Google Doodles

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Veterans Day 2022



Today’s Doodle, created by Diné (Navajo Nation member) and Marine Corps veteran Monty Little, celebrates US Veterans Day. Anchored by a 3D paper sculpture of the American flag, the art features Google letters in military camouflage woven throughout, representing how integral our veterans are to the fabric of our nation.

In 1919, the United States government established this day to commemorate those who served in World War I and called it Armistice Day. After World War II, soldiers advocated for Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday in 1954.

Today, communities across the country hold luncheons, military demonstrations, and educational events to honor the efforts and sacrifices of all past and present members of the US military. Many people observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m., which marks the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month—the exact time when World War I ended. Many veterans and their loved ones spend the day visiting monuments in Washington D.C. or attending official ceremonies at the Veteran Association’s National Cemetery.

Thank you to all those who have protected our country.

Happy Veterans Day, USA!

[renaeden]

In Australia we have Remembrance Day and it's practically the same here, the minute of silence at 11am and military demonstrations, etc.

Lest we forget.

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is 2022 World Cup - Opening Day!



Let the 2022 World Cup games begin! The tournament takes place every four years and attracts football (or “soccer”) fans from all over the globe. This is the first-ever World Cup to take place in the Middle East.

Over the next month, players from the national teams of 32 countries will compete in a series of elimination games, culminating on December 18, when one national team will be crowned the 2022 World Cup Champion.

Want to get in on the action yourself? Google “world cup qatar 2022” on your mobile device to compete with fans in our multiplayer online game. People from around the world can work together to help their favorite team score the most goals. Once a real-life match is set in the World Cup schedule, it will appear in the game menu. Pick the game and team you want to support and work with other fans to score the most virtual GOAAAAALLLLS. When the final buzzer sounds in the real-life match, the virtual match will also end and name a winner!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Celebrating Marie Tharp





Today’s Doodle celebrates the life of Marie Tharp, an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer who helped prove the theories of continental drift. She co-published the first world map of the ocean floors. On this day in 1998, the Library of Congress named Tharp one of the greatest cartographers of the 20th century.

Today’s Doodle features an interactive exploration of Tharp’s life. Her story is narrated by Cate Larsen, Becky Nesel, and Dr. Tiara Moore , three notable women who are currently living out Tharp’s legacy by making strides in the traditionally male-dominated ocean science and geology spaces.

Marie Tharp was an only child born on July 30, 1920, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tharp’s father, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gave her an early introduction to mapmaking. She attended the University of Michigan for her master’s degree in petroleum geology—this was particularly impressive given so few women worked in science during this period. She moved to New York City in 1948 and became the first woman to work at the Lamont Geological Observatory where she met geologist Bruce Heezen.

Heezen gathered ocean-depth data in the Atlantic Ocean, which Tharp used to create maps of the mysterious ocean floor. New findings from echo sounders (sonars used to find water depth) helped her discover the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. She brought these findings to Heezen, who infamously dismissed this as “girl talk”.

However, when they compared these V-shaped rifts with earthquake epicenter maps, Heezen could not ignore the facts. Plate tectonics and continental drift were no longer just theories—the seafloor was undoubtedly spreading. In 1957, Tharp and Heezen co-published the first map of the ocean floor in the North Atlantic. Twenty years later, National Geographic published the first world map of the entire ocean floor penned by Tharp and Heezen, titled “The World Ocean Floor.”

Tharp donated her entire map collection to the Library of Congress in 1995. On the 100th anniversary celebration of its Geography and Map Division, the Library of Congress named her one of the most important cartographers in the 20th century. In 2001, the same observatory where she started her career awarded her with its first annual Lamont-Doherty Heritage Award.

Click on today’s Doodle to begin your journey through Tharp’s extraordinary life and scientific contributions!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Thanksgiving 2022



Today’s hand-carved Doodle celebrates Thanksgiving in the United States! The holiday always takes place on the fourth Thursday of November. This year, November 24th marks the day when many people across the country gather with loved ones to give thanks and gather around the table.

Aside from enjoying recipes passed down generations, millions attend or tune in to parades taking place across the country. One of the holiday’s greatest traditions is the spirit of supporting others. Communities across the U.S. also organize food drives and free dinners so as many Americans as possible can celebrate the day.

