More Da Vinci nonsense

It just goes on and on........

Dance, monkeys, dance

This just about sums it all up.

Glad to be living in the twenty-first century

Red heifers!
Whatever next?

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

"I want an elegant Christian lady of wealth, under thirty, belonging to a first class family..."

The fabulous story of Charles Julius Guiteau is here, with more here and here.
What a guy!

Oldie but goodie

...and what are they smoking ? Why ...

of course.

The world in a grain...

A diverting look at Droste effects, which reminded me of this.
Optical illusions can be fun - but some are downright dangerous. The one you will find here is, as the description says, the scariest illusion you will ever see. Do not look at it if you have a heart condition, are prone to nightmares or scared of your own shadow. Honestly. I mean it.

Lost and Found

I've mentioned Mr Bywater's excellent Lost Worlds before, in which he, quite rightly, notes that in England it is a Lost Property Office whilst in France it is the Bureau des Objets Trouves.

Look at what I found recently.

Ah, the days of Empire.

Not much worth watching

The moving television has very little worth watching at the best of times, but today's programmes look particularly tiresome.
Shame I missed the documentary about the Taxis of Elvis and the War on Trevor, though!

Bad Charlie

Of course Charlie reads The Daily Lush. Could you expect otherwise? Read here how my namesake met his end. Spiffing.

Boilerplate

Boilerplate - Marvel of the Age ?

Grey Amber

... until a comparatively late day, the precise origin of ambergris remained, like amber itself, a problem to the learned. Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct. For amber, though at times found on the sea-coast, is also dug up in some far inland soils, whereas ambergris is never found except upon the sea. Besides, amber is a hard, transparent, brittle, odorless substance, used for mouth-pieces to pipes, for beads and ornaments; but ambergris is soft, waxy, and so highly fragrant and spicy, that it is largely used in perfumery, in pastiles, precious candles, hair-powders, and pomatum.

Melville Moby Dick

The New intended Act of Parliament

For the Benefit of Young Men, Old Men, Wives, Old Maids, Batchelors, Widows, &c.
AT a Meeting of several Ladies and Gentlemen of this Town, held for the better management and conducting of order and regularity of Society, Mr Steady in the chair, the following Resolutions were passed :—

3d. That no Warehouse Clerk, Counter-hopper, Chimney-sweeper, Journey-man, Apprentice, or Dandy, shall smoke a cigar in the street before six o'clock in the morning, or after ten in the evening; for every such offence to grind logwood with their teeth for three months.

5th. That no Old Maid, Wife, or Married woman, shall take more than one pound of snuff in a week, and not take more than one pinch during hours of cooking, for fear of dropping it from their nose into the gravy, under the penalty of not having another pinch for one month.

7th. That any Washer-woman, or any woman going out to daily work, shall be allowed to keep one half of her earnings, and the other half shall be given to her lord and master for drinking money.

10th. That every bachelor, at the age of forty, be compelled to keep two wives, to make up for lost time ; in neglecting so to do, he shall pay a fine of five pounds....to go to the poorest couple in the parish in which he lives.

More.

Mistaken Identity

Sometimes what you think is true, isn't.
The Elephant Man?

To each his own...

Neuroscientists on stamps!

Maketh the man

In an increasingly barbarous age, let's remember Emily Post. Tips for us all here, I fear.

Vital information

If UFOs land, do you know what to do?
If you don't, then you need to read this as soon as possible.

The next big thing

"They produce a fictional history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas." Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses.
If you though it was safe to come out after the Da Vinci nonsense, wait until this one hits the fan.

Jacks high

Pick your own Jack - Ripper or Dripper ?

Lileks

You could get up to all kinds of mischief here.
It's James Lilek's site.

Agapemonites

You couldn't make this sort of stuff up and get away with it.
Read the story of the Agapemonites , Reverend H J Prince and Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Pigott - and don't miss the bit about the 'undercover masseur'.
Fantastic.

Incidentally, a (different?) John Hugh Smyth-Pigott offered a copy of Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell for sale in 1849. Nobody bought it. He tried again in 1853 and it went for £4.16s. It's now in the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge.

Late. Great.

The Jake Thackray website.
Enough said.

Several thousand words

I know. You know. I know you know. You know I know. But there are some little chickens who may not know, so they can find out at the Web Gallery of Art.

Cronic fatigue syndrome

The Cronicles (sic) of Narnia ?
Dear oh dear.............

Leonora

A links page for Leonora Carrington. And another.
And forgeries.

You never know...

You never know when you may be faced with this situation, and what would you do if you did not know what you should do?

An old favourite

I've enjoyed Forkbeard Fantasy for quite a while now.

Icelandic cuisine

You cannot have too much information on Þorláksmessa - The Day of St. Thorlakur or skyr.

Babbage's Act

A man after my own heart - Charles Babbage on Street Nuisances.

Fake Amber and how to avoid it.

Strangely enough Ms Pavord makes no mention of this subject in her excellent book The Tulip, so to rectify this omission, you may wish to amend your copy with this, How to buy amber. How to detect fake amber. An article by Mistress Gunnora Hallakarva.

Things to do on a rainy Saturday (pt. 23)

Pondering on the White Doe of Rylstone and the fate of the Nortons (which I don't do frequently enough) I came upon this piece about the Pilgrimage of Grace. This led me to the links page of the same site, which is very red.

Could be handy?

Not that Charlie would stoop so low, but if you wanted to mock something up, knowing the font could be useful.

Thought I'd mention...

This is The Fantastic in Art and Fiction site.

Friends of Dorothy?

I do wish this site about Mrs Parker was prettier to look at (to be honest Tonstant Weader, I nearly fwowed up). But it's worth the pain for the audio clips alone.

I doubt that

Rain batters my panes and tonight Charlie needs more than a glass of Kendal Black Drop at his elbow for distraction. The follies of the masses raise me a tad.

A little learning

At the Luminarium you will find pleasures aplenty on which the mind may feast.
And if reading butters your parsnips, then Project Gutenberg is for you, as is the Bookworm.
Eke words at the Phrontistery too.

Food glorious food

The pleasures gustatory may be sated by a Gode Cookbook.

Sum somes

We've mentioned phi before, I know, but let's flog the horse a little more.
Here are things about Fibonacci numbers, an online (or downloadable) phiculator and a geometrical method of deriving phi.

All clever stuff

Cripes - more top boffins and chaps with big brains have been at it. Get your Earl Grey and a comfy chair, settle down and prepare to be amazed.

The Life of Brian...

I have not watched, nor ever intend watching, something called Lost on the moving television.
However, it seems that our colonial cousins have gotten (as they say) themselves into a flap about The Third Policeman and links in the said program (as they spell).
Good Lord's amercy, whatever next? They'll be reading Jurgen next.

Mark Ryden

Click the link to see the work of Mark Ryden.

Spectacular.

I simply cannot recommend Mr Key's Hooting Yard too highly.
It is a delight, the man is a saint and should have apes, ivory and peacocks delivered daily to his door.
Go there now but expect to spend several days, at least, exploring. You will be richly rewarded.

Woof

Ah, the pleasure of communion with like-minded souls (part umpteen).
A sanctuary for the cynical.
Tickety-boo.