(no subject)

[da]

Today had an amusing Globe and Mail piece on that Da Vinci Book.

Seems the caretakers of French churches and museums are getting pretty frustrated at the sheep-like tourists wearing a tread around Europe to each of the "artifacts" mentioned in the book.

Every few minutes, a knot of tourists is led at speed by their guides through Saint-Sulpice's great west doors. They beeline to the gnomon -- the 11-metre-high, white marble obelisk in the north transept -- oblivious to light, organ, frescoes, chapels.

[...Father Roumanet's sign next to the obelisk] reads, in part: "Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent bestselling novel, this is not the vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. It was never called a 'Rose Line.' No mystical notion can be derived from this instrument of astronomy except to acknowledge that God the Creator is the master of time."

Also, over 1,000 copies of the Da Vinci Code left behind on the Eurostar Chunnel train, according to The Telegraph; "by far the most common item left" in the last 18 months. Most are paperback copies in English, though some are in Dutch, Spanish and German.

Comments

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

This is the way that Sony's tens of millions of $$ are manifesting themselves in the 'higher quality' newspapers.

(US$45m to publicize that movie in the US alone.)

[kraig.livejournal.com]

That doesn't surprise me. Stinky Hollywood.

As I age, I find myself feeling more and more left wing, not less so.

What was that old saying, show me a man who's conservative at 20 and I'll show you a man with no heart; show me one who's liberal at 50 and I'll show you one with no brain? Something along those lines.

feh.

And I just now took screenshots of Outlook. So now I feel doubly dirty. I viciously edited them with the gimp though. On Windows!

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I'm more conservative economically than I was 10 years ago, but a lot of that is a consequence of moving to Canada where I can be in the economic mainstream but still support public health care. There's a much wider space for me to navigate, and so I've become more moderate.

Windows is evil. My Mac is the greatest thing ever...

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

As I age, I find myself feeling more and more left wing, not less so.

Idly, I wonder if that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't ended up in academia...

I suppose this might be more of a factor in the US, depending on region...

[kraig.livejournal.com]

Maybe? Hard to say. My earliest memories are going in to the U of G with mum while she worked on her grad degrees, then moving to Edmonton for her to do her PhD at U of A. I've been around academics all my life.

Still, maybe I wouldn't be moving as quickly were I not continually around 'em. Who nose. :)