[REMOVE ADS]




Page 230 of 342 FirstFirst ... 130 180 220 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 240 280 330 ... LastLast
Results 11,451 to 11,500 of 17088

Thread: Google doodles

  1. #11451
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    October 10, 2016

    50th Anniversary of Health and Sports Day



    On Japan’s annual Health and Sports Day, everyone wins! That spirit inspired today’s Doodle, which shows Google-hued characters of all ages crossing the finish line together. First celebrated 50 years ago today, the holiday commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

    Since the occasion is all about promoting an active lifestyle, Japanese people both young and old celebrate by going for the gold. Many schools host field days that resemble mini Olympics, featuring events like the relay, long jump, and shot put, along with obstacle courses and tug of war.

    For decades, Health and Sports Day was held on October 10th, but it was officially moved to the second Monday in October back in 2000. This year, the holiday happens to fall on its original date — just in time for its 50th birthday.

  2. #11452
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Oct 4, 2016

    434th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Gregorian Calendar



    From October 5–October 14, 1582, time was erased. Not literally, of course; just on the calendar. These ten days were declared non-existent by then-pope Gregory XIII as part of a realignment of the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. In the mid-1570s, it was discovered that the Julian calendar was actually 10 days behind the seasons of the year. For example, Easter began falling later in the spring than it should have and eventually would have drifted into summer. The calendar creep was the result of the solar year [the time it takes Earth to make one revolution around the sun] being around 11 minutes shy of the full Julian calendar. To be precise, the solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.

    Pope Gregory saved the day [and season] by appointing a commission to solve the problem. It took five years, but eventually the group, led by physician Aloysius Lilius and astronomer Christopher Clavius, proposed eliminating three leap years every 400 years to keep the calendar on track. To transition to the Gregorian calendar, ten days were declared officially non-existent, with the day after October 4, 1582 declared October 15th. First implemented by Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the Gregorian calendar is today’s most widely used system.

  3. #11453
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Oct 1, 2016

    Nigeria Independence Day 2016





    This year on National Day, Nigeria celebrates 56 years of independence. Annual celebrations usually start with the President’s speech and continue with patriotic parades and festivities. In Nigeria and all over the world, people host parties festooned with green and white flags, play games, and enjoy traditional, home-cooked foods.

    Today’s Doodle showcases sectors that Nigeria is developing and takes great pride in, such as agriculture, science, literature, engineering, and culture including Naija music and the Nollywood industry. Young people are key to the country’s future and are shown here celebrating in patriotic green and white fashions.

    Happy Independence Day, Nigeria!

  4. #11454
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Sep 30, 2016

    Andrejs Jurjans’s 160th Birthday




    Today’s Doodle celebrates a man who, in many ways, carried Latvian music forward into the 20th century.

    As the country’s first professional composer and musicologist, Andrejs Jurjāns delved into the Latvian folk music of the past while taking the sounds of his homeland to new heights. Throughout his lifetime, he collected and analyzed thousands of folk melodies, organizing them into an anthology that was published across six volumes. He also composed the first-ever Latvian symphonic works, including an instrumental concerto and a cantata, and was well-known for his choir arrangements.

    When Jurjāns wasn’t crafting original pieces, he spent much of his time teaching. From 1882 — the year he finished his own schooling at the St. Petersburg Conservatory — to 1916, he shared his knowledge of music theory and more with students. Through his instruction, research, and composition, Jurjāns inspired many of the Latvian musicians who came after him. Today we pay tribute to that legacy on what would have been the composer’s 160th birthday.

  5. #11455
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 30, 2010

    Flintstones' 50th Anniversary




    As a young kid, I drew a lot of dinosaurs. My dad would bring home reams of dot matrix printer paper from work, which I'd take, fold into stapled booklets, and then fill with dinosaurs doing what dinosaurs did best — eating, leaping about, facing off in epic combat on top of spewing volcanoes. What I didn't know was that dinosaurs were also quite handy. A brontosaurus tail made an excellent water slide, you could walk up a row of plates on a stegosaurus' back like a flight of stairs, and the triceratops' horns were actually cutting-edge can openers. For these paleontological insights into Stone Aged innovation, I have the Flintstones to thank.

    The Flintstones may have lived in the prehistoric town of Bedrock, but their technology was on par with much of what we use today. Everyone drove human-powered vehicles [zero emissions!], composted scraps in a dinosaur under the kitchen sink, and even wore solar powered watches—that is, if you count sundials. In short, Bedrock was the modern city of the past... and I wanted to live in it! Unfortunately, that didn’t quite pan out, but to be able to pay tribute to one of my favorite childhood TV shows in the form of a Google doodle is easily the next best thing.

    On the 50th anniversary of its first airing, we gladly salute “The Flintstones” for inspiring our imaginations and encouraging us to think outside of the box, even if it means taking a look back now and then. I hope you’ll join the rest of us here at Google in a little nostalgia to mark this fun occasion!

    Oh, and if you know any saber-toothed tigers looking for an internship as a hole puncher, give me a buzz.

    posted by Mike Dutton

  6. #11456
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Sep 27, 2010

    Google's 12th Birthday by Wayne Thiebaud





    It was an amazing experience collaborating with painter, Wayne Thiebaud. Known for his paintings of dramatically lit cakes and pastries, we thought a birthday cake doodle for Google's 12th birthday by this living legend would be fun and delightful for art enthusiasts and lovers of sweet things alike.

    posted by Mike Dutton



    Born Morton Wayne Thiebaud
    November 15, 1920
    Mesa, Arizona, U.S.

    Died December 25, 2021 [[aged 101)
    Sacramento, California, U.S.

    Wikipedia:

    Morton Wayne Thiebaud [ November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021] was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes and figure paintings. Thiebaud is associated with the pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his early works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud used heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work.
    Last edited by 9A; 07-16-2022 at 06:25 AM.

  7. #11457
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Sep 15, 2010

    Agatha Christie's 120th Birthday




    Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End since 1952, as well as six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

  8. #11458
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 6, 2021

    Teachers' Day 2021 [Peru]



    During the independence of Peru, the Liberator José de San Martín founded the first Normal School for Men by means of a resolution passed by the Marquis of Torre-Tagle on 6 July 1822. Many years later, in 1953, the then president Manuel A. Odría decided that Teachers' Day would be commemorated every 6 July.

