Earlier, I was all sarcastic about some advice on protecting your child from syphilis by making sure that no visiting relatives have it. But in the 1920 book The care and feeding of children: a catechism for the use of mothers and children's nurses, page 195:
"Are there any valid objections to kissing infants?
There are many serious objections. Tuberculosis, diphtheria, syphilis, and many other grave diseases may be communicated in this way. The kissing of infants upon the mouth by other children, by nurses, or by people generally, should under no circumstances be permitted. Infants should be kissed, if at all, upon the cheek or forehead, but the less even of this the better."
Jeez! How long did this myth persist? "No, really, honey, I got it from kissing a baby!"
Later note: OK, turns out I wasn't paying enough attention in health class. Syphilis can be passed by kissing if the sores are on the mouth. Never again will I mock old medical or child-rearing advice.
Would you like to discover the wonders of the Kamchatka peninsula? Why not visit by dogsled?
Earlier, I recommended Robert Sullivan's book, Rats. One of the (many) cool things he mentioned was Audubon's engravings of rats, which the modern observer can find (where else?) in New York, at the library!
If this blog had categories, this would be in the "shut up and think what I tell you" category.
But some things are universal, or maybe it's just that our brains are pattern-seeky.
Y'know, when you're in love, you think every boil-on-the-ass story is about you.
A rare ailment, yes, but serious: a bad case of the falsetto jackass.
Two moments in time from this afternoon:
a. a guy I have warned at least 5 times not to leave his stuff lying around because it'll just get stolen, comes to the desk to complain that something he left lying around has been stolen.
b. small boy who wants books about LIONS! and is thrilled when I find him one that he can read.
Another piece of spam caught my eye today, and a brief examination of its target link confirms that eMarketResearchGroup (or maybe eMarket Research Group) is indistinguishable from the Consumer Research Corporation. It's unlikely you'll get your free tv, and it most assuredly won't be free by the time you get it.
Again, in the French-English dictionary, some things translate easily, some don't:
trainspotter: personne dont le passe-temps est de noter les numeros des trains
he's a bit of a trainspotter: il est vraiment ringard
Flip to ringard: uncool, unhip
While anorak: anorak
While looking for the French word for fan-boat, I browsed through a book on Cajun French (if anyone has a need for this word, it would be Louisianans), but instead found "Dos brilliant et ventre criant"- referring to people who spend too much on clothing and too little on food!
The National Park Service has a really neat archive of historic photos, including this one of a child chained (for her safety!) to the deck of a canal boat.
Loyal reader John again sends a gem: geek t-shirts in France. Apparently English is the language of many geeks, or at least many geek shirt manufacturers: these vendors seem quite pleased that they are able to offer a few francophone togs.
After reading about the leech-driven Tempest Prognosticator in Fortean Times (FT186, "Animal Machines" p. 50), I hope to someday see one of the two replicas on display: one in the Whitby Museum, the other in the Barometer Museum in Okehampton.
Hard on the heels of the Meryl Streep anniversary, another tragedy may have been averted by a brave, alert sibling. And really, how surprising is it that the sister didn't just hand the infant to the dog and say "good riddance"? Oh, she might have regretted it later, but now she'll be kicking herself for years at having missed the opportunity.
Maybe I'm just a sap, but I enjoyed the near-poetry of this excerpt from yesterday's Cascade Range Volcano Update:
Visibility is excellent and likely will remain so throughout the day. A steam plume is rising passively and drifting northward out of the crater. The plume occasionally contains minor ash, which falls out in the crater and on the flank of the volcano, darkening the snow.Yesterday's update also reassures us that the recent series of earthquakes at and near Mt Rainier is normal. Good.
Vintage frames, but in the UK- does anyone know of somewhere more local?
Spoke too soon! Here's a few:
Allyn Scura
Vintageous
Eyeglasses Warehouse
Eyeglass.com
Vintageiwear
and apparently this guy in New York can make you a pair from your old broken-down pair and make any needed fit adjustments.
No, not waving with your fingers, but the fabulous 30s hairstyle: here's how to.
They don't seem to have a usable index page that I can see, so here's what Google says.
Did you know about the Soviet Union's moon program? I sure didn't (until recently)-- it doesn't seem to come up that much in the US. Strange! Except not really. Selective history doesn't just happen to other people.
A more shades of gray (actually purple) map of how the nation voted, and a county-by-county version. too. Informative!
I was always sorry that I missed this exhibit at the Burke Museum, but here it is: the artifacts of daily life during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Stage one: eat a lot
Stage two: look at job listings in New Zealand
