Happy birthday to

[sam]

Nora Ephron
19 May 1941 - 26 June 2012



(More than) A Few Words About Breasts

And even now, now that I have been countlessly reassured that my figure is a good one, now that I am grown-up enough to understand that most of my feelings have very little to do with the reality of my shape, I am nonetheless obsessed by breasts. I cannot help it. I grew up in the terrible fifties—with rigid stereotypical sex roles, the insistence that men be men and dress like men and women be women and dress like women, the intolerance of androgyny—and I cannot shake it, cannot shake my feelings of inadequacy. Well, that time is gone, right? All those exaggerated examples of breast worship are gone, right? Those women were freaks, right? I know all that. And yet here I am, stuck with the psychological remains of it all, stuck with my own peculiar version of breast worship. You probably think I am crazy to go on like this: Here I have set out to write a confession that is meant to hit you with the shock of recognition, and instead you are sitting there thinking I am thoroughly warped. Well, what can I tell you? If I had had them, I would have been a completely different person. I honestly believe that.

[sam]

Mary Anning
21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847



There are unconfirmed reports she sold seashells by the seashore.

[sam]

Ian McShane
born 29 September, 1942





Or perhaps you'd prefer a scene where he had lines. (Instapoll: better with or without moustache? I think with.)


It's also Enrico Fermi and Horatio Nelson's birthday, but what did they ever do.

[Jurek]

The building you cannot see because it is flared out by the sun to the left of Teddy Bass' head, is my old college (when it was located on Southampton Row).

[sam]

In the paying respects department:

Kathleen Booth
9 July 1922 - 29 September 2022



Patron Saint of old school computer programmers like my wife, who has informed me that assembly language was her favourite, followed by Pascal and C.

I know what none of that means.

[sam]

Julia the Elder
 aka Julia Caesaris filia
  aka Julia Augusti filia
30 October 39 BC – AD 14



The Rise & Fall of Augustus’ Disobedient Daughter

Her lifestyle differed significantly from the ideal of a virtuous Roman woman, a model promoted vigorously by Augustus and his own wife, Livia. Julia entertained her friends at many parties, drank a lot of wine, and behaved frivolously. That much is certain. But Augustus must have known. He was well informed about everything in Rome so we can hardly imagine that all of Rome knew about his daughter’s scandalous life, and he did not. But in 2 BCE, Julia the Elder crossed some sort of line.

According to some accounts, Julia and her male and female companions got very drunk, went to Forum Romanum, and partied on the rostra. Whatever the truth, the bubble burst. Augustus’ reaction was swift and harsh. He punished her lovers and exiled his daughter to the small island of Pandateria. It was a rock surrounded by the ocean.

[sam]

Abbie Hoffman
30 November 1936 – 12 April 1989



Now that's going too far.

Other birthday boys include Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Spike Billy Idol.

[Jaded]

In the paying respects department:

Kathleen Booth
9 July 1922 - 29 September 2022



Patron Saint of old school computer programmers like my wife, who has informed me that assembly language was her favourite, followed by Pascal and C.

I know what none of that means.

This looks more like a DeathDay to me?

[sam]

Yes, I snuck it in. (Have since corrected the subject heading on that one.)

Paying our 'final respects' to the language of death

I see Oscar Wilde died 123 years ago today.