  9. #11459
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 9, 2021

    Argentina Independence Day 2021





    Today’s Doodle celebrates Argentina’s Independence Day. On this day in 1816, a group of regional leaders assembled in the city of Tucumán to proclaim the South American nation’s freedom.

    If you plan on celebrating Independence Day in true Argentinian fashion, get ready for a day full of huge portions of traditional food and drink. Authentic feasting for today’s festivities isn’t complete without “locro,” a robust stew consisting of beans, corn, squash, potato, and varieties of meat. Traditionally served piping hot, locro is a perfect meal for keeping celebrants warm, as Independence Day falls in the midst of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

    The go-to Argentinian beverage is “mate,” a caffeine-rich tea depicted brewing in the Doodle artwork. Approximately 98% of the nation’s citizens keep this caffeine-rich tea stocked at home, and it's estimated that most Argentines consume close to 14 pounds annually!

    Happy Independence Day, Argentina!

  10. #11460
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 11, 2021

    UEFA Euro 2020 Finals



    Today’s Doodle celebrates the UEFA Euro Cup final between Italy & England, which kicks off today inside London’s Wembley Stadium. The high-stakes pinnacle of a month of world-class soccer, today’s matchup determines which nation will return home the 2020 Euro Cup champions. Who will it be?

    Best of luck to both teams!

  11. #11461
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    January 20, 2020

    Mufidah Abdul Rahman's 106th Birthday


    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Cairo-based guest artist Deena Mohamed, celebrates Egyptian lawyer Mufidah Abdul Rahman on her 106th birthday. Born in Cairo on this day in 1914, she was among the first women to graduate from Cairo University’s Faculty of Law and became the premier female attorney in Egypt. Her determined efforts in and out of the courtroom helped forge the path to political equality for Egyptian women.

    While practicing law, Mufidah built relationships with like-minded women advocates and was inspired to co-found the National Feminist Party, a women’s organization fighting for universal suffrage in Egypt. Her social advocacy led her to be recruited into Bint al-Nil [“Daughter of the Nile”], a feminist union seeking to overcome sociocultural repressions that the women of this era faced.

    In 1951, Bint al-Nil founder Doria Shafik led an interruption of the Egyptian Parliament to demand women’s right to vote and hold political office. In response, Shafik was summoned to court and handpicked the esteemed Abdul Rahman to defend her.

    Considered to be a case against not only Shafik but also the Egyptian women’s rights movement as a whole, the trial presented a critical opportunity for advocates to have their voices heard. Mufidah’s impassioned defense of Shafik fanned the flames of the cause, and this landmark case helped Egyptian women win their right to vote in 1956.

    This Doodle also highlights the more personal moments in Abdul Rahman’s life, from being the young lawyer who received payment in eggs and fruits to the mother who enjoyed a rich family life with her nine children and supportive husband.

    Throughout her distinguished career, Abdul Rahman defended over 400 court cases, became a member of Egyptian Parliament, and never stopped fighting justice.

  12. #11462
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    January 20, 2012

    Omar Rayo's 84th Birthday



    Omar Rayo Reyes was a renowned Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. He won the 1970 Salón de Artistas Colombianos. Rayo worked with abstract geometry primarily employing black, white, red and yellow. He was part of the Op Art movement. Rayo's work shows that geometric art is as much a part of the past as it is of the future. He used traces of the past to discover new ways to present visual and geometric sketches.

  13. #11463
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 11, 2021

    Father's Day 2021 [Uruguay]


  14. #11464
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 16, 2021

    Elizeth Cardoso's 101st Birthday




    Today’s Doodle celebrates the birthday of Brazilian actor and singer Elizeth “The Divine” Cardoso. Her 1958 album “Cançăo do Amor Demais” [“Too Much Love Song”] is widely regarded as the first true bossa nova album, a hybrid style of breezy jazz and traditional Brazilian music that captured the stylistic evolutions of the era.

    On this day in 1920, Elizete Moreira Cardoso was born into a family of musicians in Rio de Janeiro and debuted as a singer at just five years old. Her first major break occurred at her 16th birthday party when an introduction to popular Brazilian musician Jacob do Bandolim changed her life.

    Eager to share her rare vocal gift, Bandolim landed Cardoso an opening gig for a stacked lineup of Brazilian musicians in 1936, including the likes of Noel Rosa and Araci de Almeida. Cardoso’s fame continued to grow into the 1940s with regular appearances alongside this superstar group and by performing everywhere from circuses to ballrooms. In 1950, Cardoso recorded her first hit, "Cançăo de Amor" [“Love Song”]. The explosion of popular reception for this single paved the way for a fruitful musical career that was soon followed by success as an actor in both TV and film.

    Cardoso became an international sensation in the following decades; her heartfelt spin on Brazilian music garnered standing ovations [with one lasting 15 minutes!] and enchanted audiences globally on world tours well into the 1980s. In 2007, Rolling Stone Brazil listed Cardoso’s “Cançăo do Amor Demais” among the nation’s top 100 albums of all time.

    Happy birthday, Elizeth Cardoso!

  15. #11465
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 18, 2021

    Pearl Gibbs “Gambanyi’s” 120th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Yuwi, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander guest artist Dylan Mooney, celebrates revolutionary Aboriginal Australian activist Pearl Gibbs “Gambanyi”, who is widely regarded among the 20th-century’s leading advocates for Aboriginal rights.

    Pearl Mary Gibbs “Gambanyi” was born on this day in 1901 to an Aboriginal mother and a non-Aboriginal father in La Perouse, New South Wales. At 16, Gibbs moved with her family to Sydney, where she worked as a servant. It was here that she met Aboriginal girls stolen from their homes and forced into domestic work—injustices that sparked her lifetime devotion to the fight for Aboriginal rights.

    In 1937, Gibbs helped form the Aborigines Progressive Association [APA], an all-Aboriginal activist alliance that campaigned for Aboriginal citizenship, suffrage, and an end to unjust governmental bodies. As APA secretary beginning in 1938, she exposed the inhumane conditions and exploitation of women and children at government-run Aboriginal reserves. A public speaker as charismatic as she was influential, Gibbs helped organize the Day of Mourning protest that same year. Widely credited as the catalyst of the contemporary Aboriginal political movement, this demonstration was the first to bring the plight of Indigenous Australians to national attention.

