Saturday 16 February 2013

Saturday's trivia for you (some of which is NOT trivial)

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Rufus Rides Again: 1864
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Rufus Rides Again: 1864
April 1864 “Brandy Station, Virginia. Gen. Rufus Ingalls on horseback. Photograph from the main Eastern theater of war ” winter quarters at Brandy Station”
Wet plate glass negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
The king and the parking lot. He was small in stature, weak in strength, with a curved spine and a face “little and fierce”. The myth of Richard III meets reality... more

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You’re actually awful at multi-tasking
via Big Think by Kayt Sukel
A few weeks ago, I was in line at the grocery store and overheard the following exchange.
“The cop gave her a ticket for texting and driving. She wasn't speeding or anything.”
Continue reading

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What would happen if an unstoppable force met an immoveable object?
via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker

Minute Physics tackles the greatest mystery in all the Internet and solves it with the power of science (and pedantry).

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Literary criticism has become a way to pursue tenure, complains Joseph Epstein. “Literary culture itself seems to be slowly if decisively shutting down”... more

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Legos and green army men show you how cold sores work
via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker

Anne of Green Gables had herpes. And now, you can learn a little more about how herpes hides out in your body and how it causes cold sores with the help of University of Texas professor Chris Sullivan, a bunch of legos, and a platoon of green army men.
Many thanks to Joe Hanson!

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Why Tolerate Religion?
Robert Merrihew Adams in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews via 3quarksdaily by S. Abbas Raza
337491
Brian Leiter, Why Tolerate Religion?, Princeton University Press, 2012, 192pp., $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780691153612
The book itself may be beyond anyone who is not a philosophy student or who has a specific interest in the subject but I did find Adams’ review interesting.

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Moral intensity, bizarre charisma, lack of political imagination: Elaine Scarry is a representative thinker of our time... more

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December 1954 : James Dean holds up Ronald Reagan
via Retronaut by Chris Wild

“An episode of the General Electric Theater called The Dark, Dark Hours featuring James Dean in a performance with Ronald Reagan was originally broadcast December 12, 1954,”
Wikipedia
More images here

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A Few Side Notes on Tudor Extraordinaire Henry VIII
via Britannica Blog by Gregory McNamee
A few months ago, a photograph went viral on the Internet: It depicted a sign tacked to a telephone pole advertising someone’s “tudoring services”. The possibilities are endless, ranging from specialisation in a kind of bygone architecture to marriage counselling to lessons in behaviour befitting the peerage, but alas, I fear it was a mere typo.
Even so, it cannot be denied that the best known of the Tudors, King Henry VIII of England, frequently needed the services of clerics and lawyers. He instituted the practice of divorce in his realm, after all, and if he had a wandering eye and a firm belief in the rights of royalty in such matters, he had a practical reason for it: He needed to produce a male heir, lest his lineage get all tangled up and, heavens, give a Catholic a shot at returning to the throne. What he got – or begat – instead was Elizabeth I, a historical and biological fact that, as history tells us, turned out to be no small thing.
King Henry VIII of England, c. 1540, by Hans Holbein the Younger. Credit: Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images
King Henry VIII of England, c. 1540, by Hans Holbein the Younger
Credit: Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images


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