Einstein’s tongue (Famous Photograph)

Einstein sticking his tongue out. Photograph by Arthur Sasse.

Albert Einstein’s name is synonymous with extremely high levels of intelligence. Einstein’s name, however, is also used for making fun of someone’s foolish deed! (e.g.Way to go, Einstein!). Today’s photograph combines both of these aspects very well; revealing playful side of the greatest ever physicist.

“Einstein’s Tongue” photograph was shot on Einstein’s 72nd birthday on March 14, 1951. On that occasion, at a party in Princeton, a UPI photographer, Arthur Sasse, asked him to smile for a photo. Sasse took several photos but could not get the pose he wanted. So, he went on requesting Einstein to smile again and again for camera. Eventually, tired of smiling, the developer of Theory of Relativity, stuck his tongue out at the camera! Sasse did not miss the opportunity and took a photograph that later became one of the most famous photographs of 20th century.

Now, you must not think that this photo is only about an intelligent old man making a funny gesture. The significance of this photograph is much more deep-rooted. Let me tell you how. Einstein liked this photo a lot and requested UPI to give him nine copies for personal use. Only one of these nine photos is known to be signed by the great scientist. Einstein gave this signed copy to his reporter friend Howard K. Smith. On this photo Einstein wrote an inscription in German whose English translation is:

“This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare.”

This message is a brilliant one. Isn’t it?. That was the time, when in America, there was a fear that communists forces are trying to take America’s freedom away. In response the USA had begun anti-communist pursuits. In such troublesome times Einstein’s message and gesture in this photo carried a strong message of non-conformity.

The signed photograph was auctioned on June 19, 2009 for $74,324. Out of nine, this is the only photograph that has ever been sold.

Well, I love this photograph as well. Nonchalance of Einstein invariably brings smile on one’s face. With“Einstein” and “sticking his tongue out” combined; this image has become a symbol of non-conformity. It is timeless.

Most Beautiful Women in Sports

Samantha Ponder-Steele, ESPN

Samantha Ponder's star has been rising, essentially, since the day she graduated college in 2009. She was immediately hired by FOX Sports as a sideline reporter and made the jump to ESPN's Longhorn Network in 2011. 

But Ponder's popularity exploded in 2012, when she was pegged as the successor to the dearly departing Erin Andrews, and joined the College GameDay crew. Her much buzzed-about romance with Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder quickly gave way to an even more buzzed-about marriage. 

The couple were married in late 2012, but are apparently planning another wedding in April. 

I suspect their quickie first wedding was orchestrated as a loophole to having to save themselves until their real wedding. 

Sarah Savage, WAG

The last year has been quite a ride for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, a freshman charged with the mighty task of replacing Ryan Tannehill, who was chosen by the Dolphins in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. 

From relative obscurity to Heisman-winning "Johnny Football," who handed mighty Alabama their only loss of the calendar year—all in a matter of months. Along for the ride, every step of the way, has been his girlfriend Sarah Savage, a part-time model. 

Savage's online popularity has rivaled Manziel's, and every time these two are spotted in public, it's breaking news all over the web.

Jenn Sterger, Sports Personality 

During a nationally televised Florida State football game, ESPN's resident eagle-eyed FBI (Female Body Inspector) Brent Musberger spotted Jenn Sterger in the stands and famously remarked, 

"I think 1,500 red-blooded American men just decided to go to FSU next semester." Why does that sound so familiar? 

Musberger's shoutout led to a slew of opportunities for Sterger, including appearances in Maxim and Playboy. In 2008 she was hired by the Jets to be their "Gameday Host," which we all know is where she crossed paths with Brett Favre. 

Sterger was one of the most talked about women in sports in 2010, after Deadspin published an explosive article detailing Favre's skeevy attempts to lure the busty brunette into his clutches. 

An unfortunate way to be immortalized in sports history.