    Gibbs never faltered in her efforts for Indigenous justice over the decades that followed, a struggle that culminated in 1954 when the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board appointed her as its first—and only—female member. She also helped organize the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship [AAF] in 1956. With Gibbs at the helm, the AAF petitioned for a change in the Australian constitution, which paved the way for the 1967 referendum that granted Indigenous Australians suffrage and citizenship.

    Today’s Doodle artwork depicts Gibbs’ life, legacy, and dedication to improving the lives of Aboriginal Australians—symbolized, for instance, by the Flannel Flowers on her dress, an icon she adopted to represent resilience.

    Happy Birthday, Pearl Gibbs “Gambanyi,” and thank you for your lifetime devotion to building a more equitable world.

  16. #11466
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 14, 2001

    Bastille Day 2001



    Today’s Doodle celebrates Bastille Day, also known in France as July 14th or National Day. On this day in 1789, the Parisian populace toppled a medieval fortress known as the Bastille, transforming this stone tower from a symbol of historical injustice into a beacon of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

    Widely regarded as a major catalyst of the French Revolution, the storming of the Bastille represents the birth of a modern nation. This momentous event incited nation-wide solidarity, and to celebrate its first birthday, national officials organized a 10,000 person ceremony coined the “Festival of the Federation.” Another milestone anniversary which is now commemorated each Bastille Day, this patriotic soirée culminated in a revelatory feast, complete with song and dance.

    The 230-year tradition of celebrating these definitive moments in history lives on throughout the international French community. Celebrations around the world host music and dance performances highlighting regional Francophone culture, alongside fireworks, parades, and spreads of staple French dishes!

    Vive le 14 Juillet! Long live July 14th!

  17. #11467
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 14, 2017

    Bastille Day 2017





    When Louis XVI asked a French duke if the storming of Bastille was a revolt on the evening of 14 July 1789, the duke replied by saying, "No, sire, a revolution."

    The revolutionary cornerstones of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” color the minds of many today as we celebrate the 228th anniversary of Bastille Day [“La Fęte Nationale”] in France and across the world.

    In addition to celebratory outdoor picnics and fireworks, the day is customarily marked with Bals des Pompiers, or Fireman’s Balls. For artist Louis Thomas, the holiday represents more than just fireworks. He was inspired to depict a symbol of culture and resilience — the French cafe terrace — where people gather.

    Europe’s largest military parade marches down the Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde today, displaying France’s rich history, national unity, diversity and pride. Whether you choose to celebrate with a festive outing or a moment of reflection, today’s Google Doodle wishes Bon anniversaire to France.

  18. #11468
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 21, 2017

    Marshall McLuhan’s 106th Birthday




    Long before we started looking to our screens for all the answers, Marshall McLuhan saw the internet coming — and predicted just how much impact it would have. A Canadian philosopher and professor who specialized in media theory, McLuhan came to prominence in the 1960s, just as TV was becoming part of everyday life. At the center of his thinking was the idea that society is shaped by technology and the way information is shared.

    Today’s Doodle, which celebrates the visionary’s 106th birthday, illustrates this theory by showing how McLuhan viewed human history. He saw it through the lens of 4 distinct eras: the acoustic age, the literary age, the print age, and the electronic age. His first major book, The Gutenberg Galaxy [1962], popularized the term “global village” — the idea that technology brings people together and allows everyone the same access to information.

    In Understanding Media [1964], McLuhan further examined the transformative effects of technology and coined his famous phrase “The medium is the message.” He believed that the way in which someone receives information is more influential than the information itself. Throughout the '60s and '70s, McLuhan made frequent TV appearances to share his theories with both followers and skeptics.

    Decades later, we honor the man whose prophetic vision of the “computer as a research and communication instrument” has undeniably become a reality.

  19. #11469
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 21, 2012

    Belgium National Day 2012




    Belgian National Day is the national holiday of Belgium commemorated annually on 21 July. It is one of Belgium's ten public holidays and marks the anniversary of the investiture of King Leopold I, the country's first monarch, in 1831.

    Moules-frites or moules et frites is a main dish of mussels and French fries originating in Belgium. The title of the dish is French, moules meaning mussels and frites fries, with the Dutch name for the dish meaning the same. It is considered the national dish of Belgium.
    Last edited by 9A; 07-17-2022 at 07:39 AM.

  20. #11470
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    December 2, 2021

    Georges Seurat’s 162nd Birthday






    Today’s Doodle celebrates French painter Georges Seurat, who captured the natural qualities of light in scenes of contemporary Parisian life with his signature painting techniques known as Pointillism and Divisionism. Seurat’s innovative methods gave rise to the school of Neo-Impressionism, an avant-garde 19th century movement that forever changed the course of modern art.

    Georges Seurat was born into a prosperous family in Paris, France, on this day in 1859. He began formal artistic training as a teenager and furthered his education at the prestigious fine arts institution École des Beaux-Arts in 1878. Seurat developed a fascination with the science behind art during his studies, but soon became disenchanted with the confines of academic tradition. He delved into the scientific study of color theory and optical physics to develop an original style he coined “chromo-luminarism,” later known as Pointillism or Divisionism.

    After many drafts on small boards, a meeting with a 100-year-old chemist, and years of experimentation, Seurat finished the painting widely considered his masterpiece at only 26, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte — 1884,” now in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago. An encapsulation of the Pointillist technique is recreated in the Doodle artwork. When viewed from the proper distance, the mural-sized painting tricks the observer into perceiving over 200,000 tiny brushstrokes and dabs of contrasting color on its canvas as a shimmering, cohesive scene of an island in the Seine outside of Paris.

    Seurat’s obsession with color theory has prompted some art historians to hypothesize that his techniques were influenced by the atmospheric effects of the volcanic eruptions that created some of the most colorful sunsets recorded during the 1800s. Although the exact inspirations for his artistic innovations remain up for debate, Seurat has had an impact on the visual culture. His monumental work has inspired countless artists across disciplines, a Broadway musical, and has even been featured in a blockbuster film.

