If I understand correctly, modern terrorism was more or less invented by some folks I otherwise quite admire: the early-C20th Spanish anarchists, particularly the Catalan independence movement. Their phrase for it was "propaganda by the deed", and as I understand it, it was meant as a sort of violent consciousness-raiser: "These guys are so bad they need to be blown up, and we can do it!" The Spanish terrorists didn't get much legitimate political power for themselves, but they did end up making the government much more willing to negotiate with the peaceful types on their side - similar to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
Agent Serge: Possibly you mean Rasputin
Mary Dell @ 376: Might it possibly be Spider Robinson's _Telempath_? I seem to recall a sort of overgrown-university cover illustration on that, and the post-apocalyptic, lap-or-university-setting, and confusing elements seem like they might match.
I keep trying to fit that verse into the tune for "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty", and it doesn't -quite- go. Middle Ages rock and roll, however, brings to mind these settings of the Merseburger Zaubersprueche.
Also, out of curiosity, what does a post-preview CGI script have to do with the senate and people of Rome?
Terry Karney@24: I'm sorry, I don't know where my watch cap is from. My father bought several of them from some army-surplus source several years ago. (It's not an all-around brim, it's a short stubby bill a bit like that on a baseball cap, but shorter and covered with the knit; I'm not sure I described it quite clearly. As you say, it has the bottom edge rolled back up on itself.) The tag says "CAP, KNIT, WATCH", and I think of it as a Willie-and-Joe hat, although I can't find any of the cartoons with them in such hats on line. It's very nice in winter to have a hat that both keeps my ears warm and shades my eyes.
A toque/tuque/chook is a knit hat without a bobble on top, something like a watch cap without the brim.
Pine and snow and woodsmoke, oh yes, and inside there's hot cider and nutmeg. Iron and burnt iron and coalsmoke from my father's forge, the moist green scent that says spring's arrived and the crispness of autumn leaves when the air is cold and dry... but mostly those winter scents. Nothing says "home" to me more than those.
I can't remember if it was something I read, or something discussed here, or something I was discussing with friends, but...
What if William the Bastard and Harald Hardrade had invaded in reverse order, with Harald landing in September and William in October? If the Saxon army had been fresh for fighting off the Norwegians instead of the French, that could have changed the whole political shape of the Continent - Tostig's Norwegian client state would never have happened, obviously; Greater Norway might have splintered or even never formed, and they almost certainly would never have retaken Normandy. Without the Englisc resources and warmwater ports, they probably would have been unable to consolidate power in Rus, leaving it wide open to the Mongolian invaders a couple of centuries later. Service in the Varangian Guard might even have remained popular, propping up the Byzantine Empire a while longer.
Meanwhile, William would be setting himself up as ruler of England. Although the Normans and Saxons would have been at odds initially with a class barrier perpetuated by the language divide, eventually the island would be speaking some odd creole of Anglo-Saxon and French. This, combined with William's ambition, would have prevented England from becoming a client state of France the way it did of Norway, and we might have seen William and his descendents setting themselves up as kings and even fighting the French for lands in Normandy.
Dave Bell @ 15: Furry anarcho-syndicalists singing anything called "Landing Force Detachment Valhalla"? Let me know, I'll buy it.
(My current project doesn't have anything quite that cool, but it does have hulder-maidens and Art Nouveau mechas.)
Annah the tiefling waved her tail
A smile upon her face
A succubus was teaching her
Just how to Fall-from-Grace.
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
Morte was in attendance too
A skull but not quite dead
The Nameless One was having fun
He was certainly getting head!
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
Henry the Eighth, free from his wife
Was partying on the floor
For after divorce, as a matter of course
He'd time to do Thomas More.
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
Albatross@126: I'm trying to find the study without much success right now, but I seem to recall that increasing stress levels in rats leads to higher incidence of same-sex mating behaviour, and that overpopulation and food shortages are the most effective stressors at so doing.
Madeline F @ 27 -
I believe that's called a "detent". If not, I've been using the wrong word for it for a while now.
What actually is AOR? All I know about it is "Here come the golden oldies, here come the Hizbollah/ Businessmen from south Miami, humming AOR" and "A mike and boom in your living room, in Hitsville UK/ No consumer trials, no AOR, in Hitsville UK".
And while I may not care much for Yes or ELP, I wholeheartedly defend anyone's right to love their music innocently and unironically as long as I can still have my Foreigner and Rhapsody of Fire.
Raised Catholic here as well, and there's definitely something about
Optima. Missalettes, maybe, or anything with a relatively modern hymn
printed on it to be played by guitar.
Our Hero starts off as a lazy jerk, but as he grows up he learns to be helpful and heroic as well as becoming amazingly strong. He goes around slaying monsters, robbers, and the undead, but one of the undead monstrosities he faces curses him that his attempts to help will forevermore end up backfiring. He makes all sorts of enemies due to this curse, but even as he grows old and alone they can only bring him down by resorting to magic.
Tlönista@423: Got it!
Bryan@495: Ferqav Infugne
Rymenhild@402: Astonishingly, that actually fits quite well without being at all what I had in mind.
Just typing this up as I go along, before I see any other answers...
Bruce@27: Guvf Vzzbegny, one of my favourites in highschool.
Chris@48: Zvyrf Ibexbfvtna and Ryevp bs Zryavobar?
Roger@335: Gur Pbyq Rdhngvbaf?
Zeke@344: Fvathynevgl Fxl?
How about... An ancient monk with awesome powers of logic and deduction, trained by the greatest masters and aided only by his bumbling apprentice, tracks down a serial killer and the ancient artifact he guards, while wheeling and dealing in international politics!
Wildly off topic, but hey, it is an Open Thread, and All Knowledge Is Contained In Making Light, so I've got a question that's been bugging me for quite some time. How, exactly, does one pronounce Old Norse final 'r's such as those found in "ljóðaháttr" and "Miðgarðsormr" ?
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| 2008 | 19 |
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