-------- MANTEX NEWSLETTER --------
Number 107 - August 2005 - ISSN 1470-1863
Writing - Design - DIY - Holiday Reading
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0--- 'Oxford Guide to Effective Speaking and Writing'
John Seely's latest book covers a wide range of
everyday situations in which most people need to
improve their communication skills.
Job applications, writing reports, business
letters, emails, and PowerPoint presentations.
He shows you how to keep the audience in mind,
how to strike the right tone, and how to express
ideas more clearly and effectively.
He also goes into the basics of English as a
language: vocabulary, spelling, grammar,
punctuation - even how it is spoken.
It's ideal guidance for beginners - or for
people who have English as another language.
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/seely-5.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #1
Who coined the phrase 'Form follows function'?
0--- Holiday Reading
Getting ready for the beach? Would you
like some recommended reading that will
beat the dross sold in airport bookshops?
Here some guaranteed gems of 20th century
fiction. They are what might be called
lesser-known or forgotten classics.
[The short URLs take you straight to Amazon.]
Alain Fournier's "Le Grand Meaulnes",
(translated as "The Lost Domain") is an
idyllic evocation of boyhood and adolescence -
a novel of teenage self-discovery.
Two schoolboys stumble upon a semi-mythical
realm set deep in the French countryside and
fall in love with a girl who they can never
re-trace. A charming, lyrical, and atmospheric
novel which conjures a fin de siecle innocence
and romanticism which would be wiped out by
the first world war.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebhc
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebhd
0--- Weird facts - #1
Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and
strengthens the immune system.
[The best medicine then?]
0--- 'Make' - a DIY technology magazine
O'Reilly publishers are always coming up
with novelties. This is their latest - a
cross between a book and a magazine which
features articles for techno DIY fans.
The activities illustrated include -
cramming a full featured PC system into a
retro Atari 2600 videogame case; podcasting
by producing your own audio files; making a
robot out of a computer mouse; restoring old
guitar amplifiers bought on the cheap from eBay;
how to hack your DVD player so it will play
DVDs from any world region; how to upgrade
your iPod to Linux and make it a powerful
recorder and games player using the free
Podzilla software. Full review at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/make-02.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #2
What are pearls composed of?
0--- 'Designing the 21st Century' - new book
This is another of those mighty thick
and beautifully illustrated compendiums
from the House of Taschen. It covers designers
from all over the world, and gives them three
or four pages each in which to set out
the best of their work.
Most of it is what we would call product
design - everything from chairs, lighting,
shelving, cutlery, and computers, to motor
cars, mobile phones, kettles, and settees.
The book itself is well designed and printed,
and extremely good value. Full review at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/fiell-3.htm
0--- Weird fact #2
The average person is about a quarter of
an inch taller at night.
[Oh, so that's what happens!]
0--- Holiday Reading
Alejo Carpentier's "The Lost Steps" (1953) is
a story told twice. A disillusioned north-American
musicologist flees his empty existence in
New York City. He takes a journey with his
mistress to one of the few remaining areas
of the world not yet touched by civilization -
the upper reaches of a great South American river.
The novel describes his search, his adventures,
the revival of his creative powers, and the
remarkable decision he makes in a village that
seems to be truly outside history. Wonderful
evocations of Latin America from the founder
of 'Magical Realism'.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebhh
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebhj
0--- Pub quiz - Question #3
What is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust?
0--- A Pyramid of Teddy Bears
Dutch hacker Jogchem Niemandersverdriet
piles up fluffy teddy bears into a stack.
It re-builds when you knock 'em down with
your mouse. Lots of fun.
http://www.nobodyhere.com/toren.hier
0--- Weird fact #3
Chances of being struck by lightning at
least once during a lifetime: 1 in 10,456.
[Duck, and you could improve on that.]
0--- Bloomsbury News - Portraits and Snapshots
The National Portrait Gallery has an
exhibition of photographs from the
collection of Lady Ottoline Morrell.
It includes the likenesses and the
likes of Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey,
Dora Carrington, and T.S.Eliot. Runs until
19th September. Details at -
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/womorrell.asp
0--- Pub quiz - Question #4
What did the Romans mainly use salt for?
