THE MORALITY/PERENNIAL ANXIA
In this time of anxiety where we don’t know what is going to happen, first covid, then misinformation, now an economic crisis and to see what the future brings us with presidential candidates that neither here nor there, morally, how can we frame it?
A. Objectively. Let’s put objective morality on the table, which is the idea that good and evil exist objectively, without any importance of opinion. It is the concept that some actions and beliefs are either imperatively good or inherently bad and that the goodness or badness of those things is true no matter who you are or what else you believe.
Objectivity refers to the notion that something is factual, also known as objective and unbiased and morality means the feeling that something is right or wrong. In this context it is interesting to understand that objective morality is also known as moral objectivity.
CAP AND GOWN
What is the origin of the cap and gown at graduations? We accept them as tradition, but we don’t know anything else, right?
A. I am happy to share the story that comes from the first universities in Europe, which were not designed for teenagers just out of high school. They were for clergy-in-training. These medieval students wore robes or gowns, much like the garments still worn by priests, monks, and other religious orders today (hoods and gowns often helped keep scholars warm). While universities are no longer strictly training grounds for religious people, these ancient garments have remained a part of everyday wear for centuries.
In fact, in schools like Oxford, students are required to remove their so-called “academic dress” for regular events like exams and chapel (in Portugal, some students still wear capes to class, which may have been part of the inspiration for the Harry Potter uniform).
The modern mortarboard should be square and is another anachronism from the medieval holy days of the university. In the 11th century, a newly ordained cleric would receive a round skull called calotte. As the centuries passed and universities grew to include new areas of study, the hats stayed on. The hat evolved from a small skull to a round, puffy beret (called pileus rotundus) to a square-shaped cap (called pileus quadratus, which supposedly saved time and cloth). Four centuries later, the ceremonial square cap, first called a mortar board in the 19th century for its resemblance to masons’ boards used to carry mortar, is still the choice of graduates.
PUZZLE
Where do the puzzles come from?
A. The first commercial jigsaw puzzles originated in 18th century England, when cartographer John Spilsbury began gluing maps onto thin wood and cutting out individual countries with a scroll saw. He called them “dissected maps” and although they were originally teaching aids, their popularity spread throughout Britain in the mid-1700s. By the mid-19th century, these puzzles featured other popular images of things like zoology and fairy tales. fairies.
Interlocking puzzles, the kind you’re probably used to today, started with Parker Brothers in the early 20th century. Home versions took off during the Great Depression as a low-cost way to entertain themselves and, for anyone with a puzzle, a way to earn some extra cash by selling or renting them.
