In My Defens

Scottish history fiend. Prone to rambling. Usually to be found making offerings of flat irn bru and half-finished essays to the muse Clio at two in the morning. Or just procrastinating on tumblr.

[sufjansjoy]

does anybody know how to get out of bed. or be a better person

[sufjansjoy]

wow

[vintageandroid]

i made a post like this before but I can't find it now. so. I'll just redo it.

What's the first "big news story" you remember from when you were a kid?

It's something I love to ask mixed-aged groups sometimes because I think it's really interesting to see the responses. I've gotten answers from the Olympics of [whatever year] to Watergate to more recent stuff from my niblings.

My first news thing I remember is the OJ Simpson trial. I vaguely remember watching the news with my grandparents before that, but that's the first story I remember, in part because my second grade teacher had us go play so she could watch the verdict 😂

[rosieandthemoon]

At St. Andrew’s in Norfolk

[dduane]

Meanwhile, via Bluesky...

(See also the video here from ITN.)

[hightide-error]

the poster that this incredible illustration is based on is extremely striking. but while searching for it, I also found earlier posters for conveying this message along with a corresponding one for summer, and I fucking love them. absolutely lovely graphic design work. (both are from 1924, artist is Austin Cooper)

the one I was looking for originally also has a summer variant. (artist is Frederick Charles Herrick: 'it is warmer below' is from 1927, 'it is cooler below' is 1926)

[elodieunderglass]

I also like Edward McKnight Kauffer’s London Underground posters, the 1923 Natural History Museum one is such cool piece of visual art

[an-ruraiocht]

which of these classical texts have you read?

the iliad, the odyssey, and the aeneid

the iliad and the odyssey, not the aeneid

the iliad only

the odyssey only

the aeneid only

the aeneid and the iliad, not the odyssey

the aeneid and the odyssey, not the iliad

I have read none of these

Voting ended onJul 22

"what if I've read part of it" if it's a large enough part that you would consider yourself to Have Read It in general contexts, then it counts. if it's not, then it doesn't. only you can be the judge of that, but I'm not giving you a nuance button.

any translations count, but abridged retellings don't

obviously, there are lots of other classical texts out there. you might have read none of these and be an expert on greek tragedy. I'm not judging your classical knowledge so you don't need to tell me all that. I'm just curious about combos of these specific texts and their popularity, bc a post i just saw got me thinking about it

[lizardsfromspace]

Out of control Edwardian youths refuse to clap at production of Peter Pan, force distraught J.M Barrie to pull out rarely seen "Tinkerbell Fucking Dies" ending

[julianova44]

You probably know this but shitpost ruining fun fact for anybody who doesn’t:

When the play first was performed, JM Barrie et al were so concerned this might happen that they instructed the orchestra to drop their instruments and clap at this point, just in case

[lizardsfromspace]

I did not know this and I'm grateful for being informed

[sisaloofafump]

Peter Pan edited by Anne Hiebert Alton (2011)

(sorry to interrupt joke post but) this is true!

Children not clapping did happen too, (and some were even expected to have hissed, which was later written into the 1928 playscript and 1911 novel). But my all time favourite anecdote about it is from Pauline Chase (who played Peter)'s intro to Peter Pan's Post Bag 1909:

Children love to clap their hands at the play because then they feel that they are really part of it, and you can see them holding their hands poised ready to seize an opportunity. Their great chance is when I ask them to clap their hands if they believe in fairies, and so save Tink's life. But they are very wrathful if any one claps who has the reputation of being a cynic, and once there was quite an uproar in the front row of the dress circle because of a girl who clapped. Those about her pulled down her arms angrily. "How dare you clap," they cried, "when you know you don't believe in fairies!" There was one dreadfully hard-hearted little boy who came to the theatre not to clap. That was his object for coming, and he came round "behind" to tell me so in the middle of the play. His teeth were firm set. "I won't clap," he said doggedly; "I'm not going to clap." And when the time came he didn't clap; above the clapping of all the others I could hear him shouting from a box, "Peter, I'm not clapping."

(Tink was revived each time anyway)

[bethanydelleman]

I am a certified hater of audience participation but let me tell you, it is almost impossible not to clap during this scene. Even as a full grown adult.

[importantdogimages]

[nariarts]

You Love Our City.

Happy last week of the Edinburgh Festivals to all who celebrate! I am looking forward to being able to use the only lift in Waverley station that leads to Market street again.

[bauhaus-movement]

This Brutalist building designed by Marcel Breuer has reopened as a Net-Zero Luxury Hotel.

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, the former headquarters for the Armstrong Rubber Company

By Evan Moffitt, Photography by Seamus Payne

[faustique]

there's a special place in my heart for people who made an effort to be my friend regardless of how quiet or distant i can get at times

[the-busy-ghost]

Hm, in my quiet Scottish town where the loudest thing on a Wednesday night has hitherto been the occasional seagull, how will I be able to tell that Argentina just scored...

[shortnsweetgf]

i had the time of my life fighting dragons with you 🏰

[shetheyslain]

Dahling you simply must read this book! It’s all about this devious little caterpillar who simply gorges himself on all manner of divine things

[batsandboba]

[beardaxemcbreadhobnob]

big fan of the way moles sit in dirt with their arms out like they’re in a hot tub

[beardaxemcbreadhobnob]

decadence….

[romanceyourdemons]

doing research in the field of humanities is interesting because there isn’t necessary this paradigm of the most recently published studies are by definition the best that you get in the hard sciences, like sometimes that book published in 1909 really continues to be the best foundational text about 1590s amsterdam, but then again sometimes i’m reading a text published in the 60s and it starts describing italian culture as “oriental” with no further discussion and i’m like hmmm maybe i should find something a little more current

[seshrat]

who wants to see a real car i saw driving on the actual road today

[seshrat]

[fivemanwaltz]

If i had this car......