Wudpeckeris in the Sales Force Automation Industry

Wudpecker

wudpecker

For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey is part of the HackerNoon Books series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The Woodpecker Who was Selfish The Woodpecker Who was Selfish STORIES THAT HELP A CHILD TO VERBAL EXPRESSION There was once a little Lady Woodpecker—such a trim, tidy little Lady Woodpecker—who wore always a natty red bonnet, and a white apron and who lived in a hole in a big Pine Tree. Her house was cozy and comfortable, all lined with moss and wool, and protected by a little brown bark door so that it was cool in the summer time and warm when the winter winds blew. But the little Lady Woodpecker was a selfish bird and she never, never asked any other birds to come and visit with her in her house in the Pine Tree. In the next tree to the little Lady Woodpecker lived a Fluffy Sparrow. His nest was loosely built and untidy and it rested insecurely in a fork of a tree so that the wind blew it this way and that way. This was because all sparrows are poor nest builders and it was not the Fluffy Sparrow’s fault at all. One day there was an unusually heavy storm and down from the tree blew the nest. So the Sparrow had now no home. Then the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered beside the little brown bark door above the little Lady Woodpecker and said: “Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the rain falls and I am very, very cold.” But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped with her bill on the wall of her house and answered: “I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am cooking juniper berries for a batch of pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.” So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the rain made him very, very cold. The next day the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said: “Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the cold and cruel wind blows and it ruffles my feathers.” But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped again with her bill on the wall of her house and answered: “I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am washing the pot in which I cooked a batch of juniper berries for a batch of pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.” So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the cold and cruel wind ruffled his feathers. The day after that the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said: “Oh, little Lady Woodpecker, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the biting frost nips my feet.” But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped again with her bill on the wall of her house and answered: “I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am making the crust for my batch of juniper berry pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.” So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the biting frost nipped his feet. But the fourth day the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered once again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said: “Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the little red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the snow blinds me.” But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped very hard with her bill on the wall of her house and answered: “I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am cleaning my floor before I sit down, all by myself, to eat my juniper berry pies.” So the blinding frost blinded the Fluffy Sparrow’s eyes. Then the last day of all the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and he said: “Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the little red bonnet, please have pity on me and take me into your house, for I do not like the rain and the wind and the frost and the snow.” But the little Lady Woodpecker did not answer the Fluffy Sparrow. And the Fluffy Sparrow lifted one claw and poked open the little bark door and he saw that no one was inside. The little Lady Woodpecker was away buying a key with which to lock her door while she ate her batch of juniper berry pies. So the Fluffy Sparrow went inside the house in the tree that was so cozy and comfortable because it was lined with moss and wool. There he was sheltered from the rain and the wind and the frost and the snow. He ate up all the batch of juniper berry pies. When the little Lady Woodpecker came home the Fluffy Sparrow was living in her house and she had to find herself a new one because she had been such a selfish bird. An Indian Folk Tale. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin. 2018. For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58107/58107-h/58107-h.htm#Page_181 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

