Never less solitary than when he was alone, never more busy than when he seemed most idle.
Tully (of Scipio Africanus)
Schlangengrotte – Grotte de serpents – Cave of snakes
Gold ion collision (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, Brookhaven)
Varium et mutabile semper femina is the sharpest satire, in the fewest words, that ever was made on womankind; for both the adjectives are neuter, and animal must be understood, to make them grammar. Virgil does well to put those words into the mouth of Mercury. If a god had not spoken them, neither durst he have written them, nor I translated them.
John Dryden, Dedication to the Aeneid
Laura Gibson – “Shadows On Parade”
Beasts Of Seasons
One part plaintive singer-songwriter, one part… well, no, she’s all plaintive. I think this is a bit like a female M. Ward, perhaps, but it’s not that simple. She has the poetic effect of Tiny Vipers, but a more varied palette of sounds, calling on other instruments, ambient noise, and even the occasional drum. It’s snuggling music, but that doesn’t mean it’s innocuous. (insound)
We are naturally displeas’d with an unknown critic, because we are bitten in the dark, and know not where to fasten our revenge.
John Dryden
The man’s voracious vanity devoured this implied tribute to his local and critical supremacy, with an appearance of the highest relish.
The Woman In White
Vocabulary: Recurring Herder Edition
jument: an ox, mule, or other beast of burden (from the Latin “jumentum”)
recrudescence: revival or reappearance after a period of dormancy
carle: a peasant or laborer (var. carl, from old Norse for karl, “man”)
quartan: something, usually a fever, recurring every fourth day
grazier: a rancher or farmer who grazes livestock on his land
ambage: an indirect method of expression or circumlocution
duenna: a chaperone or governess for a young lady
neatherd: a cow herder (like cowherd or shepherd)
exequy: a funereal ceremony or procession
rissole: a small, deep-fried, meat pastry
calid: warm (same root as calorie)
accoucheur: a male midwife