[HN Gopher] The accidental invention of the snow globe (2024)
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       The accidental invention of the snow globe (2024)
        
       Author : benbreen
       Score  : 53 points
       Date   : 2025-01-02 15:19 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
        
       | urronglol wrote:
       | Hmm. Work safe tip. Don't look up rosebud. Thank the lord for
       | wfh.
        
         | RF_Savage wrote:
         | I guess you had safe search off?
        
         | 0xffff2 wrote:
         | I don't get it. I tried Kagi, Google and Bing web and image
         | search with safe search off and I didn't see anything NSFW.
        
         | DonHopkins wrote:
         | Do you mean the nickname that William Randolph Hearst gave to
         | his mistress Marion Davies' clitoris?
         | 
         | >There's also a more controversial interpretation rooted in
         | gossip about Orson Welles and screenwriter Herman J.
         | Mankiewicz. Some suggest "Rosebud" was a private joke referring
         | to the pet name for a part of William Randolph Hearst's
         | mistress Marion Davies' anatomy, making it a subtle jab at the
         | powerful media mogul who inspired Kane.
        
           | MrMetric wrote:
           | As I recall, the term "rosebud" can refer to an intentional
           | anal prolapse. I'm not sure if what porn actresses do is the
           | same as the medical definition of an anal prolapse, though.
        
             | DonHopkins wrote:
             | I think in the context of Citizen Kane and Orson Welles
             | holding a snowglobe, it's referring to Marion Davies's
             | clitoris (via the name of the sled, of course), which
             | totally pissed off William Randolph Hearst.
             | 
             | >In the opening scene of the 1941 mystery Citizen Kane, the
             | eponymous protagonist, played by Orson Welles, clenches a
             | snow globe in his hand as he utters his last word:
             | "rosebud." The glass-encased spherical diorama of a snowy
             | scene was a mere novelty at the time, but the film, in
             | part, gave rise to its popularity.
             | 
             | Here's a snarky response from Gore Vidal to a letter from a
             | ambulance chasing lawyer to the editor of the New York
             | Review, questioning his veracity as the source of the
             | rumor:
             | 
             | https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1989/08/17/rosebud/
             | 
             | [From Gore Vidal's perspective, the claim that "Rosebud"
             | was William Randolph Hearst's private term for Marion
             | Davies's clitoris is plausible but unverifiable. Vidal
             | acknowledges that he did not receive this information
             | directly from Hearst or Davies but suggests that such
             | details could easily have emerged within the intimate,
             | alcohol-fueled circles of Hearst's entourage, including
             | figures like Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote Citizen Kane.
             | Vidal argues that Hearst's intense fury at the film might
             | be partly explained by the personal significance of
             | "Rosebud," even if Orson Welles himself was unaware of its
             | connotations. While he admits the story is speculative,
             | Vidal finds it intriguing and consistent with the gossipy,
             | complex dynamics of Hearst's world.]
             | 
             | Here's Orson Welles mentioning "rosebud" on the set of a
             | Paul Masson Commercial: ;)
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6P1ifGjvEE
             | 
             | What you REALLY don't want to know is what Orson Welles
             | meant by "frozen peas", "in July", "and I'll go down on
             | you", "fish fingers", "crumb crisp coating", and "beef
             | burgers":
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyko_oQ0da8
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH1PJTY9AVA
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6N8ADDDs0k
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh3BTbb9hCQ
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Peas
             | 
             | I can't wait to hear what private pet nicknames for body
             | parts emerge from the intimate, ketamine-fueled circles of
             | Musk's entourage.
        
               | lisper wrote:
               | > Here's a snarky response from Gore Vidal
               | 
               | When it comes to snark, Vidal was a true master of the
               | craft.
        
               | DonHopkins wrote:
               | Indeed, I love how at the end he roasted the lawyer who
               | wrote the original letter to the editor that he was
               | responding to:
               | 
               | "Meanwhile, all Topkises are kindly requested to return
               | to their letterheads until the next ambulance siren
               | sounds."
               | 
               | FWIW, "rosebud" is also a cheat code in The Sims that
               | gives you $1000 Simoleons!
        
       | nyc111 wrote:
       | Why the date in the title? It's just from a few days ago. It's
       | not like from 2014 or from years ago.
        
         | droopyEyelids wrote:
         | Someone in the future might see it
        
           | lisper wrote:
           | On that theory, every story should have a date in the title.
           | But that would get tedious.
        
       | optimalsolver wrote:
       | That little invention gave us the Tommy Westphall Universe:
       | 
       | https://www.unsupervisednerds.com/reads-full/2021/1/20/the-t...
        
       | salgernon wrote:
       | Sir Terry Pratchett's _Reaper Man_ offered that snow globes were
       | effectively seeds for dispersing awareness of new cities / malls.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | That book has one of my favorite quotes, "What can the harvest
         | hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?"
         | 
         | I don't know why but that brings me to the verge of tears when
         | I read it.
        
       | netsharc wrote:
       | Video featuring the museum and the man (the IIIrd), featuring the
       | 2 guys from the IT Crowd: https://youtu.be/6wiqF7_keYs
       | 
       | And in more serious format:
       | https://www.bbc.com/news/business-25298507
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-02 23:01 UTC)