"Mondrian didn’t believe in ice cubes because cold food was bad for the health. He stood ramrod straight..."

"... and never had a hair out of place, refusing to take off his jacket in company even on hot nights. He was given to incomprehensible monologues and Garbo-like utterances such as 'You don’t seem to understand that I want to be alone.'... He once entered a room, wrinkled his nose, and commented to his host, 'It smells old in here.' Mondrian was known for planting bizarre, forceful and one-sided kisses, some lasting 30 minutes, on women. Yet he mostly felt women got in men’s way; the feminine was 'hostile to the spirit.' He once remarked, 'Every bit of semen expended is a masterpiece lost.'"

Writes Dwight Garner, in "Piet Mondrian: An Orderly Painter, a Deeply Eccentric Man/A new biography of one of the quintessential artists of the 20th century" (NYT).

"Concern for posture, as a matter of etiquette, has been around since the Enlightenment, if not earlier, but poor posture did not become a scientific and medical obsession..."

"... until after the publication of Darwin’s 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859. He posited that humans evolved through natural selection, and that the first thing to develop was bipedalism; in other words, standing upright preceded brain development. This idea was controversial because convention taught that higher intellect distinguished humans from nonhuman animals, and now it appeared that only a mere physical difference, located in the spine and feet, separated humankind from the apes.... With the rise of eugenics in the early 20th century, certain scientists began to worry that slouching among 'civilized' peoples could lead to degeneration, a backward slide in human progress. Posture correction became part of 'race betterment' projects, especially for white Anglo-Saxon men but also for middle-class women and Black people who were trying to gain political rights and equity. Poor posture became stigmatized and defined as a disability. As I show in my book, people with postural 'defects' were regularly discriminated against in the American workplace, educational settings and immigration offices..."

From "Beth Linker Is Turning Good Posture on Its Head/A historian and sociologist of science re-examines the 'posture panic' of the last century. You’ll want to sit down for this" (NYT).

This made me think about the way, back in the 1950s, we girls were encouraged to train ourselves in good posture by walking with a book on one's head. I see there's an entry at TV Tropes, "Book on the Head."

And here's a random poster (from 1946):

"As far as I’m concerned, the crown jewel of unintentional ASMR is a 14-minute video that was uploaded seven years ago...."

"In 'Alexander Technique lesson with Diana Devitt-Dawson,' a woman teaches a law student how to sit down and stand up from a chair without causing excess strain on the body. Devitt-Dawson, the instructor, makes microscopic adjustments to her pupil’s posture and movement, all the while issuing an enigmatic catchphrase: 'Allow the neck to be free.'... Boring as it sounds, this video has become a cult object. It now has 5.6 million views.... Fans, some of whom claim to watch the video nightly, have called it 'the "Citizen Kane" of ASMR videos'... What does it mean to allow the neck to be free? (Is that phrase the 'Rosebud' of the ASMR world?) Precisely what modifications is Devitt-Dawson making to her student’s posture? (As one commenter notes, 'Watched this literally 1,000 times and I still have no idea how to do the Alexander Technique.')"

From "How a 14-Minute Video on Posture Changed My Life/Hint: It wasn’t because it fixed the way I stood or sat. It has nothing to do with posture at all" (NYT).

"Sit high for a bigger view and better three-dimensional perception? Or lower, to sense g-forces more accurately?"

"Being that our eyes and ears are at the same height (they're a package deal, right?—either they're all up or all down), they can't be split up and repositioned. Perhaps if our bodies were designed by racing car engineers, our inner ear sensors would have wound up around our navels (which is approximately our center of gravity)."

From "Sitting Pretty: What’s the Perfect Driving Position?/There are many ways to do it. Which way is the right way? It’s complicated" (Motor Trend). 

That was published last September. I'm seeing it this morning because I've been clicking on this and that after noticing a "recently published" item in the OED: "sit-up-and-beg." 

This is an adjective "Designating an upright posture or sitting position, esp. in a vehicle" — as in "The old-fashion ‘sit up and beg’ driving position is an irritation." (That's a 1991 quote from Time magazine, and it led to a discussion here at Meadhouse over whether "old-fashion" is illiterate. Conclusion: Not only is it not wrong, it usually expresses the meaning you want better than "old-fashioned.")

