Zaid Khan, a merchant in Doha, Qatar with cancer of the esophagus, has contacted me again this morning to talk about the future of his fortune. This sudden wave of fatal stomach ailments amongst the Middle East’s HNW individuals leads me to wonder why no folklorists seem to be tracking the way these stories spread…
The headline figure this morning is 20%, but the survey (.doc) asks the question twice and the other answer is different. First there’s question 3: I’m going to read you a list of apparatus and new technologies that are being used more and more frequently in Spain. Tell me, please, of each one whether you…
Oh, if only empirialism weren’t such a well-established (260 ghits) misspelling of imperialism! For what would suit those evangelical empiricists better? Word found in the comments section of swampman Chappell’s blog, currently awaiting recolonisation.
That insolent colonial, John Chappell, has launched an all-out assault on this house, suggesting that I perform the work of a yeoman: 1a. An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household. b. A yeoman of the guard. 2. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy. 3. An…
The scan below (100K) is of the front cover of Gil de Rusena’s El Memorialista Català, cited in the previous post. All I know of the artist, “Robert”, is that he worked for Salvador Bonavia and other publishers on a number of other books, including folklore collections. Bonavia’s old shop is just down the road…
Mrs RodrÃguez opens her front door, walks down the street to the large public waste container, jacks open the lid with her foot, and screams in terror as a very dirty man inside reaches to take her bags. Who needs state-run recycling?
Normally I’ll read any kind of rubbish, but this has got me defeated and puzzled. It’s a collection of instructions dating from 1484 to 1576 on how to run an inquisition (there’s some Torquemada in there) that belonged to one Doctor Martín Yánez de Padilla. However, not only are there no bloodstains on the pages…
One of the proudest memories of my musical career is of a mission undertaken on behalf of the Dutch nation to a Swedish folk festival, at which a programme of James Last covers was performed to accompany the wobblings of a display team of penny-farthing riders. Some believe that the deep affinity that exists between…
Lie as they may, the truth is that all wind players share mouthpieces. So what’s your best risk mitigation strategy if you have to kiss a musician? Here’s some useful info: Potential risk of salivary-mediated viral hepatitis type B transmission from oral exposure to fomites. Osterholm MT, Max BJ, Hanson M, Polesky HF. Twelve grade…
The Calcutta Telegraph is generally acknowledged to be the Indian daily with the best Polish coverage, and so it is this evening, with a story about Polmos, a Zielona Góra vodka producer facing prosecution for handing out a free English course with each bottle. Said Renata Durda of the state Agency for Solving Alcohol Problems:…