Clearing my backlog of links: most of these were sitting around waiting for an opportunity, none was big enough to warrant a post of its own.
Convert any number from any base into any other base up to 36. I’ll be 110011 years old next week— or 1220, 303, 123, 28 or 1F, take your pick. I think that was google-fu because of something we talked about on the #rasfc IRC channel.
Romanian Orthodox chant of Psalm 50. The neighbourhood is also worth a look. I think I got this from the Orthodox Women’s list, or the coveredorthodox list, both of which I’ve unsubscribed from because they were getting on my nerves, and that’s not something I need in Lent. I’m not one of these people who give up the Internet for Lent and announce it loudly all over the place; it’s not for that, but there was a bit too much angst on the OW list, and the coveredorthodox list seemed to be full of (a) women who were tentatively starting to put something unobtrusive on their head in church and (b) women who felt called to “move towards” full-time headcovering, and I don’t fall in either category, so it felt pointless. If you’re reading this and you’re on either list, do comment; I may come back after Easter and see if it’s changed.
Palace Design and Court Structure in (mostly) the late fourteenth century. It would be perfect for Valdyas if the House Velain wasn’t so oblivious of decorum and hierarchy, confound it. I think Boudewijn pointed me to this one.
Not quite my period, but too pretty not to share: 18th century blog, “fashion and culture from the 1700s” by Johanna Öst (via Woest en Vredig).
Ah, Horseradish! by Dale Dougherty on Boing Boing. Amusingly, there were horseradish roots under a “Parsnips” sign at one local supermarket until I alerted them to it (actual parsnips never materialised, worse luck, but the horseradish is now correctly labelled “Mierikswortel”).
The Linguistic Diversity of Aboriginal Europe by Don Ringe on Language Log. It’s long and involved —I keep rereading it and finding new things to think about— and it’s got 163 comments at the moment of writing this. I like the message in the last sentence: “You are the product of diversity because Europe has always been diverse.”
Finally —I’m in two minds about whether it’s fascinating or squicky— Creative Food Sculptures. The orange carrying itself to the food processor does squick me a bit.