Very ancient and beautiful cathedral
http://www.cathedrale-saint-bertrand.org/chronologie.html
having a curoius stuffed crocodile on a pillar, as told in the M R James' novel "Canon Alberic' scrapbook",
http://polymathe.over-blog.com/article-21678667.html
Friday, January 7, 2011
M R James - Canon Alberic's Scrapbook
Racconto di M R James dove un collezionista di volumi rari si imbatte, nel paesino dei Pirenei, in un taccuino molto speciale. Il racconto si apre con la visita del protagonista alla cattedrale, dove un coccodrillo impagliato è appeso ad una parete.
"St. Bertrand de Comminges is a decayed town on the spurs of the Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse, and still nearer to Bagnères-de-Luchon. It was the site of a bishopric until the Revolution, and has a cathedral which is visited by a certain number of tourists. In the spring of 1883 an Englishman arrived at this old-world place ... He was a Cambridge man, who had come specially from Toulouse to see St Bertrand's Church... (He) proposed to himself to fill a notebook and to use several dozens of plates in the process of describing and photographing every corner of the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of Comminges...
"St. Bertrand de Comminges is a decayed town on the spurs of the Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse, and still nearer to Bagnères-de-Luchon. It was the site of a bishopric until the Revolution, and has a cathedral which is visited by a certain number of tourists. In the spring of 1883 an Englishman arrived at this old-world place ... He was a Cambridge man, who had come specially from Toulouse to see St Bertrand's Church... (He) proposed to himself to fill a notebook and to use several dozens of plates in the process of describing and photographing every corner of the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of Comminges...
However, the Englishman (let us call him Dennistoun) was soon too deep in his notebook and too busy with his camera to give more than an occasional glance to the sacristan. Whenever he did look at him, he found him at no great distance, either huddling himself back against the wall or crouching in one of the gorgeous stalls. Dennistoun became rather fidgety after a time. Mingled suspicions that he was keeping the old man from his déjeuner, that he was regarded as likely to make away with St Bertrand's ivory crozier, or with the dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs over the font, began to torment him.
'Won't you go home?' he said at last; 'I'm quite well able to finish my notes alone; you can lock me in if you like. I shall want at least two hours more here, and it must be cold for you, isn't it?'
'Good Heavens!' said the little man, whom the suggestion seemed to throw into a state of unaccountable terror, 'such a thing cannot be thought of for a moment. Leave monsieur alone in the church? No, no; two hours, three hours, all will be the same to me...
'Won't you go home?' he said at last; 'I'm quite well able to finish my notes alone; you can lock me in if you like. I shall want at least two hours more here, and it must be cold for you, isn't it?'
'Good Heavens!' said the little man, whom the suggestion seemed to throw into a state of unaccountable terror, 'such a thing cannot be thought of for a moment. Leave monsieur alone in the church? No, no; two hours, three hours, all will be the same to me...
Spicules – plasma jets on the Sun
A mystery: why is the Sun's outer atmosphere – or corona – so much hotter than its surroundings?
"The corona, the vast gossamer atmosphere of plasma visible from Earth during a total solar eclipse, can notch up temperatures in excess of one million degrees Kelvin (MK). Several rival explanations have jostled to account for why the corona is unexpectedly over 200 times hotter than the visible surface, or photosphere, of the Sun".
"The corona, the vast gossamer atmosphere of plasma visible from Earth during a total solar eclipse, can notch up temperatures in excess of one million degrees Kelvin (MK). Several rival explanations have jostled to account for why the corona is unexpectedly over 200 times hotter than the visible surface, or photosphere, of the Sun".
It could be the action of spicules to increase the coronal temperature.
Profiles - Ibn al-Haytham
"The Scholar and the Caliph" by Jennifer Ouellette is a work of fiction, a imagining of a 10-year period in the life of the medieval Muslim polymath Ibn al-Haytham (AD 965–1040) considered by many historians to be the father of modern optics. He lived during the golden age of Arabic science, creating an early version of the scientific method, two hundred years before scholars in Western Europe. He is most celebrated for his Book of Optics.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Snow country
"Snow Country" is a novel by Yasunari Kawabata (1899 – 1972, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968). "Snow country" is a literal translation of the Japanese title "Yukiguni". The name comes from the place where the story takes place, where Shimamura arrives in a train coming through a long tunnel under the border mountains between Gunma and Niigata Prefectures. more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Country
Some Prefer Nettles
"Some prefer nettles" is a novel written by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886 – 1965). Considered one of Tanizaki’s most successful novels, Tade kuu mushi has a theme pervading it, the struggle between East and West.
The protagonist of the novel, Kaname, possesses aesthetic tastes leaning toward the so-called West. more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Prefer_NettlesAnche in italiano, Gli insetti preferiscono le ortiche.
