In the curious field of taxonomy, a realm populated by a cultish lot to begin with what with them decorating their shadow world with obscure latin names for everything in creation willy-nilly, there is a curious trend. Meet Heteropoda davidbowie, a Malay spider recently discovered and named by Peter Jäger and another in a long line of marginal invertebrates, insects and oddballs named after rock idols.

From Mark Knopfler to Miles Davis, to this beautiful Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi [above] named for Neil Young, the scientists in the fields, meadows, caves and creek beds have found that these creative namesakes draw more attention to their new discoveries and to their own personal, albeit limited, scientific celebrity.

Other notables are four members of a genus of long-extinct trilobites, Mackenziurus johnnyi, Mackenziurus joeyi, Mackenziurus deedeei and Mackenziurus ceejayi named for none other than the Ramones. Frank Zappa has a species of jellyfish named for him, but takes the cake with an entire genus of fish named for him. It seems that celebrity namesakes have pervaded not only our undereducated population but the hallowed halls of science too. We’ve certainly come a long way since Linnaeus, that megalomaniac sonofabitch.

Special thanks to the budding taxonomists at Coralmorphologic in Miami for this tip.

Reuben Garret Lucius Goldberg, born July 4, 1883 in San Francisco was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor who received a 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning.

He is best known for his series of popular cartoons in publications such as the New York Evening Journal, depicting what came to be known as Rube Goldberg Machines, ingenious yet overly-complex devices that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways.

For instance, this one for a Self-Operating Napkin, for which he is perhaps best known:

Explained as follows:

The “Self-Operating Napkin” is activated when the soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C) which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin. After-dinner entertainment can be supplied with the simple substitution of a harmonica for the napkin.

Mr. Goldberg was the inspiration for a popular board game I played as a child in the seventies called Mousetrap, designed by Martin Glass & Associates and distributed by Milton Bradley:

Mousetrap, the game, incited a licensing controversy, which was resolved by Goldberg himself in Renaissance Humanist fashion:

The game designer Marvin Glass (and his company, Marvin Glass and Associates) refused to pay licensing fees or royalties to Rube Goldberg, despite Marvin acknowledging being inspired by Goldberg as well as the clear similarities between the game and a Goldberg drawing. [...] Elderly and near retirement, Goldberg declined to take legal action against Glass because inspiration and ideas are not intellectual property that can be protected with a copyright, trademark, or patent [...].

Perhaps because of the unspoken polymath credo of ideas belonging to the universe, or perhaps because of our shared Renaissance Humanist ideals, but most likely because of our shared experience as Polymaths in a world owned by Specialists, my favorite Rube Goldberg device is this one, entitled, Idea for Dodging Bill Collectors:

Since his passing on December 7, 1970, I doubt we’ve seen another of exactly his kind, which is why I’ll continue arguing the value of polymaths to our society as one-of-a-kind entities.

Not unlike collectible works of art, polymaths are a society’s collectible persons. Yet unlike many works of art, their lives are owned collectively, and free to be enjoyed by all.

Rube Goldberg, born on the 4th of July in San Francisco: A True American.

-jk

P.S. Dabbling in film around the age of 47, Goldberg penned a feature film directed by Benjamin Stoloff called Soup to Nuts (1930), which marks the film debut of a comic trio which would go on to become known as The Three Stooges.

my latest, is a ‘zine in which i took twenty classic poems, and converted each word for it’s antonym. a silly linguistic experiment perhaps, but good fun nonetheless.

(click for bigs)

cover lovingly designed by our own meghan marie.

(barely) more information here.

-vs

can’t help but be reminded of my favorite childhood movie and my favorite highschool female songwriter crush.

2000:

2009, this past weekend’s SNL, hosted by tracy morgan.

and here, a clip from 30rock in 2006

2009, from the latest season.

i suppose that there is some scientific study to be had, cross-referencing ones weight with their comedic dexterity, but i’m a little too busy to bother with that right now. in the interim, watch these clips back to back and make your own decision.

-vs