Stories for Telling: The Woodpecker Who was Selfish

Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology

The Story-book of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . IN THE WOODS here CHAPTER LXIV. IN THE WOODS THE history of mushrooms reduced to a rule for cooking which will save us from grave dangers was enough for Simon, Mathieu, Jean, and the others, who lacked time to hear more; but Emile, Jules, and Claire were not satisfied: they wished to extend their knowledge on these strange vegetables. So their uncle took them one day to a beech wood near the village. The trees, several hundred years old and with their branches meeting at a great height, formed an arch of foliage through which, here and there, shone a ray of sunlight. Their smooth trunks, with white bark, gave the effect of enormous columns sustaining the weight of an immense building full of shade and silence. On the lofty summits crows cawed while smoothing their feathers. Occasionally a redheaded green woodpecker, surprised at its work, which consists of pecking the wormy wood with its beak to make the insects come out that it feeds on, gave a cry of alarm and flew off like a dart. In the midst of the moss with which the ground was carpeted were here and there numbers of mushrooms. Some were round, smooth, and white. Jules could not admire them enough; he likened them in his imagination to eggs laid in a mossy hollow by some wandering hen. Others were glossy red, others bright fawn-color, and still others brilliant yellow. Some, just coming out of the ground, were enveloped in a kind of bag that tears open as the mushroom grows; some, more advanced, spread out like an open umbrella. Finally, there were many that had already begun to decay. In their fetid rottenness swarmed innumerable grubs, which later would become insects. After picking a number of the principal kinds, the party sat down at the foot of a beech, on the soft moss-carpet, and Uncle Paul spoke thus: “A mushroom is the blossom of a plant that lives under ground and is called by learned men mycelium. This subterranean plant is composed of white, slender, fragile threads, resembling in their entirety a large cobweb. If you pull up a mushroom carefully you will see at the base of its stalk, in the earth that clings to it, numerous white threads of the mycelium. Let us imagine a rosebush planted so as to leave nothing but the roses above ground. The buried bush will represent the subterranean mycelium; the roses, open to the air, will represent the blossoms of the mycelium, that is to say the mushrooms.” “A rosebush,” objected Jules, “has stout branches covered with leaves; the mushroom-plant, according to what I see, has nothing of the sort. It is a kind of moldiness that branches out in the ground in white veins.” “Those white veins, so delicate that one can hardly touch them without breaking them, form the subterranean plant, without leaves or roots. They lengthen little by little in the ground to a pretty good distance from the point of departure. Then, at a favorable moment, they produce little swellings which grow under ground, become mushrooms, and burst open their bed of earth to expand in the air. This structure explains to us why mushrooms grow in groups. Each group, with the mycelium that produces it, constitutes one and the same plant.” “I have seen groups of mushrooms in a perfect circle,” Claire remarked. “If the ground is of uniform character and nowhere hinders the propagation of the subterranean vegetable in one direction rather than in another, the mycelium spreads equally on all sides, and so produces circular groups of mushrooms, which the country people sometimes call witches’ circles.” “Why witches’ circles?” asked Jules. “The ignorant and superstitious think they see an effect of witchcraft in this curious circular arrangement, whereas it is but the natural result of the uniformly equal development of the subterranean plant.” “Then there are no witches?” said Emile. “No, my dear. There are rogues who abuse the credulity of others; there are simpletons disposed to listen to them; but no one has preternatural powers.” “Since a mushroom is the blossom of a subterranean plant, of the mycelium, as you call it, must it not have stamens, pistils, ovaries?” Jules inquired. “A mushroom is in its way the blossom of a kind of vegetable, but its structure has nothing in common with that of ordinary flowers. It is a structure of a special sort, very complicated, very curious, which I shall pass by in silence so as not to overcharge your memory. “The chief function of a flower, you know, is to produce seeds. Well, the mushroom too produces seeds, but so small, so different from others, that they have a special name,—spores. Spores are the seed of the mushroom, just as acorns are the seed of the oak. That is worthy of some further explanation. Mushrooms “The mushrooms most familiar to us are composed of a sort of dome supported by a stalk. This dome is called the cap. The under side of the cap takes various shapes, of which the principal are these: Sometimes it is composed of gills which radiate from the center to the border; sometimes it is pierced by an infinity of little holes, which are the orifices of as many tubes joined together in a common mass; sometimes it is covered with fine points like those of a cat’s tongue. “Mushrooms that have the under side of the cap formed of radiating gills are called agarics; those pierced with little holes, boleti; those covered with little points, hydnei. Agarics and boleti are the most common.” Here Uncle Paul took, one by one, the mushrooms they had gathered and showed his nephews the gills of the agarics, the holes of the boleti, and the points of the hydnei. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jean-Henri Fabre (2018). The Story-book of Science. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/56795/pg56795-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

IN THE WOODS

THE NUT-WEEVIL

My youthful meditations owe some happy moments

Capricorn taught me that the problem is more obscure

THE CAPRICORN

NATURAL SELECTION: OR, THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

BIRDS—continued.

MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.

