#HENRY DURHAM : about.

[durhams]

tags : henry

[minutes1a]

𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐦.

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Chordata - Petromyzontida

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Petromyzontida is a class comprising one order, Petromyzontiformes, commonly called “lampreys.”

Like their closest living relatives, the hagfish, lampreys bear a cartilaginous skull and rudimentary vertebrae. Adults lack a jaw, and are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like, sucking mouth. They have elongated, eel-like bodies reaching up to 1.3 metres (3.9 ft) long. They have one nostril atop the head, seven gill pores on each side of the head, two well-developed eyes, and two parietal eyes. Only 18 species are predators or scavengers, the rest (all freshwater species) do not feed as adults, instead living off the reserves gained as juveniles. Carnivorous species are marine, though 9 of them migrate into freshwater to breed. They use the suction cup around their mouths to cling to rocks or prey, using their tongue to either rasp blood from prey or algae from rocks. They also use this suction cup to climb up rocks when migrating upstream to breed.

Adult lampreys spawn in nests of sand, gravel and pebbles in clear streams. After hatching from their eggs the larvae, called ammocoetes, will drift downstream with the current until they reach soft and fine sediment in which to burrow, taking up an existence as filter feeders, collecting detritus, algae, and microorganisms (image 4). Their eyes are underdeveloped, only capable of discriminating changes in light. Lampreys spend the majority of their lives as these filter-feeding ammocoetes. Most species spend up to 8 years, though some may spend as little as 1-2 years. The ammocoetes will then undergo a metamorphosis which generally lasts 3-4 months, during which they do not eat.

The oldest fossil lamprey, Priscomyzon, is known from the Late Devonian. Other stem-group lampreys, like Pipiscius, Mayomyzon and Hardistiella are known from the Carboniferous. While they appear relatively unchanged, stem-lampreys lack the specialised, heavily toothed discs with plate-like laminae present in modern lampreys, and their larvae resembled the adults, rather than having a distinct stage. The earliest lamprey with the specialised toothed oral disc typical of modern lampreys is Yanliaomyzon from the Middle Jurassic.

Propaganda under the cut:

Many species change color as ammocoetes, becoming dark during the day and pale at night.

Lampreys have been extensively studied because their relatively simple brain is thought to reflect the brain structure of early vertebrate ancestors, thus providing insight into our origins.

Lampreys are valued as food in the Northwest United States, throughout Europe, in Russia, Japan, and in South Korea. King Henry I of England is claimed to have been so fond of lampreys that he often ate them, late into life and poor health, against the advice of his physician concerning their richness, and is said to have died from eating "a surfeit of lampreys".

In the county of Nakkila (Finland) and Carnikava Municipality (Latvia), the European River Lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) is the local symbol, found on their coats of arms.

The legend of the Lambton Worm from County Durham in North-East England concerns a lamprey being fished out of the River Wear by a young boy skipping church. He declares that he had “caught the devil” and disposes of it down a nearby well. Over the years, the lamprey grows into a giant, poisonous Worm, wrapping itself around a local hill and terrorizing the village. Hijinks and witch-curses ensue.

Lampreys were highly appreciated by the Ancient Romans, not only as food, but also as pets. Lucius Licinius Crassus was mocked by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus for weeping over the death of his pet lamprey, who he was said to have adorned with earrings and small necklaces, training it to respond to its name and swimming up to eat what was offered. Crassus retorted that Domitius had lost three wives himself and Crassus had never seen him shed a tear.

Publius Vedius Pollio was reportedly an exceedingly cruel Roman soldier who kept a pool of carnivorous lampreys to which he would feed slaves who had displeased him. This went on until Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus was visiting his mansion and witnessed Pollio about to dispatch a slave who had broken a crystal cup. Augustus had all of Pollio’s cups destroyed, as well as his mansion, and filled in his pond. This is likely an urban legend, but honestly, I feel like it should have ended with Pollio going down with the lampreys.

Dams and other human development have made it hard for lampreys to migrate upstream to breed. Some scientists are hoping to design ramps that will utilize lamprey’s climbing ability so that they can bypass dams.

[hazel-of-sodor]

This is going around on twitter so let's try it here

Feel free to send an ask if you want an elaboration on any of these.

1. Thomas/Cassandra as a J72 is long established lore. But something never said is the fact they dont know what they are until the preservation era. As far as Thomas/Cassandra knew, they were an LBSCR E2.

2. British Railways had a secret program from the 60s to the early 80s where they would allow groups to buy engines for preservation, but only if they agreed to keep the engine's survival secret. This was to make the engines/classes seem rarer than they were and driver up their price.

3. Blue Peter was originally male, but after the 1994 Durham wheelship accident and the emergency repairs carried out at Crovan's Gate, Blue Peter reawoke as female.

4. The world is a little bit larger in the AU, with more passengers and freight. This means more members of existing classes like the LNER Raven A2 and Gresley P1, and some classes that weren't built in ours like the GWR Cathedrals and Stone Circle Class.