0--- Holiday Reading
Jean Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea" (1966) is a
rare case of a prequel which is as interesting,
well written, and as original as the work to
which it refers. This is the story of what
happened before 'Jane Eyre' begins. It's about
Mr Rochester's first wife, and how he came to
bring her from the West Indies.
The novel offers a vivid evocation of the
Caribbean; a psychologically convincing
portrait of a woman's identity under threat
from the twin forces of male dominance and
forced deracination; and a wonderfully
lyrical narrative, full of poetic imagery
and brooding force.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebhk
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebhm
0--- Weird fact #4
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
[Tell that to Tony Blair.]
0--- 'Design in the USA' - new book
This is an elegant and scholarly study of
the history of design in America. It runs
from the late eighteenth century to the
present day.
Jeffrey Meikle argues that it was the modern
machine age at the end of the nineteenth
century which gave US designers their greatest
impetus, something which thrust them to the
forefront of design in art nouveau, art deco,
and the age of streamlining (most of which was
originated by European immigrants).
It's a handsome and beautifully illustrated
book that I am happy to add to my collection.
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/meikle.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #5
What is the world's oldest city?
0--- Google Mobile - web searching
Did you know that you can now get Google
search results directly on your mobile phone.
Here's how to do it.
Access the mobile Web browser on your phone
or mobile device. Type www.google.co.uk into
the address field. Give Google your search query.
It can be web info - or images. Google will
send back ten search results per page.
Full detail on how it works and other Google
mobile services at -
http://mobile.google.co.uk
None of this applies to me. My mobile is so
old it looks as if I'm listening to a shoe box.
0--- Weird fact #5
The most used letter in the English alphabet
is 'E', and 'Q' is the least used!
[Q.E.D?]
0--- Holiday Reading
Heinrich Boll's "The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum",
is a short, dramatic novel loosely based on the
Baader-Meinhof affair and is Boll's scathing critique
of tabloid journalism at its worst and Germany's
panic-driven anti-terrorist laws in the 1970s.
A young woman is arrested for harbouring her lover,
a suspected terrorist, who is in fact an army deserter.
She is harassed by the police and a particularly
obnoxious reporter. When he confronts her at her
mother's funeral she agrees to give him her story;
but when they meet up and he suggests they have sex,
she shoots him instead.
Boll was a left-wing Catholic in the mould of
Graham Greene. This is an intelligent and sensitive
response to the moral panic over 'terrorism' which
is more than ever relevant today.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebkj
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ecxa
0--- Pub quiz - Question #6
Where in Europe did King Zog rule until 1946?
0--- Acronyms explained
If you get stuck trying to understand
acronyms, there's a web site which lists
471,000 in English. You can also search
in Spanish, French, German, Dutch,
Italian, and Portuguese.
Results can be listed by importance or
alphabetically. When I did a test on TLC,
I'm afraid to say that Tender Loving Care
only came third - pipped by Thin Layer
Chromatography and The Leaky Cauldron
(and I had to look up that last one).
http://www.acronyma.com
0--- Weird fact #6
'Underground' is the only word in the English
language that begins and ends with the letters 'und'.
[Und so weiter]
0--- Holiday Reading
Vikram Seth's "The Golden Gate" is a novel of
modern life, written in verse, and set in
California. It's very charming, yet it deals
with important fundamentals such as birth,
friendship, love, and death.
It was inspired by Pushkin's novel in sonnet
form, and contains some wonderfully poetic images
and stunning rhymes. A celebration of everyday
existence, with strong ecological sympathies and
an amazing variety of quite credible domestic pets.
Guaranteed to please.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebkm
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebkn
0--- Pub quiz - Question #7
Who wrote 'The Ballad of Peckham Rye'?
0--- F.r.e.e Online Spellchecker
If your word-processor or text editor
doesn't have a built-in spell checker,
why not use the f.r.e.e online facility at
http://www.spellcheck.net
You can check an individual word, or
paste in a chunk of text up to 20,000
characters long. The results come back
with drop-down menus offering word
alternatives.
