-------- MANTEX NEWSLETTER --------
Number 111 - December 2005 - ISSN 1470-1863
Quotes - Literature - Blogs - Quiz
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0--- 'Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations'
Ned Sherrin is the very camp and rather annoying
presenter of a UK radio chat show - but he knows
his stuff on who said what. This is his
compilation of funny quips, witty ripostes,
catchphrases, and quotable quotes.
Groucho Marx: "I never forget a face, but in
your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
Mae West: "Marriage is a great institution,
but I'm not ready for an institution yet."
George Best's self-defense: "People say I
wasted my money. I say 90 per cent went on
women, fast cars, and booze. The rest I wasted."
Fully indexed by names and themes. Great fun.
Full review at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/sherrin.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #1
When is an opera a Grand Opera?
0--- Weird Facts #1
Quebec City, Canada, has about as much
street crime as Disney World.
0--- 'Ambient Findability' - new book
Peter Morville was co-author of the best-selling
guide to information architecture and the web.
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/rosen-2.htm
This is a book-length presentation of his latest
thoughts on the same issues of good design.
His central argument is that clever ideas and
desirable goods are no good at all if you can't
*find* them. The answer is to design for the
*customer*, not the designer. Full review at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/morville.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #2
How many labours had Hercules to perform to win his freedom?
0--- Weird Facts #2
In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's
trousers was 32. By 2003, it was 36.
0--- Banned and 'Challenged' Books
You or your students might find useful the American
Library Association's discussion of challenged and
banned books. The web site is through www.ala.org;
enter 'banned books' in the search box. It includes
lists of challenged and banned books and some discussion
of who initiates those challenges. This section is part
of ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom. Harry Potter
books feature strongly - because of witchcraft.
http://www.ala.org
0--- Pub quiz - Question #3
Which American became the president of Ireland?
0--- Weird Facts #3
The largest McDonald's is in Beijing, China.
It has twenty nine cash registers.
0--- 'Journalism - a very short introduction'
This is another in the Oxford University Press
series of pocket-sized guides to cultural and
intellectual topics.
But don't be misled by the 'short' bit. It's a
terrific survey of free speech, press censorship,
news media ownership, political, and the ethics
of journalism.
Ian Hargreaves was a distinguished journalist,
editor, and head of BBC current affairs, and he
covers all news media - newspapers, radio and
television, and the Net.
It's a well-informed and stimulating read - out
of all proportion to its size. Full review at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/hargreaves.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #4
Air is mostly composed of which two gases?
0--- Weird Facts #4
Some dogs can predict when a child will have an
epileptic seizure, and even protect the child
from injury.
0--- Blogging Maps - f.r.e.e service
I came across this neat service which puts a
thumbnail map on your blog showing the exact
spot in the world where you are located. It
also lists other bloggers in your locality.
You'll have to be patient, because it's a
bit fiddly, but basically you insert geographic
co-ordinates into your blog template.
See Feedmaps at -
http://www.feedmap.net
Get the co-ordinates from Multimap at -
http://www.multimap.com
And if you want to see an example of the maps
in action, go to this blog and scroll down the page -
http://mantex.blogspot.com
0--- Pub quiz - Question #5
How many carats are there in pure gold?
0--- Weird Facts #5
When you hear a whip crack, it's because the tip
is traveling faster than the speed of sound.
0--- Unseen Characters
Wikipedia has an amusing list of characters
who are mentioned but never seen in movies
and TV series - such as Abigail in "Abigail's
Party", Marion and Geoff in the comedy series
of the same name, and Barbara, the transsexual
taxi-driver in "The League of Gentlemen".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unseen_characters
And before anybody complains - yes, Barbara
*appears* but is never seen completely.
0--- Pub quiz - Question #6
Which bird has the largest wingspan?
0--- Weird Facts #6
French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page
novel 'Le Train de Nulle Part' which has no verbs.
0--- 'Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual'
O'Reilly have done well with their missing
manual series. These explain how to cope with
software and IT issues - all explained in a
straightforward manner.
This one takes you through web page design,
how to get your site up onto the Web, how to
promote it and get customers, and if you can't
be bothered but want to get an online presence,
how to blog. Full review and details at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/macdonald.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #7
What two things do bees collect?
0--- Weird Facts #7
36 Billion e-mails are sent each day
throughout the world.
0--- 'An Introduction to Literary Studies'
This is a book for anyone who is going to take
a serious interest in studying literature.
It introduces you to all the basic elements of
a literary text and points you what you might
look out for - characters, plot, theme, and
technical matters such as 'point of view'.
Then it considers different critical approaches,
such as feminism, Marxism, structuralism, and
myth criticism.
The author is also interested in movies, so as a
bonus you also get the basics of film criticism.