5. Preservation is a larger movement, due to the engines being alive. There are more preservation railways, and those that exist in our world are better funded, and often larger.

6. It is now possible to circle the island by rail, via the Mantauo line which runs North from Vicarstown to Mantauo, and the Little Western, which extends North from Harwich to Mantauo.

7. Both Stanley and Smudger exist. Smudger, offically named Jennings, was the original No.2 of the Mid-Sodor Railway. She was eventaully sold to the Cronk and Harwick, with Stanley being bought to replace her.

8. Yes Nicole and Samantha are together, and adopted Claire

9. Many 'extinct' classes of British Locomotive have surviving members in other countries. Most commonly in the Americas and Asia, but British Railways refugees can be found in most countries.

10. Flying Scotsman has been part owned by the NWR since the American Tour, which they funded the latter half of in turn for majority ownership. Alan Peglar readily agreed, as it meant Scotsman was secured no matter what happened to him. In the present day the other portion is owned by the NRM.

11. With the greater interest in preservation and the existence of Crovan's Gate, many new builds were finished earlier. For example Lady of Legend was completed in 1975. Tornado is notable in the Au for being the first standard gauge steam engine built entirely on mainland Britain since Evening Star, as all the others had Crovan's Gate built components.

12. With the extension to Mantauo, the "Little" Western is a full fledged mainline, sporting many GWR Locomotives including Castles, Stars, and Cathedrals. Despite this, all agree Duck is still the head of the line.

13. Thomas/Cassandra and Duck dated during the Summer of 1976 while the No.1 was on the Little Western due to storm damage on the Ffarquhar Branch. It ended amicably, although no one but the two of them is certain whether it was due to the pair not working out or Thomas/Cassandra returning to her Branch Line.

14. While LNER P2s were transferred to Sodor during the war, and remained on the island afterwards, they were rebuilt in a manner similar to Gordon and so are considered P2/1s by Railfans. The 2007 Prince of Wales new build is intended to bring back the Gresley condition design, and the P2/1s are all excited to meet their new sister (they all insist it will be a girl, and engines are almost always right about such things).

15. The LNER U1 Typhoon and Big Emma (Big Bertha) work together on the Mantauo line and are shedmates...They're also girlfriends.

16. There were plans to rebuild Henry into a Hudson before the Flying Kipper accident, but the damage he stained was great enough Hatt used a favor Stanier owed him to have Crewe repair and rebuild Henry. As his trailing axle had been destroyed in the accident, Stanier had him rebuilt as a Black 5

17. The Sodor engines take great offense to the "Two Henry's Theory" and more than one pushy railfan has got blasted with a face full of steam over it.

18. Nancy Rushen is now the Thin Controller of the Skarloey Railway.

19. The NWR fleet list is over 100 hundred engines long, despite only containing engines that have appeared in either stories or art.

20. Midlothian is safe and sound on Sodor, although she refuses to set one wheel on the mainland.

21. U.S.S. Enteprise CV-6 is in service with the US Coast Guard as a Helicopter Carrier.

22. LNER 10000 "Hush Hush" does survive, but in her rebuilt form and her name is British Enterprise.

23. All the of the engines from the Fifteen Guinea Special survive, as 44781 Excelsior was saved by the Sodor Railway Musuem when the original preservation attempt fell through.

24. Excelsior joined her sister 45318 Intrepid, who the museum had already preserved, as she had pulled the last regular timetabled steam hauled service on British Railways.

25. HMS Hood survives the Second World War, and remains in service until after the Falklands War. She is now a museum ship.

26. All three Olympic Class would survive to enter Sodor Star Line Service in 1935 (Titanic having forced herself into a turn a second earlier), sold off by White Star Line as a final act of Defiance in the face of their impending forced merger with Cunard.

27. When the American Ocean Liner SS Moro Castle caught fire in September 1934, a White Star Liner recieved her distress calls and came to her aid. R.M.S. Titanic had been leaving New York Harbor when the sos was recieved and immedaitly turned to assist. Her crew helped the Moro Castle's contain the blaze and evacuate the passengers, before towing the stricken vessel to safe harbor.

28. America has had locomotive and sentient machine rights on paper since the 1890s, but it only truly came into effect following the first world war.

29. After the second World War ended up aligning themselves with either the USA or USSR. The USSR, like the USA also had rights for sentient machines. Never content to let the other take the lead in anything, the two superpowers pushed for their allies to take similar measures, leading to most nations steam fleets being protected by the time they were economically capable of replacing them.

30. The exception for Sentient machine rights is Great Britain. Even by the 2020s, the British Government doesn't recognize sentient machines as anything more than beasts of burden, if even that. This has led to political tension between Britain and both the USA and USSR.

