Random knowledge

The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe’en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of “All Hallows’ Day”,also which is now known as All Saints’ Day. It is believed to have originated in Ireland, and is known in Irish as Oíche Shamhna, literally “Samhain Night“.

This long-standing tradition was continued by writer-traveller Bruce Chatwin who used to buy his moleskines at an old Paris stationery shop in Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie where he would always stock up before embarking on one of his journeys. Over the years he had developed a veritable ritual. Before using them he would in fact number the pages, writing on the inside his name and at least two addresses across the world, and a message promising a reward for anyone finding and returning the notebook in case of it being lost. He even suggested this method to his friend Luis Sepúlveda, when he gave him a precious moleskine as a present for a journey they were planning to undertake together in Patagonia. And there was no doubt as to how precious it was, given that at the time even the last moleskine manufacturer, a small family-run firm of Tours, had discontinued production in 1986. ‘Le vrai moleskine n’est plus’ was the short and curt statement of the owner of the stationery shop where Chatwin had ordered one hundred before leaving for Australia. Despite having literally swept up all the Moleskines he could find, they were not enough. Now, the moleskine is back again. This silent and discreet keeper of an extraordinary tradition, which has been missing for years, has set out again on its journey. A witness to contemporary nomadism, it can once again pass from one pocket to another to continue the adventure. The sequel still waits to be written and its blank pages are ready to tell the story.”

The Gimp 2.4 has been released. Changes since the previous version. The official manual and a not so official manual.

I know, it’s not Photoshop, but it’s still a fine example of how sofisticated open source software can be.

They must be kidding! I for one love to read in a coffeehouse or a local pub with some jazzy music.

There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams
hurry too rapidly down to the sea,
and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintops
makes them spill over the sides in soft slow-motion,
turning to waterfalls under our very eyes.
–For if those streaks, those mile-long, shiny, tearstains,
aren’t waterfalls yet,
in a quick age or so, as ages go here,
they probably will be.
But if the streams and clouds keep travelling, travelling,
the mountains look like the hulls of capsized ships,
slime-hung and barnacled.

Think of the long trip home.
Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?
Where should we be today?
Is it right to be watching strangers in a play
in this strangest of theatres?
What childishness is it that while there’s a breath of life
in our bodies, we are determined to rush
to see the sun the other way around?
The tiniest green hummingbird in the world?
To stare at some inexplicable old stonework,
inexplicable and impenetrable,
at any view,
instantly seen and always, always delightful?
Oh, must we dream our dreams
and have them, too?
And have we room
for one more folded sunset, still quite warm?

But surely it would have been a pity
not to have seen the trees along this road,
really exaggerated in their beauty,
not to have seen them gesturing
like noble pantomimists, robed in pink.
–Not to have had to stop for gas and heard
the sad, two-noted, wooden tune
of disparate wooden clogs
carelessly clacking over
a grease-stained filling-station floor.
(In another country the clogs would all be tested.
Each pair there would have identical pitch.)
–A pity not to have heard
the other, less primitive music of the fat brown bird
who sings above the broken gasoline pump
in a bamboo church of Jesuit baroque:
three towers, five silver crosses.
–Yes, a pity not to have pondered,
blurr’dly and inconclusively,
on what connection can exist for centuries
between the crudest wooden footwear
and, careful and finicky,
the whittled fantasies of wooden footwear
and, careful and finicky,
the whittled fantasies of wooden cages.
–Never to have studied history in
the weak calligraphy of songbirds’ cages.
–And never to have had to listen to rain
so much like politicians’ speeches:
two hours of unrelenting oratory
and then a sudden golden silence
in which the traveller takes a notebook, writes:

“Is it lack of imagination that makes us come
to imagined places, not just stay at home?
Or could Pascal have been not entirely right
about just sitting quietly in one’s room?

Continent, city, country, society:
the choice is never wide and never free.
And here, or there . . . No. Should we have stayed at home,
wherever that may be?”

By Elizabeth Bishop

Europe’s largest dinosaur exhibition, with over 30 skeletons and lots of interactives: now again open to the public!

Well… I own already a D200, and comparing the features of both, I can’t see a decent reason to get me a D300. Yes, the D300 has live-viewing on a new LCD, faster frame rates, and a broader range of color adjustments, but this does not convince me to get a D300. A self-cleaning sensor unit ? I don’t have any problem with the sensor of the D200. So, only if you don’t own a D200, than I would suggest to get the D300.

And anyhow I principally prefer (suggest) to invest in better lenses. It’s like buying high-end audio equipment with low-end loudspeakers (which I see all too often, because people spend their budget on the audio equipment and what is left on the loadspeakers while it should be the other way around to a certain extent).

Interesting references about the history of the future

White’s The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts was the first and, for a time, the only English translation of a medieval bestiary. Bestiaries were second only to the Bible in their popularity and wide distribution during the Middle Ages. They were catalogs of animal stories, combining zoological information, myths, and legends. Great attention was given to bizarre, exotic, and monstrous creatures. Much of the content of bestiaries was drawn from much older sources including Aristotle, early English literature, and oral traditions. White provides an excellent appendix that explains how the creatures of the bestiary influenced the development of allegory and symbolism in art and literature.

It has been said that the samurai’s sword was his soul. Perhaps this deep attachment had something to do with the perfect melding of form and function found in the katana, as the famous curved sword is known in Japan. Invented a millennium ago, the katana remains a marvel of aesthetic beauty and skillful engineering. While most bladed weapons over the centuries were designed to either pierce or slash, the katana’s two different types of steel gave it optimum qualities for both, making it a highly versatile weapon in battle. In this slide show, follow the steps that a master Japanese swordsmith takes today to craft what is arguably the most legendary of swords.—Rima Chaddha and Audrey Resutek

Learn the secrets of the Samurai Sword…

My wish list at Amazon…feel free…

When I’m back home end of this week, I’ll start ordering what is still on it.

From Edwin A. Abbott to Emile Zola, the 1,082 titles in the Penguin Classics Complete Library total nearly half a million pages–laid end to end they would hit the 52-mile mark. Approximately 700 pounds in weight, the titles would tower 828 feet if you stacked them lengthwise atop each other–almost as tall as the Empire State Building. The complete collection available for $7,989.50 at Amazon…

Awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, Lessing was described by the Swedish Academy as:

“that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”

Resources:

• Bio-bibliography
• Doris Lessing homepage
• Doris Lessing at contemporarywriters
• Books by Doris Lessing at Amazon

Ancient scripts is a web site by Lawrence Lo and is -as he describes- a compendium of world-wide writing systems from prehistory to today. A fantastic resource for everyone interested in this topic.

The five-yearly update of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) came out last week. One matter has caused a lot of comment — the decision by its editors to omit the hyphen from some 16,000 words in the work.

Continue reading here

Historical Anatomies on the Web is a digital project designed to give Internet users access to high quality images from important historical anatomical atlases dating from the 15th to the 20th century.

Each atlas listing is accompanied by a brief historical discussion of the work, its author, the artists, and the illustration technique. A bibliographical description is also included, so that users will know which edition was scanned and if there are any characteristics special to the copy.

RK sez: I could browse these images for hours.

Tonight I’ll have dinner at the Virtual Beach Club ! Mmmmmm