No green to be seen 2: “Dead From the Neck Down” in Wales
In September 2016 I posted “No green to be seen: a biodiversity desert on Slievenamon” about the void that was a conifer plantation on Slievenamon. David Elias, at his blog Dispatches from…
Multum In Parvo – Newport’s Newsagents, Fethard, Tipperary
A particularly charming sign – like many Latin tags, multum in parvo doesn’t go that easily into English – “much in a little” or “much in a small place” is…
Learning How To See Again, Josef Pieper
LEARNING HOW TO SEE AGAIN By Josef Pieper (translated by Lothar Krauk) from Only The Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation Man’s ability to see is in decline. Those who…
“The Faber Popular Reciter”, Introduction by Kingsley Amis
In a letter of 12 August 1977 to Robert Conquest, Kingsley Amis wrote: The Faber Book of Non-Trendy Verse has been easier and is going faster: a careful look through…
I have been using “cf.” wrongly for my entire life
Number theory was famously described as absolutely, gloriously useless by G H Hardy, but is now vital for encryption and therefore the digital economy (and all else “e”) While looking…
Photographs of Jorge Luis Borges in Palermo, 1984, by Ferdinando Scianna
I came across this wonderful photo by Fernandino Scianna on twitter: Jorge Luis Borges by Ferdinando Scianna pic.twitter.com/A8JSHHq98C — Daniel Brami (@DanielBrami1) May 30, 2018 It turns out that on…
“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life…. always there will be the intoxication of power”
The culminating image of this quote – spoken by O’Brien to Winston Smith – is famous, but the words before are as worth quoting: There will be no curiosity, no…
Séamus Sweeney 