    Here’s to an artist who never lost sight of the big picture!

  21. #11471
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    December 2, 2013

    Maria Callas' 90th Birthday



    Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini and, further, to the works of Verdi and Puccini; and, in her early career, to the music dramas of Wagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina ["the Divine one"].

  22. #11472
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    December 2, 2017

    Ratiba El-Hefny’s 86th Birthday



    In the year 1961, for an admission price of six piaster, Cairo’s Khedivial Opera House opened its doors to the general public for a very special performance — Franz Lehár’s ‘The Merry Widow,’ translated into Arabic and performed by famed Arab soprano, Ratiba El-Hefny. It was the first time that the world of opera opened up to every Egyptian. The performance also propelled Ratiba El-Hefny to a career that spanned more than 500 operatic performances, winning her fame and recognition at home and abroad.

    El-Hefny learned to play piano at a very young age, achieving professional proficiency. She was also adept at traditional instruments such as the qanun and the oud. Her fluency in classical and Arabic music led to operatic performances in Egypt and across Europe. German lieds were another speciality.

    El-Hefny held several senior influential positions, including the Dean of the Higher Institute of Arabic Music for almost a decade. Her special passion was opening up the world of music to children, and to this end she encouraged the Cairo Opera Children’s Choir and Oum Koulthum Ensemble for Arabic Music.

    On what would have been El-Hefny’s 86th birthday, today’s Doodle showcases her love for the piano, her encouragement of young musical talent, and her excellence in Arabic and classical music.

  23. #11473
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    November 26, 2020

    Frank Bailey's 95th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by West Yorkshire-based guest artist Nicole Miles, celebrates Guyanese-British firefighter and social worker Frank Bailey, who is widely considered the first Black firefighter of post-war London. Among his pioneering accomplishments in the name of diversity and inclusion, Bailey is also credited as one of the first Black social workers specializing in mental health in London’s Kensington and Chelsea borough.

    Frank Arthur Bailey was born on this day in 1925 in British Guiana [now Guyana], South America. He attended local schools and then took a job on a German trade ship, which brought him to New York. There he found work in a hospital where he staged a walkout in protest of the institution’s separate dining rooms for different types of employees. The subsequent integration of the dining facilities proved just one of Bailey’s many successful challenges to an unequal status quo.

    Bailey moved to London in 1953 and caught wind that Black people were not being hired by the city’s fire service. Not one to stand idly by in the face of injustice, Bailey applied to join the West Ham Fire Brigade and made history when he was accepted into service. A lifelong advocate for workers’ rights, Bailey became a union branch representative before the repeated denial of promotions pushed him to leave his post in 1965.

    Bailey then transitioned into social work and became the first Black legal advisor for Black youths at Marylebone Magistrates Court.

    Happy Birthday, Frank Bailey. Your actions continue to encourage others to never give up in the fight for equality for all.

  24. #11474
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 27, 2021

    Google's 23rd Birthday



    It’s said that one chance encounter can change the course of your life. In Google’s case, a chance encounter between two computer scientists changed the course of the Internet and the lives of millions.

    In 1997, Sergey Brin, a graduate student at Stanford University, just so happened to be assigned to show Larry Page, who was considering Stanford for graduate school at the time, around campus. By the next year, the two Google co-founders were building a search engine together in their dorm rooms and developing their first prototype. In 1998, Google Inc. was officially born.

    Every day, there are billions of searches on Google in more than 150 languages around the globe, and while much has changed from the early days of Google, from its first server housed in a cabinet built out of toy blocks to its servers now being housed in more than 20 data centers globally, its mission of making the world’s information accessible to everyone remains the same.

    Happy 23rd Birthday, Google!

  25. #11475
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    November 11, 2018

    Poland Independence Day 2018



    Today’s Doodle, created by Warsaw-based illustrator Jan Bajtlik, celebrates Poland as the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of regaining its independence. From the bustling capital city of Warsaw to other towns and villages, celebrations will include marches, parades and concerts among other events, with Polish white-and-red flags proudly displayed on all buildings. The presidential palace will be illuminated in the national colors, and at noon on the big day Poles across the country to join in singing the national anthem. The National Bank of Poland has even issued special five-zloty coins in an edition of 38,424,000 — one for every Polish citizen.

    National Day is a break from work for Poles, who take the opportunity to celebrate their country’s culture, proudly displaying the red and white national colors, and enjoying time with friends and family.

    Happy National Day Poland!

  26. #11476
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 18, 2022

    Oskar Sala’s 112th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates what would have been the 112th birthday of Oskar Sala, an innovative electronic music composer and physicist. Recognized for producing sound effects on a musical instrument called a mixture-trautonium, Salas electrified the world of television, radio and film.

    Sala was born in Greiz, Germany, in 1910 and was immersed in music since birth. His mother was a singer and his father was an ophthalmologist with musical talent. At 14, Sala began creating compositions and songs for instruments like the violin and piano.

    When Sala first heard a device called the trautonium, he became fascinated by the tonal possibilities and the technology the instrument offered. His life mission became mastering the trautonium and developing it further which inspired his studies in physics and composition at school.

    This new focus led Sala to develop his own instrument called the mixture-trautonium. With his education as a composer and an electro-engineer, he created electronic music that set his style apart from others. The mixture-trautonium’s architecture is so unique that it was capable of playing several sounds or voices simultaneously.

    From behind the door of a recording studio, Sala composed musical pieces and sound effects for many television, radio and movie productions, such as Rosemary [1959] and The Birds [1962]. The instrument created noises like bird cries, hammering and door and window slams.

    Sala received several awards for his work—he gave many interviews, met numerous artists and was honored in radio broadcasts and movies. In 1995, he donated his original mixture-trautonium to the German Museum for Contemporary Technology.

    Sala also built the Quartett-Trautonium, Concert Trautonium and the Volkstrautonium. His efforts in electronic music opened the field of subharmonics. With his dedication and creative energy, he became a one-man orchestra.

    Happy birthday, Oskar Sala!

  27. #11477
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 18, 2011

    Marine Day 2011



    Marine Da, also known as "Ocean Day" or "Sea Day", is a Japanese national holiday usually celebrated on the third Monday in July. The purpose of the holiday is to give thanks for the ocean's bounty and to consider the importance of the ocean to Japan as a maritime nation.

