Tag Archives: zenmischief

quotes

Monthly Quotes

And so to this month’s selection of recently encountered quotes …

People will announce, “Question everything!” without noticing they have just uttered not a question, but a command.
[Prof. Agnes Callard]

How sad it must be – believing that scientists, scholars, historians, economists, and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceiving you, while a reality TV star with decades of fraud and exhaustively documented lying is your only beacon of truth and honesty.
[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And so it is with science. In a way it is a key to the gates of heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have any instructions as to which is which gate. Shall we throw away the key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?
[Richard Feynman]

But such people! Ogres with monstrous teeth, and wolves, and bull-headed men; spirits of evil trees and poisonous plants; and other creatures whom I won’t describe because if I did the grown-ups would probably not let you read this book – Cruels and Hags and Incubuses, Wraiths, Horrors, Efreets, Sprites, Orknies, Wooses, and Ettins. In fact here were all those who were on the Witch’s side and whom the Wolf had summoned at her command.
[CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe]

The universe is vast and far more complicated than we can safely imagine. If we try it can often lead to overwhelm. The urge to add a banister and some crash mats is understandable. There’s no point trying to figure out why a butterfly flapping its wing in Peru might lead to the Hell Mouth opening in Milton Keynes if we are so paralysed by it that we end up brushing our hair with a fork because we forgot the word for hairbrush and in a crisis any tine will do.
[Katy Wheatley; https://substack.com/inbox/post/158429835]

Words do have power. Words are events, they do things, change things … We can’t restructure our society without restructuring language. One reflects the other.
[Ursula K Le Guin]

I’m sorry I didn’t hear about that World event. It’s just that for most of history, people only carried the burdens of their own village, and I’m learning to do the same.
[unknown]

Advice for girls: be loud and gross and take up space. Stop saying “sorry” and start saying “don’t interrupt me”. Stop saying “Because I have a boyfriend” and start saying “because I said so”. Say “no” and say “none of your business”. Take selfies and don’t laugh at jokes that aren’t funny. Be snide and sarcastic and wear your hair the way you like it. Help out other girls and be vocal about what makes you mad. Be masculine and feminine and both and neither and be unapologetic. Don’t set aside your comfort for boys’ egos.
[Spencer McFarland]

The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity and arrogance they have. All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them.
[Erasmus]

memes, words

March Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what? White
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called? Mycology
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto? In a book (left and right pages)
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called? Caltrop
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?  Band
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye? Goodbye

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

books, memes, quotes

This Month’s Poem

1 Comment

Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelly

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed
And on the pedestal these word appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

Find this poem online at Poetry Foundation

amusements, memes

Ten Things

This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!

Ten Composers Born in 16th Century

  1. William Byrd
  2. Thomas Tallis
  3. Claudio Monteverdi
    Domenico Fetti: Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
  4. Carlo Gesualdo
  5. Orlando Gibbons
  6. Christopher Tye
  7. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
  8. Orlande de Lassus
  9. Andrea Gabrieli
  10. Giles Farnaby
memes, words

March Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what?
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called?
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto?
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called?
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

March 1925


Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

8. The Chicago Department of Public Health announced that the present crossword puzzle fad caused no ill health effects from headaches or eye strain, as had previously been feared.

12. The British government decided to reject the Geneva Protocol.

16. A 5,000-mile high speed communications cable between the United States and Italy was officially activated by envoy to the United States Giacomo De Martino.

20. Died. George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India (b.1859)

21. The first performance of the Maurice Ravel opera ballet L’enfant et les sortilèges took place in Monte Carlo.

22. Born. Gerard Hoffnung, artist and musician, in Berlin (d.1959)

25. Scottish inventor John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette pictures at the London department store SelfridgesJohn Logie Baird with Televisor

25. Born. Flannery O’Connor, American writer (d.1964)

26. Born. Pierre Boulez, French composer (d.2016)

31. The Bauhaus closes in Weimar and moves to a building in Dessau designed by Walter Gropíus.