For decades I have been fascinated by 19th century celestial mechanics. This book is about one of my favorite stories from that field.
Highlights from The Hunt for Vulcan: . . . And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe, by Thomas Levenson
Bhí a ghairm maite aige do Bhill agus é éirithe cairdiúil leis.[d.l. 153]
It wasn’t long before Dineen and Constable de Brún were on their way to Fayley Toole’s house in Duckford where the killing had taken place a fortnight before. It was the middle of July. The day was drying after rain, there was a good run of water in the gullies on the side of the road and the hollows were full of rain. Flat land, small farms, a cow looking over a fence here, a donkey braying there.
‘Describe your friend Fayley Toole to me, Bill’ said Dineen.
He had forgiven Bill his profession and had become friendly with him.
| scarbháil | Hardening, drying, crustation | f |
| clais | channel; gully, ditch. | f pl claiseanna |
| log | place, hollow | m |
| cothrom | Level; balance; Equal, equable, measure. | m |
| claí | Dike, wall; fence | m |
| grágaíl | (Act of) cawing, croaking; braying; cackling; squawking | f |
| gairm | call | f |
Following up on Jammy Jellyfish and System Updates I have been using Tyrone, my newer Ubuntu 22.04 system, for my daily work. In doing so I found an issue with Firefox: The “Save page as” “Print/Save to PDF” commands were not working on that machine under Ubuntu. I tried various Firefox troubleshooting options, but they did not help. The commands work fine with Firefox under Windows, and also with Firefox under Ubuntu 22.04 on another system (Donegal), which, however is an upgrade from 20.04 rather than a clean install. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox
Back in August “I upgraded my Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) systems to 22.04.1 (jammy jellyfish).” At that time I noted:
leannán, áin, pl id, m., a lover, paramour, concubine, favourite, leman ; also fig. a chronic ailment or infirmity . . . L. peacaidh, an habitual sin… L. sidhe, an endearing phantom, a phantom lover, al. fig. of a delicate person: an bás, death, is a L. sidhe for all (SR): L. sidhe is used smt. like musa as a source of poet. inspiration.
| peaca | sin | m |
| peacach | sinner | m gs npl peacaigh |
‘My nephew, Bill,’ said Penelope de Brún to Father Patrick, ‘he is tormented. He had to arrest his friend, Fayley Toole, who is accused of murder, on the orders of his Sergeant.’
‘Your nephew, Bill de Brún is in the R.I.C.?’ said Dineen with the suspicion of the Nationalist in his voice.
| nia | nephew | m |
| cráite | Agonized, tormented, grieved | |
| cúisigh | Accuse; charge, prosecute | |
A workshop on Friday, September 2, 2022 at Chicon 8, presented by Sally Wiener Grotta
The women of the Bible (Eve, Esther, Miriam, etc.) have been amongst the West’s most enduring female archetypes. As lush and varied as any mythology, their stories have been reinterpreted by every generation’s artists, clerics, and political leaders, according to how they expected women to be. However, these archetypes have been largely overlooked by modern spec fic authors. In this workshop, we’ll have fun challenging and toppling common preconceptions about various women of the Bible, as we mine this rich mother lode for SF&F story ideas.
The following are my notes and amplifications. I am solely responsible for their content and any mistakes.
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In March 2021 I wrote about A Copper Mine in Ancient Israel, which seems to data from the time of David or Solomon. It now seems that Wood cut to fuel King Solomon’s ancient mines caused environmental collapse – study.
‘The book you asked the librarian for is still unopened and you are preparing to leave. You are wearing two half-pairs of white, knitted socks. It is not the same woman who knitted both because the stitches in the new sock on your left foot are more regular than the stitches in the other which are full of missed stitches. You wouldn’t wear odd socks unless you were odd. My friend, Dr. Watson, would say that you have worn odd socks without knowing it to draw attention to a problem that is worrying you.’
| greim | Grip, grasp, hold; stitch | m pl greamanna |
| iomrall | Aberration, error | m |
| rialta | regular | |
| corr | odd | |
| corraigh | Move, stir | |
| díriú | Direction; aiming, guidance | m |
| síceolaíocht | síceolaíocht | f |
fuaduighim… I take by force, abduct; I carry off (as the fairies a child); put to flight, drive away, blow away; Is amhlaidh do fuaduigheadh í, hers was a case of abduction, al. she was carried off by the fairies.
| fuadaigh | Take away by force; abduct, kidnap | |
There were four men meeting at number 122b Baker Street in London. It was a fine day outside, some air and brightness in the city again since the end of winter and a decrease in the number of coal fires. There was a higher step about the horses and the hearts of posy sellers were not as heavy as they used to be on desperate wet days.
Inside the rooms where Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson lived the air was heavy with smoke, however, pipe smoke and that particular smoke that rises from the heads of men when they are discussing a difficult issue and have not settled it
| gile | Whiteness, brightness | f |
| laghdú | Decrease, diminution; reduction | m |
| tint | tent | f |
| gual | coal | m |
| coiscéim | Footstep; pace | f |
| croí | heart | m pl croíthe |
| lucht | Content, charge; fill, capacity; cargo, load; (Class, category, of) people | m |
| pósae | Posy, flower | m pl pósaetha |
| trom | Weight; burden, oppression | m |
| éadéchasach | Despairing, hopeless | |
| ámh | Indeed, truly; However | |
| baithis | Top, crown (of head) | f |
| cruacheist | Difficult question; conundrum | f |
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 