Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Can it Rain Diamonds?

November 29, 2015

If you happen to be on Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, or Neptune, it sure can! Not that anyone has actually been able to observe this amazing phenomenon first hand, but planetary scientists think it’s likely that the gas giants of our solar system feature showers of diamonds along with their other amazing meteorological phenomena. The vast, gaseous spheres of these planets are plentiful in methane and other hydrocarbons. Epic lightning storms turn the methane into concentrations of carbon, which becomes graphite—and then diamond—as it falls through the crushing pressures of the gas giants’ atmospheres. What happens to these showers of Liz Taylor’s dreams? On colder planets like Neptune, they may pile up on the solid surface of the core (if it has one), but on hot giants like Jupiter, they may liquefy toward the core into lakes or seas of amorphous diamond. As the crew of Firefly might say: shiny!

Rough Diamond Solitaire Ring | $695

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s the Point?

November 28, 2015

Although mechanical voting machines are largely a thing of the past, you might remember the large, manual contraptions, their satisfying click as levers were pushed down, and a familiar symbol: little silhouettes of hands pointing to party lines. The symbol in question has gone by many names throughout history. Most commonly called the “printer’s fist” today, historically it also went by the name of manicule. William Sherman’s “Toward a History of the Manicule” points to the origins, use, and meaning of this handy icon. He notes that manicules (from the Latin manicula, or “little hand”) hail from 12th century Spain as a directional device in manuscript marginalia. But it’s not until the 18th or 19th century that the manicule becomes ubiquitous shorthand for “look here.” Sherman asserts that “printer’s fist” is printer-speak for the symbol, used extensively in pamphlets, broadsides and signage during the golden age of letterpress printing. And the printer’s fist is enjoying a resurgence in the letterpress revival. Transcending its original function as an anthropomorphic arrow, it has invaded pop culture–from Monty Python animation to contemporary typophiles’ tattoos.

The essence of the manicule / printer’s fist as universal pointer may not lie anywhere in its academic history. Rather, it may be man’s best friend who most clearly demonstrates the impact of the pointing finger. Recent research has shown that part of the long-standing, uncanny bond between dogs and people relates to canines’ ability to comprehend human gestures, including pointing. Not even our fellow primates have an innate recognition of this common gesture of non-verbal communication. Our interactions with dogs can teach us much about our own nature, including the power of a pointing index finger to convey direction and importance in both text and spatial situations. Got it? Good boy!

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Could a Dress be Dangerous?

November 27, 2015

If you were a lady living in Victorian-era France, North America, or the U.K. and your favorite color was green, yep. For years, women flocked to a lovely emerald green hue used in fabrics and floral headdresses. Super flattering, right? Unfortunately for them (and the factory workers who made them and the fellow party guests the green-loving ladies interacted with), that brilliant hue was achieved by combining copper and arsenic. A group of society women found out about this somewhat inconvenient and dangerous fact and promptly blew the whistle, calling for a study and expose on the deadly duds. An expert concluded that a standard floral headdress contained enough arsenic to poison 20 people, while the green tarlatan used in ball gowns contained as much as half its weight in arsenic. What’s more, at least 60 grains would powder off during the course of an evening—with a lethal dose being just four or five grains for the average adult. Needless to say, this practice ended and we all went back to wearing clothing that wasn’t lethal. However, many fashion historians hypothesize that some of the older haute couture houses held on to a superstition against the bright, formerly dangerous hues, sticking with the more neutral blacks and whites that are still considered the height of chic today.

New York Fashion Designer Kit | $50

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What was the Ultimate Re-gift?

November 24, 2015

There’s no shame in a re-gift. Sometimes a sweater from your knitting-obsessed Aunt Laura just doesn’t highlight your eyes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s easy to re-wrap a candle with a scent you don’t like or return a set of socks that don’t quite fit—but what do you do with a 1250-pound, nine-foot cheddar wheel? That was the conundrum Queen Victoria faced at her 1840 wedding to Prince Albert. The cheesy gift was produced by a cooperative of cheese makers from two villages, meaning two entire villages of cheese folk felt that this would be an excellent gift for a newly married set of cousins (yep). Needless to say, Queen Victoria definitely didn’t register for this gigantic wheel of cheese and decided to send it on a tour of England instead. After its journey, however, the cheese never made it back to its rightful owner, as Queen Victoria refused to take it back. If that doesn’t make the case for gift receipts, we don’t know what does.

