WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
HAM AND CHEESE: The Foundation of the Modern World
byVanderleunonOctober 22, 2021
A particular characteristic of an alphabet (as opposed to a syllabary) is its ability to adapt to represent entirely different sounds and languages. This was likely important to the Phoenicians, whose civilization was spread out over 1000s of km of the Mediterranean coastline.
The Phoenician civilization extended over these vast coastal distances at least partly because of the economic importance of their dye-extraction industry. A sea snail – Bolinus Brandaris, the dye-murex – provided the sought-after purple dye for which they were famous.
So no sea snails, no widespread Phoenician civilization, and no widespread use of the Phoenician alphabet, from which our ABC today derives. No alphabet would mean no widespread use of movable type (as in Asia, where it was tried, but proved inferior to woodblock printing).
In short: the letters in the book you are reading today, and the near-universal adoption of movable type printing in the West, both depend on these sea-snails.
So that’s why our books depend on cheese and snails. What about Jesus, underwear, and spectacles?
I knew a man whose family survived the holodomor in the Ukraine. He had immigrated to the U.S. and I worked with him for a few years. His father and mother had a very small farm and grew beets and other vegetables for their own consumption and sale. Early on his father felt the need to store food. It was common then to dig a ditch, bury root vegetables and cover with hay and dirt. His father made many of these small caches in the wooded area near their house in addition to the normal store of food at the house. When the Russian military confiscated food they found the obvious food supply and were satisfied to take it and leave the family to die that winter. My friend told me that the family would cook beets and whatever other root vegetables they had on coals in the fireplace in the early AM so that the cooking and smells of food were gone by dawn. They would eat their meal before dawn and that was the only time they ate in every 24 hours.
What does this mean to us? If you are aware and see disaster coming and prepare, but more than just prepare but rather prepare in a way that will defeat the follow-on effort by others to take advantage of your fore-sight you can survive. Does it mean that I think our government has gone so far left/communist that they would use starvation/supply disruption as a means of control? LOL! Of course not! I would never think that of my government. The same government that packed the Jan 6th protestors with Antifa, BLM activists and FBI spies who encouraged the protestors to enter the capitol and “riot” and then that same government illegally jailed many innocent protestors as punishment/lawfare to force them to plead or rot in jail. NO! I trust my government LOL!
I’d add alcohol to the list. I quite sure that numerous times twix to scroll and the hardcover the phrase, ‘Here, hold my beer’, was uttered. 😉
Gordon ScottOctober 22, 2021, 3:12 PM
Gutenberg had the advantage of experience working with soft metals like gold and silver. This led him to use a less costly soft metal, lead, for his type. Lead could be melted and recast into different type quickly and easily. Earlier presses used wooden type, which had to be carefully carved and wore out quckly.
Dr. ChaoticaOctober 23, 2021, 12:45 PM
Dear Incunabula: Please stop tweeting this stuff and write a book! I will buy it!
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM
I knew a man whose family survived the holodomor in the Ukraine. He had immigrated to the U.S. and I worked with him for a few years. His father and mother had a very small farm and grew beets and other vegetables for their own consumption and sale. Early on his father felt the need to store food. It was common then to dig a ditch, bury root vegetables and cover with hay and dirt. His father made many of these small caches in the wooded area near their house in addition to the normal store of food at the house. When the Russian military confiscated food they found the obvious food supply and were satisfied to take it and leave the family to die that winter. My friend told me that the family would cook beets and whatever other root vegetables they had on coals in the fireplace in the early AM so that the cooking and smells of food were gone by dawn. They would eat their meal before dawn and that was the only time they ate in every 24 hours.
What does this mean to us? If you are aware and see disaster coming and prepare, but more than just prepare but rather prepare in a way that will defeat the follow-on effort by others to take advantage of your fore-sight you can survive. Does it mean that I think our government has gone so far left/communist that they would use starvation/supply disruption as a means of control? LOL! Of course not! I would never think that of my government. The same government that packed the Jan 6th protestors with Antifa, BLM activists and FBI spies who encouraged the protestors to enter the capitol and “riot” and then that same government illegally jailed many innocent protestors as punishment/lawfare to force them to plead or rot in jail. NO! I trust my government LOL!
I’d add alcohol to the list. I quite sure that numerous times twix to scroll and the hardcover the phrase, ‘Here, hold my beer’, was uttered. 😉
Gutenberg had the advantage of experience working with soft metals like gold and silver. This led him to use a less costly soft metal, lead, for his type. Lead could be melted and recast into different type quickly and easily. Earlier presses used wooden type, which had to be carefully carved and wore out quckly.
Dear Incunabula: Please stop tweeting this stuff and write a book! I will buy it!
Charles Bukowski – Ham on Rye