So whatever plans you’ve carved out for yourself, we hope it’s a day filled with togetherness and gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is 2022 World Cup (Nov 30)

[renaeden]

Did you see the condition of the Japanese changing room after they left? Absolutely spotless.

[Gopher Gary]

Did you see the condition of the Japanese changing room after they left? Absolutely spotless.

I don't follow sports.  I did look that up and it seems it's just what they do. The article I read also showed photos from a couple previous year's events. I'm not overly impressed by people cleaning up after themselves. It should be common courtesy. One thing that did strike me, they said spectators from Japan stayed after the game and cleaned up litter in the stands. That was cool. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-11464741/Japan-players-leave-dressing-room-spotless-World-Cup-win-Germany.html

[DirtDawg]

I follow some sports, but not international football.
I do feel we should all tip our hats to the Japanese players and fans. They've set a high bar for all to reach.

Contrasting, I can remember when the German team was playing Mexico near the finals and invaded our small town near the border with Mexico.
These "little boys" (soccer players are little fellows, unlike American football, basketball or hockey players) basically took over the bar we played in, which was a mellow - find an evening partner type of place.

Instead of a few couples slow dancing to the band, the German team came up on stage and took over with the few English speakers in the group. "Enough of this shit!" one said about our band playing "love/hook up music."
The whole team got everyone off the dance floor and locked arms and kicking legs, began with the German (West in those days) anthem and kept the floor occupied for over two hours, getting drunker and drunker, ordering beer rounds in rapid succession, occasionally all at once throwing half finished beers at the wall, laughing and being basically rowdy enough to be thrown out and carted off the jail, by local standards.

However, there was some USA representative conglomerate faction who had laid out a lot of money for the bar to tolerate this and just allow it to happen.
Most of us packed up our gear and got out. I had to stay, because my gear was the house gear making all the sound.

Honestly, it was fun and entertaining. Singing their songs in unison was different from a typical drunken group of oil rig or shrimp boat worker assholes.
The one young one who passed out first, they pulled tables together to make a bed, creating a spectacle of his drunkenness, ending in a sort of funeral for the guy.

None of it was fitting to the typical Texas "Be Friendly" admonition to all strangers, newcomers and carpetbaggers.
Most people left and no one tried to fight with them. They were just so damn happy and celebrating at a very high level, people just let the strangers have their moment.

But at the end, there were over a hundred broken beer bottles and steins smashed against the walls of the club, the dance floor was approaching flood levels with spilled beer, one guy pissed in a corner, the doors were ripped off both bathrooms, half the tables were upside down, one broken, a few chairs had broken from them building tower over and over then climbing it in some game that seemed like a "King Of The Hill" spin off.

The club opened the next night with doors fixed, short one table and a few chairs, but back in business.
Most significantly, we never saw the Germans again.


 

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Gerald "Jerry" Lawson's 82nd Birthday
It's an interactive Doodle, so here's a link to interact too. https://www.google.com/doodles/gerald-jerry-lawsons-82nd-birthday



Today’s interactive game Doodle celebrates the 82nd birthday of Gerald “Jerry” Lawson, one of the fathers of modern gaming who led the team that developed the first home video gaming system with interchangeable game cartridges. The Doodle features games designed by three American guest artists and game designers: Davionne Gooden, Lauren Brown, and Momo Pixel.

Lawson was born in Brooklyn, New York on this day in 1940. He tinkered with electronics from an early age, repairing televisions around his neighborhood and creating his own radio station using recycled parts. He attended Queens College and City College of New York before departing early to start his career in Palo Alto, California. At the time, the city and its surrounding region had become known as “Silicon Valley” due to the explosion of new, innovative tech companies starting up in the area.

Upon arriving in California, Lawson joined Fairchild Semiconductor as an engineering consultant. A few years later, Lawson was promoted to Director of Engineering and Marketing of Fairchild’s video game department where he led the development of the Fairchild Channel F system (the “F” stood for fun!). This was the first home video game system console that featured interchangeable game cartridges, an 8-way digital joystick and a pause menu. The Channel F paved the way for future gaming systems like the Atari, SNES, Dreamcast and more.

