Keeping Tabs

 

It's been a while since we've looked at what I've been

searching for on the ol' Interwebs.

Let's see what's cooking on my many, many browser tabs.

Early photos of the Sphinx

The Sphinx in Giza wasn't always as visible as it is today.

When I saw it this summer, the whole body of the lion is now dug out of

the sand, and you can see the paws and the tail.

About 2100 BC the location was abandoned and the structures were

covered by drifting sands.

This is one of the earliest photos, taken by Maxime du Camp in 1849.

When it was discovered in modern times, it was covered up to its shoulders.

After looking at photos of the Abu Simbel temple being moved,

I was reminded of once looking at photos of the Sphinx as a kid, when it

was still partially covered by sand. 

It's fascinating to me to see the Giza Necropolis as it was seen over time.

To see the place as it was seen by people now long dead.

Early explorers, roaming camels, tourists, and archeologists of the ancients.

And, fortunately, many of these people left photographic evidence of their adventures.

Catherine the Great

I recently started watching the Hulu series The Great, starring

Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult.

It's loosely based on the history of Catherine the Great, 

Empress of Russia.

My understanding of Russian political history is woefully inept,

but from what I've been able to piece together from some light

research, I have learned that Catherine was a German princess who

married Emperor Peter III (grandson of Peter the Great),

 and after enduring an unhappy marriage, overthrew

him and made herself Empress. And her reign was a success.

She expanded Russian borders, developed the national culture, and integrated 

Russian society into the European sphere.

The Oregon Exploding Whale

On November 12, 1970, a dead sperm whale washed up on the shores

near Florence, Oregon.

Instead of pushing the carcass out to sea, or cutting it to bits, the

Highway Division decided that the best way to deal with the whale 

was to blow it up with lots of dynamite and hope that scavengers would

take care of the now blasted bits.

What happened is only about half of the carcass was blown apart,

blubber and blood rained down on spectators, and at least one car

was smashed by a falling chunk of whale.

The news segment, with Paul Linnman's cutting commentary,

is some of the finest video journalism of the recent past, in my humble opinion.

I do recommend taking a look.

Digital Underground

While watching a wacky movie called Nothing But Trouble,
I came across a band called Digital Underground.

It's a hip hop band formed in 1987 out of Oakland, California.

In the movie, after several people are killed by Dan Aykroyd's loony

character's trick house, the band is pulled over by the local cop

(John Candy) and, if you're familiar with horror movie tropes,

you instantly feel the hackles raise as you worry that the 

only black people in the movie will meet the same fate.

Instead, the group is allowed to plead their case in song, and

Aykroyd's Judge lets them go on their way. *whew*

Digital Underground featured lead vocalists

Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs and Tupac Shakur,

among a slew of others, as the band lineup shifted around 

over the years before disbanding in 2008.

Shock G is better known, at least to me, as Humpty Hump.

I recognized his voice from the Humpty Dance song, and

after listening for an hour or so to the Spotify playlist, I

have decided that I like this band.

The grooves are funky and well-structured, the lyrics are

usually light, whimsical, and sometimes earnestly optimistic.

To me, they sound like the hip-hop extension of Parliament-Funkadelic, and

indeed, they sampled Parliament on at least one song.

Do you dig it?!