Category Archives: humanities

an ancient visual pun

Learn something every day. Philip Anderson writes in rec.heraldry: Maria is the Latinisation of Miriam, which means something like “drop of the ocean”. But the Latin translation of this, stilla maris, was confused with stella maris, i.e. “star of the … Continue reading

Posted in arts, language, religion | Leave a comment

it couldn’t happen there, either

When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History (link from David Mankins) “You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history,” he [the head of government] proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. … Continue reading

Posted in history | Leave a comment

jIyajbe’

from CNN: Hospital seeks Klingon speaker “There are some cases where we’ve had mental health patients where this was all they would speak,” said the county’s purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway. County officials said that obligates them to respond with a … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, fandom, language | Leave a comment

catch-phrase of the day

Google gives 2910 results for “wretched hive of scum and villainy”. 2004 Oct 24: now “about 6,070”; a disturbing trend. 2006 May 10: now “about 76,100”

Posted in cinema, fandom, neep-neep | Leave a comment

Jack Vance’s monument

I’ve received the first half of the Vance Integral Edition, and it looks swell. The printing is crisp, the binding solid. I had doubts about the new typeface (designed by the instigator of the project, in what seemed an awful … Continue reading

Posted in fandom, prose | Leave a comment

Tree, Spare That Woodsman

This is probably old, but it’s new to me, and a hoot: The Definitive Middle-earth Test

Posted in fandom, prose | Leave a comment

because once was not enough

Found in the Archives, a continuing irregular series. I wrote on 2002 Jan 07: If I had twins, I’d be tempted to name them Kevin and Eugene (or Melissa and Deborah), rough translations of each other. And on 2002 Jan … Continue reading

Posted in fandom, me!me!me! | 2 Comments