    Many people take advantage of the holiday and summer weather to take a beach trip. Other ocean-related festivities are observed as well. The date roughly coincides with the end of the rainy season in much of the Japan mainland.

  28. #11478
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 18, 2018

    Kurt Masur’s 91st Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates Maestro Kurt Masur, world-renowned German conductor and humanitarian.

    Born in the Prussian town of Brieg [now in Poland], Masur studied music and trained as a pianist, organist, cellist, and percussionist in East Germany. A damaged tendon in his right hand at the age of 16 ended his playing career, but propelled Masur to concentrate on conducting.

    Beyond numerous musical distinctions and titles, Mazur received global cultural and humanitarian honors including Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor from the French government, New York City Cultural Ambassador, Commander Cross of Merit of the Polish Republic, Honorary Citizen of Brieg, the Leo Baeck Medal for promoting tolerance and social justice, and a Goldene Henne award for public policy work.

    The maestro is remembered for his belief in the power of music to “bring humanity closer together,” especially when he led the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Brahm’s German Requiem in a nationally televised memorial for the 9/11 attacks.

    Masur was instrumental in leading worldwide orchestras and orchestrating peace around the world. Today’s Doodle depicts the maestro’s robust conducting style, notably baton-less due to his childhood hand injury.

    Happy 91st birthday, Maestro!

  29. #11479
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 18, 2018

    Gino Bartali’s 104th Birthday





    For most cyclists, winning a major race like the Tour de France or the Giro d’Italia would represent the crowning achievement of an athletic career. For champion road cyclist Gino Bartali, winning both of these competitions—thrice and twice, respectively—was just part of his legacy as both an athlete and humanitarian.

    Born in Florence on this day in 1914, Bartali was not only a talented athlete, but used his celebrity and skill as a cyclist to help people under threat of deportation, or worse. Having started competitive cycling at age 13, he won more than 180 races, making him a local hero throughout the 1930s and 1940s. During World War II, his status enabled him to ride through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside undisturbed by wartime officials, making it possible for him to conceal documents in his bike’s handlebars for Jews who needed forged identity cards to save their lives. He continued this work even after being questioned and threatened by Mussolini’s government agents.

    It wasn’t until 2003 that stories began to emerge about Bartali’s quiet heroism during the war, which included hiding a Jewish family in his basement. Risking his own freedom and safety to protect others, Bartali turned his sport into a race to save lives.

    Buon compleanno Gino Bartali!

  30. #11480
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 17, 2018

    Georges Lemaître’s 124th Birthday




    Most people have heard of the Big Bang theory, but fewer recognize the name Georges Lemaître, the man who came up with the hypothesis that transformed our understanding of astrophysics.

    Born on this day in 1894, Lemaître was a Belgian Catholic priest who proposed that the universe began as a single primordial atom, or “Cosmic Egg.” Although his thesis was based on calculations derived from Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, Einstein initially dismissed Lemaître’s work, remarking, "Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious." Two years later, Einstein changed his mind.

    Lemaître’s 1927 paper theorizing that the universe was expanding was soon substantiated by Edwin Hubble’s observations, which were published in 1929. Trained in physics at Cambridge, Harvard, and MIT, Lemaître accurately estimated the numerical value that astronomers would come to call the Hubble constant—a unit of measurement that describes the universe’s rate of expansion. Compared to Lemaître’s small scientific readership in Belgium, Hubble’s work received much wider circulation. As a result, Hubble’s name is more often associated with the Big Bang, which birthed a whole new branch of science known as relativistic cosmology.

    Lemaître was not completely overlooked in his day. In 1934 he received the prestigious Francqui prize, the highest scientific accolade in Belgium [one of his nominators was Einstein himself!]. Several other international scientific awards honored Lemaître’s legacy, and a crater on the moon was named for him in 1970.

    Today’s animated Doodle depicts Lemaître within the constantly expanding universe that he first envisioned, surrounded by galaxies expanding outward just as he said they would.

    Happy Birthday Georges Lemaître!

  31. #11481
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 16, 2018

    Müzeyyen Senar’s 100th Birthday



    At just 14 years old, Müzeyyen Senar performed Ottoman classical music for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic. It was the first of many special performances by The Diva of the Republic and the beginning of a musical legacy spanning seven decades and ushering in a new era of Turkish classical music.

    As a young girl, Senar listened to her mother’s renditions of poetry and readings from the Quran. By the age of 5, she developed a stutter, which affected her speech throughout her life. When she sang however, she emphasized each syllable with clarity, developing a distinctive vocal style that was instantly recognizable.

    Senar progressed rapidly from singing at weddings to regular appearances on radio By age 15, she was billed as the headliner at popular Istanbul music halls an studied with famous Turkish composers who helped to hone her special talent. She went on to make numerous recordings and play leading roles in films from the 1940s through the 1970s, ultimately portraying herself in the 1976 film Analar Ölmez.

    A century after her birth, Today’s Doodle depicts Senar with mic in hand and highlights the singular relationship Senar cultivated with her audience—whether a single listener sitting by the radio at home or hundreds in a concert hall, she always made an intimate connection..

    In 1988 she was awarded the prestigious State Artist Award, but turned it down. Nevertheless her legacy endures a century after her birth.

    Iyi ki doğdun Müzeyyen Senar!

  32. #11482
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 22, 2021

    Bunpheng Faiphiuchai’s 89th Birthday



    For those looking to understand the heritage of Thailand’s northeastern Isan region—the nation’s largest territory that is home to over 22 million people—no other artistic phenomenon reflects its identity more than the poetic style of folk music known as Mo Lam. Today’s Doodle celebrates the 89th birthday of the Thai singer crowned the “Queen of Mo Lam,” Bunpheng Faiphiuchai.

    Born on this day in 1932 in Ubon Ratchathani Province of Isan, Thailand, Bunpheng Faiphiuchai began performing Mo Lam at a young age. Mo Lam performances were uncomplicated during this era—one male and one female vocalist brought stories from Isan literature to life by holding a musical “debate” accompanied by the rhythmic sounds of the khaen [a bamboo mouth organ depicted in the Doodle artwork].

