Lapham's Quarterly

ROUNDTABLE: A Faithful Hound The worship of a dog was perhaps...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:57:00 -0400

The worship of a dog was perhaps bad enough, more blasphemous was that the locals had given him the name of a saint, making a mockery of the Church’s institutions. But far graver was what these peasants were doing in the name of this sainted dog: a woman with a sick child would take her or him to the spot in the woods where Guinefort’s body lay buried, and there she would leave her child, naked on a bed of straw, with candles burning on each side of the child’s head. The parent would not return until the candles had burned out, and, as Stephen was told, many children did not survive this ordeal of open flame and flammable straw: “Several people told us that while the candles were burning like this they burnt and killed several babies.” Other children, left defenseless in the forest, were instead devoured by wolves. If the child survived the night, the mother would then dunk it nine times in the river—only then, if the child was still alive, would she or he be pronounced cured.

If you don’t take your children to a mystical greyhound in the woods when it gets sick, perhaps today’s Roundtable will change your mind!

Ever wonder what’s going on inside the minds of our friends in the animal kingdom? Jane...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:45:00 -0400

Ever wonder what’s going on inside the minds of our friends in the animal kingdom? Jane Goodall, Frans de Waal, Marc Bekoff, Irene Pepperberg, and other stars of animal science are here to help you find out.

Check out the most recent episode of the LQ podcast.

You’ll meet talking parrots, empathetic chimps, and dolphins who spend far too much time in front of the mirror.

ROUNDTABLE: Fine-Feathered Friends Nineteenth-century...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:31:00 -0400

ROUNDTABLE: Fine-Feathered Friends

Nineteenth-century fashionistas were ravenous for feathers: the fuller and fluffier, the better. The feathers of woodpeckers, blue jays, waxwings and quails were popular adornments, but most prized were the wings and tails of the North African ostrich as well as those of peacocks, pheasants, egrets, vultures, eagles, swans, herons, and turkeys, all coveted for their dramatic tufts.

19th century ladies are encouraged to not put a bird on it, today in Roundtable.

I Made America - Alexander Hamilton (episodes 6-10) [part...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:09:57 -0400

I Made America - Alexander Hamilton (episodes 6-10) [part 1]

WHAT IS THIS? A web series where the founding fathers are all roommates living in Chicago? (I Made America)

Avast! Coming to bookstores and mailboxes in a mere week, our...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:05:27 -0400

Avast! Coming to bookstores and mailboxes in a mere week, our summer issue THE SEA.

Its got pirate codes, its got Jaques Cousteau, its got Christopher Columbus, it’s got grog, scruff, and a rum gagger, its got maddening sailboat races around the world, its got the wine-dark sea, its got some guy and a whale…

20,000 leagues of fun when you subscribe now to Lapham’s Quarterly.

All right, TR, it looks like we’re just about done here....

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:59:30 -0400

All right, TR, it looks like we’re just about done here. Have a great weekend, kids!

amnhnyc:

There is a delight in the hardy life of the open.

There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm.

The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value.

Conservation means development as much as it does protection.

- Theodore Roosevelt

Chesty is an English bulldog and like his father before him,...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:10:33 -0400

Chesty is an English bulldog and like his father before him, he’s the new mascot of the U.S. Marine Corps. Even though PFC Chesty won’t see any time on the battlefield, he is part of a long and proud tradition of the American military’s use of dogs in battle and for pageantry. And while pictures of Chesty getting fitted for his uniform have gone viral on sites likeBuzzfeed, he still has a long way to go if he wants to be known as the most famous military dog ever.

They Called Him Sergeant Stubby, today on Roundtable

DEJA VU: In Defense 2013: House of Lords tried (and fails) to...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:27:51 -0400

DEJA VU: In Defense

2013: House of Lords tried (and fails) to shoot down gay marriage bill; claim threats to institutions of family, language.

1895: On trial for ‘gross indecency’, Oscar Wilde eloquently describes “the love that dare not speak its name”.

Charles Dickens makes a great front-man. explore-blog: A...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:25:53 -0400

Charles Dickens makes a great front-man.

explore-blog:

A Smiths-influenced song about Charles Dickens from BBC’s children’s series Horrible Histories, the most delightful literary nerdery since The Elements of Style Rap.

(↬ @PageTurner)

When I got to the game, there was a lady down there in San...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:34:00 -0400

When I got to the game, there was a lady down there in San Diego, used to always have the bennies for me—Benzedrine—which is another stimulant. I went out to the dugout and reached up, because she was standing over the rail—she always stood over the rail—and had a pretty little gold pouch. So I got the bennies, went on back in the clubhouse, and took them.