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/klarer.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #8
In which novels does Lucien de Rubempré feature?
0--- Weird facts #8
A Boeing 767 airliner is made of 3,100,000 separate parts.
0--- Motorway Map of the UK
There's a clickable PDF map of the UK
motorway system, inspired by the famous
London Underground map created by Harry Beck.
Feels strange at first, because geographic
accuracy is sacrificed for diagrammatic
clarity. Now we know how early tube travellers
must have felt.
http://www.motorwaymap.co.uk/
0--- Pub quiz - Question #9
Who painted "The Night Watch"?
0--- Weird Facts #9
There are an average of 18 million items
for sale at any time on eBay.
0--- 'The Author' - new book
Routledge have a 'Critical Idiom' series
in which a single cultural topic is explored
in depth by a specialist.
This one is for literary studies buffs.
It looks at the changing concept of authorship
through the ages.
You probably though that the author is simply
the person who wrote the book - right? Well it
turns out not to be as simple as that. Early
authors didn't bother to use their names;
Elizabethan poets circulated their work
anonymously; and we can't tell who is compiling
the world's largest encyclopedia over at
Wikipedia - because it's a collective work.
These and other tantalising cases are
reviewed in full with further details at -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/bennett.htm
0--- Pub quiz - Question #10
Who composed the song 'On Green Dolphin Street'?
0--- Weird Facts #10
The world's smallest winged insect is the
Tanzanian parasitic wasp. It's smaller than
the eye of a housefly.
0--- 'Complete Critical Guide to Jane Austen'
The popularity of Jane Austen has risen even
higher than usual recently, because of the
television and film adaptations of her work.
This is a compendium which covers everything
you will need if you would like to study her
work in depth.
It contains a brief biography, an account of
the six major novels, a history of Austen
criticism, and a chapter on Jane Austen on
film and television. Full review and details -
http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/irvine.htm
0--- Political Blogging - Update
If you want to keep up to date with UK and world
politics, my colleague Bill Jones has not one but
two blogs offering briefing notes.
The first, "Skipper", gives a daily comment on UK
politics, skullduggery, and the press. Go to -
http://skipper59.blogspot.com
The second, "Politics Considered" offers longer
pieces and critical analysis of international affairs.
Recent entries have covered Turkmenistan, the German
elections, Terrorism and the Law, and the elections
for Tory Party leadership. This one is at -
http://heatonnorris.blogspot.com
0--- Xmas Bonus - Overheard in New York
Black girl: I didn't want to say this in there,
but have you noticed how all Mexican men working
in bars and restaurants look the same?
White girl #1: Well I bet they all think that
white women look the same.
White girl #2: Well all elephants probably
look the same to gorillas.
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/
0--- Readers' Letters + Corrections
---- When is Knoppix not an OS? ----
Charles Johnson writes from Mells, Somerset
to point up a technical issue in the last issue:
"A Microsoft operating system should not be compared
directly to Knoppix , as the latter is a demo disk
that runs in memory. Of course it does have an OS,
based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, but the
purpose of the software is not really to be installed
as an OS plus applications, although it can be.
A better comparison would be to one of the (too)
many Linux distributions available, and of course
most of them are free, in the everyday sense of
the word."
http://www.linux.org
0--- PUB QUIZ - ANSWERS
#1 When is an opera a Grand Opera?
Answer: When it is sung all the way through.
#2 How many labours had Hercules to perform to win his freedom?
Answer: Twelve
#3 Which American became the president of Ireland?
Answer: Eamon de Valera
#4 Air is mostly composed of which two gases?
Answer:Oxygen and nitrogen
#5 How many carats are there in pure gold?
Answer: 24
#6 Which bird has the largest wingspan?
Answer: The albatross
#7 What two things do bees collect?
Answer: Pollen and nectar
#8 In which novel does Lucien de Rubempré feature?
Answer: Balzac's 'Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes'
#9 Who painted "The Night Watch"?
Answer: Rembrandt
#10 Who composed the song 'On Green Dolphin Street'?
Answer: Bronislaw Kaper
0--- COMING SOON
'Oxford Companion to Jazz'
'Hart's New Rules'
'Dictionary of Contemporary Slang'
'Oxford Spanish Dictionary'
'New Oxford Spelling Dictionary'
'New Dictionary for Writers and Editors'
'Web Services Essentials'
'Oxford Spellchecker and Dictionary'
'eBay - The Missing Manual'
'The Weekend Novelist'
'Web Site Management Hacks'
'Penguin Dictionary of Jokes'
'Yahoo! Hacks'
'Word Origins'
'An Introduction to Book History'
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News-111-December-2005
ISSN 1470-1863
The British Library