In 1980, Lawson left Fairchild to start his own company, VideoSoft—one of the earliest Black-owned video game development companies. The company created software for the Atari 2600, which popularized the cartridge Lawson and his team developed. Although they closed five years later, Lawson had solidified himself as a pioneer in the industry and continued to consult multiple engineering and video game companies throughout the rest of his career.

In 2011, the International Game Developers Association recognized Lawson as an industry trailblazer for his contributions to gaming. The University of Southern California also created the Gerald A. Lawson Fund to support underrepresented students who wish to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees in game design or computer science. Lawson’s achievements are memorialized at the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.

Here’s to you, Jerry!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Seasonal Holidays 2022

[renaeden]

It's quite amazing that all the drawings and pictures that have been made all contain "Google".

[Gopher Gary]

It's quite amazing that all the drawings and pictures that have been made all contain "Google".

I think I like the ones like the last one best, where the original logo is still in the design. Some of them, I might not realize or know they contained Google if it weren't expected. 

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Celebrating Ana Mercedes Hoyos



Today’s Doodle celebrates Ana Mercedes Hoyos, a distinguished Colombian artist. She was an award-winning painter and sculptor who won over seventeen national and international awards. Hoyos was a pioneer in modern art who focused on the complexities of Colombian culture. On this day in 1968, Hoyos was awarded first place in the Bogotá Museum of Modern Arts’ “Environmental Spaces” exhibition.

Born to a family of architects in Bogotá, Colombia on September 29, 1942, Hoyos was encouraged to study art history from an early age. She attended Colegia Marymount before studying visual arts at the University of Andes. She first explored more minimalistic and abstract styles, which led to her first series Ventanas (Windows). Many consider this collection the turning point of her career, as it won the Colombian National Salon of Artists’ Caracas Prize.

In the next few decades, Hoyos ventured into new realms. In the mid 1970s, she released Atmósferas (Atmospheres), a series exploring the parameters of light that won international recognition. She then created works featuring flora and fruit typically found in Cartagena, where she lived in the 1980s.

Hoyos’ artistic journey eventually led her to still-life paintings that examined the multicultural diversity of Colombia. These still lifes combined exaggerated light with explosive tropical colors to capture the Caribbean’s rich cultures and sceneries. Hoyos’ paintings portrayed Afro-Colombian heritage in a magical, mesmerizing way.

Nowadays, people can enjoy her work far and wide at renowned art institutions like the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, the United Nations University in Tokyo, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C., and perhaps most importantly, the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, where her journey started

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Celebrating Judith Leyster.



One could say painting came easel-y to Judith Leyster, a 17th-century master painter and a central figure in the Dutch Golden Age. However, misogyny and a forged signature caused art dealers to misattribute her paintings to male artists for decades. On this day in 2009, the National Gallery of Art and the Frans Hals Museum held exhibitions to rightfully honor her legacy. Today’s Doodle celebrates her work.

Leyster, whose name means “lodestar” (a person or thing that serves as an inspiration or guide), was born in Haarlem in 1609. Although art historians know little about her formal education, rumor has it she showed remarkable talent at a young age. When poet Samuel Ampzing visited Haarlem to chronicle the city in 1628, he famously described 19-year-old Leyster as a painter of “good and keen insight.”

At the time, professional female painters were rare in Europe. But Leyster never let this dissuade her. Using her spontaneous and free signature brushstrokes to capture everyday life, Leyster finished her first known painting, Serenade and Jolly Topper, in 1629. She signed with a distinct monogram: “J.L.” crossed by a star—a play on her last name.

A few years after completing her first painting, Leyster became one of the first women admitted to Haarlem’s prestigious painters’ guild. During this time, she also set up her own studio and began taking in students.

Leyster may have earned the respect of her peers and enjoyed financial success as an artist, but she was erased from history when art scholars later mistook her paintings as those of her male contemporaries’.

In 1892, a keen observer finally noticed a star insignia on one of Leyster’s paintings in the Louvre and remarked that it did not match the signature of the male artist’s. This forced the artworld to reckon with their decades-long misattribution, allowing Leyster to reclaim her place in history. Scholarly detectives have since identified more than 30 Leyster masterpieces. Curious to see them? Among her known works, the most famous is a self-portrait turning to the viewer with a knowing smile.