31. As a result of the larger world/passenger numbers, the White Star Line planned a fourth Olympic Class. Tentatively named R.M.S. Gigantic, the hull was still early in construction when WW1 broke out. The Royal Navy claimed the unfinished hull, planning to finish the ship as a troop ship, but Germany caught wind of the project, and the unfinished hull was bombed on the slipway by a German Zeppelin. The hull was a total loss, and the White Star Line cancelled the project. After the war, the Line would eventually receive the newly completed S.S. Bismark as war reparations in 1922, renaming her R.M.S. Majestic.

32. As the Titanic Disaster never unfolded, with the liner instead surviving her maiden voyage, J Bruce Ismay would remain the managing director of the White Star Line until its merger with Cunard in 1935.

33. In the United States, roads never took over like they did in our timeline. The Railroads pushed for cars to have the same rights as their engines. While seemingly benigh, this place cars outside the budget of all but the rich. Roads certainly still exist, but are primarily for emergency services and for transporting freight in areas where railroads are impractical for one reason or another.

34. Since R.M.S. Titanic survived, why did the rules and regulations following the disastestill occur. Two reasons, 1. I play by the rule of the elastic timeline. While Context may change, most global events (or at the very least their consequences) still play out. 2. The Liners went on strike. Quite simply it was thie lives and passengers on the line. Unlike Humans, you can't just replace a ocean liner when they Strike. The fact the White Star Liner immediatly announced refits for Titanic and Olympic further forced the shipping companies to fall in line.

35. Sailing ships are often senient, although it takes longer for them to Awaken than those with engines.

36. As computer systems were installed in locomotives, it was found the engines were pefectly capable on instinctually interfacing with them, allowing engines to eventually access the internet, and games.

37. Engines are capable of consuming human food, although wether they like to varys engine to engine. No one is quite sure where the food consumed food and drink go.

38. While the original 26 books of the railway series are based on actuall events on the NWR, they have often been tweaked to better works in their role as children's books

[bloodtiesstilllives]

Say Hello to Henry and Henry Pt. One

This is Henry Fitzroy.

He is from the show Blood Ties (2007). He is a 480 year old vampire. When he was alive he was kinda royalty.

This is Henry Durham.

He is from the show Being Human (US Version). He is a little over 100 years old. Before he was turned he was a WW1 medic. A sweet guy really.

Yes they are both played by actor Kyle Schmid.

I think it's great that the same actor was able to play two different vampire characters with the same name, and I love them for two different reasons.

Henry Fitzroy is fun.

He's smart.

He is living his life and has no qualms about being a vampire.

I have not had this much fun watching a vampire on screen in a long while.

Henry Durham is a survivor.

Poor boy is a magnet for trouble.

He was such a sweetums.

Now don't get me wrong. They are vampires and as a human we are food to them, but my goodness we get to know them as people and they are something else.

They are both monsters in their own right and have done monstrous things over the course of their vampire life.

MORE LATER IN PART TWO.

[stephensmithuk]

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Three Broken Threads

Hat tip to @myemuisemo for another excellent post that covers much of what I was planning together:

Data protection was not really a thing back in 1889. However, paper hotel registers would be something filled in by the front desk staff, not the guest. They would contain details of extra charges incurred as well, all stuff generally done by computer, but you can still buy paper copies today. Particularly for the Indian market, where less than half the population have Internet access. These registers are generally mandatory and in some countries, the data will still be passed to the police when it concerns newly arrived foreigners. That's why they ask for your passport.

Newcastle upon Tyne, the one people generally talk about as opposed to Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, was at the centre of a major coal mining area in North-East England, the Durham and Northumberland coalfields being in close proximity. The industry was still employing children - boys as young as 12 could work in mines - and was still a pretty dangerous, not to mention unhealthy industry.

The British economy was heavily reliant on coal, especially the newly built electric power stations. While the railways had a big coal trade for internal transport for domestic purposes, boats also played a big role, either going via canal or down the East Coast of Great Britain to the London Docks. This route would become vulnerable to German attack in the World Wars, particularly in the second war from fast torpedo boats known to the British as "E-boats"; the East Coast convoys are a lesser-known part of the naval war, with Patrick Troughton having served with Coastal Force Command.

The Mayor of Gloucester, like most civic mayors in England, is the chair of the council, elected to a one-year term by their fellow councillors. The current holder is Conservative councillor Lorraine Campbell. It's a mostly ceremonial role involving going to various events while wearing a red cloak and a big hat:

Gloucester's Deputy Mayor is called the Sheriff of Gloucester. There is still a Sheriff of Nottingham, by the way.

The Anglophone Canadian accent was historically noticeably different to an American one and of course had its own varieties. They've gotten closer over the decades, especially due to television.

Sir Henry would have limited luggage space on the ship over, so three pairs of boots would be reasonable. He'd have to ship over anything else at further cost, so it could be cheaper to buy new in London.

