A few years ago we thrilled to an exhibit by the Library of Congress of color photographs of Russian life made in 1909–15. Now I learn that the images shown there are a small fraction of the Prokudin-Gorskii plates, most of which were never assembled into color images; and that there is an amateur project to do the rest of them! (Link found here.)
Ken MacLeod‘s recent novel Newton’s Wake (whose title I’m not sure I understand) has a character say:
What we do is you tell us some more about Eurydice and its beautiful people, and then you get tired and emotional, and then we take you home.
tired and emotional is wink-wink euphemism for drunk, popularized (I gather) by Private Eye. How many Americans, I thought, will be baffled?
Tom Knapp on the land problem (inter alia) (cited by Mutualist). (2006: that site has been reorganized; I think this is the same piece, and as a bonus here are two followups.)
a Martian dust-devil, close up
Maritza Campos, author of the most excellent strip College Roomies From Hell, has a daughter on the way.
anti-government extremists attack peacekeeping force
April 19 is the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, the “shot heard ’round the world”. It has been remarked that the political establishment takes little notice of the occasion. This, I suggest, is as it should be. How sad if a momentous uprising against established authority should become yet another occasion for the politicians to glorify themselves!
Date: 13 Apr 2005 15:37:12 -0000
To: bronto@pobox.com
Subject: QUERIDO MIO
From: JAMES UDO INIEKPOEstimado Sr.
Les saludos, soy JAMES UDO INIEKPO un director con el departamento de los recursos del petróleo y de la secretaria del agrupacion de revisión de contrato (CRP) de los Corporacion National Nigeriana de Petroleo (NNPC).
. . .
In the last chapter of A Canticle for Leibowitz, a priest makes a pun:
“Onerem accipisne?” [Do you accept the burden?]
“Honorem accipio.” [I accept the honor.]
In classical Latin, onus ‘burden’ is neuter, so the accusative is onus not onerem. Even a dead language, it seems, changes at least a little bit during the future dark ages.
April 20: Oops, I misremembered. The first priest’s line is tibine imponemus oneri? [Shall we impose the burden on thee?] — where ‘burden’ is instrumental, not accusative.