"Sit-up-and-beg" can also refer to "a bicycle which, owing to its relatively high handlebars, must be ridden in an upright sitting position." You can also just use it as a noun to refer to a bicycle that forces you to ride in that position: "You see people dressed up, wearing high heels.., pottering along on a sit-up-and-beg—that's the kind of cyclist I'd like to be." OED got that one from @MirandaFrance1 on Twitter in 2020. Good to know the OED is watching the development of the English language on Twitter. And it's that Twitter addition that caused this old word to make today's "recently published" list.

And I'm delighted to see I have a tag for "posture"! With 10 old entries! 10!

A funny thing about that OED entry is that it never mentions dogs. Surely, "sit-up-and-beg" comes the old dog trick.

 

Why do people want their dog to assume a begging position? A lowly urge, no?

"Horns are growing on young people’s skulls. Phone use is to blame, research suggests."

A WaPo headline.

Yeah, it got me.

Horns! Are phones the Devil's device?!

New research in biomechanics suggests that young people are developing hornlike spikes at the back of their skulls — bone spurs caused by the forward tilt of the head, which shifts weight from the spine to the muscles at the back of the head, causing bone growth in the connecting tendons and ligaments. The weight transfer that causes the buildup can be compared to the way the skin thickens into a callus as a response to pressure or abrasion. The result is a hook or hornlike feature jutting out from the skull, just above the neck....

It's not the phone. It's the bowed head. We're bowing, but not in prayer. And we're growing horns. Think about it, people!

That the bone growth ["enlarged external occipital protuberance"] develops over a long period of time suggests that sustained improvement in posture can stop it short and even ward off its associated effects....

[David Shahar, the paper’s first author, a chiropractor who recently completed a PhD in biomechanics] is pressing people to become as regimented about posture as they became about dental hygiene in the 1970s, when personal care came to involve brushing and flossing every day. Schools should teach simple posture strategies, he said. Everyone who uses technology during the day should get used to recalibrating their posture at night.

Hey, I remember when there was a lot of chiding and instruction about posture... back in the 1950s:



ADDED: I was surprised to see I had a tag for "posture" — and there are a lot of posts.

"This is not to suggest that all men are rude and unapologetic and that women are the inverse..."

"... but something incongruous is happening in women’s behavior that can’t be chalked up to reflexive politeness. Look at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new ads warning New York straphangers against inconsiderate behavior, like eating on the subway or manspreading. Graphics depict men displaying almost all these behaviors, except, perhaps in an effort to provide gender balance, the one that advises women to avoid elbows-out personal grooming. The scenario seems ridiculously unrealistic — and not just because it’s the only one I’ve never witnessed firsthand. The ads are saying that men are far less likely to be conscious of personal space than women. So why, even after making ourselves physically smaller on the subway, are we still the ones apologizing?"

From a NYT op-ed by Sloane Crosley titled "Why Women Apologize and Should Stop."

(Please note Crosley recognizes that "I'm sorry" can be a form of assertiveness or passive aggression. And by "Please note," I mean: I bet you knuckleheads are assuming that Crosley thinks women are good and men are bad and therefore her opinion is worthless.)

ADDED: Here's what I really think about Crosley's topic. People expect women to be nicer and judge us more harshly when we strip away the verbal niceties and speak clearly and directly. It's easier to leave all that swaddling around our statements so we don't attract attention where we don't want it. What I'd say to women is: Think about whether and when you want to stop it. Do you want to be known for clear and direct statements? Maybe not!

AND: I remember when it was the man who said "I'm sorry" and the woman who contained the wisdom "Love means never having to say you're sorry."



More recently: "No it doesn't. This movie is drivel. She’s wooden and unpleasant, and no matter what he does, he’s still Ryan O’Neal."

"I don't exercise… I just hold my body in a way that activates muscles all day long."

Salma Hayek is either lying or in possession of an amazing secret that she really ought to share.

"I work with a woman in London who taught me how to hold my body in a way where the muscles are activated all day long. So even when you brush your teeth, you're working the muscles. She taught me to tone them without clenching them. You relax them and focus on the parts that need to be used, but never with tension.... If you're aware of your body, you'd be surprised by the effect it can have."

