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reetings from Australia.
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The island of Utopia is in the middle two
hundred miles broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a
great part of it, but it grows narrower towards both ends. Its
figure is not unlike a crescent. Between its horns the sea comes in
eleven miles broad, and spreads itself into a great bay, which is
environed with land to the compass of about five hundred miles, and
is well secured from winds. In this bay there is no great current;
the whole coast is, as it were, one continued harbour, which gives
all that live in the island great convenience for mutual commerce.
But the entry into the bay, occasioned by rocks on the one hand and
shallows on the other, is very dangerous. In the middle of it there
is one single rock which appears above water, and may, therefore,
easily be avoided; and on the top of it there is a tower, in which a
garrison is kept; the other rocks lie under water, and are very
dangerous. The channel is known only to the natives; so that if any
stranger should enter into the bay without one of their pilots he
would run great danger of shipwreck. Sir Thomas More, English lawyer, writer, and politician, born
on February 7, 1478 and posthumously known as St Thomas More; from
Utopia (1516), 'Concerning the Best State of a Commonwealth'
I think putting thieves to death is not lawful; and it is plain and obvious that
it is absurd and of ill consequence to the commonwealth that a thief and a
murderer should be equally punished; for if a robber sees that his danger is the
same if he is convicted of theft as if he were guilty of murder, this will
naturally incite him to kill the person whom otherwise he would only have
robbed; since, if the punishment is the same, there is more security, and less
danger of discovery, when he that can best make it is put out of the way; so
that terrifying thieves too much provokes them to cruelty. Sir Thomas More; ibid
There are several sorts of religions, not only in different parts of the island,
but even in every town; some worshipping the sun, others the moon or one of the
planets. Some worship such men as have been eminent in former times for virtue
or glory, not only as ordinary deities, but as the supreme god. Yet the greater
and wiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore one eternal, invisible,
infinite, and incomprehensible Deity; as a Being that is far above all our
apprehensions, that is spread over the whole universe, not by His bulk, but by
His power and virtue; Him they call the Father of All, and acknowledge that the
beginnings, the increase, the progress, the vicissitudes, and the end of all
things come only from Him; nor do they offer divine honours to any but to Him
alone. And, indeed, though they differ concerning other things, yet all agree in
this: that they think there is one Supreme Being that made and governs the
world, whom they call, in the language of their country, Mithras. They differ in
this: that one thinks the god whom he worships is this Supreme Being, and
another thinks that his idol is that god; but they all agree in one principle,
that whoever is this Supreme Being, He is also that great essence to whose glory
and majesty all honours are ascribed by the consent of all nations. Sir Thomas More; from Utopia (1516), 'Of the Religions
of the Utopians'
If honour were profitable, everybody would be honourable. Sir Thomas More
I die the king's faithful servant, but God's first. Sir Thomas More; last words before being beheaded (July
7, 1535)
A man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where
is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth,
a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for
all seasons.
Robert Whittington, writing about Sir Thomas More (1520)
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at. Oscar Wilde
We have founded a state which we hope will become a shining light among all the nations of the southern hemisphere. Governor Arthur
Phillip, from his journal, February 7, 1788 (in Sydney-town)
Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, and win the race! Charles Dickens, English novelist born on February 7, 1812
You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. Stick to Facts, sir! Charles Dickens
MY father's family name being Pirrip, and
my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names
nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and
came to be called Pip. Charles Dickens; opening paragraph of Great
Expectations
To conceal
anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never
close my lips where I have opened my heart. Charles Dickens; Master Humphrey's Clock (1840 - '41)
I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole
earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can
form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here. Charles Dickens; comment made, March 1842, while on an American tour.
Quoted in Hesketh Pearson's Dickens (1949), Ch. 8
He is not, as he forcibly remarks, ‘one of those fortunate men who, if they were
to dive under one side of a barge stark-naked, would come up on the other with a
new suit of clothes on, and a ticket for soup in the waistcoat–pocket:’ neither
is he one of those, whose spirit has been broken beyond redemption by misfortune
and want. He is just one of the careless, good-for-nothing, happy fellows, who
float, cork–like, on the surface, for the world to play at hockey with: knocked
here, and there, and everywhere: now to the right, then to the left, again up in
the air, and anon to the bottom, but always reappearing and bounding with the
stream buoyantly and merrily along. Charles Dickens; Sketches by Boz (1836 - '37), Our Parish,
Ch. 5
We still leave unblotted in the leaves of our statute book, for the reverence
and admiration of successive ages, the just and wholesome law which declares
that the sturdy felon shall be fed and clothed, and that the penniless debtor
shall be left to die of starvation and nakedness. This is no fiction. Charles Dickens; Pickwick Papers (1836), Ch. 42
For nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from
morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, is but a succession of
changes so gentle and easy, that we can scarcely mark their progress. Charles Dickens; Nicholas Nickleby (1838 - '39), Ch. 22
Man knows much more than he understands. Alfred Adler, Austrian medical doctor and psychologist, born on February
7, 1870; as quoted in A Primer of Adlerian Psychology: The
Analytic-Behavioural-Cognitive Psychology of Alfred Adler (1999) by Harold
H. Mosak and Michael P. Maniacci
It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. Alfred Adler
Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of
selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright who
became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, born on
February 7, 1885; attributed
There are two insults which no human will endure: the assertion that he hasn't a
sense of humor, and the doubly impertinent assertion that he has never known
trouble. Sinclair Lewis; attributed
American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead. Sinclair Lewis; attributed
I love America, but I don't like it. Sinclair Lewis; attributed
Fortune has dealt with me rather too well. I have known little struggle, not
much poverty, many generosities. Now and then I have, for my books or myself,
been somewhat warmly denounced— there was one good pastor in California who upon
reading my Elmer Gantry desired to lead a mob and lynch me, while another holy
man in the state of Maine wondered if there was no respectable and righteous way
of putting me in jail. Sinclair Lewis; from his Nobel lecture (December 12, 1930)
This age, which should adjudge happiness to be as valuable as soap or munitions,
would never come so long as the workers accepted the testimony of paid
spokesmen... to the effect that they were contented and happy, rather than the
evidence of their own wincing nerves to the effect that they live in a polite
version of hell. Sinclair Lewis; The Job (1917)
I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and
sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be
individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation.