    After years of training, Faiphiuchai became known for her witty philosophical responses to her male counterparts and soon landed a job as a Mo Lam performer. By 1955, Faiphiuchai recorded more full-length albums than any other woman in the genre. She complemented her illustrious singing career with philanthropic endeavors such as promoting infectious disease prevention, environmental initiatives, and other forms of Thai performance art.

    Faiphiuchai was named a Thai National Artist in 1997 for her outstanding cultural contributions and passed down this unique Mo Lam expertise to numerous students throughout her life. Today, many of her pupils are well-known performers of Mo Lam which remains a foundational aspect of Thailand’s rich cultural heritage.

    Happy Birthday, Bunpheng Faiphiuchai! Thank you for fostering the next generation of Mo Lam performers!
    Last edited by 9A; 07-18-2022 at 06:19 AM.

  33. #11483
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 22, 2020

    Celebrating Benyamin Sueb



    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Indonesia-based guest artist Isa Indra Permana, commemorates iconic Indonesian actor, comedian, singer, songwriter, writer, director, and producer Benyamin “Bang Ben” Sueb, who championed Jakarta, Indonesia’s Betawi culture as the star of more than 50 movies and composer of over 300 original songs. On this day in 2018, Jakarta inaugurated Benyamin Sueb Park, a cultural center dedicated to upholding the Betawi heritage to which Sueb devoted so much of his life.

    Benyamin Sueb was born on March 5th, 1939 in present-day Jakarta. He first entered the music scene in the 1950s as a member of the “Melody Boys,” a band that drew upon a wide variety of international influences. Sueb later relied on more traditional Betawi musical idioms to write hits including “Nonton Bioskop” [“Watching Movies”] and “Hujan Grimis” [“Drizzle”] and helped to revitalize the gabang kromong style through beloved songs like “Ondel-Ondel” [Giant Puppets].

    Sueb’s acting career took off in the early ‘70s, and through the lens of his often playfully comedic films, he is credited with painting a more accurate depiction of Betawi culture. He garnered acclaim for roles in films like “Intan Berduri” [“Thorny Diamond,” 1972] and “Si Doel Anak Modern” [“Doel the Modern Child,” 1976], both of which earned him Best Actor Citra Awards at the Indonesian Film Festival.

    In 1990, Benyamin created Ben’s Radio, Indonesia’s only radio station dedicated to Betawi, which continues to play Sueb’s music to this day.

    Thank you, Benyamin Sueb, for using music and humor to preserve valuable tradition and culture for generations to come!

  34. #11484
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 3, 2016

    Asep Sunandar's 61st Birthday




    Today we celebrate what would be the 61st birthday of Asep Sunandar, one of the world’s most famous wayang golek masters. Wayang golek is a style of puppet theater that hails from Sunda, in the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. It’s an art form that takes years to master, and is an important piece of Sunda’s culture.

    Wayang golek puppets are made of wood, and are controlled by rods that are connected to their hands and head. The wayang golek master is responsible for the entire show - he or she decides which story they will tell, most often an Indian epic story, and manages all of the wooden puppets’ movements and voices. Well over 10 characters can appear in each show!

    Sunandar delighted audiences for years with his performances, which could last from dusk ‘til dawn. Our Google doodle features Sunandar performing with two wayang golek puppets.

    Happy birthday, Asep Sunandar!

  35. #11485
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    September 3, 2016

    Sybil Kathigasu’s 117th birthday





    Sybil Kathigasu was never one to back down. A freedom fighter and nurse, Kathigasu and her husband supported the resistance forces during the Japanese occupation of Malaya until their arrest in 1943. For several years leading up to their capture, the Kathigasus secretly supplied medicine, provided medical services, and shared information obtained by listening to BCC on their shortwave radio.

    After her release from prison, Kathigasu was awarded the George Medal for bravery. To this day, she’s the only Malayan woman to have received the award.

    Today’s Doodle shows Kathigasu in her nurse’s uniform outside her former residence in Papan, Perak. The patterned ribbon of the George Medal surrounds the Doodle, a tribute to Kathigasu’s courageous contributions to the anti-occupation movement.

    On the 117th anniversary of Kathigasu’s birth, we remember and celebrate her tireless dedication to freedom. Thank you, Kathigasu, for your courage and the powerful legacy you’ve left behind.

  36. #11486
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    June 21, 2012

    Yuri Kondratyuk's 115th Birthday






    Yuri Kondratyuk was a self-educated mechanic who, 50 years before lunar flights, foresaw ways of reaching the moon, calculating the best means of achieving a lunar landing. His theory of the gravitational slingshot trajectory to accelerate a spacecraft, known today as the "Kondratyuk Route", was eventually adopted by the engineers of the Apollo program for American lunar expeditions.

    His personal story is also fascinating, though ultimately heartbreaking. Yuri's developing theories on space travel were happening during a time when such pursuits were considered "absurd", and consequently were prohibited by the ruling government of his time. Because of this, his work – and much of his life – was shrouded in secrecy. Even his real name was a secret [it was Aleksandr Gnatovich Shargei]. Fortunately, history has been much kinder to his legacy, and today he is considered an early pioneer of space exploration. For his doodle, we felt that while it is not quite the real thing, it was only right to show an aspirational Kondratyuk gazing about – and amongst – the stars.

  37. #11487
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jun 21, 2012

    Viktor Tsoi's 50th Birthday



    Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was a Soviet singer and songwriter who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of Russian-language music.

    He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of Russian/Soviet rock and is credited with popularizing the genre throughout the Soviet Union. He retains a devoted following in many ex-Soviet countries, such as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, where he is known as one of the most influential and popular people in the history of Russian music.

  38. #11488
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jun 23, 2012

    Alan Turing's 100th Birthday





    Alan Turing was a completely original thinker who shaped the modern world, but many people have never heard of him.

    Before computers existed, he invented a type of theoretical machine now called a Turing Machine, which formalized what it means to compute a number. Our doodle for his 100th birthday shows a live action Turing Machine with twelve interactive programming puzzles

    [hint: go back and play it again after you solve the first six!].






    A statue of Turing by sculptor Stephen Kettle, on display at Bletchley Park, where he worked to decipher the Enigma code during World War II.

