Wednesday 22 February 2012

Google drops Lent in favour of Heinrich Hertz - who?

Google, so well known for its graphic doodles noting the particular event of the day (Charles Dickens' bi-centenary etc) has flopped miserably with regards to Lent.

No image of a dry crust of bread and a glass of water, just a wavy coloured line to commemorate Heinrich Rudolf Hertz - 155 years old today, well, I suppose that's quite an achievement for a start!

Who he? I say but I am sure that the SAs among you already know the answer to that question.....he is, of course, the German physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light that had been put forth by James Clerk Maxwell He conclusively proved the existence of electromagnetic waves by making instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental processes that excluded all other known wireless phenomena.

Oh, so that's alright then.

But I bet he didn't know who sent the light in the first place.

* A Wiki note, Hertz's father converted to Catholicism from Judaism.
Young Heinrich, unaccountably, became a Lutheran before snuffing it at the tender age of 36. RIP.

4 comments:

  1. In a sense, this squiggly line could be said to be the logical end of the purported Reformation -- a meaningless bit of goo.

    -- Mack in Texas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I could feign surprise -- "whoa!"

      See.

      But I'm not suprised. At all. What do the "I want it NOW" generation have in common with Lent? With fasting? With almsgiving? With prayer?

      "They are all so medieval...." they cry.

      "Good" says I.

      Delete
  2. Yeah, I noticed Google didn't do Ash Wednesday. I didn't know the history of the squiggly line guy. Thanks. :)

    Have a blessed Lent!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was happily surprised that bing.com did make a note of Ash Wednesday, although a bit subtle.

    ReplyDelete