New to me: the history of the name Bluetooth. The logo (so obvious in hindsight) comes from the Danish runes for H and B (after King Harald).
Blog: #history
This post on why everything might have taken so long to invent is great. (Also see the original post that spawned it, and a linked post on how reality has a surprising amount of detail.)
Occupations in 1292 Paris
I just finished reading Life in a Medieval City, by Joseph and Frances Gies, and in the notes on page 236 I found this interesting list of occupations taken from the Paris tax list of 1292:
- 366 shoemakers
- 214 furriers
- 199 maidservants
- 197 tailors
- 151 barbers
- 131 jewelers
- 130 restaurateurs
- 121 old-clothes dealers
- 106 pastrycooks
- 104 masons
- 95 carpenters
- 86 weavers
- 71 chandlers
- 70 mercers
- 70 coopers
- 62 bakers
- 58 water carriers
- 58 scabbard makers
- 56 wine sellers
- 54 hatmakers
- 51 saddlers
- 51 chicken butchers
- 45 purse makers
- 43 laundresses
- 43 oil merchants
- 42 porters
- 42 meat butchers
- 41 fish merchants
- 37 beer sellers
- 36 buckle makers
- 36 plasterers
- 35 spice merchants
- 34 blacksmiths
- 33 painters
- 29 doctors
- 28 roofers
- 27 locksmiths
- 26 bathers
- 26 ropemakers
- 24 innkeepers
- 24 tanners
- 24 copyists
- 24 sculptors
- 24 rugmakers
- 24 harness makers
- 23 bleachers
- 22 hay merchants
- 22 cutlers
- 21 glovemakers
- 21 wood sellers
- 21 woodcarvers
The Society of Creative Anachronism has a more detailed page listing the French occupation names and a breakdown by gender. For example, there was one male hangman (bourriau), one female mole trapper (taupiere), four male pike-makers (piqueeur), one female tart seller (tartriere), one male log floater (atireeur de busche), etc. Fascinating stuff.
The tax list was published by Hercule Géraud in 1837 in Paris sous Philippe-le-Bel, which is conveniently on Google Books (the list itself, “Le livre de la taille de Paris pour l’an 1292,” is a bit later in the book).
Reading goals for 2015
I recently came across a post about reading goals that got me itching to go and do likewise. I’ve had numeric goals in the past — read X books this year — but I’ve realized I’m less interested in the total number of books read and more interested in the types of books I read. (It’s also a grudging acknowledgement that this mortal life is finite and there’s no way I’ll be able to read all the books I want to. Such a sad thought. But there are massive libraries in heaven, right? I’m banking on that.)
Here, then, are my reading goals for 2015:
- Read more books I wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in. Basically, expand my horizons, both in fiction and nonfiction.
- Read more science fiction and fantasy classics. I did read the Foundation books in 2012–2013, but most of the time I tend to read newer stuff. (I guess I did also read The Stars My Destination earlier this year. I didn’t like it at all.)
- Read more literary classics. Specifically, I want to read at least War and Peace and Dante’s Divine Comedy, and hopefully the Dostoevsky novels I haven’t yet read. Yes, I know, this isn’t the first time I’ve made a goal to read War and Peace. But this is the first year I’m going to actually do it, so help me. (I’ve read enough 1000-page epic fantasy novels by now that I can handle the length just fine.)
- Read more nonfiction. Specifically, more history and biography. I’ve been reading more nonfiction this past year (Rubicon, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Food Rules, Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn, Stuff Matters, etc.) and it’s been quite enjoyable. Right now I’m reading and loving Edmund Morris’s Rise of Roosevelt, the first of a three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt, and Blake Harris’s Console Wars, a history of Nintendo and Sega in the 1990s.
Any of you have reading goals or happen to be reading something particularly interesting?