Allison Stokke, Track and Field

Former University of California pole vaulter Allison Stokke has been one of the most buzzed about female athletes on the web, dating back to her freshman year with the Bears in 2008.

How she was discovered is a bit of a mystery, but from what I've gathered, it seems like some creeper got the ball rolling by publishing her track photos somewhere on the web. Those photos were quite popular with men browsing the web looking for hot broads. 

They were less popular with her father, Allan Stokke, a top criminal lawyer in California, who didn't appreciate seeing his little girl plastered all over the web. He eventually sued everyone on the Internet twice and had her photos pulled from the Cal website. Ms. Allison dropped off the face of the earth for years, but has since resurfaced on Twitter. Please don't go perving on her like this weirdo. 

Brittney Palmer, UFC Ring Girl

Brittney Palmer has been working as a UFC octagon girl for the last four years. In January 2013, she was named the Ring Girl of the Year at the World MMA Awards in Las Vegas.

Palmer is one of the most well-known female personalities in the male-dominated sport, routinely making guest appearances on shows like The Ultimate Fighter.

Outside of MMA, Palmer is an accomplished performer who has appeared in a number of shows on the Vegas strip, as well as a successful artist. In March 2012, she was featured on the cover of Playboy.

Palmer maintains an impressive presence on social media—to date she has collected over 150,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 50,000 Likes on Facebook. 

Lindsey Vonn, U.S. Women's Skiing

The Winter Olympics only happen once every four years, but unlike so many snow bunnies, gold-medal winning alpine skier Lindsey Vonn doesn't disappear from the headlines in the interim. Thanks to her success on the slopes, Vonn is one of the most recognizable female athletes in the world. Although, high-profile appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and ESPN The Magazine's annual Body Issue have definitely contributed to her fame. In recent years Vonn has become a red-carpet regular at award shows, magazine parties and Hollywood premieres.

In 2011 Vonn found herself at the center of "Tebow Mania," after she celebrated a win by 'Tebowing,' sparking rumors that she and a member of the Tebow clan were dating.More recently, Vonn has made headlines for a rumored romance with an even bigger sports star—Tiger Woods. Details are scarce, but the pair have been spotted together in Europe recently. Something tells me this is gonna be a very big story this year. 

Kate Upton, SI Model/WAG

Busty model Kate Upton has been on the scene for the last few years, but she had a breakout year in 2012. Thanks in large part to landing the coveted cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and the flurry of publicity that comes along with it. She was rumored to have been dating Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez early in the year, but that was never officially confirmed. In February, Upton landed a spot in an ad for MLB2K12, which is where she met Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who she seems to have been dating ever since. In June she teamed up with photographer Terry Richardson, who filmed Upton doing her best 'Cat Daddy' demonstration in a barely-there bikini. The video has received over 12 million views to date. Hopefully we're in for an encore performance in 2013. 

Katherine Webb, Model/WAG

Two weeks ago, there was nary a soul outside the state of Alabama who aware of the existence of Katherine Webb, a former Miss Alabama and a graduate of Auburn University.

Then she attended the 2013 BCS Championship to support her boyfriend, Bama quarterback A.J. McCarron, and attracted the wandering eye of ESPN's Brent Musberger a number of times during the live broadcast. Perhaps bored by the blowout on the field, Musberger made a habit of returning the discussion to Webb, shamelessly gushing about her throughout the game. But in his defense—he wasn't the only one impressed by the beauty queen. Prior to Musberger's musings, Webb had no more than a hundred or so followers on Twitter. By the end of the game, that number had skyrocketed to over 100,000 and has since ballooned to 270,000 and counting.Among her followers are NBA superstar LeBron James, NFL player Darnell Dockett and bloated, bronzed business blowhard Donald Trump. 

Webb's sudden fame has been good for business, too. She is set to appear in the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and will be covering the Super Bowl for Inside 

Top 10 Things You Will Never Know

Trade Secrets

Secret: Trade Secrets

This is a very necessary legal provision. After all, healthy competition is fundamental to a capitalistic society and making sure companies keep locked up what exactly gives them a leg up ensures that the market isn’t flooded with cheap imitators. In that way, monopolies are also guaranteed. For instance, if anyone ever managed to ascertain Coca Cola’s secret formula, Coca Cola would no longer be the #1 cola in the world, as you could just make it at at home in your bathtub for much less (although with possibly more floating hairs and bits of soap scum). Everything Coke has worked for from the ground up to accomplish in the last hundred plus years would have been unrightfully negated. These laws preserve integrity as much as they might be less in favor of the common man.

Intelligence

Secret: Any “Intelligence” the Government Choose to Withhold

There is a whole process through which government obtains information about the on-goings of various countries and people and packages them into manilla folders. The government can release information, although it rarely goes out of its way to (why the Freedom of Information Act and Government in the Sunshine Act exist, the essential common purposes being transparency). It may deliberately leak information or demote or remove the “classified” status of a piece of information. But some information is just clutched onto with a death grip, sometimes to save face (lest we forget the the backlashes following Wikileaks and the Pentagon Papers).

Banking

Secret: Bank Account Information

 This legal bank provision actually works against the government; the Swiss Banking Act, created in 1934, actually protects off-shore bank accounts, which make it so clients can evade taxes and essentially lie about their level of wealth. This forbids authority figures from accessing information about clients, except when particular individuals are being indicted and their account information may serve the case in some essential way. But you can imagine the kind of abuse and corruption than can ensue with this kind of provision (and if you haven’t experienced it in recent years, you’ve surely witnessed it). This is one of those example where the law seems to serve banks and big corporations more than it does your average Joe. There are a few anti-corruption measures that have been implemented since, such as the U.S Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 and the (all-around-Orwellian) Patriot Act, which both work against bank secrecy, and in particular to cut back on the illegal stuff (money laundering, etc.).

Locations of Oil Deposits

Secret: Locations of Oil Deposits

If this wasn’t a purposeful secret, there’d be Beverly Hillbillies; the locations of oil deposits maintain such a tight lid because otherwise anybody could purchase the land under which the wells appear and become instantly wealthy. And with that, there’d be an incredible lack of fairness if anyone who had privileged access to that kind of information (and there always is someone) were able to go out and invest some of that golden property. The government does, at times, go out of its way to set a level playing field, even when it may seem to favors corporations over people.

Medical Secrets

Secret: Medical Records or Patient Histories

Another provision of U.S. privacy laws, employees – who benefit from the various ways businesses are protected and who are treated as bits of information within a company – are protected from any undue poking around. In addition to bank account information, kept private are individuals medical records. Also in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, which all doctors and medical specialists must uphold by law–unless it becomes an issue of patient safety or the safety of others–a strict confidentiality agreement with their patients. This, amongst else, prevents pure and utter humiliation.

Insider Information

Secret: Insider Information

Another certainty of fairness is the illegality of acquiring financial reports that have yet to be released to the public (and using them advantageously). This ensure no individual cheats the system and has his illicit payday. Remember how humble homemaker and uber-savvy businesswomen Martha Stewart attempted to profit beyond her already gross profits by using this illegal maneuver–a tactic that landed her straight in prison (where she probably had the most ornately arranged cell in the facility). Word to the wise: don’t be like Martha.

Nuclear Secrets

Secret: Nuclear Weapon Design Plans

This is evidence that the U.S.-Soviet Arms race has never quite concluded, not in spirit anyway. Maintaining a constant “Top Secret” or “Secret” status, the two highest levels of “Classified” information, of information that if exposed could cause some sort of harm, “Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information” (as it’s called) is something that will never be revealed to anyone but officials with the utmost kind of security clearance. As our Department of Defense is a very tight-lipped bunch, the fear here is that to disseminate what we have in our arsenal enables rival nations to see what exactly kind we have (and can proceed to call our bluff, as circumstance may provide).

