colors

A history of the negative associations of yellow

art, history, religion / /

From Allen Abel And Madeleine Czigler’s “Submarines, bananas and taxis” (National Post: 24 June 2008):

Depicted in frescoes and canvases from the early Middle Ages onward in the robes of the betrayer of the Christ, “Judas yellow” devolved into an imprint of depravity, treason and exclusion.

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By the 12th century, European Jews were compelled to wear yellow hats, prostitutes were bound by yellow sashes and yellow flags flew above the pus-stained hovels of the Black Death. From this would descend our own yellow of cowardice and insanity, and the yellow badges of the star-crossed Jüden of the Third Reich.

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The cochineal insect’s gift of red

business, history, religion, science / /

From Allen Abel and Madeleine Czigler’s “Scandal, communism, blood” (National Post: 27 June 2008):

The blood-red allure of lipstick is a gift of a parasitic insect that infests cactus plants, principally in Mexico and Peru. It has been known since Aztec and Mayan times that, when boiled, the body of the cochineal insect dissolves into a deep crimson dye. France is the leading importer. Cochineal dye, which is neither Kosher nor Halal (since it is forbidden for Jews or Muslims to consume any insect) also is used in thousands of foods and beverages, ranging from sausages and gelatin desserts to some Cheddar cheese.

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Mac OS X settings to reduce PDF sizes

tech help / /

From Adam Engst’s “Slim down your PDFs” (Macworld: 5 November 2008):

Though few people realize this, you can reduce the size of PDF files using the Leopard version of Preview. To shrink a PDF file, open it in Preview, choose Save As from the File menu, and, in the Save dialog box, choose Reduce File Size from the Quartz Filter pop-up menu. If when you compare the compressed PDF with your original, the images are too fuzzy for your needs (the default settings are pretty severe), you can make your own Quartz filter with different settings.

To do this, launch ColorSync Utility (in Applications/Utilities), choose New Utility Window from the File menu if none is showing, and click on Filters in the toolbar. Click on the arrow to the right of Reduce File Size, choose Duplicate Filter from the drop-down menu, and name your new filter. Enter different values for Image Sampling and Image Compression, switch back to your original PDF in Preview, and save a PDF with your new filter in place of Reduce File Size. With some trial and error, you should be able to arrive at a compromise that satisfies you.

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Blue for girls and pink for boys

history, language & literature / /

From Allen Abel and Madeleine Czigler’s “Boys, despair and aristocrats” (National Post: 24 June 2008):

Blue clothing for girls and pink for boys — and not the reverse — was the custom in North America for much of the 20th century. “The reason,” according to the Ladies Home Journal in 1918, “is that pink being a more decided and stronger colour is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Not until the 1950s did the reverse become entrenched.

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Chinese folklore and the colors green, white, red, yellow, and black

history / /

From Allen Abel and Madeleine Czigler’s “Ireland, Islam and envy” (National Post: 24 June 2008):

According to a Chinese folk tale, there once was a turtle whose wife fell in love with a snake. Too humiliated to watch their pan-reptilian canoodling, the turtle pulled a large green leaf over his eyes. Hence the usage, still current, of “green hat” in Chinese parlance as the connotation of a cuckold.

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To the Chinese, in the same immemorial way, white is sadness, red is happiness, yellow is thoughtfulness and black is fear.

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