We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers ... coax
us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made;
just wiser than you.' For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our
Utopia now — and we're going to try our hands at it. Sinclair Lewis; Main Street (1920)
"This is one of the dies nefasti (N), a day on
which no legal action or public voting could take place. The dies nefasti of
February were days of religious ceremony honoring the dead and heralding the
rebirth of the Spring and its associated fertility." Source
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Meet me at Corrigenda
It is one of the
largest winter events in Japan. Teams from outside Japan come to
participate and the festival is thought to be an opportunity for
international relations. About two million people come to see the enormous
beautiful snow statues on display in Odori Park.
The topic for the statues varies and is likely to
feature an event or famous person from the past year. For example, in 2004
there were statues of Hideki
Matsui, the famous baseball
player who plays for the New
York Yankees. There are also long ice slides which people can actually
slide down.
The Snow Festival began in 1950,
when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park
in central Sapporo, which is the main site of the festival. In 1955,
the Japan
Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built
the first massive snow
sculpture, for which the Snow Festival has become famous. Sometimes,
in years when the amount of snowfall is lighter than usual, the Self-Defense
Force has to bring in snow from other places to open the festival.
Participation in the festival by the Self-Defense Forces is considered a
training exercise. The Makomanai base is one of the three main sites, and
hosts the largest sculptures, with an emphasis on providing play space for
children. The third site is the night life district of Susukino, which
hosts the ice carvings.
Egyptian
day (dies egypticus, dies ægypticus or dies mala),
unlucky day in Medieval Europe. ("But, notwithstanding, I will trust the
Lord" was the associated saying.)
Feast day of St Moses
"Moses or St Moses spent many years in the fourth
century as a hermit on
the fringes of the
Roman empire between
Egypt and Syria,
before becoming the first
Arabbishop of the
Arabs. As he was well
respected for his piety,
faith, and the
performance of miracles,
Mavia, an Arab
warrior-queen, made his consecration as bishop over her people a
condition of any truce with Rome." Wikipedia
1478 Sir Thomas
More (d.
July 7, 1535), English Lord Chancellor, executed by
King Henry
VIII. More is also famed for his authorship of Utopia,
(1516), a book that has profoundly influenced many later writers seeking to
imagine a better world.
More is commemorated with a saint's day,
June 22,
in the
Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Since
1980, he has also been included in the Church of England
calendar of saints, despite the fact that he was executed due to
his adherence to allegiance to the pope, and his refusal to give
assent to the ecclesiastical supremacy of Henry. See A Man
for All Seasons, a play by
Robert Bolt.
Sir Thomas More, 'a man for all
seasons'
The honest politician
More was
said to be scrupulously honest. Once when given a bribe of a valuable cup, he
toasted the health of the giver and returned the cup after he
drained it. When given gloves with gold in them, he returned the
gloves, saying he preferred his gloves "without lining".
More's Utopia -
home of Vikings
Utopia actually
and officially exists. It is the name given to the landing site on
Mars for the American spacecraft Viking II which set down on
September 3, 1976, after a space voyage lasting six days short of one
year.
"Dickens so completely believed in
Mesmerism (a system of treatment through hypnotism) that he
considered himself a doctor in the method of transferring the
healing rays called 'animal magnetism' from himself to sick people." Isaac
Asimov, Giant Book
of Facts and Trivia, Magpie, London, 1993, p. 209
"R.
Buckminster Fuller, in his Synergetic-Energetic Geometry,
which he claims is the 'co-ordinate system of the Universe,'
reduces all phenomena to geometric-energetic constructs based on
the tetrahedron (4-sided), the octet truss (8-sided) and the
coupler (8-faceted with 24 phases). Fuller argues specifically
that the 8-face, 24-phase coupler underlies the 8-fold division of
the chemical elements on the Mendeleyev [sic] Periodic Table.