    Turing’s importance extends far beyond Turing Machines. His work deciphering secret codes drastically shortened World War II and pioneered early computer technology. He was also an early innovator in the field of artificial intelligence, and came up with a way to test if computers could think – now known as the Turing Test. Besides this abstract work, he was down to earth; he designed and built real machines, even making his own relays and wiring up circuits. This combination of pure math and computing machines was the foundation of computer science.





    A photo of Turing completing a race, on display at Bletchley Park.

    As a human being, Turing was also extraordinary and original. He was eccentric, witty, charming and loyal. He was a marathon runner with world class time. He was also openly gay in a time and place where this was not accepted. While in many ways the world was not ready for Alan Turing, and lost him too soon, his legacy lives on in modern computing.




    Various iterations of the Turing doodle’s design.

    Turing is a hero to us, so we wanted to make a special doodle for his centennial. We started by doing deep research into his work. Much of it is abstract and hard to show, so we went through a lot of designs before finding one that seemed workable. Turing Machines are theoretical objects in formal logic, not physical things, so we had to walk a fine line between technical accuracy and accessibility. We struggled especially to find a good representation for programs, and to choose puzzles of appropriate complexity; we did a lot of user testing and iteration, more than for any past doodle. We hope you will enjoy our tribute to this great man.

    Posted by Jered Wierzbicki and Corrie Scalisi, Software Engineers, and Sophia Foster-Dimino, Doodler
    Last edited by 9A; 07-19-2022 at 07:04 AM.

  39. #11489
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    May 31, 2021

    Akira Ifukube's 107th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 107th birthday of Japanese composer Akira Ifukube—a prodigious talent in classical music and cinematic film scores widely known for his work on the original soundtrack for the “Godzilla” movies of the 1950s.

    Akira Ifukube was born on this day in 1914 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, into a distinguished family lineage that traces its origins back to at least the 7th-century. A passionate listener of European musical scores as a teenager, he aspired to intertwine his deep-rooted national identity into original compositions, an idea further solidified after listening to Russian composer Stravinsky’s 1913 emotive orchestral piece “The Rite of Spring” at 14 years old.

    In 1935, Akira left home to study forestry at Hokkaido University, where he wrote ”Japanese Rhapsody,” his first original orchestral number. Following a brief stint as a forestry officer and lumber processor, he chose to pursue music composition full time. In 1947, he released the first of his more than 250 film scores that he produced over the next half-century. The height of his film score career came in 1954 when he wrote the soundtrack for “Godzilla,” whose signature roar he created by taking a resin-covered leather glove and dragging it against the loose string of a double bass.

    Outside of his lifelong work as a composer, Akira served as president of the Tokyo College of Music starting in 1976 and published a 1,000-page book on theory entitled “Orchestration.” The Japanese government honored his lifetime achievements with both the Order of Culture and the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

    Happy birthday, Akira Ifukube!

  40. #11490
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 6, 2021

    Shusaku Arakawa's 85th Birthday




    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 85th birthday of Japanese-American author, conceptual artist, and trans-humanist architect Shusaku Arakawa. Together with his wife, Arakawa chased a philosophical quest for immortality through experimental paintings, literature, and, at the grandest scale, architectural oddities—a concept coined Reversible Destiny.

    Shusaku Arakawa was born on this day in 1936 in Nagoya, Japan. His early life was defined by mathematics and medicine studies before he pursued surrealist painting at Tokyo’s Musashino Art University. As an early adopter of the international conceptual art movement, he joined similarly minded artists after his 1961 move to New York City. Soon after, Shusako met a poet who became his lifelong artistic collaborator and spouse: Madeline Gins.

    In 1963, the couple began the ambitious “The Mechanism of Meaning” series—an assemblage of 83 large panel paintings crafted with the aim of investigating the mysteries of human consciousness that required over a decade to bring to fruition. Global exhibitions of the masterwork funded the couple’s next lofty endeavor: extending life expectancy by fostering a novel relationship with the built world called “procedural architecture.” They hypothesized that engaging residents with challenging interior designs, such as steep and uneven floor plans, would boost immunity and fight aging by promoting an active and thoughtful relationship with one’s surroundings. Their first residential works of procedural architecture can be found at Reversible Destiny Lofts, a complex in Tokyo and the inspiration for today’s Doodle artwork.

    Arakawa and Gins devoted their lives to designing an architectural fountain of youth and founded multiple institutions to advance this project, including the Reversible Destiny Foundation. Today, several installations of their eccentric architecture remain open to the public, such as the Reversible Destiny Lofts. This renown project comprises a brightly colored residential complex in Tokyo that served as the couple’s first work of procedural architecture, which they dedicated to Helen Keller.

    Happy birthday, Shusaku Arakawa!

  41. #11491
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 6, 2022

    Charlie Hill's 71st Birthday




    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 71st birthday of Charlie Hill, the first Native American stand-up comedian to appear on national television. Hill—who had Oneida, Mohawk and Cree heritage—worked his way to comedic fame and was one of the first performers to take a public stand challenging Native stereotypes on major talk show programs. Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Alanah Astehtsi Otsistohkwa [Morningstar] Jewell, a French-First Nations artist from Oneida Nation of the Thames.

    Hill was born on this day in 1951 in Detroit, Michigan. At age 11, he moved to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin’s reservation where his father had grown up. On weekends, the Hill family enjoyed watching comedy shows together. Hill was particularly moved by comedian Dick Gregory, who fused activism supporting the Native American civil rights movement with comedy in a way he had never seen before. Hill was inspired to do the same. Having set a vision for his future, he later enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, majoring in speech and drama.

    After college, Hill moved to New York City and became involved with the La Mama Experimental Theater Club and later moved to Seattle and joined the Native American Theatre Ensemble. After a few years of practice, he headed to Los Angeles to pursue his dream and work as an actor and comedian. He stood out among his contemporaries as a talented musician who would often incorporate the harmonica into his performances. He was also an avid reader who spent hours in the library educating himself. He set a high standard for himself and dedicated hours to studying other comedians to learn about different styles, timing, and the development of a routine. He would regularly ask other comics for tips and feedback for his own performances.

