Displaying post 1 to 50 of 373
If the Tiber rises so high it floods the walls, or the Nile so low it doesn't flood the fields, if the earth opens, or the heavens don't, if there is famine, if there is plague, instantly the howl goes up, "The Christians to the lion!" What, all of them? To a single lion? So wrote
Tertullian. In the huge intellectual project that was the foundation of the Christian Church he was the great wit, most powerful rhetor and finest writer. Starting out as a pagan delighting in adultery and gladiator combat he became a great champion of martyrdom, defender of Christianity against its malefactors and heretics. His most famous contribution to our culture is undoubtedly the doctrine of the trinity. Towards the end of his life he threw his lot with a small group of hardcore ascetics called
Montanists and was denounced as a heretic. Ending his life among the defeated of ecclesiastical history he was forgotten for a millennium until
rediscovered during the Renaissance.
The Tertullian Project collects all his extant writing and information about his lost texts as well as biographical information,
selected quotations and much more.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus
at 9:58 PM on July 15, 2008
(15 comments)
"'I am not a defendant,' Mitchell declared. 'I do not have attorneys.' The court 'lacks territorial jurisdiction over me,' he argued, to the amazement of his lawyers. To support these contentions, he cited decades-old acts of Congress involving the abandonment of the gold standard and the creation of the Federal Reserve ... Judge Davis ordered the three defendants to be removed from the court, and turned to Gardner, who had, until then, remained quiet. But Gardner, too, intoned the same strange speech. 'I am Shawn Earl Gardner, live man, flesh and blood,' he proclaimed."
Too Weird for the Wire: How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds. [via]
posted to MetaFilter by nasreddin
at 11:13 PM on July 15, 2008
(75 comments)
Dubstep is from the UK. It's typified by skittering, shuffled, syncopated rhythms with lots of triplets, dissonant and minor tonality, and most strikingly... (sub)bass. It uses a lot of
effects people associate with
dub. Crank your woofer and listen to the likes of
Skream (who has done a pretty good
introductory mix), Plastician,
Digital Mystikz, and
El-B.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 5:43 PM on July 11, 2008
(66 comments)
I need to buy a car, it must be small, cheap and good on gas.
posted to Ask Metafilter by yodelingisfun
at 5:44 PM on June 14, 2008
(20 comments)
My wife & I have been netflixing the HBO series "Rome" and continually find ourselves asking "did that really happen?" or "is that historically accurate?", which has lead us to wonder which book is the definitive "must read" to understand the Roman Empire during Caesar's time?
posted to Ask Metafilter by tangyraspberry
at 8:34 AM on July 1, 2007
(25 comments)
The 'original Greek text' of Homer's Odyssey and/or Iliad: what actually is meant by this? And what is the authority for this 'original'?
posted to Ask Metafilter by londongeezer
at 10:34 PM on August 29, 2007
(27 comments)
Thanks to this week's featured article on Wikipedia about the Roman emperor Claudius, I have become obsessed with Ancient Rome, specifically the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
posted to Ask Metafilter by interrobang
at 4:27 PM on January 27, 2006
(27 comments)
How do we know so much about Roman history?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paul KC
at 8:22 AM on July 8, 2006
(24 comments)
I'm posting this question on behalf of my brother. He is looking to start doing some part-time work in the voice-over field. I'll be his technical advisor and producer. We'd like to get some advice on how to get started; like, places to find sample scripts for a demo, what equipment would truly be necessary, your experience with accepting payment, and/or any other items you wish you had known when starting out in the voice-over field. I've done the requisite Internet research and reading of past Ask Metafilter posts, but would really like to get personal experiences about the specific items mentioned in the expanded question area.
posted to Ask Metafilter by disguise
at 8:29 AM on June 3, 2008
(6 comments)
What are some great national literatures without a substantial presence in English translation? Who/what are their key authors/works?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Cucurbit
at 7:40 PM on May 28, 2008
(6 comments)
Fascinating account
(w/ pix) of a motorcycle journey through Angola. Stumbled onto this from the Black Flag forums and have not been able to stop reading it.
posted to MetaFilter by jcruelty
at 9:29 PM on May 26, 2008
(40 comments)
Give me your baby hacks! My wife and I are expecting our first child in November. What tips and tricks can you offer us to make our lives a lot easier? For example, a friend of mine swears that putting a crying baby in front of a mirror will cause it to stop. Another uses noise cancelling headphones to temper the noise from his shrieking child. I am looking for hacks on everything from diaper changing to stroller modifications. Make our lives easier as we enter into parenthood.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jasondigitized
at 9:16 AM on May 20, 2008
(47 comments)
Brilliant Women:
The Blue Stocking Circle was a group of intellectuals with a strong desire to discuss, analyze, and examine the social, political, and educational problems of the day Mostly female intellectuals, but they included many prominent men as well.
They assembled in the London homes of literary hostesses such as Elizabeth Montagu, Frances Boscawen and Elizabeth Vesey in the 1750s form the nucleus of the exhibition. .... At first, all the party-goers were nicknamed blues, but from the 1770s, the "bluestocking" tag was applied to the women members in particular. By the time of Montagu's death in 1800, any female intellectual might be labelled a bluestocking, whether or not she could claim a link to the original circle.
posted to MetaFilter by caddis
at 8:25 PM on March 21, 2008
(10 comments)
Before the advent of Cellular phones and the internet,
cities around the world were entwined with a series of
webs hanging precariously overhead. Their function: to
relay messages from one part of town to the
next. And the pioneers who were put in charge of this arduous task--the
Switchboard Operators. The first choice for this new source of employment was a
disappointing failure, not surprisingly, but then a new breed of
worker emerged on the scene. These
hardworking individuals were the epitome of
good behaviour and
gritty determination. Patient and understanding, they were always expected to
fulfill their tasks, no matter what the cost. And, to their credit--they are
still remembered today for the
unique place they held in some peoples hearts.
