Karen O's & Nellie Bly

Karen O paid tribute to Nellie Bly with a quaint, endearing song that accompanies today's Google Doodle celebrating what would have been the 151st birthday of the pioneering investigative journalist, adventurer, industrialist, inventor and activist.

Katy Wu's animation chronicles Bly's remarkable career, which began when she wrote a fierce retort, published under the pen name "Lonely Orphan Girl," to a nasty column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch titled, "What Girls Are Good For." Fittingly, Karen O begins her own song with the blunt, beautiful line, "Someone's gotta stand up and tell 'em what a girl is good for."

The Google Doodle touches on Bly's numerous achievements, especially her work as a journalist and her monumental 72-day trip around the world. "Nellie, take us all around the world with you / We wanna make something of ourselves, too," the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman sings over an acoustic melody and Wu's globe-trotting visuals.

Karen O's stripped-down paean to Bly bears some of the sonic touchstones of her solo debut, Crush Songs, which was released last September via Julian Casablancas' label, Cult Records. The LP comprises songs O wrote and recorded privately in 2006 and 2007, around the same time the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their second album, Show Your Bones.

As for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the band has been silent since they finished touring behind their 2013 LP, Mosquito. Last month, however, Karen O and guitarist Nick Zinner came together to perform Lou Reed's "Vicious" as part of a bittersweet tribute to the Velvet Underground frontman, who was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

Cr.Rolling Stone

Alessandro Volta Inventor : Battery

The battery inventor Alessandro Volta on February 18.

Alessandro Volta's 270th Birth Anniversary Celebrated With a Google Doodle

New Delhi:  The latest Google Doodle pays tribute to the inventor of one of the most significant inventions till date. Google celebrates 270th birthday of the battery inventor Alessandro Volta on February 18.

A click on the doodle shows the battery charging and google lighting up simultaneously. Another click takes you to a Google search of Alessandro Volta's links about his life and works.

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, an Italian physicist invented battery in the 1800s. Born in Como, Volta grew to become a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. His interest in electricity paved way to the invention of electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He was also the first person to isolate methane which further led to the discovery that methane mixed with air could be exploded with an electric spark.

It was with respect to Volta's contribution to the electrical science that the unit of electrical potential came to be known as volt.

Apart from these inventions, Alessandro Volta was quite a traveler and was a master of many languages. His proficiency in Latin, French, German and English helped him in travelling across the whole of Europe.

In 1794, Volta married to an aristocratic lady and became a father to three sons.

In the honor of his works, Alessandro Volta's image was depicted on the Italian 10,000 lira note (no longer in circulation) with a sketch of his voltaic pile.

Volta died on March 5, 1827. A museum was later built in his memory which displayed some of the experimental equipment.
Cr.NDTV