Smithsonian articles from July 2008

Smithsonian archives from July 2008

Stouthearted men: brutal, yes, but also strong-willed.(FROM THE EDITOR)
July 1, 2008... ANDREW CURRY first heard about plans to replicate a 1,000-year-old Viking ship and sail it from Roskilde, Denmark, to Dublin when he visited Denmark's Viking Ship Museum six years ago. He's been following the Sea Stallion "living-archaeology"...

Life as we know it.(WILD THINGS)
July 1, 2008... Observed NAME: Schistocerca gregaria, or the desert locust. WHAT'S ANCIENT: Plagues--or what scientists call mass migrations--during which billions of locusts take flight. WHAT'S NEW: Insight into why locusts move in coordinated...

New York City.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... In her piece about New York City ["You Got a Problem With That?"], Joan Acocella presumes that eagerness to dispense unsolicited opinions is a manifestation of smartness. To the contrary, it mainly displays arrogance. One thing she says is...

Unintelligent New Yorkers.(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... HOW APPROPRIATE that Joan Acocella's essay, which espouses New Yorkers' rudeness as a mark of intelligence, should be followed by Cristian Samper's column[From the Castle: "GNP or GHN?"] about Bhutan's philosophy of "gross national happiness"...

Lbj's decision.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... THE GENERAL assumption is that President Johnson's public decision of March 31, 1968, not to run for reelection was a complete surprise and perhaps impulsive ["The Unmaking of the President," by Clay Risen, April 2008]. This is not true. The...

It's in the bag: Sports Illustrated photographer Neil Leifer hit a grand slam when he set out to capture a double play on film.(INDELIBLE IMAGES)
July 1, 2008... MORE THAN THE HOME RUN, more than the strikeout, the double play distills the physicality of baseball. The instant the ball is hit, the fielders strive for timing and precision; the base runners strive for speed and disruption. When the lead...

July anniversaries: momentous or merely memorable.(THIS MONTH IN HISTORY)
July 1, 2008... 420 YEARS AGO BRITAIN WAIVES THE RULES Queen Elizabeth I's English fleet takes on the Spanish Armada, July 31, 1588. Nine days later the Armada--part of King Philip II's plan to invade Britain and restore Catholicism-turns tail, its...

From the castle: a look forward.(Around the Mall)
July 1, 2008... FROM ITS EARLY DAYS in the 1850s, when a single building housed science laboratories and collections, the Smithsonian Institution has expanded to 19 museums, 9 research centers (some far from our nation's capital) and 158 Smithsonian Affiliate...

Lunar Living: the quest to return to the moon ignites new hope and vision at the 50-year-old.
July 1, 2008... THE UNASSUMING LOG CABIN has long symbolized the American drive to tame and settle the frontier. But if aerospace engineer Robert Howard Jr., age 36, is successful 21st-century settlers will live in a dwelling that might resemble an oversized...

Jukebox.(Ed Badeaux's Songs of Camp)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... MEMORABLE MELODIES Like roasting marshmallows to make s'mores, a good summer camp song bridges generations. Musician Ed Badeaux recorded the Folkways album "Songs of Camp' in 1958 while working at Camp Killooleet in Vermont. Every evening after...

SkullDuggery: an eerie (and cinematic) artifact, thought to be pre-Columbian, is not as old as some would have us believe.(Around the Mall)
July 1, 2008... THE CRYSTAL SKULL sought by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the latest silver-screen installment of the archaeologist's over-the-top adventures is, of course, a movie prop--masquerading as an ancient artifact from pre-Columbian Central...

What's up.(Around the Mall)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... DRONE HOME The U.S. military began building unmanned aircraft for combat and surveillance in 1918. Now, six drones are on permanent display at the Air and Space Museum, including the Boeing X-45A (above). POSTMODERN POSTERS ...

Raiders or traders? A replica Viking vessel plying the North Sea this month is part of an effort to learn more about what the Norsemen were really up to.
July 1, 2008... From his bench toward the stern of the Sea Stallion From Glendalough, Erik Nielsen could see his crewmates' stricken faces peeping out of bright-red survival suits. A few feet behind him, the leather straps holding the ship's rudder to its side...

Precarious Lebanon: stricken by sectarian warfare and still reeling from the 2005 murder of its former prime minister, the Mediterranean nation brokers a fragile peace.
July 1, 2008... RAMZI GHOSN TAKES A BITE of a bruschetta and a sip of red wine and gazes through the windows of his Provencal-style restaurant at the wintry vineyards and snow-blanketed mountains in the distance. Diners at rustic oak tables are sampling the...

Welcome to your world: this year's photo contest winners reflect decidedly international points of view.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... A STRONG CURRENT swept in a bounty of jellyfish that September day, along with an irresistible opportunity for Thomas Vignaud, who was free-diving with underwater camera gear in the Mediterranean off the South of France. The 22-year-old marine...

John Muir's Yosemite: the father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness.
July 1, 2008... THE NATURALIST JOHN MUIR is so closely associated with Yosemite National Park--after all, he helped draw up its proposed boundaries in 1889, wrote the magazine articles that led to its creation in 1890 and co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 to...

The great human migration: why humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world.(Report)
July 1, 2008... Seventy-seven thousand years ago, a craftsman sat in a cave in a limestone cliff overlooking the rocky coast of what is now the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful spot, a workshop with a glorious natural picture window, cooled by a sea breeze in...

True colors: call them gaudy, call them kitsch, but archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target.
July 1, 2008... To find out what the Greek gods looked like, it would seem reasonable to start in Room 18 of the British Museum. That's the gallery devoted to the Elgin Marbles, grand trophies removed from the Parthenon in Athens between 1801 and 1805 by...

Silken treasure: the Italian city of Como, celebrated for its silk and scenery, has inspired notables from Leonardo da Vinci and Giuseppe Verdi to Winston Churchill and George Clooney.
July 1, 2008... "The silkworm is a snob," says Moritz Mantero. "He'll eat anything, but he produces silk only if he eats mulberry!" Mantero is the third-generation owner of Mantero Seta SpA, one of the largest silk manufacturers in Como, Italy. Situated three...

Wonders and whoppers: following in Marco Polo's footsteps through Asia leads our intrepid author to some surprising conclusions.(PRESENCE OF MIND)
July 1, 2008... "I TELL YOU," wrote Marco Polo, "that this palace is of... unmeasured wealth." Its roof is sheathed in gold "in such a way as we cover our house with lead." Even the floors are gold, "more indeed than two fingers thick. And all the other parts...

Dream on: why your nightmares hold the key to workplace success.(THE LAST PAGE)
July 1, 2008... FROM: HUMAN RESOURCES TO: ALL STAFF Dear Employees, We were very gratified by the positive response to last week's memo, "Cutting Medical Benefits: Healthy Companies Mean Healthy Employees." This week, we'd like to turn our...