posted to MetaFilter by hadjiboy
at 5:10 AM on May 14, 2008
(19 comments)
Please help me expand my base of quaint southern expressions, aphorisms and witticisms.
posted to Ask Metafilter by willie11
at 7:14 AM on May 8, 2008
(103 comments)
Martha Nussbaum
reviews three recent books on Shakespeare and philosophy. The essay offers an excellent analysis of love in
Antony and Cleopatra and
Othello, and an excellent discussion of the interaction between philosophy and literature.
posted to MetaFilter by painquale
at 6:38 PM on May 5, 2008
(17 comments)
May, 1968 - Paris
I've scoured the
Wikipedia entry (very helpful), gone over a
few articles and
collections of varying quality
(not bad), and I've seen
"The Dreamers" (a fiction film that touches on it)... Now,
what non-fiction media (book, article, film, photographic collection, etc.) should I consume to have a better understanding of the Parisian Students'/General strike of May, 1968? I'd like to start with the most general, canonical retellings, and then work towards the specific.
[English Language or very good translation preferred]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj
at 7:34 AM on April 29, 2008
(16 comments)
I'm looking for websites which document people just getting together and doing weird, quasi-scientific experiments for fun.
posted to Ask Metafilter by showbiz_liz
at 11:42 AM on April 29, 2008
(11 comments)
History of Applause:
What compels us to clap in appreciation?
Theories abound. The earliest clapping is found in percussive instruments of ancient Egypt (
jpg), while the Bible has us clap in
joy, as well as
derision. Emperor Nero so craved it he would pay
freelancers to applaud his atrocious singing. Applause has even influenced classical
compositions.
But, in the age of the pre-planned encore, do we still
mean it?
posted to MetaFilter by apostasy
at 10:37 PM on February 2, 2003
(17 comments)
Theatre History
is the
Theatre Museum of London's vast online collection of ephemera, containing more than 1500 objects that record the history of the performing arts in Britain since the 1600s. There's lots of goodies, but don't miss the goldmine of fabulous
photos,
posters, and
prints.
posted to MetaFilter by madamjujujive
at 12:54 PM on January 15, 2006
(5 comments)
A rap education for an picky atheist feminist weaned on indie, punk and new wave - primarily music but books/essays would be good too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by carbide
at 3:45 AM on April 25, 2008
(76 comments)
North Carolina Coast Vacation: Help me figure out where we should go!
posted to Ask Metafilter by unexpected
at 2:40 PM on April 24, 2008
(10 comments)
All this talk on flickr lately of "long photos" reminded me of a VERY "long photo" I saw in SFMOMA probably around a year ago... it was a scene at a cafe, with someone at a piano, a man and woman talking, one holding a cigarette, and a couple of other people, all frozen for at least five minutes... the most noticeable movement was cigarette smoke trailing up into the air. Does anyone know who that was by, what it was called, and whether I can find it online?
posted to Ask Metafilter by BuddhaInABucket
at 5:03 PM on April 21, 2008
(6 comments)
In many of Dickens' novels he talks about "punch". Hot steaming punch on a cold night around the fire. Cold punch at a summer garden party. A ruffled character smelling of tobacco and punch. How was "punch" typically made, what's in it and why was it the popular drink of choice, indeed almost a "punch culture".
posted to Ask Metafilter by stbalbach
at 10:25 AM on March 31, 2008
(11 comments)
Public concern over ecological damage inflicted by human activity has led to growing recognition of the general importance of issues relating to biological science. Unfortunately, the dispute between creationists and upholders of the theory of evolution tends to overshadow public discussion of other more pertinent matters. Specifically, there are significant but relatively unpublicized initiatives underway to promote holistic approaches to biology.
The Nature Institute in New York is one such initiative...
posted to MetaFilter by No Robots
at 12:35 PM on March 31, 2008
(78 comments)
Bookshelf.
"The home of interesting bookshelves, bookcases and things that look like them"
posted to MetaFilter by fearfulsymmetry
at 5:52 AM on March 29, 2008
(25 comments)
Newspapers and media: the sky is falling, the bowl is being circled. What can we do about it? Your best suggestions please.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gagglehack
at 10:25 AM on March 28, 2008
(19 comments)
Iwase Yoshiyuki
"In the late 1920s, young Yoshiyuki received an early Kodak camera as a gift. Since the main livelihood of the town came from the sea, he gravitated there, and soon found a passion for "the simple, even primitive beauty" of
ama – girls and women who harvested seaweed, turban shells and abalone from beneath the coastal waters." "By the late 1960s, they had disappeared. This body of work stands as the final, most comprehensive visual document of the life and work of these divers."
[NSFW]
posted to MetaFilter by tellurian
at 10:45 PM on March 27, 2008
(48 comments)
In honor of the 5-year anniversary of the Iraq War, PBS'
Frontline presented a fantastic 2- part special on the issue this past Monday and Tuesday. It is now available in it's entirety online along with interview transcripts from senior officials, a video timeline of the war, and battlefield stories from soldiers.
Bush's War
posted to MetaFilter by auralcoral
at 6:29 AM on March 26, 2008
(102 comments)
Hezbollah-Tofu
Renegades systematically vegetarianize recipes from antiveganist chef Anthony Bourdain, who wrote (in
Kitchen Confidential): “Vegetarians, and their Hezobollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn.”
posted to MetaFilter by joeclark
at 11:57 AM on March 25, 2008
(181 comments)
