A long time e-friend has just welcomed the arrival of his second daughter, to be known as Eleanor. Congratulations! I love that name, as Eleanor of Aquitaine (at various times Prince of Aquitaine as ruling Duchess, Queen of France, Queen… Read More ›
history
those who do not know are doomed to repeat etc, besides it’s fascinating
Ancients yet again smarter than thought
I love the way we keep finding that people in the ancient and prehistoric world were actually much less backward than previous generations of scholars thought. image from Wikipedia It was found at the bottom of the sea aboard an… Read More ›
Obsessive fans not just bores
They’re extinguishers of beetles, too. (via Barista) Addendum: serendipitously to the above link, I followed this link (via Bellatrys in a discussion at Pandagon) to a summary of The Poison Mushroom, Nazi pre-war propaganda against Jews. Ugh. Further addendum: The… Read More ›
A source of minor joy
is just discovering that the Ermine Street Guard exists. It’s so peculiarly British to take one’s weird hobby involving dressing up in strange outfits so seriously that one’s group ends up as a respected resource for academics pursuing a proper understanding of Roman military engineering and craftsmanship.
Even if they probably wouldn’t let me play with the onager
Conflict: Promoting Pride and Prejudice
As my last two posts illustrate, there appears to be ever more promoting of xenophobia both domestically and abroad against opponents from all sides, whether ideological/political/territorial, particularly as what was meant to be a lightning military campaign to effect a… Read More ›
Number of the Beast = AntiChrist (but does it really?)
There is so much ink and electrons spent on the question: who is the AntiChrist revealed by the Number of the Beast? Type “antichrist” or “666” into a search engine and watch the sponsored links to any number of sites… Read More ›
Hyphenating – who goes first?
So Brangelina’s baby has been born – Shiloh Nouvelle Jolie-Pitt. There is undoubtedly going to be a lot of sneering at the choice of personal names, but today I’m looking at the family name. Jolie and Pitt had already decided… Read More ›
Lest We Forget
Because it’s Anzac Day, I’ve spent much of my time looking over the various diaries/letters of my greatuncles who took part in the Great War. (Various cousins-once-removed and second-cousins have transcribed them over the years and sent out copies to… Read More ›
For the fallen
The news of Australia’s first military fatality in Iraq, which came just before Anzac Day, is a timely reminder of the fact that people at home in suits make decisions that cost soldiers overseas in uniform their lives. And those… Read More ›
Am I being too much of a snob?
Am I saving myself as much time and possible grief as I think I am when I refuse to read their blog if I click on a commenter’s profile and find that they’ve listed The Da Vinci Code as a… Read More ›
Hoyden About Town 