Never could the eye have beheld the sun, had not its own essence been soliform, neither can a soul not beautiful attain to an intuition of beauty.
Samuel Coleridge (paraphrasing Plotinus) – Biographia Literaria
Clever video idea by Jonah Haber; the background is photosensitive and captures silhouettes of the dancer whenever the flash fires.
When the artichoke flowers, and the chirping grass-hopper sits in a tree and pours down his shrill song continually from under his wings in the season of wearisome heat, then goats are plumpest and wine sweetest; women are most wanton, but men are feeblest.
At that time let me have a shady rock and wine of Biblis, a clot of curds and milk of drained goats with the flesh of an heifer fed in the woods, that has never calved, and of firstling kids; then also let me drink bright wine, sitting in the shade, when my heart is satisfied with food, and so, turning my head to face the fresh Zephyr, from the everflowing spring which pours down unfouled thrice pour an offering of water, but make a fourth libation of wine.
Hesiod, Works and Days
When a meteoroid strikes your camera mid-capture (NASA)
Fools! They know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor what great advantage there is in mallow and asphodel.
Hesiod, Works and Days
Vocabulary: Toper th’ Merlon to ye edition
gamboge: resin used as yellow pigment or purgative, from Cambodia (‘gambogia’)
cofferdam: temporary waterproof enclosure for working below a waterline
johannine: relating to or characteristic of the apostle John or his gospel
obsequy: deferential behavior when singular, funeral rites when plural
actinic: related to or able to trigger light-activated chemical changes
merlon: the solid part between the gaps of a crenelated battlement
proa: Malaysian sailboat with triangular sail and single outrigger
invultuation: to create a likeness or effigy, esp. in witchcraft
sardonyx: onyx with layers of sard, a type of chalcedony
lobtail: when a whale strikes its flukes on the water
darbies: cuffs or manacles (also ‘double-darbies’)
rowel: the spiked wheel at the end of a spur
spinet: small upright piano or harpsichord
sporran: pouch worn on the front of a kilt
kentledge: scrap metal used as ballast
synoptic: adjective form of synopsis
lethiferous: lethal; inviting death
pule: to whine or whimper
ophidian: serpent-related
anent: about or regarding
toper: frequent drinker
gargarize: gargle
maukin: hare