0--- Weird fact #7
There are only four words in the English language
which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous,
stupendous, and hazardous.
[Fabulo-dous!]
0--- Holiday Reading
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years
of Solitude", is the novel which really put
'magical realism' on the world literary map.
It is a sprawling epic which conveys the essence
of Latin America via the saga of the Buendia family
that mirrors the history of Colombia. Like many of
his works, it is set in the fictional town of Macondo,
a place much like García Marquez's native Aracataca.
Mixing realism and fantasy, the novel is both the
story of the decay of the town and an ironic epic
of human experience. Expect levitating priests,
time that goes backwards, plagues of flowers and
butterflies, and civic forgetfulness.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebkp
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebkq
0--- Pub quiz - Question #8
Who composed the opera 'Bluebeard's Castle'?
0--- F.r.e.e Online Music
Magnatune calls itself an 'open music
record label'. You can listen to classical,
jazz, new age, rock, electronica, and other
genres f.r.e.e of charge. If you like what
you hear, you can download an album for as
little as $5 - or for a bit extra they will
send you a CD. Fifty percent of the proceeds
goes to the musicians. Try it at -
http://www.magnatune.com
0--- Weird fact #8
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint -
no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
[Check next time you get the chance.]
0--- Holiday Reading
Nadine Gordimer's, "The Conservationist" has
possibly emerged as her greatest novel to date.
A white South-African businessman keeps a farm
in the country which he visits at weekends.
He tries to do the Right Thing ecologically, but
cannot, because he does not truly live there.
The Africans who work for him eventually emerge
as the true inheritors of the earth. Gordimer
charts very eloquently the problems of a society
divided by racism, colonialism, class, and its
political history.
Fluent writing, great style, and lots of
political commitment, but delivered in a
non-judgemental manner.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebkr
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebks
0--- Pub quiz - Question #9
What is the capital of Guyana?
0--- Shoelace Site - Nerd's paradise
Would you like to know the 24 ways to lace
your shoes? And the 15 ways to tie up the laces?
If that's not enough, you can browse the
formulas for calculating shoelace length,
study the lacing comparison charts, vote
in knot-tying proficiency experiences, and
learn techniques for emergency aglet repair.
No, I'm not joking. It's all at -
http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm
0--- Holiday Reading
John dos Passos is an unjustly neglected
master of experimental realism from the
modernist period.
In 'Manhattan Transfer' he writes in a
manner which combines multiple
characters and perspectives, fragmented
narratives running in parallel,
stream-of-consciousness passages, the
insertion of contemporary newspaper
reports, potted biographies, popular songs,
flash-backs and flash-forwards.
The result is an expressionistic mosaic
that captures the speed and chaos of
modern life. His story is always one of
ordinary working people struggling to
make a living and a life in the modern city.
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebkt
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebkw
0--- Weird fact #9
Hummingbirds can't walk.
[Well, would you, if you could humm?]
0--- Dancing Breakfast
Talk about imitation being the most
sincere form of flattery! The original
designer of the breakdancing Citroen
must be delighted with the number of
copies that have followed.
The latest is a dancing breakfast which
advertises Danish bacon. Check it out at -
http://www.zeblong.com/breakfasttransformer/
If you haven't seen the original C4 ad,
watch it first at
http://www.citroen.co.uk/c4/homepage.asp?pagetype=c4
And here's an amazingly life-like take on
the ad, featuring the old deux chevaux.
http://www.themoog.f2s.com/2CV.wmv
0--- Pub quiz - Question #10
Of which tribe was Sitting Bull the chief?
0--- Holiday Reading - last one
Packed your bucket and spade? So have I -
but I've decided not to bother with modern
fiction any more. I'm going back to the
classics - and I mean all the way back.
And guess what - George Chapman's translation of
Homer's "Ulysses" is available in Dover Thrift
editions for next-to-nothing.