Pretty Much Anything

Secret: Anything the Government Deems “Classified.”

The government has a strict, multi-level classification by which it deems sensitive materials to be off limits to all but a select, entrusted few. The different levels, from most critical to least, are: “Top Secret,” “Secret,” “Confidential,” and “Restricted” (the rest are “Unclassified”). The more secret it is, the more harm that could come from the learning of. Items falling under such categories include, but aren’t limited to, military plans, negotiation tactics, weapon designs, and other secrets obtained by spurious means. Also, for those conspiracy theorists among us, there may very well exist proof of first contact somewhere within those crowded filing cabinets.

Court Secrets

 Secret: Details of a Court Proceeding that Might Influence the Jury and/or a Case’s Outcome

Witnessing a court case in sessions is to see the justice system kick with life, which is like seeing a doe in the wild. It is a very delicate process, which is decided by individuals with no more the moral wisdom of anyone else picked at random, and which determines the fate and guilt/innocent a human being. And being that no one in this setting is anything but human–one capable of being mislead, influenced, baited, etc.– it makes sense that proceeding maintain a secrecy about certain case details which, in the wrong hands, could endanger participants. Similarly, details of an open investigation are off-limits, as such knowledge could influence the outcome of a case itself.

Military Secrets

Secret: Anything that Can Jeopardize a War or Endanger Troops’ Lives

This one is a no-brainer. At war-time, the locations of troops or any kind of strategies are off-limits as far as the public goes, for if the enemy caught wind, the consequences could be dire. Some secrets are kept for only the best of reasons.

THE VEIL OF VERONICA – THE FACE OF JESUS

St. Veronica was a devout Christian who desired a painting of Jesus. According to the Bloomsbury Guide to Art, the legend says that Veronica passed by Jesus when he was carrying the cross to Calvary in Jerusalem in order to be crucified. When she saw Jesus struggling, Veronica wiped His face with a cloth, formally known as her “veil”. Afterwards, the image of Jesus’s face mysteriously appeared on Veronica’s cloth. The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that there are small differences of the legend of St. Veronica that various countries developed throughout history. To Italians, Veronica is known to have cured an Emperor named Tiberius of a particular disease by touching him with the veil. In France, Veronica is known to have married Zacheus, and later she married a man named Martial and helped him preach. In the region of Bordeaux, the story is that Veronica brought the veil, that she wiped Jesus’s face with, to Soulac. She preached and later died and was buried in a tomb in the area. As the legend grew more popular around the world, St. Veronica’s veil became known as vera icon which means “true image.”

Veronica and her veil are significant to Christians and are revered by the Catholic Church. Veronica’s veil is known as one of the most valued Christian relics. The cloth is also known by Roman Catholics as the “sudarium”, “volto santo”, or “vernicle”. The Catholics remember the story of St. Veronica and her veil by making it a part of the Stations of the Cross, a Catholic tradition which tells the story of Jesus’s crucifixion. The Catholic Church honored Veronica by naming her a saint. They also celebrate her memory on the feast day of St. Veronica. Catholics and other Christians relate Veronica to a woman in the Bible named Haemorrhissa, who was cured by Jesus.

 According to the Bible Prob web blog post on the history of the religious relic, Pope Boniface VIII had the relic brought to  St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1297. It was first displayed on the first Holy Year in 1300. During the remodeling of St. Peter’s Basilica, the relic was stolen. In 1616, Pope Paul V prohibited copies of the veil to be made. Pope Urban VII had all copies of the veil destroyed in 1623. Four centuries after the original relic was stolen from the Basilica, Father Pfeiffer, professor of Christian Art History at the Pontifical Gregorian University claims to have found the orginal veil that was stolen in a monastery located in Italy. Today, the only representation of Veronica’s veil remains at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, in an old, fragile frame with cracked glass. It is located next to a marble statue of St. Veronica in the Basilica.