Deliveries of telegrams that weren't in the immediate area of the office cost extra. Bradshaw's Guide for Tourists in Great Britain and Ireland would state the nearest telegraph office for a town, as the 1866 edition demonstrates:

Sir Charles' estate was worth around £80m in today's money, but that would not even get him onto The Sunday Times Rich List, which starts at £350m (Sir Lewis Hamilton, i.e. the F1 driver). It tops out with Gopichand Hinduja and his family at an estimated £37.2 billion, whose conglomerate is many focussed on India, but also are the biggest shareholders in US chemical company Quaker Houghton.

Westmoreland was a historical county in Northern England; it was absorbed into Cumbria in 1974, but its area became part of the Westmoreland and Furness unitary authority in 2023.

"Entailed" means that Sir Charles has stipulated in a legal document that the Baskerville estate would have to pass to Sir Henry's heir intact. This was a feudal era practice that has now been abolished in most jurisdictions, with limited remaining use in England and Wales. Simply put Sir Henry is not allowed to sell the house or the land, even part of it. He can do what he likes with the cash and probably the chattels, the movable property like the candlesticks and the toasting forks.

This page covers it in relation to the works of Jane Austen with relevant spoilers:

Borough is another name for the area of Southwark. It got a Tube station in 1890, when the City and South London Railway opened, now the Bank branch of the Northern line. It also is famous for Borough Market, then a wholesale food market under cover of buildings from the 1850s. Today it is a retail market for specialty food; kind of like a farmers' market.

In 1888, the 10:30 from Paddington would get to Exeter at 15:35, a journey of five hours. @myemuisemo provides route maps. I would add at this point, GWR services to SW England went via Bristol, adding a lot of time to the journey, while the LSWR route from Waterloo was a lot more direct. Wags dubbed the former "the Great Way Round". The construction of two cut-off lines allowed the GWR to go via Westbury and Castle Cary.

I will cover the modern day condition of the route in my Chapter 6 post.

The GWR still had some broad-gauge track at 2,140 mm(7 ft 1⁄4 in) left that Brunel had favoured, but this would be finally eliminated in 1892.

Finally, Holmes is referencing the sport of fencing when he learns the cabbie has been given his name. The foil is the lightest of the three swords used in competitive fencing, such as the Olympics.

In an age before electronic fencing equipment, point scoring relied on the eyesight of the umpire... and the honesty of the competitions.

I was in my fencing club at university. I can't say I was that great. I preferred the epee, which doesn't have the priority rules...

[wonder-worker]

"Some modern historians, apparently fascinated by the fact that Matilda was eleven years older than her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, have been quick to assert that the marriage was unhappy. The historical basis for this assertion rests upon the word of the Durham chronicler, who stated that when Matilda returned to Henry I’s court in 1129 it was because Geoffrey had repudiated her. [Historians have thus assumed that their mutual incompatibility led to hostility and an eventual separation]. However, it must be noted that the northern chronicler was hardly in a position to have first-hand information about events across the Channel, and that he had the chronology of the affair completely wrong. The author placed Matilda’s marriage in 1129, and wrote that only a few days after King Henry returned to England on 13 July of that year, he was told that his daughter had been repudiated by her husband and had returned to Rouen with only a few attendants. The marriage actually took place in 1128, and Matilda was in Anjou with her husband in 1129 when the la Haye brothers brought a charter in favor of the abbey of Fontevraud to her for her confirmation. The other contemporary accounts of Matilda’s separation from her husband did not record her departure or suggest reasons for it, but only noted her return to Anjou in 1131.

It is possible that Matilda’s return to her father’s court in 1129 was not a marital separation at all, but rather a political mission. Perhaps Matilda and Geoffrey grew uneasy in their isolation and began to doubt the commitment of the Anglo-Norman barons to their cause. Leaving her husband behind to manage affairs in Anjou, Matilda may have travelled to Normandy seeking clarification of her position. A few scraps of evidence point in this direction. A letter that Hildebert of Lavardin wrote to Henry I in 1131 expressed pleasure that the king was now reconciled with the count of Anjou, who ‘had now fallen in with his wishes in everything concerning him and his daughter’. Henry of Huntingdon and Robert of Torigny stated that a ‘great council’ held at Northampton on 8 September 1131 decided that Matilda should be returned to her husband. The wording implies a decision made by the great men of the realm for political reasons, not a family’s success in persuading a tearful daughter to return to a husband whom she disliked. Furthermore, William of Malmesbury wrote that ‘no small gathering of the nobility being held at Northampton, the oath of fidelity to her was renewed by those who had already sworn and also taken by those who had not done so previously’. The renewal of the oath also suggests that Matilda’s mission may have been occasioned by concern over the succession rather than by the marital discord that historians have often taken for granted."

-Jean A. Truax, "Winning over the Londoners: King Stephen, the Empress Matilda and the Politics of Personality", The Haskins Society Journal 8 (1996)

[scotianostra]

August 5th 1388 saw the Battle of Otterburn.

