The end of the semester is here, ergo it’s also exam time. Now, I took quite a few classes in medieval history this semester, and after surveying the stuff I had to study for today’s exam, I’m not really surprised about my interest in that time. I mean, what is better than learning that the best way to transport a dead emperor in the 14th century was to simply boil off his flesh and only bury the bones?
(According to my weblog statistics, I’ve got almost as many posting as I’ve got comments, meaning that most of the postings are not exactly food for discussion. In the light of that revelation, it’s probably not wise to end a posting with a rhetorical question. But I’m putting all my hopes into your creativity to overcome this conversational dead-end and still find something interesting to comment.)
In case you haven’t yet done so, check out this blog about references to all things medieval in the media and pop culture. The fact that its creator has given himself the name LLCoolCarlIII should give you an idea about the high-brow academic discussion waiting for you there. Here’s a piece of his latest entry:
You’ve probably heard that the President of Iran, Mr. Ahmadinezhad, has accused the U.S. and other Western nations of being “medieval” for not wanting Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
I know that I don’t need to tell you that medieval literature and law is full of attempts to stop people from acquiring nuclear weapons. During the First Crusade, both the crossbow and the LGM-118A Peacekeeper nuclear missile were banned by Innocent II’s Second Lateran Council
Now if that doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will.
It’s the end of the semester, Professors are tired of doing the talking. It’s the perfect time for field trips, so here’s the second installment of my infamously cool field trip coverages. This time it was to the abbey of Zwettl, which has a library that is host to an impressive number of medieval manuscripts (among about 60000 other volumes of course).
The day was mainly used for a presentation marathon, which is less than agreeable if you had to get up at six in the morning, but we were rewarded with a short tour through the monastery and its library, in the course of which we also got to see a few of the medieval manuscripts. Which is quite impressive, considering that the oldest book I own is a German translation of Richard Brautigan’s “The Hawkline Monster”.
In the tradition of this website, namely adding pictures when words are failing, I’ve uploaded a bunch of pictures I took. Enjoy.
I’ve been smokefree for about four and a half months now, and I’m quite happy with the situation. Sure, I’ve had to pick up exercising in order to keep my bodily expansion at bay, but I guess you can’t have it all, now can you?
Apparently the big tobacco companies are reading my blog, because during the last few weeks, most cigarette prices were reduced by about 50 €-cents per pack. And although that seems like a really nice gesture, it’s still not enough incentive for me to pick up the habit again. Still, congrats to all those people who still enjoy a smoke once in a while.
But as it happens with good things, bad things follow suit. In Austria, the government is now thinking about introducing a fixed minimum price for a pack of cigarettes. Why? Well, if the tobacco companies sell their cigarettes for less, the government can rake in less tax money. Which of course bums them out. If people really want to exercise their right to decide what’s good for them and what’s not, they might as well pay the price their government thinks is good for them.
On another note, I can’t exercise my right to go running today, because it’s still 10° Celsius below zero, meaning I’d turn my bronchial tubes into little ice tubes (get it? ice tubes). In the course of which I’d become Mr. Freeze, only without the ability to ice other people. And without the stupid accent.
Good news. I’ve been sponsored with a one-year account for LibraryThing, so now I can start to test this service to my heart’s content. First off, here’s my collection of books in LibraryThing.
Secondly, there are a few inaccuracies from my last post I should clear up. LibraryThing does of course support adding books via ISBN and its various cousins. I just overlooked that. And, something I found out today, LibraryThing lets you add covers to the various books yourself. Which is really quite useful if you’re adding books long out of print or just not in any database with the correct cover. You’ll notice that I’ve managed to turn my catalogue into a “blank-free” zone. I know, it’s not crucial, but if I choose to have a visual representation of my collection, I may as well have it with all the right covers.
Right, I’ll keep adding books to my database, and am really looking forward to the social experience of it all. Who knows, maybe some people out there have an equally eclectic mix?
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