For centuries, publishers and printers had the power when it came to books. This locked up ideas and deprived authors of the fruits of their labour. On 10 April 1710, the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act, came into force. It recognised a 14-year right in an author to copy, that is, to have… Continue reading #OTD 10 April
Author: The chronographer
#OTD 9 April
Whatever else immediacy brings, it brings us closer to a primal state where reaction is necessary and reflection a luxury. On 9 April 2017 Dr David Dao was a passenger on a United flight out of Chicago who is said to have reacted, when asked to deplane an overbooked flight, by saying “I can’t get… Continue reading #OTD 9 April
#OTD 8 April
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but Art is in the eye of administrators. After Waterloo, the Louvre had a problem. It was required to return the Apollo Belvedere to the Vatican and the Venus de’ Medici to Florence. At the same time, Lord Elgin had just sold his marbles to the… Continue reading #OTD 8 April
#OTD 7 April
7 April is the traditional birthday of the internet. On 7 April 1969, RFC 1 was published. The first RFCs, or Requests For Comments, were records of unofficial notes. They are now official records, the internet being as prone to the Janus of transparency and bureaucracy as the rest of us. For teachers who have… Continue reading #OTD 7 April
#OTD 6 April
The fiscal or financial or budget year is different for everyone. Most public companies use the calendar year. The various local, state and federal governments of Australia, being the Antipodes, do the opposite, starting on 1 July. In the UK, the fiscal year starts in between, on 1 April. For the government, at least. English… Continue reading #OTD 6 April
#OTD 18 February
On February 18, 1911, French pilot Henri Pequet carried the first official mail flown by aeroplane. The flight occurred in what is now India, with over 6,000 cards and letter going from Allahabad to Naini, a 10km trip. Ninety nine years to the day later, a modern mail starts flowing with the first release by… Continue reading #OTD 18 February
#OTD 17 February
Early in 1977, Archbishop Janani Luwum delivered a note of protest to dictator Idi Amin against the policies of arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances. Luwum’s immediate disappearance was not unexplained, as he was arrested for treason. His killing was not arbitrary, as Radio Uganda reported that he had been killed in a car collision while… Continue reading #OTD 17 February
#OTD 16 February
On 16 February 1945, the then-territory of Alaska passed the US’s first state or territory anti-discrimination law. It took a couple of non-white women, or more correctly a girl and a woman, to get there. The year before, 15-year-old high schooler Alberta Schenck was sacked from her ushering job at the Alaska Dream Theatre in… Continue reading #OTD 16 February
#OTD 15 February
The heliocentrist and Copernicist Galileo Galilei was born on 15 February 1564. In one of history’s layered ironies, the two names given to the most famous person to suffer the Roman Inquisition came from the pejorative given to the Roman Church by many Romans including the decidedly non-Christian Emperor Julian. Julian wrote the polemic “Against… Continue reading #OTD 15 February
#OTD 14 February
One day, new ways wake up as traditions. In the 1950s, CS Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia; in it, the affairs of Narnia were discussed by a parliament of owls; the books sold well; and somewhere along the way “parliament” became the “correct” collective for owls. Lewis took his legislature from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Parlement… Continue reading #OTD 14 February