Some sources say the battle happened on 19 August, well the English versions do but we Scots won this battle so we are going with today’s date!

Now the Scots here were led by James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, this was a descendent of the Good Sir James through an Uncle, The Black Douglas himself had died at the Battle of Teba, throwing the Bruce’s heart while charging towards the moors, his son William IV, Lord of Douglas died at a young age at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 and the line passed to his Uncle “Hugh the Dull”,don’t you love these nicknames! Anyway that’s the lineage that this James became Earl of Douglas, he had obviously learned a lot through his. family ties as you will hear in the story about the Battle.

Following the end of a truce with the English, Scottish forces began raiding across the border in the summer of 1388, Douglas led a Scottish force of around 6,000 men across the border into Northumbria, burning and pillaging as they progressed, the Scots advanced on Newcastle.

Douglas decided to lead a raid which was timed to take advantage of divisions on the English side between Lord Neville and Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland who had just taken over defence of the border.

The Scots divided their forces with the main force and their baggage train heading towards Carlisle while a raiding party including Earl Douglas ravaged the countryside around Durham and Newcastle. Henry Percy sent his two sons Henry “Hotspur” Percy and Ralph to engage while he stayed at Alnwick to cut off the marauders’ retreat.

Froissart’s Chronicles says that the first fighting included a meeting of the Earl Douglas and Henry Percy in hand to hand combat, in which Percy’s pennon was captured. Douglas announced that he would “carry [the pennon] to Scotland and hoist it on my tower, where it may be seen from afar”, to which Hotspur retorted “By God! You will never leave Northumberland alive with that.”

This was a big thing back then, the Pennon was a flag on a large pole and it bore the crest of the commander of the army on either side, it was carried by a rider who stayed close to the commander and it let their troops know his position, with it being captured, mayhem must have ensued and honour was lost.

Douglas then moved off destroying the castle at Ponteland and besieging Otterburn castle. Percy attacked Douglas’ encampment with a surprise attack in the late afternoon but first encountered the Earl’s serving men, giving the bulk of the forces time to muster and attack them on their flank.

During the battle on a moon-lit night Douglas was killed and the Percys were both captured, with the remaining English force retreating to Newcastle. Despite Percy’s force having an estimated three to one advantage over the Scots one set of records show 1040 English were captured and 1860 killed whereas 200 Scots were captured and 100 were killed. The Westminster Chronicle gives a more reliable estimate of Scottish casualties as being around 500 or so.

Douglas’ body was found on the field the following day. The Scots, albeit saddened by the loss of their leader, were heartened enough by the victory, to frighten off English reinforcements. When the Bishop of Durham advanced from Newcastle with 10,000 men he was so impressed by the ordered appearance of the Scottish force, the din they set up with their horns, and their seemingly unassailable position, that he declined to attack.

So there you go another of the great Douglas’s who gave his life fighting for his country.

The first two photos are depictions of the battle, the second shows the Earl of Douglas's body being removed from the battlefield, pic three is a monument, now called The Percy Cross, that commemorates the battle.

[slickshoesareyoucrazy]

Know Me

I think you can get to know a person pretty well when you know what their preferred media to consume is. And I guess in an effort to let a couple people here know me better, I have made an unordered, inexhaustive list of movies, TV shows, and books that I really liked. I know I've left some off, especially the books list. There are a lot of books and movies I've enjoyed but these are ones I'd repeat, some over and over and over without ever getting tired of them. I didn't include any music or visual art here, because that's too hard to list and it's too mood dependent. Maybe I'll make a musical artist list some other time. Anyway here you go.

Movies

Ghostbusters; Ferris Bueller's Day Off; Return To Me; Field of Dreams; My Big Fat Greek Wedding; The Crow; The Breakfast Club; Coco; Twister; About Time; Everything Everywhere All At Once; The Shape of Water; Coming To America; Casablanca; Forrest Gump; Young Frankenstein; Stand By Me; Up!; Dogma; Jaws; The Goonies; Groundhog Day; The Royal Tenenbaums; Moana; O Brother Where Art Thou; Inglorious Basterds; When Harry Met Sally; Bull Durham; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Moonrise Kingdom; Almost Famous; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Clueless; Encanto; Remember the Titans; Splash; Spotlight; Blazing Saddles; Knives Out; Glass Onion; Soul; Sixteen Candles; Unbreakable; Slingblade; The Blues Brothers; The Great Outdoors; Ghostbusters Afterlife; It's a Wonderful Life; Juno; Mr. Holland's Opus; Fargo; Fried Green Tomatoes; The Burbs; Booksmart; Scott Pilgrim vs the World; Lady and the Tramp; Yesterday; Wristcutters a love story; Timer; A Few Good Men; Rain Man; Good Will Hunting; Hoosiers; Moonstruck; Dazed and Confused; Amelie; West Side Story; Hairspray;

