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Latest blog posts from Riba Rambles: Musings of a Mental Magpie

Quite contrary?
This morning, NPR commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Bloody Mary. Meanwhile 75th anniversary of Prohibition's repeal is Friday.
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Published 2 days ago

Food for thought
It's a popular myth that medieval cooks used heavy spices as a means of masking the taste rotten meat. When did people come up with that idea? Could it have been in the 18th or 19th centuries, when all but the wealthiest English really were eating dubious quality meats?
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Published 2 days ago

I go NaBloPoMo

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Published 3 days ago

What else is nu?
At the library yesterday, I stumbled upon The Story of Yiddish: how a mish-mosh of languages saved the Jews by Neal Karlen. And within it, I found a portion of Shylock's speech translated into transliterated Yiddish by Dr Markle Karlen: Ich bin ein Yid. Hot a Yid nisht kine oigen? Hot a Yid nisht...
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Published 4 days ago

Now hear this:
Did you ever hear the Temptations sing Fiddler on the Roof? Connie Francis cover "Tzena Tzena"? "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head" translated into Yiddish and performed by the Barry sisters? Johnny Mathis' rendition of Kol Nidre? Did you even know these tunes were recorded? I've now heard these...
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Published 4 days ago

Science stories
And a few other items of recent science news which I mentioned over Thanksgiving: a newly-discovered turtle fossil shows how shells evolved the astronaut's lost toolbag visible from earth (right) giant squid caught on film by oil rig employees single-celled organism 1.2" in diameter winners of...
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Published 5 days ago

Think Fast!
The Sunday Boston Globe runs an entertaining feature excerpting recent research in the social sciences.Here's an interesting tidbit from the November 23rd column: How to get happier in a hurryQUICK, READ THIS paragraph out loud as fast as you can! Feel better? You should, if a team of Princeton...
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Published 5 days ago

They may thinks it's a movement
From today's Macy's Parade, a float by Cartoon Network that needs to be seen (and heard) to be believed: Updated with higher-quality video: (original link) [Thanks, fibro_witch for the heads up!]
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Published 6 days ago

Highway to ExHell
Having spent several years handling technical support for Lotus 1-2-3, I've seen (and used) all kinds of spreadsheets. So believe me when I describe this as uniquely exceptional. Hoping to circumvent corporate firewalls, AC/DC has embedded their latest music video in a downloadable Excel...
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Published a week ago

Microsoft Matrix
The Future Will Not Be User Friendly:
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Published a week ago

Food for thought
Could a vampire enter an eruv without invitation?
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Published a week ago

Veni(ce) Vidi(o)
Four alternate takes on the play: Silent version (1910):   To be or not to be (1942):   Monsters of Venice:   To be or not to be (1983):  
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Published a week ago