Theodora Elucubrare

So I am being forced to speak in front of my class on a topic nobody cares about, also known as an oral presentation for GEO 210 (itself also known as "Rocks for Jocks").

While this is in fact very painful, it's led me to some awesome stuff online. My presentation is about the Morne aux Diables on Dominica, where a million-tonne rock is about to fall into the water.

But there's also zombies!
"First, I make mud figure, so' - and she showed them rudely how she did it. 'Mud figure, he resemble man, so. Then I take and give him breath, like this.'"

"'Zombies? Yes, they are here, but we cannot explain them. It is part of the mystery of Haiti.'

An official reply, yes. But it fails to convince me that there are not dead men working in the cane fields of Haiti today."

Great, man.

Also the daily volcano quote, whose mere existence makes me really happy, and also some of the quotes are great, including one by Lindsey Davis, and the really purple description of the eruption of Tarawera:
"Bright, aye bright with the full effulgence of the orb which was still high above the horizon there; but lower, the dazzling brightness waned, and a faint glint of a golden hue was seen, to be rivalled by the richer colours and deeper gold of the nether parts until they deepened and sank through rose to carmine..."

and finally, an awesome entertainment I wish I had been at: the less deadly eruption of Vesuvius.

also discovery of really cool graves in Iraq. Disown me all you want, dolique, I wanna go over there, although my desire to not get killed sort of trumps that.

Look, you can see what day of the week it was in 1268! So, Conradin, King of Sicily, was executed on Monday October 29!