Mariner Cheese Board | $32

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What Does “Mary Had a Little Lamb” Have to do with Thanksgiving?

November 22, 2015

Oh, only EVERYTHING. As you enjoy your beautiful table spread, togetherness, and that fourth slice of pie, maybe give a little nod to Mary, her lamb, and Sarah Joespha Hale, the writer of the nursery rhyme. Hale campaigned for 20 years and through five presidents to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. She lobbied congressmen, wrote annual editorials, and sent letters to every governor in the United States. Sadly, no president or elected official listened to her until Abraham Lincoln. She convinced Lincoln in a letter dated September 28th, 1863 that Thanksgiving would be a great way to unify the country after the Civil War ended. Lincoln agreed and declared the last Thursday in November as our country’s third national holiday, sharing company with Independence Day and Washington’s birthday. Congress officially set the date into U.S. law in 1941. So the next time you’re passing the stuffing, give thanks for Mary and her little lamb.

Sinclair the Sheep Rug | $98

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s That Familiar Aroma?

November 17, 2015

You smell fresh popcorn, and somehow you’re transported back to that old movie house where you had your first date. Or you smell the signature odor of books, and you’re wandering the stacks of your hometown library in your mind…what is this wizardry? Oh, just your sense of smell tapping into the part of your brain responsible for memory and emotion. Our sense of smell is most closely tied to memory and emotion because the olfactory bulb—the organ that translates chemical content in the air to sensations of smell—has the most direct line to the amygdala and hippocampus, two parts of the brain that play a big role in processing memory and emotion. Our visual, auditory, and tactile senses don’t pass through these brain areas, so they don’t have such close ties to distant memories and powerful emotions. Evolutionarily speaking, the amygdala and hippocampus are primitive parts of the brain in that we share them with our earliest mammal ancestors. This helps explain why certain smells trigger powerful associations that you can’t quite put your finger on—they’re ancient associations with instinct as compelling as the call of the wild.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s the Longest Song in History?

November 15, 2015

Longplayer, an epic musical composition and A.I. project initiated by Jem Finer (of Pogues fame) has been playing for less than two percent of its intended duration. Designed to last a millennium without repetition, Longplayer is barely getting warmed up as it approaches the fifteen-year mark of its sonic lifespan. To put that in perspective, the longest Pink Floyd track is about 25 minutes (“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”), and Wagner’s Ring cycle clocks in at over 16 hours. But these compositions are mere blips compared to Longplayer’s thousand-year run. If you spent your entire life listening to the meditative tones of Longplayer (and who has the time?), you couldn’t hope to hear more than ten percent of the evolving composition. But regardless of how long you can listen, the piece offers a sensory analog to the expansiveness of time and the difficulty that the human lifespan poses to our perception of much beyond “the now.” In an age of music by instant-gratification download, Longplayer serves as a contemplative antidote to the impatient listening encouraged by MP3s or streaming audio.

Drawn to Music | $20

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s the World’s Rarest Cheese?

November 10, 2015

There are as many as 2,000 varieties of cheese in the world—something for every taste, toasted cheese, and fondue pot. Just stroll into any cheese shop in Paris worth its fromage, and you’re likely to find scores—if not hundreds—of varieties of French cheese alone. But if you’re looking for something truly unique in the realm of fermented curd, you have to go to Bjurholm, Sweden to sample the moose cheese made by Älgen Hus. That’s right, Älgen Hus (“Elk House,” because moose are also known as elk there) is the world’s only producer of cheese made from moose milk. The unusual ingredient and sole source makes this Swedish cheese the world champion for rarity. Now, a polite warning to artisanal entrepreneurs who might be thinking of venturing into the Maine woods to milk a moose and make your own moose cheese: the three (yes, just three) milk-making cow moose at Älgen Hus—Gullan, Haelga, and Juna by name—are domesticated, whereas wild moose are formidable, 1,000 pound animals that definitely haven’t signed up for cheese-making.

Cardboard Animal Heads | $30 – 61

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