"Why Indigenous Cultures Don't Have Back Pain."

"'That S shape is actually not natural... It's a J-shaped spine that you want.'... [I]t's not that the J-shaped spine is the ideal one — or the healthiest. It's what goes into making the J-shaped spine that matters: 'You have to use muscle strength to get your spine to look like a J shape'...."

From an article at NPR.org that includes 5 tips for getting to J.

"Snoop Dogg posted an insensitive meme about Caitlyn Jenner... saying she’s nothing more than a ‘science project'..."

"Instead, Snoop Dogg wants the world to put more attention on 'real news' like the fact that Akon is supplying 600 million Africans with solar power...."

I was going to say it was funny to think that rappers are supposed to be sensitive, but it seems Snoop Dogg is trying to be sensitive, showing concern about electrical power for Africans.

Meanwhile, Jon Stewart said: "You see, Caitlyn, when you were a man, we could talk about your athleticism, your business acumen.... But now you’re a woman, which means your looks are really the only thing we care about."

Note the craft with which Stewart selects his target: It's us. We are concerned with only with a woman's looks. But Jenner is concerned with looks! That trailer is half about makeup and that Vanity Fair cover is all about looks, looks in the form of a subordinate posture and a silly, silken bathing suit. Jenner is responsible for that presentation. Jenner describes a feeling of having the mind of a woman, but maybe there should have been more specificity: Inside there was a woman, but not just any woman, an old-fashioned, unliberated woman who cares a lot about makeup, clothes, and looking pretty for admirers.

Then, there's also: "ESPY Courage Award: Lauren Hill’s Fans Outraged Caitlyn Jenner To Be Honored Over Her... 'Elective surgery isn’t courage or bravery,' a Twitter user named Kristin wrote on Wednesday, June 3. 'Fighting brain cancer with grace and dignity at 19 is. Lauren is most deserving.' Messages such as this flooded social media...."

Actually, the word "courage" is more aptly applied to the things you can choose not to do. It would be amazingly courageous to step up and take cancer if that was an option and you could somehow help somebody else that way, but that's not how it works. We speak conventionally of the "courageous battle with cancer," but that's a figure of speech. It serves a purpose, but it's trite to the point where The Onion made fun of it back in 1999: "Loved Ones Recall Local Man's Cowardly Battle With Cancer."

The woman who taught the Motown stars to behave in a manner that read as "class."

It's Maxine Powell, who died on Monday at the age of 98.

“Mrs. Powell was always a lady of grace, elegance and style, and we did our best to emulate her,” Martha Reeves, the former lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “I don’t think I would have been successful at all without her training.... Every asset of my personality has been by her influence... Even to the end, she was making sure that I was standing with posture and exuberant grace.”

She scolded the Supremes about how they were dancing the shake. “You are protruding the buttocks... Whenever you do a naughty step like the shake, add some class to it. Instead of shaking and acting tough, you should roll your buttocks under and keep smiling all the time.” She showed them how to do it and: "They were shocked that I could do it and at how much better it looked my way."

Maybe you're thinking: Why aren't there any Maxine Powells around anymore to class up the pop stars of today? But there must be. They're simply classing them up to suit the taste of our time, which is to say putting them somewhere near the edge of what is acceptable to the big majority. More is acceptable today because of what went on in those earlier years. Dancing the shake at all — rolling the buttocks — was near the edge of acceptability in the 1960s. So that Powells' modification — smile when you roll those buttocks — shaped how people felt about such things and was part of a process that got us where we find ourselves today.

The NYT obituary — at the link — doesn't mention the topic of race (other than to say that Powell founded a finishing and modeling school "which placed the first black models" (was it only for black women?)). But it's hard to ignore that Motown succeeded in making black performers popular with white Americans, who might not have liked them so much if they hadn't been remade in the way Powell taught. What does it say about American racism? It was Powell's idea of what white people wanted and didn't want.

It worked, so who can say what would have happened if some other approach had been used?

"What Happens When You Stand For 2 Years."

