Rememo

The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:03:57 +0100

The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world. It is thought to have been created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic).

The Codex includes the entire Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, except for the books of Acts and Revelation, which are from a pre-Vulgate version. Also included are Isidore of Seville’s encyclopedia Etymologiae, Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, Cosmas of Prague’s Chronicle of Bohemia, various tractates (from history, etymology and physiology), a calendar with necrologium, a list of brothers in Podlažice monastery, magic formulae and other local records. The entire document is written in Latin.

It is also known as the Devil’s Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside and the legend surrounding its creation. According to this legend the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen archangel Satan, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil’s picture out of gratitude for his aid.

Despite this legend, the codex was not forbidden by the Inquisition, and was studied by many scholars.

Laughter & Cake (via tompalumbo)

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:02:00 +0100

Laughter & Cake (via tompalumbo)

"After Finney and I split up, I was pretty blue. So, Rosie and I flew to Hawaii and checked into the..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:05:13 +0100

“After Finney and I split up, I was pretty blue. So, Rosie and I flew to Hawaii and checked into the Halekulani to chill and…. I don’t know. One night, I just started writing down my feelings, and, well, you know Rosie. She never goes anywhere without that ukelele. Before I knew it, I’d written my little song… “FYI: I Hurt Too”.”

- Karen Walker (Will&Grace)

Photo

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:52:48 +0100

"The creationist is a sham religious person who, curiously, has no true sense of religion. In the..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:52:36 +0100

“The creationist is a sham religious person who, curiously, has no true sense of religion. In the language of religion, it is the facts we observe in the world around us that must be seen to constitute the words of God. Documents, whether the Bible, Qur’an or those writings that held such force for Velikovsky, are only the words of men. To prefer the words of men to those of God is what one can mean by blasphemy. This, we think, is the instinctive point of view of most scientists who, curiously again, have a deeper understanding of the real nature of religion than have the many who delude themselves into a frenzied belief in the words, often the meaningless words, of men. Indeed, the lesser the meaning, the greater the frenzy, in something like inverse proportion.”

- Fred Hoyle (via nihilnoetia)

(via Baie.)

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:52:20 +0100

(via Baie.)

"I will devote my first lecture to the opposition between lightness and weight and will uphold the..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:51:23 +0100

“I will devote my first lecture to the opposition between lightness and weight and will uphold the value of lightness. This does not mean that I consider the virtues of weight any less compelling, but simply that I have more to say about lightness”

- Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the New Millennium,
Vintage International, 1988. (via corners)

Photo

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:48:54 +0100

"I wouldn’t want a boy to think I was pretty unless he was the kind of boy who thought I was pretty."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:17:54 +0100

“I wouldn’t want a boy to think I was pretty unless he was the kind of boy who thought I was pretty.”

- Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer (via presidents) (via corners)

Photo

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:17:27 +0100

"Helen’s books were her friends, “the kind you invite for dinner in the middle of..."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:17:21 +0100

“Helen’s books were her friends, “the kind you invite for dinner in the middle of winter,” she’d told him, ” and spend all night talking and never go to bed.”“”

- Emma Clayton (The Roar)

dreameveryday: breathsoftruth:sugarspun:(via pockpicket)

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:17:13 +0100

dreameveryday:

breathsoftruth:sugarspun:(via pockpicket)

513. SETTING YOUR ALARM CLOCK TO GO OFF EARLIER AND THEN PRESSING THE SNOOZE BUTTON FOR A FEW HOURS ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING AND MAY END UP PUTTING YOU IN A WORSE POSITION THAN BEFORE YOU SET IT BACK.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:16:47 +0100

(via gotwisdom)

Video

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:16:35 +0100

"Melancholy were the sounds on a winter’s night."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:16:19 +0100

“Melancholy were the sounds on a winter’s night.”

- Virginia Woolf (Jacob’s Room)

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Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:16:06 +0100

"The winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out into them."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:15:44 +0100

“The winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out into them.””

- Parker Palmer

Photo

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:15:17 +0100

"And then there are the times when the wolves are silent and the moon is howling."

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:29:57 +0100

“And then there are the times when the wolves are silent and the moon is howling.””

- George Carlin

(via jackson eaton)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:29:04 +0100

(via jackson eaton)