Zu’i, New Mexico. Pueblo Group.
“Notwithstanding the oppression of the Spaniards in early times, the culture and esthetic ability of the Zu’is flourished unabated, and they are still producing excellent examples of their craft.
The colors of the Zu’is have a distinct significance. North is designated as yellow, because the light of morning and evening in winter is yellow; West is blue, for westward is the Pacific Ocean; South is red, it being the region of summer, and the East is designated as white, to signify dawn. The upper region is multicolored, as the light of the sun on clouds; the nether region, black, as deep caverns and springs.”
—Dorothy Smith Sides, from Decorative Art of the Southwestern Indians, 1936.
Mohave, Arizona—California.
“The Mohave, who gave name to that vast arid waste, the Mohave Desert, are of Yuman stock. . . . In early times the Mohave were a powerful tribe, but owing to outside influences they have become greatly reduced in number. . . .
The Indian artists picture in their work the common objects of everyday life; the great powers of nature, the sun, moon, stars, wind, trees, animals, birds, or whatever might suit their fancy. . . . Many of the designs are worked on a white background representing the snow-time, or winter, which was the season when the men went on the war trail to achieve honors and glory. Other colors symbolic of military achievement were red, indicating wounds inflicted or received; yellow, the sun-colored war horses, and green, representing the grass or summer. In religious or ceremonial designs, red represents the sunset or thunder; blue, the sky, water or day; yellow, the dawn or sunlight; and black, the night.”
—Dorothy Smith Sides, from Decorative Art of the Southwestern Indians, 1936.
Navaho, Arizona—New Mexico. Nomadic Group.
“Sand to the depth of two inches is spread on the floor, then smoothed and evened with a curved stick; on this sand the artist works from the center outward with colors made by a man sitting at the east. Yellow, red, and white are made by grinding native rocks; black is made from charcoal. Black and white are mixed to produce a gray-blue.
The four sacred colors of the cardinal points are, white for the East, blue for the West, yellow for the South, and black for the North.
The artist then takes a pinch of the desired color between his thumb and forefinger and lets it trickle in the line of his proposed design, when the pattern is finished, with its exquisite color and detail, a rare work of art is produced.”
—Dorothy Smith Sides, from Decorative Art of the Southwestern Indians, first published in 1936.
My Blue Heaven
Just Mollie and me, and baby makes three,
We’re happy in my blue heaven.
—from My Blue Heaven, words and music by George Whiting
and Walter Donaldson, 1927.
Big Blue
“By 1960 the nascent computer industry had delivered about 5000 computers in the United States and over a thousand to the rest of the world. Across the industrialised regions of the world computers were seldom seen devices. They hid, shrouded in mystery, like tall wardrobes, in large rooms where the air temperature had to be regulated so as to absorb the heat from the electronics that filled the block-like covers. The IBM 1620 was no exception. The company had earned the nickname “Big Blue” due to the pale blue covers that enveloped its machines. Located in the new Physics building on the west side of the campus, tended by a small group of academics and technicians, the UWA 1620 sat inert yet alive, a mystery waiting to be unfurled.”
—Alex Reid, from his internet-posted essay History of Me and Computers, chapter 4, Early Computing at The University of Western Australia. Alex is the only person on the internet who could explain to me why IBM’s nickname is Big Blue.
Deep Blue
“The project was started as “ChipTest” at Carnegie Mellon University by Feng-hsiung Hsu; the computer system produced was named Deep Thought after the fictional computer of the same name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Hsu joined IBM in 1989 and worked with Murray Campbell on parallel computing problems. Deep Blue was developed out of this. The name is a play on Deep Thought and Big Blue, IBM’s nickname.”
—on Deep Blue, from Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia.”
Deeper Blue
“Deep Blue . . . a chess-playing computer developed by IBM . . . was the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. . . .
Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded (unofficially nicknamed “Deeper Blue”) and played Kasparov again in May 1997, winning the six-game rematch 3.5–2.5. . . . Deep Blue thus became the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. . . .
After the lost match, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine’s moves, which he could not understand. He also suggested that humans may have helped the machine during the match. He demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue. In 2003 a documentary film was made that explored these claims titled Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. . . .
In part these allegations were correct. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they took with abandon. The code was modified between games to understand Kasparov’s play style better, allowing it to avoid a trap in the final game that the AI had fallen for twice before.”
—from Wikipedia. This means it’s probably fairly accurate. I saw Game Over a few months ago, and if you like chess or the color blue, I recommend it!
the excitement rather than the logic of life
“Abstract Expressionists such as Oscar Kokoschka asserted the excitement rather than the logic of life by using strong and bizarre colors (for example, a green face), heavy, dynamic brush strokes, and even distortions of figures and faces, such as enlarging an eye out of proportion to the rest of the face.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
a good many theatres are carpeted in red
“Opera houses, concert halls, and legitimate theatres are often fairly high-status environments. . . . Lobbies are usually plush and impressive; it is interesting that a good many theatres are carpeted in red, which is the most arousing color.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
Many living rooms are failures for entertaining
“Many living rooms are failures for entertaining not only because they are not colorful and are poorly lit but also because room shapes or the type and arrangement of furniture seriously depress arousal levels. Some rooms feel too large and cold and can easily be made to seem smaller by colors and textures on the walls. Since a high-load surface—one that is heavily textured and contains sharp color contrasts involving arousing colors—appears closer than a low-load one, the perceived shape of a room can be altered dramatically by judicious application of this principle. For example, ceilings can be “lowered” or “raised” by using more or less arousing colors and textures, respectively. When a room feels overly confining, less arousing surfaces must be used. A trick decorators often use is to paint opposite walls darker and lighter shades of the same color, thus making a narrow room seem wider.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.