think
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The shifting POV in your words is a fresh twist -- a potentially useful restatement with consequences we cannot parse easily.

Rough translation?
Conditioning also
conditions the
conditioner = hoc mutat
ex assuetudine operum
intervenor
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When I read your words, my knee-jerk reaction was in Latin -- thinking about ways in which your words suggest new insight into a couple of Latin
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1. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
• Who will guard the guards themselves?
• Who watches the watchers? • Who will watch the watchmen?
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2. Qui tacet consentire videtur
• He who is silent is taken to agree
• Silence implies/means consent
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When I read, "Conditioning also conditions the conditioner," the phrase became a question for me,
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?