Art & Literature on Facts

What is Who's Who?

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 18:05:26 +0000

How the book works

Each entry is a short, factual biography: birth date, education, career, honors, publications, recreations and sometimes contact details.
Entrants write and update their own entries after being invited, which is why the “recreations” section is famous for quirky answers.
The book covers people from politics, business, the arts, science, sport and public service. When someone dies, their entry moves to Who Was Who.
Around 33,000 people appear in the modern edition.

Who’s Who in the US

Marquis Who’s Who has published Who’s Who in America since 1899. It’s a separate company from the British book. Some modern “who’s who” directories charge people to be listed, which is why many are seen as vanity publications. The original British book doesn’t accept payment for inclusion.

What is Horton Hears a Who! about?

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 18:02:54 +0000

The story

While splashing in a pool in the Jungle of Nool, Horton hears a faint cry from a speck floating past. He places the speck on a clover and learns from the Mayor of Whoville that an entire city lives there. The other animals, led by the Sour Kangaroo, think Horton is talking to nothing. They try to take the clover away and threaten to boil the speck.

What is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings about?

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:48:51 +0000

Summary

The book follows Marguerite Johnson (Angelou’s birth name) and her beloved older brother Bailey. After their parents separate, the young children are sent to live with their grandmother, Momma, who runs a general store in the segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas.

What is Why Nations Fail about?

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:48:24 +0000

The big question

Why is one country wealthy while its neighbor, with a similar climate and people, stays poor? The book opens with a striking example: the city of Nogales, split by the US–Mexico border. The two halves share geography and culture, yet people on the US side are much richer, healthier and safer. The difference, the authors argue, is institutions.

What does "we become what we behold" mean?

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:25:53 +0000

Where the quote comes from

1804–1820William Blake’s long poem Jerusalem repeats the line “they became what they beheld”
1964Marshall McLuhan publishes Understanding Media, famous for “the medium is the message”
1967Father John Culkin writes about McLuhan’s ideas in the Saturday Review, including “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
2014Game designer Nicky Case releases a short browser game called We Become What We Behold, about news cycles

The full quote is often credited to McLuhan himself, but it was Culkin who wrote it while explaining McLuhan’s thinking.

Low light photography tips

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:41:59 +0000

Low light photos fail in two ways: they come out blurry or grainy. Every tip below is about getting more light onto the sensor without causing either one.

The three settings that matter

Setting	What to do	Trade-off
Aperture	Use the lowest f-number your lens allows, such as f/1.8 or f/2.8	Less of the scene is in sharp focus
Shutter speed	Slow it down to let light in longer	Motion blur from shaky hands or moving subjects
ISO	Raise it to brighten the image	More grain, or noise

A handy rule for handheld shots: keep the shutter speed faster than 1 divided by the lens’s focal length. At 50 mm, that’s about 1/50 of a second or faster. Image stabilization lets you go a little slower.

How to draw a pumpkin

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:31:19 +0000

A pumpkin is one of the best first drawings to try, because it’s just one shape repeated: a set of curved segments squeezed together. If you can draw a curved line, you can draw this.

How to draw for beginners

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:31:07 +0000

What you need

Not much. A pencil (an HB for light lines and a 2B or 4B for darker shading), an eraser, and plain paper or a cheap sketchbook. Expensive supplies won’t help until you’ve built the basics.