THE UNFINISHED BOOK

RELIGION

Recapitulation and Conclusion

Difficulties on Theory

Struggle for Existence

On the Origin of Species 1st Edition by Charles Darwin is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . INTRODUCTION When on board H.M.S. ‘Beagle,’ as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species—that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers. On my return home, it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it. After five years’ work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable: from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object. I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision. My work is now nearly finished; but as it will take me two or three more years to complete it, and as my health is far from strong, I have been urged to publish this Abstract. I have more especially been induced to do this, as Mr. Wallace, who is now studying the natural history of the Malay archipelago, has arrived at almost exactly the same general conclusions that I have on the origin of species. Last year he sent to me a memoir on this subject, with a request that I would forward it to Sir Charles Lyell, who sent it to the Linnean Society, and it is published in the third volume of the Journal of that Society. Sir C. Lyell and Dr. Hooker, who both knew of my work—the latter having read my sketch of 1844—honoured me by thinking it advisable to publish, with Mr. Wallace’s excellent memoir, some brief extracts from my manuscripts. This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence in my accuracy. No doubt errors will have crept in, though I hope I have always been cautious in trusting to good authorities alone. I can here give only the general conclusions at which I have arrived, with a few facts in illustration, but which, I hope, in most cases will suffice. No one can feel more sensible than I do of the necessity of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, with references, on which my conclusions have been grounded; and I hope in a future work to do this. For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done. I much regret that want of space prevents my having the satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance which I have received from very many naturalists, some of them personally unknown to me. I cannot, however, let this opportunity pass without expressing my deep obligations to Dr. Hooker, who for the last fifteen years has aided me in every possible way by his large stores of knowledge and his excellent judgment. In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which most justly excites our admiration. Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as climate, food, etc., as the only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees. In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself. The author of the ‘Vestiges of Creation’ would, I presume, say that, after a certain unknown number of generations, some bird had given birth to a woodpecker, and some plant to the misseltoe, and that these had been produced perfect as we now see them; but this assumption seems to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case of the coadaptations of organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life, untouched and unexplained. It is, therefore, of the highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and coadaptation. At the commencement of my observations it seemed to me probable that a careful study of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants would offer the best chance of making out this obscure problem. Nor have I been disappointed; in this and in all other perplexing cases I have invariably found that our knowledge, imperfect though it be, of variation under domestication, afforded the best and safest clue. I may venture to express my conviction of the high value of such studies, although they have been very commonly neglected by naturalists. From these considerations, I shall devote the first chapter of this Abstract to Variation under Domestication. We shall thus see that a large amount of hereditary modification is at least possible, and, what is equally or more important, we shall see how great is the power of man in accumulating by his Selection successive slight variations. I will then pass on to the variability of species in a state of nature; but I shall, unfortunately, be compelled to treat this subject far too briefly, as it can be treated properly only by giving long catalogues of facts. We shall, however, be enabled to discuss what circumstances are most favourable to variation. In the next chapter the Struggle for Existence amongst all organic beings throughout the world, which inevitably follows from their high geometrical powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms. As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form. This fundamental subject of Natural Selection will be treated at some length in the fourth chapter; and we shall then see how Natural Selection almost inevitably causes much Extinction of the less improved forms of life and induces what I have called Divergence of Character. In the next chapter I shall discuss the complex and little known laws of variation and of correlation of growth. In the four succeeding chapters, the most apparent and gravest difficulties on the theory will be given: namely, first, the difficulties of transitions, or in understanding how a simple being or a simple organ can be changed and perfected into a highly developed being or elaborately constructed organ; secondly the subject of Instinct, or the mental powers of animals, thirdly, Hybridism, or the infertility of species and the fertility of varieties when intercrossed; and fourthly, the imperfection of the Geological Record. In the next chapter I shall consider the geological succession of organic beings throughout time; in the eleventh and twelfth, their geographical distribution throughout space; in the thirteenth, their classification or mutual affinities, both when mature and in an embryonic condition. In the last chapter I shall give a brief recapitulation of the whole work, and a few concluding remarks. No one ought to feel surprise at much remaining as yet unexplained in regard to the origin of species and varieties, if he makes due allowance for our profound ignorance in regard to the mutual relations of all the beings which live around us. Who can explain why one species ranges widely and is very numerous, and why another allied species has a narrow range and is rare? Yet these relations are of the highest importance, for they determine the present welfare, and, as I believe, the future success and modification of every inhabitant of this world. Still less do we know of the mutual relations of the innumerable inhabitants of the world during the many past geological epochs in its history. Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate study and dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained—namely, that each species has been independently created—is erroneous. I am fully convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledged varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Darwin, Charles, 1998. On the Origin of Species 1st Edition. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1228/1228-h/1228-h.htm#chap00 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org, located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html. Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash

