“A Siege of Cranes”

Ornithological nouns of assemblage:

a murmuration of starlings
a desert of lapwing
a parliament of owls
a gulp of cormorants
a pitying of doves
a murder of crows
an exaltation of larks
a charm of finches
a stand of flamingoes
a watch of nightingales
a rafter of turkeys
a committee of vultures
a descent of woodpeckers
an unkindness of ravens
a convocation of eagles

Who comes up with these? They’re wonderfully poetic. Also: a sleuth of bears, a shrewdness of apes, a flutter of butterflies, an intrusion of cockroaches, a bask of crocodiles, a skulk of foxes, a smack of jellyfish, a leap of leopards, a crash of rhinoceroses, a scurry of squirrels, a streak of tigers, a shiver of sharks.

March 27, 2006March 27, 2006 | Language

Honk If You Love Megaliths

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Yool_Carhenge2_02Sep03.jpg — Image: Wikimedia Commons

Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge constructed of vintage American automobiles spray-painted gray. The heel stone is a 1962 Cadillac.

Who says Americans have no taste?

March 26, 2006July 18, 2013 | Art · Oddities

In a Word

hipparchy
n. rule or control of horses

March 26, 2006October 5, 2006 | Language

“Wonderful Peculiarity in the English Character!”

“The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to life, while the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence and splendour. English criminals are not dragged, but run to the place of execution, where they laugh, sing, cut jokes, insult the spectators; and if no hangman happens to be present, frequently hang themselves.”

— Memoirs of Lewis Holberg, quoted in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, July 28, 1827

March 26, 2006October 5, 2006 | Crime · History · Quotations

Katrina’s Eye

Hurricane Katrina, seen from the inside. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, and the costliest in U.S. history. Total damages are expected to reach $75 billion.

March 25, 2006December 6, 2010 | Science & Math

New Year Be Damned

Jonathan Swift’s “Resolutions — When I Come to Be Old”:

Not to Marry a young Woman.
Keep young Company unless they reely desire it.
Be peevish or morose, or suspicious.
Scorn present Ways, or Wits, or Fashions, or Men, or War, &c.
Be fond of Children, or let them come near me hardly.
Tell the same Story over and over to the same People.
Be covetous.
Neglect decency, or cleenlyness, for fear of falling into Nastyness.
Be over severe with young People, but give Allowances for their youthfull follyes, and Weeknesses.
Be influenced by, or give ear to knavish tatling Servants, or others.
Be too free of advise nor trouble any but those that desire it.
Desire some good Friends to inform me which of these Resolutions I break, or neglect, & wherein; and reform accordingly.
Talk much, nor of my self.
Boast of my former beauty, or strength, or favor with Ladyes, &c.
Hearken to Flatteryes, nor conceive I can be beloved by a young woman.
Be positive or opiniative.
Sett up for observing all these Rules, for fear I should observe none.