TV Shows

Scrubs; Sesame Street; Derry Girls; Psych; The Bear; Crazy Ex Girlfriend; Letterkenny; Jane the Virgin; Schitt's Creek; King of the Hill; Barney Miller; Phineas and Ferb; A Different World; Northern Exposure; The Great British Bake Off; What We Do in the Shadows; Bob's Burgers; Only Murders in the Building; That 70s Show; Scooby Doo (the original TV series and star movies from the 70s); All in the Family; MASH; The Muppet Show; Seinfeld; Ted Lasso; Never Have I Ever; Brooklyn 99; The Get Down; Daria; ghosts; Columbo; normal people; Alice and Jack; Hilda; Southside

Books

A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh series; Charlotte's Web; Ferris; To Kill a Mockingbird; Horton Hears a Who; Horton Hatches the Egg; Little Tree; Prickly Jenny; A Friend For Henry; Sing Unburied Sing; Knuffle Bunny series by Mo Willems; The Boy the Horse the Fox and the Mole; Counting By 7s; Turtles All the Way Down; The Lightness of Hands; Everything Everything; The Things They Carried; Hocus Pocus; The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store; Just Kids; A Long Way Down; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine; Let the Great World Spin; The Poisonwood Bible; Little Altars Everywhere; The Double Bind; When Breath Becomes air; Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow; You Don't Have to Say You Love Me; The Bean Trees; Imagine Wanting Only This; The Joy Luck Club; The Martian; The Art of Racing in the Rain; East of Eden; Song of Solomon; The Color Purple; The House on Mango Street; The Wind Knows My Name; In Five Years; Tuesdays with morrie; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; And Then There Were None; Sharp Objects; Homegoing; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Under the Whispering Door; Maybe Next Time; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; How To Be Good; The Friend; Heaven: Dinosaurs; Redhead by the Side of the Road; Julie and Julia; Attachments; My Grandmother Said to Tell You She's Sorry; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Lily and the Octopus; The History of Love; Take Me With You When You Go; Big Trouble; The Alchemist; Dear Fahrenheit 451; I'm Not a Mourning Person; The Outsiders; All About Love; Georgie All Along; Postcards From the Edge; Breakfast at Tiffany's; The Secret Life of Bees; Nothing to See Here; The Book of Two Ways; Cat's Cradle; Wonder; The Giver series; The Squish;

[shapesofculture]

SHAPES OF ANTHROPOLOGY

good morning, ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ, કેમ છો?

When I first learned about anthropology nearly ten years ago, my long-time perspective on objective and open-minded examination of different cultures has finally become validated.

Robert Layton¹ defined anthropology as ‘the study of people’, which gained an academic interest in analysis of socio-cultural, linguistic and biological aspects of humanity in the second half of the nineteenth century².

Anthropology was influenced in various ways by many philosophers and social theorists, such as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx and Bronislaw Malinowski. According to Robert Ranulph Marett³, a British ethnologist, anthropology is a ‘child of Darwin’, while another source⁴ claims that Darwinism ‘offers a crucial lens through which to view the biological and cultural diversity of humans across time and space’.

I strongly agree that the purpose of anthropology ‘is to make the world safe for human differences’ (Ruth Benedict⁵), yet it requires a significant level of sensitivity, tolerance and natural curiosity at the same time.

¹ Layton, R. (1997) An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology. University of Durham: Cambridge University Press

² Anthropology. Wikipedia

³ Marett, R.R. (1925) Anthropology. Home University Library of Modern Knowledge London: Williams and Norgate Ltd New York: Henry Holt and Co.

⁴ Darwinism. androholic.com

⁵ Ruth Benedict and the Purpose of Anthropology. peabody.adover.edu

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The ideological climate of the defeat of 1940 and the establishment of the French State are related in many aspects to the climate that developed in reaction to Sedan and during the years that followed the defeat of the Paris Commune. For writers close to the National Revolution, the Commune was viewed in the same way as the Popular Front. A propaganda journal published by the new regime stated:

It is a constant law of history that defeats result in revolutions. The French had not forgotten the bloody disturbances of the commune of 1871… . France was going to add even more misfortune to those that already overwhelmed it. It was to be feared that, following the bent to which odious propaganda had accustomed them, minds would turn toward a bloody, fratricidal fight. . . . The Marshal’s government successfully confronted and dealt with this danger. Without any-movement, without one cry of dissension, the political revolution was brought about.