Scientist googles crater find
Scientist googles crater find, Monday, 16 August 2010, by Stuart Gary
ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/16/2982419.htm
"Scientists using Google Maps have discovered a new crater like structure in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan. If confirmed, it will be the second such discovery using the popular online mapping tool and could spawn a new generation of home-based amateur crater hunters. Assistant Professor Amelia Sparavigna from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has detailed her discovery on the pre-press website arXiv.org."
Slideshow: Photo 1 of 2
Google Crater after (Google Earth)
ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/16/2982419.htm
"Scientists using Google Maps have discovered a new crater like structure in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan. If confirmed, it will be the second such discovery using the popular online mapping tool and could spawn a new generation of home-based amateur crater hunters. Assistant Professor Amelia Sparavigna from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has detailed her discovery on the pre-press website arXiv.org."
Slideshow: Photo 1 of 2
Google Crater after (Google Earth)
Ryusai Shigeharu
Personaggio femminile con pugnale, xilografia su carta, tecnica nishiki-e, oban tate-e (37,3 x 25,4 cm)
Autore: Ryusai Shigeharu, ca. 1830.
Museo Arte Orientale, Arte giapponese
Museo Arte Orientale, Arte giapponese
Byōbu, the wind wall
Byōbu (wind wall) are the Japanese folding screens, made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting, used to separate and enclose private spaces. During the Edo Period (1600-1868), Byōbu adorned samurai residences. The backgrounds of byōbu were made from gold leaf and highly colorful paintings depicting nature and scenes from daily life.
Museo Arte Orientale
Hokusai
"Under a Wave off Kanagawa", also known as The Great Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. This particular woodblock is one of the most recognized works of Japanese art in the world. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. It depicts the area around Mount Fuji and the mountain itself appears in the background. Copies of the print are in many Western collections.
Torino - Museo Arte Orientale
Gyokusen Shuga Cho
Mochizuki Gyokusen (1834-1913)
Torino - Museo Arte Orientale, Via San Domenico 11
Torino - Museo Arte Orientale, Via San Domenico 11
Garamantes
Garamantes lived in fertile areas of Sahara, corresponding to the southwestern Libya, which had not always been a desert. In a period lasting from about 10,000 to 6,000 before current era, the country was like a savanna, with some perennial lakes. During the sixth millennium, several great droughts forced people to abandon the region. The lakes disappeared, leaving large fields of salt, one of the main articles of future Garamantian trade.
more http://www.livius.org/ga-gh/garamantes/garamantes.html
more http://www.livius.org/ga-gh/garamantes/garamantes.html
Leptis Magna
Leptis Magna was a punic and then roman settlement. Septimius Severus (145 – 211), Roman Emperor from 193 to 211, was born in this town. Leptis Magna: in the past was known as the "Town of white shadows", a name due to the white statues appearing and disappering amid the dunes of sand. The city had temples, a theatre and an amphitheatre, with a profusion of decorations and statues.
Leptis Magna’s market is a particularly well preserved example of such structures of a Roman city. In fact, many of the features of this market are unique. Along with typical porticoes of shops, the structure had two central circular stalls. The system used by stall holders for measuring the quantities of goods was still found in the market.
"The Roman food market of Leptis Magna was built in 8 BC by a wealthy citizen Hannibal Tapapius Rufus. The evidence for this comes from two inscriptions: one in Latin over the entrance of the market and another in neo Punic on the architrave of one of the market’s circular central stalls."
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-market-place-leptis-magna-a138237
For a web tour in this town, see for instance
Leptis Magna’s market is a particularly well preserved example of such structures of a Roman city. In fact, many of the features of this market are unique. Along with typical porticoes of shops, the structure had two central circular stalls. The system used by stall holders for measuring the quantities of goods was still found in the market.
"The Roman food market of Leptis Magna was built in 8 BC by a wealthy citizen Hannibal Tapapius Rufus. The evidence for this comes from two inscriptions: one in Latin over the entrance of the market and another in neo Punic on the architrave of one of the market’s circular central stalls."
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-market-place-leptis-magna-a138237
For a web tour in this town, see for instance
Three poleis - Tripoli
By the fifth century B.C., Carthage, the greatest of the overseas Phoenician colonies, had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa, where a distinctive civilization, known as Punic, came into being. Punic settlements on the Libyan coast included Oea (Tripoli), Labdah (later Leptis Magna), and Sabratah, in an area that came to be known collectively as Tripolis, or "Three Cities".
read more http://countrystudies.us/libya/5.htm Libya, by Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Libya: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987.
Tripoli is the mondern town corresponding to the old Oea, one of the three old Phoenician towns along the coast of Tripolitania, in Libya. http://www.livius.org/oa-om/oea/oea.html