"I didn’t develop any knee, foot, back, or hip pains. I don’t feel exhausted at the end of the day or week.... My posture improved. My neck and shoulders no longer pitch forward. My legs became more muscular. I no longer get back pain...."

I enjoyed reading that. You know I'm a big fan of my motorized sit/stand desk, and I need more reason to opt for the up position.

Somehow, this topic got me around to buying an Indo Board IndoFLO Balance Stimulator. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'll let you know how it works out. This video influenced me. (If you are younger/more athletic, consider this.)

The origins of Ed Grimley.

From a Vanity Fair article about Martin Short:

Grimley grew out of an existing Second City sketch called “Sexist,” in which a male employer interviewed two candidates for a job, one an accomplished, over-achieving young woman played by the future SCTV star Catherine O’Hara, the other a flagrantly stupid man—“the joke being,” Short said, “that the guy who’s hiring says, ‘You’re both so good, I can’t make up my mind!’ ”

Click "read more" for the part that made me laugh out loud.

"In the photographs of Kagan sitting and chatting in various Capitol Hill offices, she doesn't appear to ever cross her legs."

Robin Givhan, the WaPo fashion critic observes that the Supreme Court nomineee sits "with her legs ajar":

Her posture stands out because for so many women, when they sit, they cross. People tend to mimic each other's body language during a conversation, especially if they're trying to connect with one another. But even when Kagan sits across from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has her legs crossed at the knees, Kagan keeps both feet planted firmly on the ground. Her body language will not be bullied into conformity.

She does not cross her legs at the ankles either, the way so many older women do.

Yeah, we were taught, strictly, that a woman should cross her legs at the ankles and only at the ankles.

Instead, Kagan sits, in her sensible skirts, with her legs slightly apart, hands draped in her lap. 

Here's the class picture from my kindergarten, around 1957:



Looks like the girl at the far left has Supreme Court potential. And I don't.

***

I've displayed that picture before on the blog, back in 2006. From that post:

I think it's cute that they got nearly all the girls to cross our legs at the ankles, which was considered the only proper way for a female to cross her legs.

***

Does the position of Kagan's legs matter?
	Yes, but only to the extent that aesthetics and style matter.
	Yes, as a clue to how she thinks and feels and thus to how she will decide cases.
	No, the visual aspects of a person are trivia, at best.
	No. If leg position indicated judicial style, she'd pose the way that said whatever was useful.
pollcode.com free polls

Ugly criminals.

A study correlates physical unattractiveness and crime:

[Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University] analyzed data from a federally sponsored survey of 15,000 high-schoolers who were interviewed in 1994 and again in 1996 and 2002. One question asked interviewers to rate the physical appearance of the student on a five-point scale ranging from "very attractive" to "very unattractive."

These economists found that the long-term consequences of being young and ugly were small but consistent. Cute guys were uniformly less likely than averages would indicate to have committed seven crimes including burglary and selling drugs, while the unhandsome were consistently more likely to have broken the law.

Very attractive high school girls were less likely to commit six of the seven crimes, while those rated unattractive were more likely to have done six of seven, controlling for personal and family characteristics known to be associated with criminal behavior.

Mocan and Tekin aren't sure why criminals tend to be ugly. Other studies have shown that unattractive men and women are less likely to be hired, and that they earn less money, than the better-looking. Such inferior circumstances may steer some to crime, Mocan and Tekin suggest. They also report that more attractive students have better grades and more polished social skills, which means they graduate with a greater chance of staying out of trouble.

Physical attractiveness is subjective, however. A person's inner life projects through his face and posture, so we may rate a depressed or angry or confused person as unattractive. It may be only that a person's mental condition leads to both criminal behavior and physical unattractiveness. A person with the sort of disordered mind that leads him down a criminal path might also do a poor job of grooming and weight control, another reason why it would not be the ugliness that causes the crime, but an antecedent factor that causes both the ugliness and the crime. In particular, drug and alcohol abuse affect a person's looks and connect to criminal behavior.

On the other side of this coin, those students with good grades and a nice social life might look attractive not because they were born that way, but because they are happy about their success.

There is also an economic factor. It may be that students who are better off find it easier to stay off the criminal path and also easier to improve their physical appearance with good haircuts, nice clothes, acne treatments, and nose jobs.