Question Ably - 27 : Answer

Pinkerton old logo








Pinkerton current logo

Pinkerton, or the 'Pinks' as the first person who got the correct answer to this question referred fondly to them.

Now called Pinkerton Consulting & Investigation, it was founded as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. It is a Securitas group company.

I liked the old logo. The new logo looks like the eyeball is about to be poked.

Question Ably - 27

Abraham Lincoln had engaged their services. Dashiel Hammett was employed with them. They were used to break labour union strikes. They even featured in the iconic movie 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. At the height of their power, their employees were said to number more than the standing army of the US. Their influence was so pervasive and pernicious that a law was passed prohibiting the federal government from employing them and their ilk. Which organisation?

Trek to Narayanagiri

A few weeks ago we trekked up Narayanagiri, a rocky hillock near Ramanagaram, 40 kms from Bangalore. Here is my report as published in the Deccan Herald.

Question Ably - 26: Answer

(Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Sir Charles van Dyck or van Dyke (1599 - 1641) is the painter. Though a Dutchman, he became the court painter in England. He is known for his paintings of King Charles I, which is why the beard style is also known as 'Charlie'.

van Dyke has other things named after him.

Van Dyke Brown is an early photographic printing process named as such because the brown colour obtained by using the process resembled the brown oil paint used by the painter.

A Van Dyke suit is a velvet suit worn by young men in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (don't ask for further details, Wiki hasn't any). 

Question Ably - 26

A goatee is a tuft of facial hair on the chin, with the cheeks shaven clean. The style is named after the similar growth of chin hair on goats. Of course, the difference is that goats have no choice in the matter.

Sometimes, a related style of facial hair is mistakenly called a goatee. This style differs from the goatee in that it combines a mustache with the typical goatee. The style is named after a celebrated painter of the 17th century. He wore one himself. He also painted a king of England with it and therefore, the style is sometimes nicknamed after the king.

Identify the painter and you have identified the style.

Question Ably - 25: Answer

Who? Antoine Lavoisier. That's who.

Widely regarded as the father of modern chemistry, he is credited with identifying oxygen. Actually, he called it 'oxygen gas' and thought of it as consisting of two elements: oxygen, which is the principle of acidity and caloric, which is the principle of heat. It was left to his great rival Joseph Priestley to set right some problems with this way of understanding oxygen.

Lavoisier's contribution to modern science can be summarized this way:
a) He helped bid goodbye to many un-/semi-/pseudo-scientific notions of modern chemistry's predecessor, alchemy.
b) He established clearly the distinction between elements and compounds.
c) Finally, he attached numbers to chemistry, so that things could be measured and therefore predicted.

(Courtesy: 'On Giants' Shoulders' - Melvyn Bragg)

Question Ably - 25

He was born into the French aristocracy and became a tax collector, a profession much hated by the people. He invited greater scorn by collecting money to build a wall around Paris, a wall which would help in collecting more taxes. Parisians felt their movements at night were restricted and hated the man for it.

When the Revolution came, tax collectors were seen as enemies of the people. He was imprisoned and eventually guillotined, conducting himself with remarkable dignity and poise till the very end.

Posterity knows him not for tax collection but for his contributions to science. It is said that when he heard the sentence, he asked for a few weeks time to complete some experiments. The judge replied, 'The revolution does not need scientists'.

A contemporary said in anguish, 'It took them only an instant to cut off that head, but France may not produce another like it in a century.'

Who?