First, the apology:
I am well aware that for nearly a month now I have been promising a 'big post,' then backpedalling and making excuses. For all the good people who show up here to read: I'm terribly sorry. You make an effort to click on Deafening Silence while you sip your coffee at work or take 5 minutes away from a crazy day at home, and you deserve something to actually READ, not excuses.
I won't offer a defense, but I will give an explanation: it's been a just plain lousy month (or two) for nasty illnesses and family complications. Both stresses are still in play, but I'm working hard to put up a new piece by the end of this week.
I thank everyone for their kind patience and remain grateful for every pair of eyes.
Now for some linkage:
The ever thought-provoking Amba has an interesting discussion of the rise of modern anti-semitism going at Ambivablog:
Historically, Denmark has been one of the most enlightened societies in Europe. During the Second World War, it stood out as a country were the Nazis could find virtually nobody willing to collaborate with their anti-Jewish policies. It is sad, therefore, to read reports today about Danish school administrators who recommend that Jewish children should not enrol in their schools. It began last week, when Olav Nielsen, headmaster of Humlehave School in Odense, publicly stated that he would ‘refuse to accept the wishes of Jewish parents’ who wanted to place children at his school, because it might create tension amongst the Muslim children. Other headmasters echoed his refusal to school the children of Jews, claiming that they were putting children’s safety first. Whatever their intentions, these pedagogues were sending the powerful message that, in the interests of ‘health and safety’, the ghettoisation of Jewish children can be an acceptable and even sensible idea.
"The most amazing thing about it was how quickly I adapted to it. People always ask how it's changed my life, but there's no specific thing. It's the hundreds of everyday things you take for granted, which I can do again, like peeling a potato, catching a ball, holding a bottle of water. I'm incredibly grateful."
Do not miss the video. It's stunning!
Kelly Sedinger at Byzatium's Shores has lost his mother-in-law. Please stop by to give your condolences to this sweet man.
Dark Roasted Blend links to the amazing discovery of a long-lost work of ancient science:
For seventy years, a prayer book moldered in the closet of a family in France, passed down from one generation to the next. Its mildewed parchment pages were stiff and contorted, tarnished by burn marks and waxy smudges. Behind the text of the prayers, faint Greek letters marched in lines up the page, with an occasional diagram disappearing into the spine.
The owners wondered if the strange book might have some value, so they took it to Christie's Auction House of London. And in 1998, Christie's auctioned it off—for two million dollars.
For this was not just a prayer book. The faint Greek inscriptions and accompanying diagrams were, in fact, the only surviving copies of several works by the great Greek mathematician Archimedes.
Jules Crittendon posts some remarks from a Navy official on blog quality:
Too many seem to be interested in scoring cheap, and anonymous, hits vice engaging in meaningful and professional exchanges. There is also a general lack of reverence for facts and an excess of emotion that, for me, really reduces the value of the blog. Incorrect/inaccurate data and lots of hype may be entertaining for some, but just doesn’t work for me.
I'm quoting this in order to tell a story on myself. I largely agree with the above statement- it's one reason I don't post as often as many other bloggers- but I found myself hoist on my own petard this week. I left a comment over at Don Surber sneering about what I saw as the overpaid, juvenile work in a Maureen Dowd column. Of course, in my self-righteous snit I did not realize that some Surber Surfers might take that as a cue to cruise over here. And what did they find? A front page full of brief, less-than-literary posts that were certainly nothing to brag about.
Color me a hypocrite. An EMBARRASSED hypocrite.
I'll hide behind this nice picture from Rick Lee until my face stops being red.
See you later this week!
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