From Kathryn Walton at Medievalists.net:
People have always been fascinated by ghosts. Tales of humans returned from the dead have appeared in folklore and literature from around the world for millennia. The medieval period was no different. Tales of actual […] Continue Reading…
Derek Pearsall, 1931-2021
Sad news:
Professor Derek Pearsall, co-founder with the late Professor Elizabeth Salter of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, passed away on Thursday 14 October, aged 90. He was an enormous influence on many of us who flourished […] Continue Reading…
For Columbus Day
In The American Spectator, Armando Simón defends Christopher Columbus, claiming that he was not as bad as his current reputation holds. This does not excuse what Spanish colonialism became, of course, and the idea that “the founder was good, […] Continue Reading…
Food, Facial Structure, and “F”
From Science (hat tip: Funk Heritage Center):
When humans switched to processed foods after the spread of agriculture, they put less wear and tear on their teeth. That changed the growth of their jaws, giving adults the overbites normal in […] Continue Reading…
Some Links
• From Edward J. Watts on Yahoo News: “Rome Didn’t Fall When You Think it Did”:
In September of 476 AD, the barbarian commander Odoacer forced the teenaged Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustus to resign his office. The Constantinopolitan chronicler Marcellinus Comes would […] Continue Reading…
The Battle of Lepanto
Adjunct instructor Tim Furnish remembers the Battle of Lepanto, fought 450 years ago:
On this date, 450 years ago, the combined naval forces of Europe’s Catholic states, the “Holy League,” saved Western civilization. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled not just […] Continue Reading…
Pushin’ Back the Date
From NBC News (hat tip: Funk Heritage Center):
David Bustos heard about the “ghost tracks” when he first went to White Sands National Park in New Mexico to work as a wildlife scientist in 2005. When the ground was wet […] Continue Reading…
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet
Hobby Lobby is a chain of big-box craft stores in the United States, privately held by David Green. Green is a committed Christian: he is a major donor to evangelical causes and keeps Hobby Lobby closed on Sundays. This […] Continue Reading…
Banned Books, Again
My observation is that we’re all hypocrites about freedom of speech. When it comes to speech we agree with, of course we’re in favor of it. When it comes to speech we disagree with, we have all sorts of […] Continue Reading…
Dr. Seuss
This post isn’t all that topical anymore, but a recent visit to the University of Minnesota’s Children’s Literature Research Collection has helped to answer a longstanding question that I had.
In March of this year, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that […] Continue Reading…