Stories from around the world

The saying "say the black do the red" is one of Father Z's sayings, but David Warren points out that the use of the two inks goes back to the ancient Egyptians.

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Father Z reports there is now a LEGO Mass set. for kids to play with.

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Gimodo asks: What disease was behind the Antelope die off in Central Asia? No answers yet.


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a new book by JRRTolkien is being published.  Sounds like a downer, worse than the children of Hurin...

. Tolkien’s Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to it being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala – is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.’

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Back to school shopping list...from the Middle Ages.

Number one: a wax tablet to use for notes...because parchment was expensive.

But even here, "scrap paper" is often reused for notes etc...as I was reminded when I asked the bank for an envelope and got a used one.

here is how to make a wax tablet at home.

slate tablets for scribbling notes/math in schools were used up to modern times: I am reminded of Anne of Green Gables, who smashed Gilbert's slate tablet over his head when he called her carrots.

MrsBrewer'sParlor has an article on their use HERE.

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