What's in a Word? Poubelle

Poubelle is the French word for trash can.  Who knew that word is named after Eugène Poubelle, who introduced trash cans to Paris in 1884. Building owners were mandated to provide these trash cans, much to their chagrin at the extra expense. Even more surprisingly, three types had to be provided, for compostable items, for paper and cloth, and for crockery and shells. Recycling back in the 19th C.

As an aside, ten years later, after a resurgence of cholera, Poubelle decreed that all buildings had to be connected to sewers.  Again, at the expense of the building owner.

What an interesting man.

By the way, I first became of Poubelle in a caption at the Art Gallery of Ontario's current exhibit, Impressionism in the Industrial Age, which focuses on the depiction of industry in the paintings of the impressionists. Interspersed are photos from the era as well.  Lots of interesting historical facts sprinkled throughout the exhibition. Like the fact that 300,000 people were displaced by the expropriations for the grand boulevards, wide streets and vistas of Haussmann's design for Paris that we so revel in today.

Other 'word' posts:

Other posts on words:

Crapsule
Thugocracy

Post-truth politics
Apple

Handy

Genocide
Digitalization
Digital Slime

Beware They'll Soon be Gone

Donna Strickland: Amazing Physicist, Amazing Canadian, Amazing Woman

Canadians, and women, have revelled in the accomplishment of the self-effacing Donna Strickland, who recently won the Nobel Prize for Physics. She is only the third woman to win the Physics prize in over a century and only the fifth Canadian ever.

Bravo Strickland!

Shame on University of Waterloo!

In the 21 years Strickland has worked there, the university has not seen fit to promote this Nobel-calibre physicist to full professor. Hmm. Could it be because she's female?

Information Sparkles with McCall's Infographics

Tommy McCall makes information come alive. He doesn't just present existing information - his graphics deliver new insights. He illustrates how you can take data and turn it into information, and then make it visually captivating and thought-provoking.  His immense creativity gets to the nub of what's important and figures out a way to convey that - succinctly and powerfully.

His recent brief TED talk shows some wonderful examples of his own and other infographics through history, including some perspective on Florence Nightingale's use of infographics to animate her argument about military deaths from poor care. Watch McCall here.

I wrote about Tommy in my blog  once before, when I first met him on a bus on the way to TED, and I've been following his wonderful work ever since. You will be fascinating delving into the trove of great graphics in his portfolio here. Bravo Tommy.

The October List

There are several fiction authors, including Jeffrey Deaver, that I turn to when I want an engaging plot but don't care about elegant prose, nuanced characters, or deep philosophical insight.  I don't usually write reviews of books by these authors - they're simply too light-weight.

I'm making an exception in reviewing The October List, because of its cunning construction. The story unfolds completely backwards. Not in a series of flashbacks, but completely backwards. Each chapter occurs before the previous one. There were many plot twists to keep me interested and guessing, and I couldn't help but be fascinated by the technique.

I won't tell you any more of the story, but it's a cute book to read.

More book reviews here.