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Started by Recusant, November 08, 2015, 08:20:40 AM

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Recusant

#15
louche adjective \ˈlüsh\ (from French, literally 'squinting')

: disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way

QuoteFor many people, the Oxford-Cambridge dichotomy is an either/or proposition, like Jack Sprat and his wife, or Harvard versus Yale, or Army versus Navy. In days gone by, plebian Londoners who had been to neither university would get into loud public disputes every year about which "eight" they favored in the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race from Putney to Mortlake: one of the great "who cares?" events of any epoch. For me, the similarities outdistance the distinctions. Both towns show the unoriginality of the English when it comes to names: there used to be a ford for oxen by the Thames and there was once a place where it was possible to bridge the Cam. Both have colleges rather than a university. Both took a long time to recognize the existence of the railway, so that the station is too far from the center. Some say that Cambridge is more austere and Oxford more louche and luxurious, but could even All Souls be more exotic and languid and exclusive than the Apostles' Club or the courts of Kings and Trinity, nursery of such ripe and gorgeous plants as E.M. Forster and John Maynard Keynes, to say nothing of the coterie of Stalinist traitors from Kim Philby to Sir Anthony Blunt? ("At least Oxford spies for us," as one portly academic once put it to me, "while Cambridge seems to prefer to spy for the other side.")

— Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22 (2010)

I find that I disagree with some things Hitchens says here. For one, the delightful names that adorn some English towns. Upper Slaughter, anyone? How about Nether Wallop? The list is long, and every time I visit Britain, I discover new ones.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Kekerusey

Gubbins

Bits and pieces (usually of something bigger)

Keke
J C Rocks (An Aspiring Author's Journey)
The Abyssal Void War Book #1: Stars, Hide Your Fires


xSilverPhinx

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Icarus


xSilverPhinx

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


xSilverPhinx

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


hermes2015

"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Tank

Funny you should bring that up. Yesterday I was chatting to a new chap at work. He's 30 and Greek he'd never heard of Douglas Adams, THGTTG or the meaning of 42! So I emailed this to him. Perfect.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

hermes2015

Quote from: Tank on August 03, 2018, 07:48:39 AM
Funny you should bring that up. Yesterday I was chatting to a new chap at work. He's 30 and Greek he'd never heard of Douglas Adams, THGTTG or the meaning of 42! So I emailed this to him. Perfect.

Jungian synchronicity!
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Tank

Quote from: hermes2015 on August 03, 2018, 10:39:24 AM
Quote from: Tank on August 03, 2018, 07:48:39 AM
Funny you should bring that up. Yesterday I was chatting to a new chap at work. He's 30 and Greek he'd never heard of Douglas Adams, THGTTG or the meaning of 42! So I emailed this to him. Perfect.

Jungian synchronicity!

Apparently!
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Recusant

corybantic adjective \ˌkȯr-ē-ˈban-tik, ˌkär-\ (Greek Corybantes [Κορύβαντες] wild attendants of the goddess Cybele, whose rites were celebrated with music and ecstatic dances)

being in the spirit or manner of a Corybant; especially : wild, frenzied

QuoteAlong with the Shade-foots and the One-Eyes in Aristophanes' parody are another people called the Tongue-in-Bellies or Englottogasters. Their version of the anthropomorphism consists in converting the cap of the mushroom into the creature's upper body, so that it has only a head supported by its leg. Naming the top of the mushroom its 'cap' commonly implies this, as if a hat sat atop a creature wearing it. This is inescapable even in botanical nomenclature where it is called the pileus, which is Latin for 'cap.' It is not simply a cap, however, it is a skullcap, often used also to refer to the Phrygian cap, associated with Mithraism and with manumission of slaves or liberty.

In this latter significance, it was used to name the liberty-cap mushroom, a species of Psilocybe. The pileus was frequently worn under a helmet, and the helmet was of the same shape, like the ones worn by the helmeted corybantic dancers. Not infrequently, the initiatory entheogen is employed  in sub-visionary dosages for warriors on the battlefield. Heavier dosages would be involved in the visionary experience of initiatory induction to the military fraternaty, as in Mithraism and the Nordic berserkers.

-- Carl Ruck, Mark Hoffman, Entheogens, Myth, and Human Consciousness (2013)

Bonus word:

entheogen noun \ ĕn-thē′ō-jən \ (Greek ἔνθεος entheos inspired by the divine, possessed - γενέσθαι genesthai come into being)

A psychoactive substance, usually one derived from plants or fungi but also from the secretions of animals such as toads, that is ingested by a shaman or another participant in a ritual in order to produce visions or gain mystical insight.



Mithras wearing a Phrygian cap and killing a bull, a recurring theme in Mithraic art, known as a tauroctony.

* * *

The idea presented as fact here, that both Mithraism and the berserkers made use of psychoactive drugs, is actually a hypothesis with little solid evidence supporting it. Note that one of the authors of the quoted book, Carl Ruck, had a hand in coining the term "entheogen".
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Dave

Interesting words, Recusant, thanks.

On a side note I have often wondered about the history and long term popularity of the Phrygian cap, it was popular up to Anglo-Saxon times at least.  But, a quick Google seems to indicate a similar cap was the "badge" of freed Roman slaves, then of the French Revolutionists.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Recusant

#27
horripilation noun \ hȯ-ˌrip-ə-ˈlā-shən, hä- \ (From late Latin horripilatio(n-), from Latin horrere 'stand on end' + pilus 'hair')

: a bristling of the hair of the head or body (as from disease, terror, or chilliness) : goose bumps

* * *

In the history of musical instruments, there are several which are known for producing visceral reactions. The skirl of a' phìob mhòr (the Great Highland bagpipe), sometimes in conjunction with drums in the stirring pipe and drum bands, or solo in the glorious piobaireachd (pibroch) has been known to result in horripilation, from fear or horror, or from sheer joy and excitement. In my own case it would be the latter.  ;D

While only a faint shadow of the glory of a live pipe and drum band, I suppose some may find the video below obnoxious. You've been forewarned.





"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Recusant on August 10, 2018, 11:27:26 PM
In the history of musical instruments, there are several which are known for producing visceral reactions. The skirl of a' phìob mhòr (the Great Highland bagpipe), sometimes in conjunction with drums in the stirring pipe and drum bands, or solo in the glorious piobaireachd (pibroch) has been known to result in horripilation, from fear or horror, or from sheer joy and excitement. In my own case it would be the latter.  ;D

:notsure: So, if you've got bad neighbours and you're lucky enough that bagpipe and drums music brings them not joy and excitement but fear and horror, you could play that music very loud in the early mornings.  ;D
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Recusant

Really, I've never heard a recording that does justice to hearing them in person. I've got a practice chanter, but that isn't nearly as impressive as an actual set of bagpipes. It's been a dream since childhood to have a set, but they're rather expensive.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken