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 I’ve been reading too much about lettering. “The Pens Excellencie or the Secretaries Delighte”: great title or the greatest title? The author was a tutor of Charles I. https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/billingsley/index.html  Is he compensating for something with that signature? 
Platystemon has a new favorite as of 09:01 on Jun 23, 2017 |
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Jun 23, 2017 07:24
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This seems like a John Hancock situation.
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Jun 23, 2017 08:10
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Puritan names were the best (or "best"). Names like "Faithful" are a bit odd but you can see people having them. "Search-the-Scriptures" is a much more unusual name, but it's one some people had. "Praise-God Barebone" was an MP in the 17th century. His relatives included "Damned Barebone", "Fear-God Barebone", "Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save Barebone" and "If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone" (who went by "Nicholas"). During the American Civil War, there was a Confederate general who was literally named "States Rights Gist".
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Jun 23, 2017 09:27
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Jun 23, 2017 09:43
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Tasteful Dickpic posted:This seems like a John Hancock situation. I think I read somewhere that putting extra curlicues on your signature was intended to prevent forgery.
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Jun 23, 2017 09:58
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Wheat Loaf posted:Puritan names were the best (or "best"). Names like "Faithful" are a bit odd but you can see people having them. "Search-the-Scriptures" is a much more unusual name, but it's one some people had. Silly name chat: the first Commissioner of Baseball was named Kennesaw Mountain Landis
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Jun 23, 2017 10:08
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Peanut President posted:Silly name chat: the first Commissioner of Baseball was named Kennesaw Mountain Landis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46f3HTmNDw
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Jun 23, 2017 11:17
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Wheat Loaf posted:Puritan names were the best (or "best"). Names like "Faithful" are a bit odd but you can see people having them. "Search-the-Scriptures" is a much more unusual name, but it's one some people had. Praise-the-Lord-and-Pass-the-Ammo Richardson was one heck of a cool cat. Gotta live it down.
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Jun 23, 2017 14:26
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Inspired by a video I watched yesterday, I give you Julie D'Aubigny. She was born in France, daughter of the secretary to Louis XIV's Master of Horses. Since her father trained the court's pages she learned alongside them to dance, read, draw, and fence. Keep the last one in mind. She later became the mistress of the previously-mentioned Master of Horses, who then married her off to an absent husband. And here the fun begins. She became involved with a man who killed someone in a duel, so the pair fled south to Marseilles; on the road she wore men's clothing, and they earned their living through fencing and singing. Once they reached Marseilles Julie became bored with his boyfriend, and instead started dating a local girl; the girl's parents were a bit upset, so they locked her in a convent in Avignon. Julie infiltrated the convent and broke her lover out, covering their tracks by stealing a dead body, putting it in bed in place of the girl, and setting fire to the room. For this Julie was sentenced to death in absentia, but she spent the next three months with her girlfriend before her parents forced her to return home. So Julie decided to go back to Paris, still earning her living through fencing and singing. While she was on the road a man insulted her, so she dueled him and stabbed him through the shoulder. The man (who turned out to be a nobleman) apologized to Julie, and they became lovers and later lifelong friends. When they parted Julie went on to Paris, where she contacted his father's employer and convinced him to ask the king to pardon her; and then she got a job as a singer at the Opera. At this point she's seventeen. Julie was very successful at singing but her career in Paris lasted only five years, because then she kissed a girl at a ball and got as a result challenged to duels by three different men. She dueled them and beat them, but unfortunately duels were illegal in Paris so she fled to Brussels, where she resumed her operaic career, and she returned to Paris three years later. (Now she's twenty-five, if you're keeping count.) Julie spent the rest of her years singing at the Opera, generally getting in trouble, and being in a relationship with a noblewoman, who then unfortunately died; Julie was heartbroken, and at age thirty-one retired (ironically enough) to a convent, where she died two years later.
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Jun 23, 2017 20:37
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In ancient rome, the businesses that cleaned clothes, left a large pot outside, for anyone to urinate in, as they needed the ammonia to clean the clothes.
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Jun 23, 2017 23:55
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ChocNitty posted:In ancient rome, the businesses that cleaned clothes, left a large pot outside, for anyone to urinate in, as they needed the ammonia to clean the clothes. Piss has been big money for a surprisingly long period of human history.
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Jun 24, 2017 08:37
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ChocNitty posted:In ancient rome, the businesses that cleaned clothes, left a large pot outside, for anyone to urinate in, as they needed the ammonia to clean the clothes. Emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79) levied a tax on those toilets. When his son Titus complained that it was dishonourable for the Empire to get its money from literal piss, Vespasian hold a gold coin under his nose and asked whether he was offended by its smell. When Titus shook his head, Vespasian said “And yet it comes from urine“, a phrase which was later turned into pecunia non olet, “money doesn't stink“. To this day, public toilets in Paris and Italy are called “vespassiennes“ or “vespasiani“, respectively.
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Jun 24, 2017 09:18
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Piss was also vital component of making gunpowder and still is a big part of leather tanning.
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Jun 24, 2017 09:53
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And in the early days of machine gunning, urine was used as a coolant. This practice was so common that the German-made machine guns had a convenient port on the side at crotch height. Source: QI, so make of that what you will.
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Jun 24, 2017 10:04
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Frogfingers posted:Piss was also vital component of making gunpowder and still is a big part of leather tanning. And it was also used in toothpaste.
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Jun 24, 2017 10:05
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ChocNitty posted:In ancient rome, the businesses that cleaned clothes, left a large pot outside, for anyone to urinate in, as they needed the ammonia to clean the clothes. But not near bars, because then the piss was too watery. Safety Biscuits has a new favorite as of 11:34 on Jun 24, 2017 |
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Jun 24, 2017 11:32
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Tasteful Dickpic posted:And in the early days of machine gunning, urine was used as a coolant. This practice was so common that the German-made machine guns had a convenient port on the side at crotch height. I find it's much easier to just wholeheartedly believe everything I hear on QI and that if it is wrong it will be corrected in the next serires Just like the bible
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Jun 24, 2017 14:01
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syscall girl posted:I find it's much easier to just wholeheartedly believe everything I hear on QI and that if it is wrong it will be corrected in the next serires Seems more like an emergency option than the go-to imo. Piss would leave a buildup of ammonia crystals in the tank, which probably wouldn't be good for thermal efficiency.
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Jun 24, 2017 14:31
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Seems more like an emergency option than the go-to imo. Piss would leave a buildup of ammonia crystals in the tank, which probably wouldn't be good for thermal efficiency. Yeah and I'm gonna guess pee is salty? So you have corrosion coming in to play. Also what is "crotch height" with regards to a machine gun? Nevertheless Fry and Davies are infallible
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Jun 24, 2017 14:37
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The jacket of a water cooled gun would have to be unscrewed to perform maintenance anyway, it doesn't matter if the stuff you pour into it contains sediments or dissolved solids, those can be cleaned. There have been reports of people using the water jecket for all sorts of things, from boiling tea to heating water or melting snow in winter.
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Jun 24, 2017 15:12
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syscall girl posted:Nevertheless Fry and Davies are infallible I disagree, I saw the show maybe a couple of months ago and they had something like this factoid spoken of: QI posted:Ambrose (ad 338-397), Bishop of Milan, appears to have been the first person in Europe who could read without moving his lips; or, at least, that’s the interpretation generally given to this passage from the Confessions of St Augustine of Hippo. And fail to mention the actual interesting part: It's because if you've seen any writing in Latin from antiquity, you know that its all one block o' text. Spaces between words (at least anywhere west of Greece) was invented in like the 7th century by Irish monks. Before then the closest you had were dashes or interpuncts between sentences.
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Jun 24, 2017 15:14
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In that case, wouldn't sounding out the words make them easier to understand?
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Jun 24, 2017 15:27
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Frogfingers posted:I disagree, I saw the show maybe a couple of months ago and they had something like this factoid spoken of: grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/10731/4297 A link to the paper posted in the thread refuting the claim https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3486446&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=545 A link to the thread I asked the question about half way down the thread. Tasteful Dickpic posted:And in the early days of machine gunning, urine was used as a coolant. This practice was so common that the German-made machine guns had a convenient port on the side at crotch height. The claim about the German guns seems like bullshit the idea of a port at "Crotch height" barely requires a second of thought to see how dumb that idea is, and the only reference I can find to soldiers cooling their guns with urine is British soldiers cooling off their Vickers Machine Guns, and while the standard German machine gun was also cooled with a waterjacket around the barrel I see no references to them cooling it with urine.
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Jun 24, 2017 15:53
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There's a passage in The Book of Memory by Mary Carruthers which deals with that passage about Ambrose. Here's part of the longer passage from Augustine which she reproduces, with the original Latin omitted:Augustine posted:When he read, his eyes would travel across the pages and his mind would explore the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent. We would sometimes be present, for he did not forbid anyone access, nor was it customary for anyone to be announced; and on these occasions we watched him reading silently in that way [and never the other], and so we too would sit for a long time in silence, for who would have the heart to interrupt a man so engrossed? Then we would steal away, guessing that in the brief time he had seized for the refreshment of his mind, he was resting from the din of other people's affairs, and reluctant to be called away to other business. We thought too that he might be apprehensive that if he read aloud, and any closely attentive listener were doubtful on any point, or the author he was reading used any obscure expressions, he would have to stop and explain various difficult problems that might arise, and after spending time on this be unable to read as much of the book as he wished. Another and perhaps more cogent reason for his habit of reading silently was his need to conserve his voice, which was very prone to hoarseness. But whatever his reason, that man undoubtedly had a good one. It appears as though if you keep reading past the initial assertion that Ambrose read silently, it seems that what Augustine found unusual was mostly the fact that Ambrose would read silently while in the presence of other people. The implication appears to be not that reading silently was an unusual ability for Ambrose to have, but an unusual activity to engage in while other people were around. As Carruthers states: Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory posted:I have quoted this description at length because I think it is often misread. It presents an excellent contrast between the two kinds of reading, lectio and meditatio. Ambrose withdraws over a book into silence, meditatio, even though others are present. Augustine contrasts it specifically here with the activity of lectio, delivered in a loud voice to a listener who freely asks questions. Augustine's reference to the possibility that Ambrose might be asked to stop and explain doubtful points or obscure expressions suggests that he's referring to a sort of reading aloud which is pedagogical in nature and in which dialogue between the reader and listener is expected. According to this interpretation, what he's doing is explaining why being in Ambrose's presence at these times was so unusual, rather than exhibiting astonishment at Ambrose's superhuman ability to read silently. When he says sometimes Ambrose would be reading when people went to visit him, he knows his reader is envisioning a scene where Ambrose is reading to his guests and taking questions; Augustine is specifying "No, dude, you don't understand. He wasn't reading to us, he was just reading to himself, and all the rest of us were just hanging out there watching him read, it was the weirdest thing." Fine, maybe that's wrong and it's really true that no one in the fourth century was capable of reading silently, but I find it more amusing (and more plausible) to think that this idea got started because a bunch of early twentieth century scholars read the bit about Ambrose reading silently, stopped there, and assumed that it meant no one else was capable of doing so, when if they had just kept reading they would have seen that Augustine was just describing an awkward social situation where a dude kept his guests waiting in silence because he was busy reading a book. MrChris has a new favorite as of 16:10 on Jun 24, 2017 |
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Jun 24, 2017 16:03
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The slang term for the citizens of the Dutch town of Tilburg is still "jug pissers". This is because, from the early 19th century till about the 1960s, the town had a lively clothes and fabrics industry. In order to whiten the newly made cloths, they needed the ammonia from urine. Everyone living in the town did their duty by pissing in jugs, and every morning workers from the cloth factories would go door to door to collect the urine.
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Jun 24, 2017 16:36
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'Only a limp dick can piss in a jug'
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Jun 24, 2017 17:09
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Challenge accepted.
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Jun 24, 2017 17:16
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steinrokkan posted:The jacket of a water cooled gun would have to be unscrewed to perform maintenance anyway, it doesn't matter if the stuff you pour into it contains sediments or dissolved solids, those can be cleaned. There have been reports of people using the water jecket for all sorts of things, from boiling tea to heating water or melting snow in winter. Speaking of snow, the Russian version of the Maxim gun was designed with an extra large filler cap to allow the water jacket to be stuffed with snow when liquid water was hard to come by.
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Jun 24, 2017 22:18
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chitoryu12 posted:Speaking of snow, the Russian version of the Maxim gun was designed with an extra large filler cap to allow the water jacket to be stuffed with snow when liquid water was hard to come by. I think you mean so that they could pee in it more effectively. It is hard to hit a tiny hole while taking fire.
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Jun 24, 2017 22:23
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Gaius Marius posted:I actually brought this up after seeing the mentioned passage in my own reading of the Confessions and took it to the ancient history thread and the general consensus was that the idea that silent reading was uncommon or unknown in the ancient world is a myth. Yeah I think I remember that discussion as well. I think that it's correct for people who had literacy education back then, but there would have to be a few people who bootstrapped and self-taught themselves letters. Sounding out words is definitely a developmental phase. Also enough about water-cooled guns. Its a warzone, nobody wants to give up their water ration to a loving machine gun, of course they're going to piss in there.
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Jun 25, 2017 02:16
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Those trenches already stunk, what's a little boiling piss to go with it?
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Jun 25, 2017 06:08
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Napoleon had one of his officers stick leeches on his rear end in a top hat to treat his hemmroids. Googling "leeches hemmroids" reveals it can actually work
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Jun 25, 2017 06:52
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Tasteful Dickpic posted:Source: QI, so make of that what you will. So found on someone's personal blog, no source given, no further checking done.
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Jun 25, 2017 10:40
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QI is the fishmech of tv shows
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Jun 25, 2017 10:44
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ChocNitty posted:Napoleon had one of his officers stick leeches on his rear end in a top hat to treat his hemmroids. Googling "leeches hemmroids" reveals it can actually work Why wouldn't it work? Leeches are after blood, and hemmhoroids are full of blood.
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Jun 25, 2017 10:50
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Leeches are also used in modern medicine, especially in reattaching severed fingers and toes: the problem in this case is that the reattached body part is full of stagnant blood that must be removed as quickly as possible to have fresh blood, full of oxygen and nutrients, enter the capillaries, or else the reattaching might fail (because of gangrene). Leeches take care of that by sucking all that nasty old blood right out.
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Jun 25, 2017 12:24
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Mikl posted:Leeches are also used in modern medicine, especially in reattaching severed fingers and toes: the problem in this case is that the reattached body part is full of stagnant blood that must be removed as quickly as possible to have fresh blood, full of oxygen and nutrients, enter the capillaries, or else the reattaching might fail (because of gangrene). Leeches take care of that by sucking all that nasty old blood right out. That is downright wonderful
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Jun 25, 2017 12:49
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MrChris posted:There's a passage in The Book of Memory by Mary Carruthers which deals with that passage about Ambrose. Here's part of the longer passage from Augustine which she reproduces, with the original Latin omitted: As a happy reader myself, I sympathize with Ambrose. There is nothing more delightful then being left alone to read without being pestered with questions. I see it more as the monks going, "Woah, this dude is good at reading, and TOTALLY IN TO IT. It's also super chill. I'm gonna meditate here while I got a sec. Just soak in those good reading vibes."
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Jun 25, 2017 13:21
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It's nice that you enjoy reading but do you also do it when guests are at your house and you have no internet or TV or penicillin
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Jun 25, 2017 14:35
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:It's nice that you enjoy reading but do you also do it when guests are at your house and you have no internet or TV or penicillin I read your posts out loud and consequently will never feel the touch of a woman
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Jun 25, 2017 14:41
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