"In 1973, unaware of Fuller's coupler
– which I called to his attention later – Dr [Timothy]
Leary began to divide his 8 circuits into a 24-stage Periodic
Table of Evolution … Leary also began attempting to correlate
this with the Periodic Table of Elements in chemistry."Robert
Anton Wilson
"To
understand
neurological space, Dr.
Leary assumes that the nervous system consists of eight
potential circuits, or 'gears,' or mini-brains. Four of these
brains are in the usually active left lobe and are concerned
with our terrestrial survival; four are extraterrestrial, reside
in the 'silent' or inactive right lobe, and are for use in our
future evolution." Robert Anton Wilson
"Mendeleev's dream of the periodic
table of elements in its completed form is apparently specious,
despite repeated citations. Not only is there no dream report
but evidence rests on a colleague's second-hand account."
Source
James Murray is
the subject of the intriguing bestseller, The
Surgeon of Crowthorne(published in America under the title The
Professor and the Madman), by Simon
Winchester, about Murray's
relationship with an insane murderer and lookalike, the American amateur
philologist, Dr William
Chester Minor (1834 - March 26, 1920):
"I am Dr James Murray of the London
Philological Society and Editor of the New English Dictionary. It is
indeed an honour and a pleasure to at long last make your
acquaintance – for you must be, kind sir, my most assiduous
helpmeet, Dr WC Minor?"
1944 Witi
Ihimaera, Māori author
(The Whale
Rider), born in Gisborne, New Zealand. From the
first short-story collection, Paunamu, Pounamu (1972) through
to the first English novel by an indigenous New Zealand author, Tangi (1973),
he wrote of the clash between Māori and
Pākehā (white,
European-derived) values in New Zealand.
Your family and friends will get a
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own face to funny animations. (Pay cards)
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1571 Marcley Hill in
Herefordshire, England, according to legend, moved 40 paces commencing at 6:00
pm and continuing to move for three days.
"Legend states that this hill
in Herefordshire, at six o'clock in the evening on 7 February 1571, 'roused
itself with a roar, and by seven next morning had moved 40 paces'. It kept on
the move for three days, carrying all with it. It overthrew Kinnaston chapel and
diverted two high roads at least 200 yards from their former route. Twenty-six
acres of land are said to have been moved 400 yards." Ivor
H Evans, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
1601 "Robert Devereux, the Earl of
Essex and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, bribed Shakespeare's acting company,
the Lord Chamberlain's Men, to present the play Richard III, a
politically charged play about the deposition of a bad monarch. Like Victoria,
Elizabeth was not amused. Seeing rebellious treason in everything Essex did, she
signed his death warrant, and he was dead before the end of the month."Source
1685 King Charles
II, the 'merry monarch' of England, died, possibly as a result of
uraemia (a clinical syndrome
due to kidney dysfunction). On his deathbed, Charles told his brother (James
II), "Let not poor Nelly starve", probably referring to his mistress, the
actress Nell Gwynne,
and to his courtiers: "I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying."
Charles left no legitimate issue. He did, however, have a dozen children by
seven mistresses.
1845
A certain William
Lloyd, while drunk in the British Museum,
threw a sculpture onto the case containing the 25 BCE
Portland
Vase, a cameo-glass masterpiece discovered in 1560, causing the vase to smash into
about 200 pieces. It has been said
Lloyd's act was deliberate.
The vase once belonged to
Augustus Caesar.
The vase was reconstructed a couple of
times – in 1845 to restore the original; 1948 to replace adhesive
weakened by age; and 1987 to replace the adhesive with an epoxy resin,
as well as to add 37 fragments which had been found earlier, but which
nobody could identify at the time. The 1987 job was so well done that
it's difficult to see that it was ever broken.
1848 France: The first anarchist journal appeared, Proudhon's
Le Representant du Peuple. It asserted that the emancipation of the
working class can only be achieved by the working class itself — without the
assistance of governments. It sold 40,000 copies. See January 15 at The Daily Bleed, source
of this item.
1947The main group of the Dead Sea Scrolls was
discovered in a cave on the west bank of the
Jordan River at
Qumran. The scrolls were discovered by a young shepherd,
Muhammed edh-Dhib
(b. 1931), who had thrown a stone into a cave in an attempt to coerce a goat out.
According to carbon
dating and analysis of texts, the scrolls were found to be 2,000 years old.
1991 The
IRA
fired three mortar bombs into
No 10 Downing Street, shattering glass in the room
where Prime Minister
John Major was conferring with members of his cabinet.
2002
"Over State Dept. objections, Bush issues a Memorandum adopting the essence of Gonzalez' legal position that detainees at Guantanamo are not Prisoners of War entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions. This is an attempt to shield US officials from responsibility for torture. Soon thereafter Bush signs a secret order granting new powers to the CIA to set up a series of secret detention facilities outside the US, and to interrogate detainees there harshly. The administration increases the "rendering" of suspects in a secret CIA jet to other governments to be tortured."
Reasons that the English language is a nightmare
to learn
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there's no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let's face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger, neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
And, if the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese? One index, two indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
And, if teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who
are spring chickens or who would actually
hurt a fly?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
People, not computers invented English, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible. However, when the lights are out, they are invisible. Why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
reetings from Australia.
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