An Introduction to the Origin of Species 1st Edition

Get hold of a skull. Nutmeg. Observe the holes in the substance of the brain, where there are more or less of them. Describe the tongue of the woodpecker and jaw of a crocodile. Give measurement of the dead using his finger [as a unit]. Get your books on anatomy bound. Boots, stockings, comb, towel, shirts, shoelaces, penknife, pens, a skin for the chest, gloves, wrapping paper, charcoal. This , written perhaps before a journey da Vinci took to the medical school of the university of Pavia where he intended to dissect corpses. to-do list belonged to Leonardo da Vinci One of these items, “describe the tongue of a woodpecker”, is a narrative motif for Walter Isaacson’s formidable book, , to describe da Vinci’s endless curiosity and passion for wonder. Leonardo da Vinci Isaacson’s biography of da Vinci is based on the surviving thousands of notebook pages written by the famous painter. Anatomical drawings, architectural concepts, shopping items, these lists are full of beautiful examples: sketch Milan, observe the goose’s foot (to study its movement), inflate the lungs of a pig to watch how they increase (both in width and length or only in width). How often do we pause to think about a woodpecker’s tongue or a goose’s foot? Or, if we were an artist and wanted to understand how facial muscles work to paint a certain smile, would we dissect corpses with our own hands to check if the muscles that move the lips are the same that can raise the nostrils of the nose? Because for da Vinci, there was never a clear and straight line between his ongoing projects. He could be studying engineering, switching to geology, intertwining with water flow, the rise of smoke, or describing human dental elements. For a project, da Vinci would sketch ideas about protecting ports such as Venice by equipping underwater defenders with diving suits, breathing gear, masks, goggles, and wineskin airbags ( ). For another project, he would deliver unusual weapons to one of his employers, Cesare Borgia: that looked like satellite maps. This type of weapon is now critical in today’s warfare. In the words of Machiavelli, the famous diplomat also in Borgia’s pay, soldiers delivered lightning strikes based on da Vinci’s maps, and Borgia would be able scuba diving gear accurate and detailed maps to install himself in someone else’s house before anyone else noticed it. Walter Isaacson – Leonardo da Vinci Da Vinci also took an interest in perpetual motion. In his notebooks, he wrote, , which is Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Newton was born 200 years after da Vinci. “for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction” Ever the polymath, da Vinci explored the realms of cardiology through his dissections. Leonardo’s greatest discovery in all of his anatomical works was his discovery of the way the aortic valve works, a triumph that was confirmed only in modern times. It took 450 years for anatomists to realize that Leonardo[‘s work on aortic valves] was correct. This was confirmed at Oxford in the 1960s. Walter Isaacson – Leonardo da Vinci Many of Leonardo’s conclusions, such as the description of how the arterial valves close and open – letting blood flow around the heart – holds true today, but is not widely known. “Even cardiologists get this wrong now,” Mr Wells says. Only with the use of MRI technology has knowledge of this subject been revisited. A BBC article, What Leonardo taught us about the heart However, having such a wide array of broad interests meant da Vinci often switched focus during a project, which led to unfinished or overdue work. For example, Pope Leo X commissioned a picture from da Vinci and learnt that the painter started the project by experimenting with formulas for the varnish to coat the painting. Exasperated, the pope famously declared, “Alas, this man will never get anything done, for he is thinking about the end before he begins.” A famous example of an unfinished project is da Vinci’s task to create the largest equestrian statue in the world. He approached this assignment from various vantage points: he dissected horses to write a treatise on horse anatomy, designed cleaner stables or invented new systems for feeding horses. After twelve years of disparate efforts, the statue’s construction was halted as the seventy tonnes of bronze that were supposed to cast the monument were requisitioned for defending cannons. Centuries later, worldwide based on da Vinci’s sketches. different sculptures were built Had he been a student at the outset of the twenty-first first century, he [da Vinci] may have been put on a pharmaceutical regimen to alleviate his mood swings and attention-deficit disorder. Walter Isaacson – Leonardo da Vinci The Notebooks Da Vinci had an immense willingness to question. When he wanted to understand something, be it the shape of a woodpecker’s tongue or perpetual motion, da Vinci would observe its object of interest extremely carefully, jot down his ideas in notebooks and figure out a solution. As talking to a friend, da Vinci wrote in his notebooks: If you wish to have a sound knowledge of the forms of objects, begin with the details of them, and do not go on to the second step until you have the first well fixed in memory. Da Vinci’s notebooks are a testament to his obsessive curiosity. The art historian Kenneth Clark called da Vinci “the most relentlessly curious man in history, and the philosopher Karl Jaspers called da Vinci’s varied interests . “superhuman effort to specialize in everything” The artist never published his notes, and only about 7000 surviving fragmentary pages were found. These represent only a quarter to a fifth, , of da Vinci’s total writing output. perhaps even less No wonder da Vinci acknowledged the Herculean task of categorizing, editing, transcribing, and publishing his notes. This will be a collection without order, made up of many sheets which I have copied here, hoping afterwards to arrange them in order in their proper places according to the subjects of which they treat. Codex Arundel, where da Vinci transcribed some of his earlier notes Maybe da Vinci wanted to keep some of his notes unpublished. Why is it that I do not describe my method for remaining underwater and how long I can remain there without coming up for air? I do not wish to publish this because of the evil nature of men, who might use it for murder on the sea bed. to keep his plans about scuba diving gear secret da Vinci’s reasoning What we