The Dartmouth Big Green mascot, an anthropomorphic beer keg named Keggy the Keg, is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #79 of 352. (View reference images.)
P.S. Happy Halloween! Hopefully your costume is as good as Dartmouth’s Keggy.
The Dartmouth Big Green mascot, an anthropomorphic beer keg named Keggy the Keg, is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #79 of 352. (View reference images.)
P.S. Happy Halloween! Hopefully your costume is as good as Dartmouth’s Keggy.
The University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs mascot is NCAA Division III pixel art mascot #1 of 449. (View reference images.)
The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors mascot is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #78 of 352. (View reference images.)
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London in the early 1890s. Notorious for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation, Wilde was one of the best-known personalities of his day. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his only novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray), his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. At the height of his fame and success, while his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was still on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry (the father of Wilde’s lover) prosecuted for libel. The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for the “gross indecency” of having had sex with another man. Wilde was ultimately convicted and served a two-year prison sentence with hard labor in England. After his release, he lived the remainder of his life in self-imposed exile in Paris. Wilde was born on this day in 1854. He died destitute in Paris at the age of 46.
I find it interesting that on Wilde’s 1882 trip to San Francisco, the Irishman declared the city “where I belong.” Wilde sometimes mused about relocating to the American West. In October 2012, my wife Heidi and I visited Wilde’s tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris during our trip to Europe. The modernist angel depicted as a relief on his tomb was originally complete with male genitalia that have since been vandalized. In 2011, Wilde’s tomb was cleaned of the many lipstick marks left there by admirers, and a glass barrier was installed to prevent further marks or damage.
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States (1869-1877) following his successful role as a general in the second half of the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military, ending with the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery. Upset over uncontrolled violence in the South and wanting to protect African-American citizenship, Grant effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. Grant’s two terms as president stabilized the nation after the Civil War and during the turbulent Reconstruction Era that followed. Historians until recently have rated Grant’s presidency poorly, but his reputation has significantly improved because of greater appreciation for his foreign policy and civil rights achievements. His presidential accomplishments include avoiding war with Britain and Spain, the Fifteenth Amendment, prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, enforcement of voting rights and his Native American Peace Policy.
Note: This is 8-bit U.S. president #20 of 43.
Robert E. Lee was an American career military officer best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the country to remain intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of a Union army. During the Civil War, Lee originally served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. He soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against far superior Union armies. Lee would ultimately surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in 1865. Other Confederate forces swiftly capitulated after Lee’s surrender. Lee became a great Southern hero of the Civil War and remains one of the most revered, iconic figures of American military leadership. He died on October 12, 1870.
Thom Yorke is an English musician and artist who is the lead vocalist, principal songwriter, guitarist and pianist of the rock band Radiohead. Radiohead has released eight studio albums: Pablo Honey (1993), The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001), Hail to the Thief (2003), In Rainbows (2007) and The King of Limbs (2011). Yorke mainly plays guitar and piano, but has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions). In July 2006, he released his debut solo album, The Eraser, to critical acclaim. Yorke is also the lead singer of Atoms for Peace. He was born on this day in 1968.
I’ve been to a few Radiohead shows over the years. Having survived high school in the 1990s with the help of Radiohead CDs, their music will always be dear to my heart (particularly The Bends and OK Computer). I last saw Thom Yorke perform about a year ago. My wife Heidi and I were lucky to attend a Radiohead show at the Zénith de Strasbourg in France on October 16, 2012 during our 40 days in Europe. It was an amazing time.
Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the indie folk rock band The Decemberists from Portland, Oregon. The most recent Decemberists studio album, The King Is Dead (2011), was the band’s sixth. In addition to vocals, Meloy performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica and percussion. Meloy made his debut as a children’s writer in 2011 with Wildwood, illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. The second novel in the series is Under Wildwood (2012). Meloy was born on this day in 1974.
Once my two-month-old daughter Ramona gets a little older, my wife Heidi plans to introduce Portland’s Forest Park to her as Wildwood. The Decemberists are one of our favorite bands. It’s nice to be able to see them play with some frequency, since we live in Oregon.
Derrick Rose is an American professional basketball point guard for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Born in Chicago and drafted first overall by his hometown Bulls, Rose was voted NBA Rookie of the Year in 2009. In 2011, he received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the youngest player to win this award (age 22). He joined Michael Jordan as the only Chicago Bulls players to win the honor. Rose is a three-time NBA All-Star (2010-2012) and has led the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs each year. In May 2012, Rose tore the ACL in his left knee, causing him to miss the entire 2012-13 season. He was born on this day in 1988.
Cloudesley Shovell – No. 680
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell was an English naval officer. Rising through the ranks and fighting in many of the important battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, he became a popular British hero, whose celebrated career was brought to an end in a disastrous shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly. He also served as MP for Rochester from 1695 until his death. He died on this day in 1707.
Last February, a friend introduced me to this magnificent name (also spelled “Cloudisley” and “Shovel” by some sources). I managed to wait all year, until this very day of his untimely death, to make an Admiral Cloudesley Shovell pixel art character. On October 22, 1707, Shovell’s British Naval fleet became lost in stormy weather and steered into the uninhabited Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall. Four large ships were dashed against the rocks and sunk, killing at least 1,400 to 2,000 sailors. One legend is that Shovell himself made it to shore, only to be murdered by locals hoping to pillage the wreckage. Naturally, there is a psychedelic heavy metal band named in his honor. On that note, Sir Cloudesley is quite likely the name of my next cat. And I’m not ruling it out as a future son’s name.