    In the 1970s, Hill earned a spot to perform at Hollywood’s famous Comedy Store, a scouting ground for major network TV. There, he became fast friends with some of the top comedians of the time. Having made a name for himself in town at the age of 26, Hill received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to debut on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977. This was not only a pivotal moment for Hill, but for all Native people who were seeing someone who looked like them on TV for the first time. However, the show’s writers asked Hill to portray a demeaning Native stereotype to which he refused. He felt his duty to stop the perpetuation of racist steretypes was more important than any career opportunity.

    After his debut, Hill became a regular on late-night talk shows and exclusive comedy clubs. He went on to perform stand-up around the world and appeared in films and TV shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman, Roseanne and Moesha.

    In 2009, Hill received the Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award from the Screen Actors Guild. He also won the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award for his exceptional work as a Native artist.

    Happy 71st birthday, Charlie Hill!
    Last edited by 9A; 07-19-2022 at 07:20 AM.

  42. #11492
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 6, 2012

    José María Velasco's 172nd Birthday



    José María Tranquilino Francisco de Jesús Velasco Gómez Obregón, generally known as José María Velasco, was a 19th-century Mexican polymath, most famous as a painter who made Mexican geography a symbol of national identity through his paintings. He was both one of the most popular artists of the time and internationally renowned. He received many distinctions such as the gold medal of the Mexican National Expositions of Bellas Artes in 1874 and 1876; the gold medal of the Philadelphia International Exposition in 1876, on the centenary of U.S. independence; and the medal of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889, on the centenary of the outbreak of the French Revolution. His painting El valle de México is considered Velasco's masterpiece, of which he created seven different renditions. Of all the nineteenth-century painters, Velasco was the "first to be elevated in the post-Revolutionary period as an exemplar of nationalism."

  43. #11493
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 14, 2012

    Gustav Klimt's 150th Birthday



    The doodle team and I are especially excited to celebrate Gustav Klimt this year! An artist whose style ranges from graphic, to photorealistic, to florid, Klimt is as diverse in his works as he is expressive. His work is often emotional, mysterious, and narrative-- attracting viewers with both his fluid forms and intriguing figures. I, personally, have been a fan of his work for as long as I can remember.

    The doodlers and I have waited for his big 150th birthday, so I knew that I had to brighten up the homepage in his iconic style. Using [faux] gold leaf and oil paint, I wanted to pay homage to Klimt with his most famous painting, "The Kiss." I hope that our humble doodle does his brilliant legacy some justice!

    posted by Jennifer Hom

  44. #11494
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 14, 2014

    World Cup 2014 #63 - Germany



  45. #11495
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 15, 2014

    Emmeline Pankhurst's 156th Birthday




    British political activist and women’s rights leader Emmeline Pankhurst leads the march in our homepage in the United Kingdom. Although she was criticized for her militant tactics, Pankhurst is widely recognized for her important role in achieving women’s suffrage. Listed as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th century, Pankhurst was described as someone who “shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back."

  46. #11496
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 18, 2014
    Nelson Mandela's 96th Birthday








    Google Doodler Katy Wu tells us a little bit about the creative process behind making the Nelson Mandela doodle.

    Getting to celebrate someone as monumental and influential as Nelson Mandela must have been exciting, but also kind of intimidating.

    A few months ago I was looking to work on a bigger project and the time was right, so I got assigned to work on the Mandela doodle. At first I thought I would have to make a very serious, somber sort of doodle and I wasn’t sure what to do

    But after learning more about Mandela as a person I started to understand that he was a man with a lot of character, and not always just a serious figure. That started to give me more ideas about how to approach this doodle.

    I read about Nelson Mandela online and in books to get a better idea of who he was as a person. I also received a lot of help from our local doodle manager in South Africa when it came to fact checking smaller lesser known details about South African culture, history, and people

    Something that stood out to me about Nelson Mandela was his eloquent way with words. I thought his words gave a great insight into the kind of man he was, so I wanted to focus the creative direction of the doodle on his quotes against a backdrop of the history of South Africa.

    While working on the Doodle I spent a lot of time looking at examples of typography online and in design and typography books. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out which typefaces can best abstractly convey the sort of feeling or atmosphere I wanted in each illustration.

    The font, artwork, and story had to work together on this project. Most of the quotes are hand drawn except for the first 2 slides. By studying how other fonts are designed I began to draw my own so that I could better integrate the font with my own artwork

    I hope it inspires people to learn from Nelson Mandela and his way of life, to be kind, to understand, and to respect other people and our differences.

    Thanks Katy!
    Last edited by 9A; 07-19-2022 at 07:48 AM.

  47. #11497
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 20, 2014
    Colombia Independence Day 2014




    The Colombian Declaration of Independence occurred on July 20, 1810 when the Junta de Santa Fe was formed in Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of the Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Granada, to govern the territory autonomously from Spain.

  48. #11498
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 20, 2011

    Gregor Mendel's 189th Birthday


    Gregor Johann Mendel, was a biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brünn, Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire [today's Czech Republic] and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Though farmers had known for millennia that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

  49. #11499
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    Jul 20, 2011

    Colombian Independence Day 2011





    Illustrated by Claudia Rueda


    The biodiversity of Colombia is the variety of indigenous organisms in the country with the second-highest biodiversity in the world, behind Brazil. As of 2021, around 63,000 species are registered in Colombia, of which 14% are endemic. The country occupies worldwide the first position in number of orchids, birds and butterflies, second position in plants, amphibians and fresh water fish, third place in species of palm trees and reptiles and globally holds the sixth position in biodiversity of mammals.

  50. #11500
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,581
    Rep Power
    464
    July 20, 2010

    Nam June Paik






    Nam June Paik [Korean: 백남준; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006] was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use [1974] of the term "electronic super highway" to describe the future of telecommunications.
    Last edited by 9A; 07-20-2022 at 06:59 AM.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

[REMOVE ADS]

Ralph Terrana
MODERATOR

Welcome to Soulful Detroit! Kindly Consider Turning Off Your Ad BlockingX
Soulful Detroit is a free service that relies on revenue from ad display [regrettably] and donations. We notice that you are using an ad-blocking program that prevents us from earning revenue during your visit.
Ads are REMOVED for Members who donate to Soulful Detroit. [You must be logged in for ads to disappear]
DONATE HERE »
And have Ads removed.