Happy 53rd, G. Rossini!

Today with its Doodle, Google celebrates the 53rd birthday of Gioachino Antonio Rossini, who was born in 1792 and died in 1868.

Rossini was the favorite composer of Mrs. Nancy Husted, my high school English teacher. She would have wanted me to wish him a happy birthday. I'm not big on opera, but I love his overtures!

He was great at composing, but since shortly after his 18th birthday, he has spent his time decomposing.

The Christian Science Monitor reports "You've heard Gioachino Rossini's music, even if you've never heard of him."

If you have indeed never heard of him, don't feel like the Lone Ranger...


Edited to add: It's also the 37th birthday of the great Herman Hollerith!

Mechanicsburg: Home of the Heterodynes

A discussion elseweb concerning Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania led me to comment. I thought I might repeat the comment here.

Back when the Heterodyne Boys were American inventors of the Tom Swift variety-- years before Girl Genius appeared-- I was fascinated with the notion that several U.S. towns were named Mechanicsville or Mechanicsburg, and remarked to Phil Foglio that the Boys' hometown might be Mechanicsburg.

Many further examples beyond Pennsylvania: Wikipedia's Mechanicsville disambiguation page and Mechanicsburg disambiguation page.

I envisioned arriving in a town populated with clever tinkerers, where shiny gadgets and novel conveyances could be seen in every direction. You'd step off the train and a helpful porter would direct a steam-driven forklift, flyball governor whirring, to unload your luggage. A shoeshine boy would offer you a shine, delivered by a brass-and-clockwork device of his own design. The streets would be spotless, as roving pneumatic mechanisms polished the cobblestones. Because a town named Mechanicsburg should be like that, or why bother to give it the name?

This idea went into the bubbling cauldron of Phil's mind, along with ten thousand other bits of history, science, and culture. Then he met Kaja, and everything got stirred in with all the bits SHE contributed.

Years later, I was very pleased when I learned that the hometown of the rebooted Heterodyne Boys, albeit transplanted to central Europe, was indeed Mechanicsburg.

(Ad in The American Artisan and Hardware Record, volume 77, May 31, 1919, page 48:

Wanted — First-class all around man who can do tinning, plumbing, steam, hot water and hot air heating, and anything that comes up in a country shop. Steady job and good wages for the right man. GL Freeto, Mechanicsburg, Illinois.

Sounds like my kind of town!)

The Koothrappali Conundrum

Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali* is purportedly employed as an astrophysicist at Caltech.

This implies that at some point in his career, if only as a graduate assistant, he taught classes.

Raj's Achilles heel is that he shy and unable to speak when an adult woman is present. (Female family members appear to be an exception. Also, I have not seen how he behaves around children.)

How did he teach?

I can't believe it took five seasons for this question to occur to me. He is never seen in a classroom. (The other academics on the show are rarely seen in classrooms.)

Possibilities:

1. None of the classes he taught had female students.

2. His shyness became a problem only subsequent to his years of teaching.

3. We know that Raj is able to speak to women provided he has consumed alcohol. He may drink before each class session.

4. There is a huge inconsistency in this character that the writers of The Big Bang Theory have not patched up.

   4a. The people who make the show are aware of this, but ignore it.
   4b. The people who make the show are unaware of this.

Probably there exists, somewhere on the Internet, a community of people who have considered this question, and have figured out the answer.

Also, I looked up "autotrophs," but I can't understand why they would drool.

Also, I don't really know why the show is called The Big Bang Theory


* Played by Kunal Nayyar.