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Wed 6 Oct 2010

Living in their own private Arizona

Posted by PJ under history, ignorance
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This kind of vandalism makes me sick to my stomach.

This is an embodiment of the whole “if it happened before I was born it doesn’t matter” philosophy. Of the “I’m more important, pay attention to ME!” pride-in-ignorance that a growing number of people in this country seem to have adopted as a personal philosophy.

You know, really, it’s beyond ignorance. It’s a willful destruction of humanity’s collective treasure, tantamount to the Taliban dynamiting the statues of Buddha.

“If I can’t create,” this vandal seems to be saying, “I will destroy what others have created. If I don’t understand, I’ll make sure no one else understands, either.”

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Tue 5 Oct 2010

Your argument is invalid

Posted by PJ under history, ideas, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“Any one thesis or conception may in itself be unsatisfactory and yet it does not lose all its value even when it is given up for another.  Something sticks to the critics; those who come after are usually a bit richer.  We may think of history as an argument without end.”

—Pieter Geyl, Napoleon for and against, tr. by Herbert H. Rowen

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Tue 24 Aug 2010

The mistress of life

Posted by PJ under history, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“History is the witness of the times, the light of truth, the life of memory, the mistress of life . . .”

—Cicero, De Oratore

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Sat 21 Aug 2010

Color photographs of “Russia” from 100 years ago

Posted by PJ under history, pictures
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These pictures are from a remarkable collection featured at The Big Picture. The photographer, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, used a variant on time lapse, with a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. In some, there is little to no evidence of the time lapse process, in others, the running water looks thick with layers, in still others—like the charming one of children below—you can see that the subjects must have had a very hard time following the presumed instructions not to move a muscle or even blink, probably for many long minutes. How can a kid hold still that long?

It’s a great collection, quite beautiful, and from another world than ours. There’s a good representation at this site. I recommend taking a gander.

The quotation marks are to indicate that many of the pictures are from now independent states like Uzbekistan.

Photobucket

Photobucket

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Fri 25 Jun 2010

Sharp dressed man

Posted by PJ under history, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from.”

—Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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