No, no, LC, the accordion is not
ML990, Instruments--Wind instruments--Other wind instruments, A-Z.
Because, hello, accordions are reed instruments, akin to reed organs, etc. It's just they're hand-held.

Therefore it's ML1083, Instruments--Other instruments--Accordion. Bandoneon. Concertina.

Therefore do not classify a book entitled The ( Read more... )

"Now I don't just dislike shrimp, I find it ethically revolting."

Thanks, Umbra.

Now I have another fabulous phrase! Yay! So:

Plastic is ethically revolting!

Petroleum products are ethically revolting!

Chemical additives are ethically revolting!

Ha!

(I feel obscurely vindicated now.)

In every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it.
-- Walter Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History"

Nice. Thanks, Grist.Something to think about at this time of year ( Read more... )

Apropos of nothing, Friesians are lovely:


( Read more... )

I have to say that reading OverheardinNewYork usually dampens my already-flagging faith in humanity still further ( Read more... )

Calling all Asterix fans:

The editor of Russian and Communist Imperialism in Action (Papers of the Slavic Institute of Marquette University) is named Roman Smal-Stocki !

It just looked a little odd, until I said it "aloud" in my mind; then all I could think of was a Small and Stocky Roman!

Ok, so does anyone else think it's terrible that one-fifth of Canadians support torture to save lives?
And if that's not bad or shocking enough, it's a whole 36% in the United States.

[This according to a GlobeScan (who?) poll for the BBC, and reported in the National Post (Canadian).]

I don't know, sometimes I wonder why I'm surprised.

This item was input by hand. They weren't so big on accuracy; this is a fairly typical example, though much more amusing than most ( Read more... )

It was a dark and chilly 68F in my apartment this morning. We're getting there.

Because I am encountering the difficulty of adhering to things that I believe in when in an environment that expects me to be a certain way that I'm not (I should be diplomatic and full of jargon and posh and professional and not hold strong or divergent opinions, if I want a decent job.) I don't want to be a fake person in order to pass with my ( Read more... )