Skating in Comenius’s Orbis sensualium pictis

Comparing what a few editions of Comenius have to say about skating is interesting. Each edition includes Latin and one or more other languages. Let's start with a later Swedish one. Woodcut from Johannes Amos Comenius's Orbis sensualium pictus (1775 reprint) Pueri exercent se cursu, sive super glaciem 1 diabāthris 2, ubi etiam vehuntur trabis… Continue reading Skating in Comenius’s Orbis sensualium pictis

Meister Eckhart’s magic shoes

In sermon #15 of the Paradisus anime intelligentis, Meister Eckhart mentions two magic shoes: Nû schrît, edeliu sêle, ziuch ane dîne schrittschuohe, daz ist verstantnisse und minne.(Now go, noble soul, put on your walking boots, i.e., understanding and love.)Sturlese & Vinzent, 250–251 This edition calls the shoes "walking boots", but Meister Eckhart called them "schrittschuohe"… Continue reading Meister Eckhart’s magic shoes

Sonja Henie in My Lucky Star

My former colleague Ann and I wrote a paper about a Sonja Henie movie. It's pretty clear what parts each of us contributed: The skating geekery is mine, and the serious philosophy is hers. Sonja Henie on the cover of Time's July 17, 1939 issue. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Ice skating was not invented in Finland

Internet, stop saying it was. The idea that ice skates made from animal bones first appeared in Finland is based on a paper published in 2008 in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. The authors, two biomechanics researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University, measured the metabolic cost of skating as compared with walking, then ran… Continue reading Ice skating was not invented in Finland