do know is the enormous loss of unpublished scientific discoveries that da Vinci produced centuries ahead of his time. Imagine the leap in science if the scientific community acknowledged Newton’s laws of motion as da Vinci’s laws of motion. Imagine that Newton would have started with two centuries of research on these hypothetical da Vinci’s laws of motion. Or the countless preventable deaths caused by cardiac issues for the last 450 years that passed until da Vinci’s cardiovascular sketches were proven correctly. With hindsight they [da Vinci’s cardiovascular sketches] may have had the potential to revolutionise surgery. In the 16th century, for example, there was no treatment for cardiac disease, or many other diseases, and surgeons occupied a low status in society. If people survived surgery, it was more by luck than judgement. Heart surgery has of course transformed in the past century, but Leonardo’s insights could have made a huge difference if they had been made public earlier. A BBC article, What Leonardo taught us about the heart So we can see how , cardiologist, medical historian and writer on the anatomical drawings of da Vinci, sharply commented that da Vinci had “ “, but as the remaining notes weren’t published and are nowadays part of private collections, “Leonardo’s whole activity in art and science may well be considered as ” Kenneth Keele a unique artistic and scientific mind the epitome of greatness in failure. Mona Lisa Image Credit: Wikipedia In 1503, da Vinci started to paint the portrait of a silk merchant’s wife named Lisa, and he continued his work by adding thin layers and tiny strokes of paint until he died in 1517. This painting would become da Vinci’s masterpiece, known as Mona Lisa. By introducing the sfumato technique (etymologically derived from the Italian word for “smoke”) with its hazy outlines, da Vinci blurred the sharp boundaries of straight lines traditionally used to depict three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. Your shadows and lights should be blended without lines or borders in the manner of smoke losing itself in the air. Mona Lisa is the triumph of da Vinci’s labour on painting techniques (undercoat, pigments, sfumato, etc.), anatomy (by performing , he made notes on the work of facial muscles – as many muscles as there are positions of the lips and many more that serve to undo these positions.”) and optics. Da Vinci is credited with , where we direct our visual focus. He distinguished between foveal vision (central vision for noticing details) and peripheral vision (adapted for broad scenes and large objects). up to 30 human dissections “One will always find discovering the line-of-sight If we were told, “keep your eye on the ball”, we would use foveal vision to absorb the most detailed image of the ball and ignore the peripheral vision. Returning to Mona Lisa, focus on her lips intently, and she doesn’t appear to be smiling (foveal vision). But, switch to peripheral vision by looking away from her lips, and she smiles. Thus, Isaacson calls da Vinci . “a pioneer of virtual reality” Video Credit: The Atlantic Regarding Mona Lisa’s lack of eyebrows, there are . One theory that seems to be more plausible is that, regrettably, the eyebrows were perhaps accidentally removed during the restorations of the portrait. a few theories There is , painted in da Vinci’s workshop of Leonardo at the same time as the Louvre version, and nowadays part of the permanent collection of Museo del Prado in Madrid. After a thorough restoration in 2012, the Prado Mona Lisa gives us a glimpse of how the original Mona Lisa painting would have looked centuries ago. a surviving copy of Mona Lisa Prado Mona Lisa Before Restauration Image Credit: Wikipedia Prado Mona Lisa After Restauration Image Credit: Wikipedia Most of us would know da Vinci as the painter of the Mona Lisa. But he was a Renaissance artist-scientist through and through, interested in ideal proportions ( ), designing engineering feats, creating sets for theatrical plays or festivals (and to inspire wonder and awe in the participants, he also sketched and , which NASA would later use as an inspiration for designing ), developing painting techniques, creating new methods for the visual display of information ( like , ), becoming a and pioneer, designing , , and who knows what else his lost or undiscovered notes might hold. the Vitruvian Man the world’s first self-propelled vehicle robotic knights its robots anatomical sketches this one detailed maps dentistry chemical embalming parachutes helicopters armoured tanks He did that with almost no formal schooling in Latin or Greek. Da Vinci would call himself or an illiterate man, and he would try to do exercises in Latin grammar even later in his life. Maybe this lack of schooling was a blessing in disguise because he was not troubled by challenging dogmatic scientific principles. omo sanza lettere The function of the human eye, … was described by a large number of authors in a certain way. But I found it to be completely different. da Vinci in one of his notebooks However, da Vinci pursued too many interests and, as a result, he abandoned projects, most notably the paintings of , , or . And he never got to publish his notes, which potentially contributed to some anguish thoughts in his later years: Adoration of the Magi the Battle of Anghiari Saint Jerome in the Wilderness Tell me if anything was ever done . . . Tell me . . . Tell me. There is no perfect gift without great suffering. Our glories and our triumphs pass away. Why is the sky blue? How does the dragonfly move its wings? Describe the tongue of a woodpecker (it acts as ). To paint portraits, was it necessary to dissect cadavers to see how facial muscles work? Absolutely not, but that made da Vinci be da Vinci. a cushion against concussions And perhaps the most excellent message we can take from da Vinci’s life is maintaining a child-like wonder sense and noticing the unseen as we were to check Mona Lisa’s smile (close and afar). His genius was of the type we can understand, even take lessons from. It was based on skills we can aspire to improve in ourselves, such as curiosity and intense observation. He had an imagination so excitable that it flirted with the edges of fantasy, which is also something we can try to preserve in ourselves and indulge in our children. Walter Isaacson – Leonardo da Vinci Previously published at https://www.roxanamurariu.com/leonardo-da-vinci-between-the-tongue-of-the-woodpecker-and-mona-lisa/