The game started and a mist started, a misty rain. So all during the game was a little mist. The opposing team and my teammates, they knew I was high, but they didn’t know what I was high on. They had no idea what LSD was other than what they see on TV with the hippies.

It was easier to pitch with the LSD because I was so used to medicating myself. That’s the way I was dealing with the fear of failure, the fear of losing, the fear of winning. It was part of the game, you know. You get to the Major Leagues, and you say, “I got to stay here, what do I need?”

Dock Ellis, from a 1970 interview.

Déjà Vu: Intercepted! 2013: Russian officials stop cat carrying...

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:19:39 -0400

Déjà Vu: Intercepted!

2013: Russian officials stop cat carrying cell phone and charger into penal colony; coo over white paws.

1885: Two Jules Verne heroes nab a carrier pigeon carrying important state secrets and can’t decide whether to follow or eat the bird.

Jealous Lover

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:10:17 -0400

There was a merchant of Qingzhou who was much away on business, often for as long as an entire year. He had a white dog at home, and during her husband’s absences his wife encouraged the dog to have sexual relations with her. The dog became quite accustomed to this.

One day, the merchant had just returned home and was in bed with his wife when suddenly the dog burst into the room, climbed up on to the bed, and bit his master to death.

When the neighbors came to know of this, they were most indignant and reported the matter to the local magistrate, who interrogated the woman under torture and, when she still refused to confess, had her thrown into the county jail. He gave orders for the dog to be brought on a leash, and then summoned the woman into the tribunal. The moment the dog saw her he rushed forward, tore off her clothes with his teeth, and leaped on top of her, adopting a posture that was unmistakably sexual. The woman could no longer deny the charge brought against her. The magistrate sent them both, woman and dog, under guard to the higher court in the provincial capital.

Pu Songling, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

How often do you get to spend a Friday afternoon with the...

Fri, 31 May 2013 14:14:28 -0400

How often do you get to spend a Friday afternoon with the brightest minds of animal science? Not often? That’s about to change!

This episode of the Lapham’s Quarterly podcast features Jane Goodall, Frans de Waal, and others who journey into the hearts and minds of furry and feathered friends.

Listen (and subscribe!) now!

“I wish I was a fish,” said the Wart. “What sort of fish?” asked...

Fri, 31 May 2013 12:00:15 -0400

“I wish I was a fish,” said the Wart.

“What sort of fish?” asked Merlyn.

It was almost too hot to think about this, but the Wart stared down into the cool amber depths where a school of small perch were aimlessly hanging about.

“I think I should like to be a perch,” he said. “They are braver than the silly roach and not quite so slaughterous as the pike are.”

T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Happiness is a warm puppy. -Charles Schultz, 1962.

Thu, 30 May 2013 15:02:33 -0400

Happiness is a warm puppy.

-Charles Schultz, 1962.

The dodo isn’t the only animal that has, well, gone the...

Thu, 30 May 2013 12:07:46 -0400

The dodo isn’t the only animal that has, well, gone the way of the dodo. From sea cows to fancy pigeons to dinosaurs, it’s a handy guide to furry, feathered, and scaly friends that no longer exist.

For more animals organized in convenient list format, check out the Charts and Graphs section of Animals, the spring 2013 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly.

“I used to walk down Broadway, Papakura, in my tattered...

Wed, 29 May 2013 12:00:14 -0400

“I used to walk down Broadway, Papakura, in my tattered overalls and the seat out of my pants. Now, I thought ‘That’s gone forever. I’ll have to buy a new pair of overalls now’.”

Sir Edmund Hillary on life as a celebrity after his Mt. Everest climb. Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to reach the Earth’s heights on this day in 1953

Déjà Vu: Potent Potables 2013: Does your Patron taste like...

Wed, 29 May 2013 11:39:00 -0400

Déjà Vu: Potent Potables

2013: Does your Patron taste like rubbing alcohol? You might be at a bar in New Jersey!

1710: Liquor is quicker at solving nearly every problem, says barman extraordinaire Ned Ward.

This is the very first thing we’re looking at after this...

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:05:04 -0400

This is the very first thing we’re looking at after this weekend.

laughingsquid:

Animals Riding Animals, A Tumblr Blog Featuring Photos and GIFs of Animals Riding Other Animals

Man, WASPs really know how to summer. wnyc: nwkarchivist: Ice...

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:19:00 -0400

Man, WASPs really know how to summer.

wnyc:

nwkarchivist:

Ice Cubes Made from Tonic Water…

Folks were serious about their g & t’s back in ‘73!

Early running for best tip of the summer.

-Jody, BL Show-