Here are some posts from around the web that I enjoyed this week:
Astrologers, wizards, necromancers and seers of the Tudor age. Not the side of Elizabeth I and crew that we usually think of, but very much part of the fabric. Great post by Nancy Bilyeau. Click here for “Secrets of the Tudor Age Seers” on Expats Post
Worst idea ever: R&J in text speak & emojis. Here’s a scintillating sample: “Woah! Spotted a hottie. She. Is. #PERFECT” followed by two stars and a heart emoji. This is the most pathetic reduction of the bard yet. Click here for The Mirror “Yolo Juliet, Shakespeare get the text speak treatment in new book”
Here’s a reminder of how important a bookstore can be and why we need to defend the ones we still have. NPR reports about a bookstore in Istanbul set up by two partners, one Syrian and one Turkish with the goal of providing refugees a place to find Arabic books, but also where Turkish readers can have their stereotypes of Syrians challenged and hopefully bridged. The Syrian partner ran a publishing company in Damascus until the war made that impossible. They view the bookstore as a cultural center. Does your community still have a bookstore with vision? Click here for NPR Parallels section, “Istanbul Bookstore Caters to Syrian Refugees in Need of a Good Read.
A hill in Rome is a giant dump, made up of millions of broken amphorae, originally holding olive oil or wine. Each had a label with where it came from, what product it contained, import duty paid, when. This is a treasure trove to track 3 centuries of Roman trade. Just where did all that wine come from to keep the urban population and the legions from dying of thirst? The broken shards were placed carefully so the hill wouldn’t collapse. There’s even restaurants etc dug into parts of it. None of the amphorae could be reused because the oil and wine soaks in and goes rancid so it would wreck new product. Isn’t it fascinating where we get our historical data from? Click here for “Amphora Graveyard Reveals Rome’s Trading Networks” in Archaeology News Network.
The Authors Guild Fair Contract Initiative: A Preview. If you are a writer, this is interesting reading. The Guild is seeking to eliminate features from standard contracts that they view as egregiously unfair to authors. For example, raising e-book royalties to 50% from 25%. Good idea! Click here for “The Authors Guild Fair Contract Initiative: A Preview”