Lost in Spades

 

This article is a creative commons direct reduplication of the one that appeared at The Public Domain Review, available at http://publicdomainreview.org/2013/08/07/the-lost-world-of-the-london-coffeehouse/  as at March 11, 2016.     In contrast to today’s rather mundane spawn of coffeehouse chains, the London of the 17th and 18th century was home to an eclectic and thriving coffee drinking scene. Dr Matthew Green explores the halcyon days of the London coffeehouse, a haven for caffeine-fueled debate and innovation which helped to shape the modern world. A disagreement about the Cartesian Dream Argument (or similar) turns sour. Note the man throwing coffee in his opponent’s face. From the frontispiece of Ned Ward’s satirical poem Vulgus Brittanicus (1710) and probably more of a flight of fancy than a faithful depiction of coffeehouse practices – Source . F rom the tar-caked wharves of Wapping to the gorgeous lamp-lit squares of St James’s and Mayfair...

Animals that have an external skeleton (instead of an internal spine), a body made of segments, and jointed limbs -- including the likes of insects, spiders, centipedes, and crabs -- are known as  arthropods  (Gk. arthro : joint, pod : limb). Mosquitoes are arthropods. And there are 3,500 known species of mosquito. The mosquito acts as vector for a number of organisms -- protozoa, fly-eggs, worms, and viruses -- infectious to humans. Of the viruses carried by arthropods, these are collectively known as arboviruses  (i.e. from " ar thropod- bo rne viruses"). This classification as "arbovirus" helps define perhaps the number one human predator -- the virus-bearing mosquito. These highly pathogenic viruses are carried by only a handful of mosquito species.   Culex pipiens [Image: Wikimedia Commons] There is considerable space-time variability to the...

Luggage is best stored, safely and securely, away from prying eyes and hearts of malcontent. All personal baggage should be handled in this way: it is the sole responsibility of the owner to see to it that arrangements have been made for such due and proper care and handling. Loosely stored and packaged arrangements are un-gamely, unsightly, and encourage indulgence and profligacy (as well as idle chatter). Please make sure personal items are safely stowed away in their rightful compartments, ensuring a safe flight for all. This can most readily be achieved by remaining seated, with your belt fastened at all times, so that no underpants are showing. Gentlemen should pull their slacks up to the hips, covering the strap (advertising banner or not) of the underwear. Ladies, leggings   are underwear: no part of any ungulate, be they odd- or even-toed, classifies as c...

Nice, wishful albeit, thought that the bloodletting ended: only a matter of time before there will be more, exactly because, we  reap that which we sow . Regardless of our 29th Prime Minister's bona fides, he too is now and forever destined to his just deserts . While many yearn for an Australian republic---to cut, finally, the purse-string from mother Britain---Mr Turnbull's adroit grab of the reigns means we may well get more than we bargained for. Three of our elected foremost leaders have now been forcibly removed from office, kicking and screaming, within a period not all of five years , as Australia looks to have, for all intents and purposes, fixed its eyes on a republic style of governance. But what these folk perhaps had not counted on was a republic fixed in the style of Rome. Where are all the haruspices ? Where, those trained in the art of reading the entrails? The entrails are laid bare on Par...

 Pakistan (green) and China (orange) respective location on the globe [Image per User:SSYoung, Wikimedia Commons] During this the first Chinese state visit to Pakistan in nine years,   "the two countries are expected to agree on economic and energy deals worth more than $40 billion." Read it at Voice of America: China Reaches Out to Pakistan With Massive Economic Plan