For Chapman, read Keat's sonnet encomium -
"On First Glancing into Chapman's Homer"
Much have I travelled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western Islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet never did I breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific - and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Chapman's version of "Ulysses" is at -
Amazon UK - http://digbig.com/4ebhe
Amazon US - http://digbig.com/4ebhf
0--- Weird fact #10
'Rhythm' and 'syzygy' are the longest
English words without vowels.
[That's also the shortest with three ys]
0--- Readers' Letters + Corrections
Huge postbag from the last issue!
-- ** Animal Eruptions ** --
Aidan Baker from Cambridge University was the
first of many people who wrote to observe:
"I think 'larva' in your latest newsletter
must be a mis-spelling of 'lava'. Sorry if
I'm the 119th person to have pointed that out."
No Aidan, you were the first, out of a similar
total. Thanks to all such attentive readers.
-- ** Elementary, my dear ... ** --
And David Malarky writes from Croydon (which
he describes ironically - I think - as "the
pearl of South London") to correct us on a
slip in the question of Sherlock Holmes'
brother:
"Mycroft Holmes appears as a character in two
of the Holmes stories: "The Greek Interpreter"
and "The Bruce-Partington Plans". Holmes tells
Watson that Mycroft is "seven years my senior"
(older by seven years), and brilliant in observation
and deduction, but so lazy -- and fat, it turns
out -- that he seldom moves from his accustomed
cycle: his rooms, his office in a government
building, and the Diogenes Club.
So Mycroft smarter, yes. But younger - no."
-- ** Revolutionary Reading ** --
Alida Bedford writes from University of Portsmouth
"I really enjoyed this newsletter. I had a good
laugh at the dangerous books epic (so 'USA'), and
decided to go on to looking at reviews of the
Communist Manifesto. It is quite frightening to
read reviews (some) that are so one-dimensional.
One would think that the USA is entirely democratic,
free from any type of prejudice and does not have
poverty.
Now, shall I try Das Kapital?"
-- ** Civic Centres ** --
Paul Strudwick returns to the issue of weird fact
- a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
"This is not strictly true - as in the case of
Brighton. There are cities without a cathedral.
What is a Cathedral? A cathedral is the name given
to the main church for the area administered by a
Church of England Bishop called a Diocese.
It is named after "cathedra" or seat of the bishop.
There were no new cathedrals created between 1542
and 1836. Only towns with Anglican Cathedrals
(not Catholic Cathedrals) were recognised as cities.
Does a town need a cathedral to become a city?
NO. There are 18 cities without an Anglican cathedral
and 15 towns which have an Anglican cathedral but
do not have city status.
Keep up the good work and interesting newsletter."
[I wonder which these 18 cities and 15 towns are?]
-- ** A Lot to Swallow ** --
John Rostron writes from the University of East London
"Re the question 'How many stomachs does a cow have?'
I presumed that this was intended to separate the
sheep from the goats. A cow (like a sheep or a goat)
has only one stomach (technically the abomasum).
The first three chambers are expansions of the
oesophagus or gullet.
Yours pedantically, John Rostron"
0--- PUB QUIZ - ANSWERS
#1 Who coined the phrase 'Form follows function'?
Answer: US architect Louis Sullivan 1856-1924
#2 What are pearls composed of?
Answer: Chalk
#3 What is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust?
Answer: Aluminium
#4 What did the Romans mainly use salt for?
Answer: Currency
#5 What is the world's oldest city?
Answer: Damascus
#6 Where in Europe did King Zog rule until 1946?
Answer: Albania
#7 Who wrote 'The Ballad of Peckham Rye'?
Answer: Muriel Spark
#8 Who composed the opera 'Bluebeard's Castle'?
Answer: Bela Bartok
#9 What is the capital of Guyana?
Answer: Georgetown
#10 Of which tribe was Sitting Bull the chief?
Answer: The Sioux
0--- COMING SOON
'Writing for Academic Journals'
'How to be a Student'
'How to get a PhD'
'Doing your Research Project'
'The Art of Project Management'
'The History and Power of Writing'
'Web Services Essentials'
'Oxford Spellchecker and Dictionary'
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News-107-August-2005
ISSN 1470-1863
The British Library