Henri Massis, the officer responsible for press relations to General Huntziger at the time, stated plainly that the first news of the armistice had evoked the memory of 1871 and the fear of a new Commune. Thus, the primary task of the armistice army was to maintain order. The defeat would appear to many intellectuals as the final blow to 'French decadence.’ The themes of national decline, collective fault, and biological and political sins echoed one another in an obsessive litany during the period following June 1940, just as during the 1870s. Maurras even suggested anthologizing Renan’s La Reforme intellectuelle et morale, which he felt might render “a great service to the French people of 1940, since those of 1870 failed to take proper note of it.” The precepts and maxims of the Marshal—the “guide in possession of incomparable and almost superhuman wisdom and intellectual control” — functioned like calls to self-flagellation, and many would lend their skills to an attempt at exegesis. Georges Bernanos offered a gripping expression of the political bases and effects of the encounter between the message of the defeat, spoken by the prophet, and the “expectation” of those who saw the National Revolution as a national opportunity:

All that is called the Right, which ranges from the self-styled monarchists of the Action francaise to the self-styled national socialist radicals and includes big industry, big business, the high clergy, the Academies, and the officers’ staff spontaneously united and cohered around the disaster of my country like a swarm of bees around their queen. I am not saying that they deliberately wished the disaster. They were waiting for it. This monstrous anticipation passes judgment on them.

- Francine Muel-Dreyfus, Vichy and the Eternal Feminine: A Contribution to a Political Sociology of Gender. Translated by Kathleen A. Johnson. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. p. 15-16.

[durhams]

tags : tracy

[fideidefenswhore]

Fitzroy's investiture must have delighted his mother Bessie, whose husband Gilbert Tailboys attended the ceremony, but it also represented a significant blow to Queen Catherine. Fitzroy's quiet childhood may have enabled her to maintain a dignified denial about his existence, but this public event, and all that it entailed, made the boy a main figure at court from that point onwards, when he was given his own establishment at Durham House, her former home. A private letter written by the Venetian ambassador, described the event [...] [and had] noticed it had been the cause of some tension between [the King and Queen]: 'The Queen resents the earldom and dukedom conferred on the King's natural son and remains dissatisfied, at the instigation, it is said, of three of her Spanish ladies, her chief counsellors, so the King has dismissed them [from] the court, a strong measure, but the Queen was obliged to submit and have patience.'

The Six Wives & Many Mistresses of Henry VIII (Licence, Amy)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.16 (before 1910)

632 – Yazdegerd III ascends the throne as king (shah) of the Persian Empire. He becomes the last ruler of the Sasanian dynasty (modern Iran). 1407 – Ming–Hồ War: Retired King Hồ Quý Ly and his son King Hồ Hán Thương of Hồ dynasty are captured by the Ming armies. 1487 – Battle of Stoke Field: King Henry VII of England defeats the leaders of a Yorkist rebellion in the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses. 1632 – The Plymouth Company granted a land patent to Thomas Purchase, the first settler of Pejepscot, Maine, settling at the site of Fort Andross. 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperrell capture the Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, New France (Old Style date). 1746 – War of the Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza. 1755 – French and Indian War: The French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians. 1760 – French and Indian War: Robert Rogers and his Rangers surprise French held Fort Sainte Thérèse on the Richelieu River near Lake Champlain. The fort is raided and burned. 1779 – American Revolutionary War: Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Great Siege of Gibraltar begins. 1795 – French Revolutionary Wars: In what became known as Cornwallis's Retreat, a British Royal Navy squadron led by Vice Admiral William Cornwallis strongly resists a much larger French Navy force and withdraws largely intact, setting up the French Navy defeat at the Battle of Groix six days later. 1811 – Survivors of an attack the previous day by Tla-o-qui-aht on board the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin, intentionally detonate a powder magazine on the ship, destroying it and killing about 100 attackers. 1815 – Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo. 1819 – A major earthquake strikes the Kutch district of western India, killing over 1,543 people and raising a 6-metre-high (20 ft), 6-kilometre-wide (3.7 mi), ridge, extending for at least 80 kilometres (50 mi), that was known as the Allah Bund ("Dam of God"). 1824 – A meeting at Old Slaughter's coffee house in London leads to the formation of what is now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). 1836 – The formation of the London Working Men's Association gives rise to the Chartist Movement. 1846 – The Papal conclave of 1846 elects Pope Pius IX, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy. 1858 – Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois. 1871 – The Universities Tests Act 1871 allows students to enter the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests (except for those intending to study theology). 1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England, kills 183 children. 1884 – The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens in New York's Coney Island amusement park. 1897 – A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company is incorporated. 1903 – Roald Amundsen leaves Oslo, Norway, to commence the first east–west navigation of the Northwest Passage. 1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland. 1904 – Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called "Bloomsday".

[anticomedygarden]

Our crowning glory

-

He got down on one knee/But I said "No way!"

When Catherine sang, she didn't see him. She saw herself as a young woman, fresh out of Durham House and hurling into the arms of Henry VIII.

Packed my bags/And moved into a Nu-nu-nunnery!

She should have known right then and there that her new husband wouldn't, couldn't, love her the way he should've. She should've known right then and there that the convent would've been kinder to her than the castle.

Joined the gospel choir/Our riffs were on fire

When she sang, she gave herself something new, something she deserved. She never wanted a divorce. She only wanted to live in a way worthy of her station and to raise her daughter well.

At the top of the charts/Is where I'm gonna stay

When she sang, she sang for salvation.

-

Henry sent me a poem/All about my green sleeves

When Anne sang, the guilt and heartache washed off her in waves. She stopped seeing her own head in a basket and felt hope take its place, bright and burning in her heart.

I changed a couple words/Put it on a sick beat

She wished she could give her younger self the knowledge she had now, that a life with Henry, however brief, would not make her happy. She only hoped that her daughter learned that before she did.

The song blew their minds/Next minute I was signed

When she sang, she gave herself a do over, separate from her past mistakes. She denied Henry a place in her heart and instead took her life in her own hands.

And now I'm writing lyrics/For Shakesy P

When she sang, she sang for freedom.

-

Since my first son/Our family's grown

When Jane sang, she saw her infant son, tiny and screaming in her arms. Her son, who she only got to know for 12 days before her death.

We made a band/And got quite well known

She reached out a hand to cup his chin, suddenly seeing her little baby as a young man. She savored that face, the one sitting under nearly 3 pounds of sparkling gems. This was what she had wanted with Henry, and this was what she had been denied.

You could perhaps call us/The Tudor Von Trapps

When she sang, she gave herself a family and the strength to know that she was the best she could have been. No matter when she died, she did her damn best, and she couldn’t ask anything more of herself. 

I'm just kidding/We're called the Royalling Stones

When she sang, she sang for the life she should've had.

-

What a shame/Yeah, my face/It cost me the crown

When Anna sang, she saw that stupid portrait, the one responsible for her life trajectory since that idiot king looked at it and saw a pretty, docile young girl. Sure, it made her look beautiful, but what good was beauty in this world?

So I moved to the/Haus Of Holbein!/In my hometown

In her mind's eye, she slashed through the pretty canvas with her finger nails and turned to Henry, pointer finger accusatory and dripping malice. She never should have gotten on that boat to England, and she probably wouldn’t have if she’d been given the choice to not. 

His mates were super arty/But I showed them how to party

When she sang, she put herself right back in Germany where she wanted to be all along. She would never deny that her life post crown was fabulous and resplendent, but she didn't need that. She needed passion, and something to care about, though that palace in Richmond was pretty damn great.

Now on my tour of Prussia/Everybody "Gets down"

When she sang, she sang for independence.

-

Music man tried it on/And I was like "Bye!"

When Katherine sang, she saw her 12 year old self, eyes still big and naive to the ways of the world. Even now, she was sad to admit those same eyes were drawn to the abject beauty of that child, the beauty that would cause her immense grief before her 20th birthday.

So I thought "Who needs him?/I can give it a try"

Now, she raged against the adults that had allowed that little girl to be abused so horribly for so long and then told her it was her own fault. She screamed and cried and tried to live her life on her own terms now that she had that choice.

I learned everything

When she sang, she stopped the grief before it could start. She may not have been able to change her own past, but she could damn well give that little girl something to live for.

Now all I do is sing/And I'll do that until I die

When she sang, she sang for the little girl she should've been.

-

Heard all about these rockin' chicks

When Catherine sang, she saw herself at the altar of all four of her husbands, and she felt the combined dread of each day she was forced to be tied to men who didn't deserve her.

Loved every song/And each remix

She was a published author, for god's sake, but a young, eligible woman such as herself couldn't exist for long without being snatched up by inferior men with more power than her lest she be cast from society.

So I went out and found them/And we laid down an album

When she sang, she gave herself the dignity and independence she earned through hard work. All she ever wanted was to write and maybe make life easier for the women who came after her because no one should have to go through what she and the other five queens went through.

Now "I don't need your love"/All I need is SIX!

When she sang, she sang for the love of herself.

-

also on ao3

[queens-an-tings]

Malcolm greeting Margaret at her arrival in Scotland.

Detail of a mural by Victorian artist William Hole.

I’m aiming to grow my plaits that long - I’m getting there!

The following info has been lifted from Wikipedia:

Margaret was an English princess who became a Scottish queen when she married Malcolm III of Scotland in 1070. She was also known as ‘The Pearl of Scotland’. Her birthplace was actually the Kingdom of Hungary; her father was the English prince, Edward the Exile, whose expatriation came about following the Danish conquest of England in 1016, led by Canute (aka Cnut the Great). As well as being mother to at least two other kings of Scotland, Margaret was also the mother of Matilda, who became Queen of England upon her marriage to Henry I, and grandmother of Empress Matilda (aka Empress Maude - you have to know a bit about early medieval history to keep up with all this, it’s quite complicated!).

She was canonised in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV and is now referred to as Saint Margaret of Scotland (she is mentioned in the post about Durham Cathedral). She was a very pious Christian and among her many charitable works she established a ferry across the Firth of Forth for pilgrims travelling to St Andrews in Fife, which gave the towns of South Queensferry and North Queensferry their names.