Electric Garden: October 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011

Trade signs date back to 14th Century Europe. These first signs usually only featured an emblem to designate the trade for the unreading public. Nautical trade signs...would have designated a bar, hotel or restaurant.

Model Trade Sign

"We stared into the tanks - or tanks just like the tanks - that Kafka had stared into. I was particularly taken by the sight of sea horses - those strange, chessman-like creatures that are a favorite of the popular animal imaginaire. Sea horses come not only in the chessman variety, but also in soda straw and plantlike shapes, and range in size from one to eleven inches...Sea horses are the extreme of the extreme.

Sea horses, more than most animals, inspire wonder - they draw our attention to the astonishing similarities and discontinuities between each kind of creature and every other. They can change color to blend in with their surroundings, and beat their dorsal fins nearly as fast as a hummingbird beats its wings....Not terribly good swimmers, they can die of exhaustion when caught in even small currents, so they prefer to anchor themselves to sea grasses or coral, or to each other - they like to swim in pairs, linked by their prehensile tails. Sea horses have complicated routines for courtship, making musical sounds while doing so." Johnathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals