About the Pictures
Last update: June 24, 2022 20:19 UTC (fc65ae47b)
The Okefenokee Orchestra, Walt Kelly
Table of Contents
Our Anthem
Sung to the tune of Deck the halls with boughs of holly.
- Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
- Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
- Nora’s freezin' on the trolley,
- swaller dollar cauliflower alleygaroo!
- Don’t we know archaic barrel,
- Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou.
- Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
- boola boola Pensacoola hullabalou!
- Walt Kelly
The artwork sprinkled on these pages is drawn from several sources, including textbooks, children’s books and comic strips. Some effort was done to create a bit of ambience and relevance to the material of the page. With apologies to the authors of some of the artwork, the colorizations are by me.
The Pogo Collection
Pogo Possum, the DCnet mascot (top), carries a bag of tools used to repair Unix kernels, and a bug in his hat, which is a hazard in much of the work we do.
“We have met the enemy and he is us” is probably the most famous line from the Pogo comic strips and books published by Walt Kelly (above) 6. The mugshots scattered over these pages were taken from his books 4-11, some of which are now valuable collectors items. The workstations, routers and other Internet munchkins that lurk in the DCnet swamp are named after his critters.
Here are some songs from Songs of the Pogo 5 sung by Beverly Mills [Final Focus]:
- Boston Charlie
- Deck us All with Boston Charlie,
- Wala, Wala Wash., an' Kalamazoo! …
- Wry Song
- Oh, pick a pock of peach pits, pockets full of pie,
- Foreign twenty black boards baked until they cry, …
- Slopposition
- Oh, once the opposition was completally opposed
- To all the suppositions that was gen’rally supposed; …
- Parsnoops
- Oh, the parsnips were snipping their snappers,
- While the parsley was parceling the peas, …
- A Song Not for Now
- A song not for
- Now you need not put stay, …
- The Keen and the Quing
- The Keen and the Quing were quirling at quoits in the meadow behind of the mere,
- Tho' mainly the meadow was middled with mow, an heretical hitherto here, …
The Alice Books
The artwork by Sir John Tenniel (top) was taken from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Dodgson. Sir John was a well known illustrator and political cartoonist of the day. His drawings have influenced the perceptions of Alice in books, films, plays and generations of children.
The life and works of Lewis Carroll and the story behind the Alice books have become somewhat of an academic cottage industry. Dodgson dearly loved the English language and delighted, like Shakespeare, in turning a quaint phrase. Words like galumphing from the poem Jabberwocky in Through the Looking Glass, live on in modern English patois. Martin Gardner 1 decodes the topical references to contemporary Oxford life of the day and is essential reading for the serious Alice student. However, the story we now know is not the one written at the chiding of Alice, but a refinement over at least two revisions. The original story, in Dodgson’s own hand and with his own illustrations is in 2.
Dodgson is the author not only of the Alice books 1-2, but of many delightful poems and puzzles 3, the best known of which may be The Hunting of the Snark. In them can be found the Bandersnatch, Boojum, Snark, and other creatures of imagination that make wonderful names for computers.
Curiously, Sir John’s rendition of Alice Pleasance Liddel, for whom the Alice books were written, is nothing like the real Alice, whose picture, taken by Dodgson himself and in the style of the day, is above 2.
Alice herself lived a long life, during which several musical plays, books and films were made about the story, which Dodgson first told to her and her two sisters during a boat trip in 1862. The picture above was taken during a visit to New York to collect an honorary degree when she was 80 1.
The Oz Books
The books by L. Frank Baum that began with The Wizard of Oz 13, first published in 1900, are probably, along with the Alice books, the best known children’s books in the world. The artwork appearing on these pages is from the original by W.W. Denslow.
The Maya Glyphs
The Classic Maya civilization of southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize flourished in the fourth through tenth century AD. They were accomplished astronomers and mathematicians and left a historic record engraved as glyphs in stone monuments called stellae. The glyphs record the rise and fall of the rulers, as well as the places, dates and atrocities of the age. The Maya calendar glyphs on these pages are from 14. They illustrate the Maya calendar and arithmetic systems, which were highly developed long before the Europeans expunged the awkward Roman arithmetic system in favor of the much more practical Arabic system.
Photography
The unattributed photos on these web pages were taken and retouched by me. They are not copyrighted and you can use them any responsible way you want. Here are some adventures:
As for our young playful rascals here, be advised kittens use their sharp little claws to climb anything, especially humans.
References
1 Gardner, Martin. The Annotated Alice. Penguin Group, London, 1970, 352 pp. Illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
2 Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.
3 Pavilion Books, Limited, and British Library, London, 1985. Illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
4 Carroll, Lewis. Complete Works. Penguin Group, London, 1988, 1165 pp. Illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
5 Kelly, Walt. Pogo Peek-a-Book. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1955.
6 Kelly, Walt. Songs of the Pogo. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1956.
7 Kelly, Walt. Pogo’s Sunday Punch. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1957.
8 Kelly, Walt. Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years with Pogo. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1959, 288 pp.
9 Kelly, Walt. Pogo a la Sunday. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1961, 127 pp.
10 Kelly, Walt. Equal Time for Pogo. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1968, 128 pp.
11 Kelly, Walt. Pogo Romances Recaptured. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1969, 312 pp.
12 Kelly, Walt. The Best of Pogo. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1982, 127 pp.
13 Baum, L. Frank. The Wizard of Oz. Rand McNally and Company, 1956. Illustrations by W.W. Denslow.
14 Morley, S.G., G.W. Brainerd and R.J. Sharer. _The Ancient Maya, 4th ed._Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1983.