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It's not the principles that kill you in the end, it's the books. - Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter
What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence. - Wittgenstein
Never express yourself more clearly than you think. - Niels Bohr
A labyrinthian man never looks for the truth, but only for his Ariadne. - Nietzsche
What else do you do with dark and sinister forces but play with them? - Deadlock, Khronicles of Khaos
There are three things that are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third. - Valmiki, the Ramayana
If you want to tell the untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got to find a language. Which goes for film as well as prose, for documentary as well as autobiography. Use the wrong language and you're dumb and blind. - Salman Rushdie
Even the oldest stories are new to somebody. - Neil Gaiman, The Kindly Ones
Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories... because one isn't always equal to oneself. - Primo Levi
When you set out for Ithaca, ask that your way be long. - Constantine Cavafy
"You can't do that", she said. "You can't have 'fairy tales' without 'fair'! And stuff you find out by determining what words are inside other words is never wrong. Now drink more tea." - Hitherby Dragons |
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I've been doing a bit more reading, and found another character I can definitely use - a Dr Mark Ridley, Gilberd's younger protege, who fiercely defended the good philosopher's magnetic philosophy after his death. (Partly against one of Gilberd's earlier collaborators, in fact.) He was part of James VI&I's son Henry's satellite court, which was packed full of philosophers, scholars, mathematicians, and even a few practical men. It would be really interesting to read an alt-history on the theme of "what if Prince Henry hadn't died at 18, and we'd never had Charles I?" ( I have a bit of a dilemma... )Tags: gilberd, history of science
Current Location: London
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By special request from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) midnightmelody. William Gilberd, a prosperous London physician, president of the College of Surgeons, and physician to Queen Elizabeth I at the end of her life (and, as it turned out, his) is often called the first real scientist. The traditional historical epithet for him is 'the Father of Magnetism', after his most famous, and most complex, project, investigating the Earth's magnetic field through a series of terrella magnets (lit., 'little earth' - a spherical magnet). ( long )Tags: gilberd, history of science, rambling, theology
Current Location: Glasgow
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