Well, it's Wednesday night again.
The computer catalog is still down. (It *was* up this morning, mostly, so we're making progress, but that will not help my enjoyment of this particular evening.)
And so, we turn to another fun-filled evening of catching up on all the two-new-things I haven't posted about the REST of the week!!!
So, let's work backwards, shall we?
Today, I learned that August 24th was a very bad day for the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar's general, Gaius Scribonius Curio, was defeated and killed in a battle against the Numidians in 49 BC. Then, in AD 79, they got hit with the most famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius-- you know, the one the buried Pompeii? And do you know *why* we know so much about that eruption? Pliny the Elder happened to be in the area with his fleet, and took his nephew Pliny the Younger to go check it out and see what help they could offer the locals. The elder Pliny died in the effort. And if this weren't enough disaster for one day, beginning on the same date in 410, Alaric led his Visigoths to sack Rome... the beginning of the end for the once-proud mother of nations, forseen by Tacitus in his Germania over 300 years earlier.
And, continuing in the Roman theme, I also learned that the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana (easier to pronounce than spell), was once known as Emona in Latin (even *easier* to pronounce and spell!) (And if this sounds like a familiar placename to you, I know you've also started reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian.)
Tuesday, I learned about the existence of a lovely little natural paradise off the coast of Cornwall called the Isles of Scilly, home to Bishop Rock, the smallest island in the world and the eastern endpoint of the North Atlantic shipping route. (It's been added to my list of places to visit before I die. At this rate, I had best not die young.)
I also learned that cashews aren't really nuts-- they're seeds. (I could get into a whole botanical discussion here about what nuts and seeds really ARE, and the distinctions between them, but I won't, I'll just give you links. You're welcome.) The large fruit-looking thing it's attached to isn't even a fruit at all-- it's just a fleshy growth that holds the true fruit at the end of it. And what I find particularly interesting is that before it's processed the cashew fruit is toxic-- it's got the same nasty oil in its shell that makes poison ivy itchy. So, if you've ever wondered why you've never seen an unshelled cashew in your holiday nut mix-- that's why.
On Monday-- or was it over the weekend, I forget? Well, I take weekends off from blogging anyway, so it doesn't really matter. ;) Mondayish, I learned about the Uncanny Valley of robotics-- the sudden extreme dip in emotional response to uncannily almost-human robots as opposed to less-anthropomorphic robots (and the reason some people were really weirded out by the computer-animated movie version of The Polar Express).
I also learned-- coolest of all cool things! --that Alexandre Dumas' famous swashbuckling Musketeer, D'Artagnan , was based on a *real* D'Artagnan!
And as a bonus, I learned that the famous cathedral in Tours is dedicated to St. Gatien, its founding bishop.
Posted by gris at August 24, 2005 08:47 PM