How Leonardo da Vinci Became a Pioneer of Virtual Reality 

For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey is part of the HackerNoon's Book series. Read this book online for free on HackerNoon! Title: For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell Author: Carolyn Sherwin Bailey Release Date: October 18, 2018 [EBook #58107] Language: English TABLE OF LINKS Preface Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 STORIES FOR TELLING The Cap that Mother Made, adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales Goody Two Shoes The Three Cakes, from Monsieur Berquin’s L’Ami des Enfants3 The Prince’s Visit, Horace E. Scudder The Travels of a Fox, Clifton Johnson Little Lorna Doone, adapted from Richard Blackmore Little In-a-Minute Old Man Rabbit’s Thanksgiving Dinner The Great Stone Face, adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne Little Tuk, Hans Christian Andersen The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde The Gingerbread Boy (dramatized), Carolyn Sherwin Bailey The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (dramatized), Carolyn Sherwin Bailey The Woodpecker Who Was Selfish, adapted from an Indian Folk Tale The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings, adapted from a Southern Folk Tale The Little Lame Prince, adapted from Miss Mulock The Blue Robin, Mary Wilkins Freeman The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. (2018). FOR THE STORY TO TELLER STORY TELLING AND STORIES TO TELL. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved DATE, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58107/58107-h/58107-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

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