Comments on: Funny how things turn up

By: Ellen1910

Ellen1910 — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:51:32 +0000

Is it “rex quondam” or “quondam rex“?

By: Todd Larason

Todd Larason — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 10:52:57 +0000

Kage Baker’s “Company” books (_In the Garden of Iden_ and so on) tell the story of a conspiracy of immortal cyborgs who plant such things in places where they can be ‘discovered’ decades or centuries later, to the profit of the conspiracy’s future ringleaders.

Or at least, that’s how they started out. It’s gotten more complicated since the beginning.

By: Jackmormon

Jackmormon — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 07:45:17 +0000

#17—Oh, if you’re worth it, they’ll crack your OS. In 2000—so long ago!—I attended a few classes in “Criticisme Genetique,” where the professor professed her institute’s ability to analyze root-logs if that’s what was in question. I assure you that if, say, Pynchon or Kissinger’s private files were accesible only via expertise in FORTRAN (or whatever), that data will get read.

(The rest of us might indeed pass into ahistoricality, as is probably fitting. Maybe some of us will have hacking descendents.)

By: Jenny Jo

Jenny Jo — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 06:46:13 +0000

I hope they find the “white knight” they’re looking for.

I’m about to start System of the World…should I be frightened?

By: nick s

nick s — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 06:30:07 +0000

If the diary is written in Robert Hooke’s hand, I suspect it covers a much shorter period than stated in this report. Bonhams has the details: it's not a minute-book per se, but a record of experiments he conducted as Curator (one presumes, the ones featured in Philosophical Transactions, such as the camera lucida), and his correspondence as Secretary. 520pp. And the sooner it's transcribed, the better. Provenance? Gawd knows.

By: Omri

Omri — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 05:53:24 +0000

dearime: Americans are the Easter Bunny of irony. We leave eggs of it everywhere. It’s up to the rest of you to pick’em up.

By: Omri

Omri — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 05:50:34 +0000

I was once looking through the shelves of the Harvard Med library, when I ran into the early issues of the Annals of Eugenics (1920’s, 1910’s). It was, um, interesting. I do hope they stay preserved. They were an excellent source of case studies in pathological science.

By: David B

David B — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 03:57:44 +0000

If the diary is written in Robert Hooke’s hand, I suspect it covers a much shorter period than stated in this report. Hooke was only Secretary of the RS for a few years, after the death of Oldenburg. But it would still be a very important find.

By: paul

paul — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 02:25:51 +0000

Some Flaubert papers were also found—
http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25341-2020120,00.html.

By: dearieme

dearieme — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:38:07 +0000

“Moroni”: and they say that Americans don’t do irony.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:22:24 +0000

Then there was Mohammed Ali Samman’s mother who burnt several sections of the Gnostic gospels (AD 350-400) found at Nag Hammadi in 1945. Used it to light the cooking fire with.

By: FMguru

FMguru — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:54:29 +0000

Speaking of impossibly ancient things turning up in unexpected places, I see that an unopened tomb has been discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings – the first one in 84 years – and that it’s about 25 feet from Tut’s burial chamber. Way cool.

Link

By: dipnut

dipnut — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:40:25 +0000

Just last month, an Australian couple were walking on the beach when they noticed a strange lump of lipidic gunk. They poked at it for a while, trying to figure out what it was. Then they left. A couple of weeks later, they were walking there again, and came across the same lump. The wife persuaded the husband to bring the lump home, so they might consult an expert: what is this mysterious lump? Turned out to be ambergris, worth about $300,000. That's not in the same league as the Hooke manuscript, but it's still quite a find.

By: Mo MacArbie

Mo MacArbie — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:17:53 +0000

m.gordon, just wait until you get to The System of the World…

By: otto

otto — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:52:27 +0000

I have always wondered if you back owe inheritance taxes when you ‘discover’ that Raphael in your palace.