




It's been a while since I did a Weird News post but this cried out to be shared...then again, maybe it was the eels that were crying out.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Not even a blackout could put a damper on festivities at one Japanese aquarium where an electric eel is being used to light up its Christmas tree. Two aluminum panels inside the eel's tank work as electrodes to catch its power. Cables attached to the panels supply the lights on the nearby tree with electricity. (I'm thinking the outage was staged just so they could show off their eel powered tree.)
Inventor Kazuhiko Minawa said it took him more than a month to devise a system that would effectively harness eel power. "If we could gather all electric eels from all around the world, we would be able to light up an unimaginably giant Christmas tree," Minawa told Reuters Television. (Or at least light of the front of the Griswold's house in "Christmas Vacation." Sadly, or perhaps fortunately, there aren't enough eels in the world to power that house that coordinates its lights to music by the TransSiberian Orchestra.)
Eels are widely eaten in Japan, especially in the summer, when their vitamin-rich flesh is seen as a way to regain stamina sapped by the heat. The tree, which will stay illuminated until December 25, is proving a popular attraction, drawing tourists from all over the country. (On December 26 the tree will be taken down and the eels will feature in a special Boxing Day dinner. Now come on, how many of YOU can decorate your tree all month and then dine on the power source when the holiday is over? Maybe we could string the boughs with a nice calamari garland too! Stringing popcorn and cranberries is soooo passe and doesn't complement the eel at all.)
"I would love to have an eel like this at home. This is very nature-friendly," said visitor Harumi Yayoi. (Reporting by Reuters Television; editing by Miral Fahmy) (Somehow I am thinking the PETA folks may disagree. Perhaps we could use them to power next year's tree?)
I've got a friend coming over tonight so we can cook latkes and light the menorah. It's been a while since we've been able to do this together but when our kids were all younger we enjoyed celebrating Chanukah together. It started quite by accident one year when we invited her over for dinner and she paused a moment to say, 'Well, that's the first night of Chanukah.' We quickly said we didn't want to interfere with her observances and we could do it another night. She paused again and asked if we could celebrate it together. I was excited to have the chance to learn about the holiday a little more and have my kids exposed to this as well. She brought her Menorah, and driedels and gelt for each of the kids. She taught me how to make latkes and how to light the menorah properly and recite the prayers. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed celebrating each year for several Decembers after that first one. We've celebrated Purim and Passover together once or twice as well. It's been enriching of our own faith and practices to understand Judaism a little better through her openness and it's been a lovely dimension of our friendship to share things. So this week, I am counting her initial suggestion all those years ago that we celebrate Chanukah together.
*image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/14739394@N00/197580725/
Here's a blogger who does some lovely modern works.
Fraktur is another PA German folk art. It is a calligraphic style and form of illustrations used commonly for documents such a birth and baptismal certificates, marriage licenses, and diplomas. Though it is rooted in German scripts, after the settlers brought it to Pennsylvania it developed distinct differences in both style and use. One of the most notable features is the broken or fractured (hence fraktur) look of the script. I tend to describe is as calligraphy done by someone with Parkinson's disease because it looks like it was done with a shaky hand. Apparently there are several different forms of Fraktur even within the USA depending upon geography, sometimes varying from one county to the next. There is also all sorts of scholarly debate on whether the artwork expresses deep symbolism or is merely decorative. Here are some examples I really like. Again, the common motifs or hearts, birds, and stylized tulips are repeated. All images are taken from http://www.frakturweb.org//.