Category Archives: humanities

spot the language

Posted on Thursday, 2002 November 14 by Anton

Someone wrote to my favorite list, I received this spam today. Does anyone know what language it is? (And is there a tool, pref. on the web and free, that can take a piece of text and guess what language … Continue reading →

Posted in language | 1 Comment

the wishful thinking of historians

Posted on Saturday, 2002 October 26 by Anton

Bellesiles goes down. Lighten up Clayton, you’re entitled to gloat a bit.

Posted in history, weapons | Leave a comment

the Case of the Coathangers

Posted on Thursday, 2002 October 24 by Anton

Miles Kington channels A.P.Herbert, sorta: introductory remarks; motive. (Thanks to Michael Travers.)

Posted in law | 1 Comment

“redneck Corvette”

Posted on Wednesday, 2002 October 23 by Anton

What’s the opposite of low-rider?

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bedfellows

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

Andrew Bulhak observes: (The identity of heroes/villains in films can be telling; for example, there’s Four Feathers, which glorifies the British Empire (which can be seen as a rather prestigious model to proponents of a a global American empire) and … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema, history | Leave a comment

a use for the stuff

Posted on Sunday, 2002 October 20 by Anton

George Byrd, who has contributed to this space before, comments on the urine item below: I recall reading somewhere that during the last years of the Civil War, some southern cities instituted regular collection of urine from chamber pots, from … Continue reading →

Posted in history, technology | Leave a comment

a name

Posted on Friday, 2002 October 11 by Anton

I was thinking about English spellings of Indian names when this hit me: Does Chatterjee mean something like quadruply honored ?

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