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Dec. 15th, 2011 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raincitygirlInternets! Never leave me again. I was without internet access at home for about 36 hours, and I’m telling you, it was 35 hours and 59 minute too long. I survived by scrounging wifi from the neighbours and doing everything on Aeryn, but Aeryn is tiny. So, um, reading the damning email James Murdoch replied to on the Guardian website was kind of hard. Speaking of which, seperis has a post about that, and also about Napoleon. She’s not comparing James Murdoch to Napoleon or anything, they just happen to be the two subjects of her post (I'm fairly sure Napoleon, were he transposed to the present day, would READ his emails before replying to them).
And there was a really neat reply bysorrelchestnut here. I know comparatively little about Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars. Rec me good books on the subject, dear readers. I have one rec already, the oh-so-imaginatively titledNapoleon: A Biography by Frank McLynn. Do others concur with this rec? If not, do they have different bio recs? What about more general books about the period? I anticipate having some gift cards to Chapters and Amazon after Christmas Day, so help me spend them. Preferably before New Year's Day, when I will make my annual resolution to quit buying books. And will probably keep said resolution for at least a month.
Speaking of which, the very last of my outgoing Xmas presents have arrived. Now they just need wrapping and one (local) parcel needs sending. Yippee! One of my presents, because the maternal unit finally unbent and told me what she wanted, is P.D. James’ “Death Comes to Pemberley” (married couple Darcy and Elizabeth discover a body). I don’t know if it’ll be any good or not, but it’s what she wants. We have this tiresome ritual each Christmas, birthday and Mother’s Day in which she insists she doesn’t want anything, and we shouldn’t go to any expense. So we nag and nag until she admits to wanting things, but this usually only gives us about a week’s lead time.
She’s getting the book, the DVD of Jane Eyre, the DVD of The Queen (both on deep discount because my local HMV is closing, both surprises, but I think she’ll like them. They’re her kind of movies. I just have to make sure she doesn’t find out about Michael Fassbender being an alleged wifebeater in real life, because that would probably ruin his Mr. Rochester for her), and some bath bombs from Escents. The bath bombs I procured by the crafty expedient of texting her that I was going to Escents, did she want me to pick up anything, and she could pay me back. The paying back was the key point.
She immediately texted back to buy her bath bombs when that very morning she’d been saying she wanted nothing at all except the pleasure of my company on Xmas Day. Mothers! I shouldn’t complain. Someone in my circle lost her mother recently, so I really do feel lucky that mine’s alive and (comparatively) sane. Sap alert, sap alert! I just wish she wouldn’t make us jump through hoops before she’ll admit to wanting any presents. It’s *allowed* to want stuff. And she’s a lying liar who lies when she claims all she wants is our company, because there was one year I took her seriously when she said she didn’t want anything, and she was *crushed*.
I am desperately trying to find some cultural event on in early February to which I can take the uncle when he visits. Everything he might like seems to be before he arrives or after he leaves. It’s really silly to come to Vancouver and not go to the Chan Centre or somewhere similar, but I will persevere. I realize that for an opera buff, going from London to Vancouver is like going from the best champagne to warm beer, but I do not propose an opera. Just a small recital or play or *something* to prove we have culture here.
Moving away from unexciting family matters, havezingerella's hilarious tale of The Five Messiahs.
Or on a more serious note, have Everyone Speaks Text Message, an article about how computers and cell phones are breathing new life into previously dying languages. In many cases, speakers are saving languages which have never been written down by inventing alphabets for them, allowing them to write in previously oral-only languages. If you have trouble with the NY Times website, as some do, the full text of the article is also archived here.
And finally,ignipes has gorgeous photos of galaxies.
seperis has a post about that, and also about Napoleon. She’s not comparing James Murdoch to Napoleon or anything, they just happen to be the two subjects of her post (I'm fairly sure Napoleon, were he transposed to the present day, would READ his emails before replying to them). And there was a really neat reply by
sorrelchestnut here. I know comparatively little about Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars. Rec me good books on the subject, dear readers. I have one rec already, the oh-so-imaginatively titledNapoleon: A Biography by Frank McLynn. Do others concur with this rec? If not, do they have different bio recs? What about more general books about the period? I anticipate having some gift cards to Chapters and Amazon after Christmas Day, so help me spend them. Preferably before New Year's Day, when I will make my annual resolution to quit buying books. And will probably keep said resolution for at least a month. Speaking of which, the very last of my outgoing Xmas presents have arrived. Now they just need wrapping and one (local) parcel needs sending. Yippee! One of my presents, because the maternal unit finally unbent and told me what she wanted, is P.D. James’ “Death Comes to Pemberley” (married couple Darcy and Elizabeth discover a body). I don’t know if it’ll be any good or not, but it’s what she wants. We have this tiresome ritual each Christmas, birthday and Mother’s Day in which she insists she doesn’t want anything, and we shouldn’t go to any expense. So we nag and nag until she admits to wanting things, but this usually only gives us about a week’s lead time.
She’s getting the book, the DVD of Jane Eyre, the DVD of The Queen (both on deep discount because my local HMV is closing, both surprises, but I think she’ll like them. They’re her kind of movies. I just have to make sure she doesn’t find out about Michael Fassbender being an alleged wifebeater in real life, because that would probably ruin his Mr. Rochester for her), and some bath bombs from Escents. The bath bombs I procured by the crafty expedient of texting her that I was going to Escents, did she want me to pick up anything, and she could pay me back. The paying back was the key point.
She immediately texted back to buy her bath bombs when that very morning she’d been saying she wanted nothing at all except the pleasure of my company on Xmas Day. Mothers! I shouldn’t complain. Someone in my circle lost her mother recently, so I really do feel lucky that mine’s alive and (comparatively) sane. Sap alert, sap alert! I just wish she wouldn’t make us jump through hoops before she’ll admit to wanting any presents. It’s *allowed* to want stuff. And she’s a lying liar who lies when she claims all she wants is our company, because there was one year I took her seriously when she said she didn’t want anything, and she was *crushed*.
I am desperately trying to find some cultural event on in early February to which I can take the uncle when he visits. Everything he might like seems to be before he arrives or after he leaves. It’s really silly to come to Vancouver and not go to the Chan Centre or somewhere similar, but I will persevere. I realize that for an opera buff, going from London to Vancouver is like going from the best champagne to warm beer, but I do not propose an opera. Just a small recital or play or *something* to prove we have culture here.
Moving away from unexciting family matters, have
zingerella's hilarious tale of The Five Messiahs. Or on a more serious note, have Everyone Speaks Text Message, an article about how computers and cell phones are breathing new life into previously dying languages. In many cases, speakers are saving languages which have never been written down by inventing alphabets for them, allowing them to write in previously oral-only languages. If you have trouble with the NY Times website, as some do, the full text of the article is also archived here.
And finally,
ignipes has gorgeous photos of galaxies.
