MKK

A lot of the stuff you see around will come from stately homes which were pulled down in the middle of the 20th century when the families that owned them were couldn't afford them and there was no market for that kind of property. Literally hundreds of houses were demolished over about 50 years and the contents, including architectural features, disposed of on the open market.

It's hard to find too much sympathy for the incompetent old aristocrats who inherited fortunes they'd never done anything to earn and then couln't even manage them, but it's a shame about the houses, even so.

I saw this in my local paper the other day, and your remark reminded of it:

Bill Simon, the editor of politicalvine.com, the Republican Web site, has shut down his anonymous discussion board. Too much internecine name calling. "I forgot one little thing. Republicans, when given the option of anonymous debate, can only resort to childish games and posts that do nothing but annoy grown-ups," he wrote.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Investigators have recovered more than 3,000 antiquities taken from Iraq's collection but still don't know exactly what else might have been pillaged during the war, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
(http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20030910/D7TFMQ900.html)

...and asked how that could possibly be true if only a dozen or so items were missing in the first place.

There aren't any (adequately enforceable) laws against giving money to badly dressed people with poor hygiene in exchange for a load of copper piping, even though there's no plausible source for the copper other than theft. But it's still evil, and a major reason why poor areas spiral down into greater poverty and remain stuck there.

Reproductions of MidEast stuff would be a great industry.

And you could even corner the upmarket end of the market by going, 'Made by hand in the traditional ways by actual Iraqis!' and whatnot. Of course, some easy way to tell the repros from the REAL THING would be essential (i.e. for pottery, something stuck in the middle of the object before firing that will show up quite obviously on an x-ray - a die-cut metal shape, something like that). Like the Dr. Who episode where he wrote on the canvasses in permanent marker before DaVinci painted fifteen extra Mona Lisas. :->

I mean, first, the implication there is that calling someone gay is an insult. Okay, fair enough; some people would think so. But only some people. Wouldn't you want to reserve the insult for someone who was actually likely to be offended by it?

And second...

Wait. Why am I trying to find logic here? Next thing you know, I'll start trying to find intelligent life in the Oval Office.

The original Mona Lisa is on a wood panel (pine, IIRC).

(And if da Vinci painted them himself, aren't they originals too? My grandmother dealt in lithos, engravings etc; definitely considered original art these days, and often commanding Big Bucks [not that my little Durer from her is worth lots on the open market, but I am damn proud to own it]).

Snarkily,
Tom

The original Mona Lisa is on a wood panel (pine, IIRC).

Argh! I did know that. And the episode got it right, I think. At least, they meant to. :->

(And if da Vinci painted them himself, aren't they originals too? ...).

Well, obviously so. However, given the time-travelling nature of the episode, and how the bad guy planned to make craploads of money selling 'the real Mona Lisa' to everyone after stealing the original, and also the fact that Everyone Knows Nowadays that there's only one Mona Lisa, the good Doctor decided that marking all but one of them 'obvious fakes under proper analysis' was the best solution.

I mean, first, the implication there is that calling someone gay is an insult. Okay, fair enough; some people would think so. But only some people. Wouldn't you want to reserve the insult for someone who was actually likely to be offended by it?

For good or ill, describing someone or something as "gay" meaning pathetic, lame, or otherwise despicable, seems to be part of contemporary American youth slang, semidetached from it's gay-as-in-GLBT sense. It's a bit the use of "gypped" to mean "cheated in a commercial transaction" by people who aren't aware that it is a slur against Rom.

They're common. We don't have to tolerate them.

I have successfully argued some of the more thoughtful youth of my equaintance out of using the term. One of them actually said that he'd never thought about how it might make gay people feel.

As a technique, I suggest the use of the speaker's ethnicity, or hair color, or grade in school (sophomores have already lost this battle), or any adjective pertaining to them that you can come up with. "He made a complete fool of himself in front of that girl...he was trying to be real cool, and he wound up being totally trumpet player." Or whatever. They'll get the point.

(Today's Band Geek Stereotypes brought to you by the letter "B" and the accidental "flat.")

Anne, I know. The two elegant tuxedoed gentlemen drinking white wine: "What kind of rosin do you use?" Two guys swilling beer: "What kind of valve oil do you use?" Two bums in the gutter: "What kind of sticks do you use?"

I, in case it's not evident, am a drummer. Though I rarely use sticks.