I think it’s easily believable – sadly – that Vermeer and van Leeuwenhoek did not know one another, living contemporaneously in Delft, a city of more than 20,000 population. But @laurajsnyder.bsky.social may have more to say on this. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’

This is lovely. So many things floating around in the sky named after Dutch astronomers! The Oort cloud, the Kuiper belt, Hanny’s voorwerp, de Sitter’s universe, the van Allen (US, but NL descent) belt, as I mention in Dutch Light.

Everything in the world may be borne, but for a succession of fine days. – Goethe, West-Eastern Divan

I WISH I WAS DEAD

love that contraption! Here’s my bit on it from Dutch Light:

This Guardian 100 books list is a compilation of opnions, and therefore an average. Reminds me of Francis Galton’s attempt to identify the ‘criminal type’ by layering photographs of assorted Victorian felons. He ended up with the blandest looking composite.

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

May 1690, Christiaan Huygens to his brother Constantijn, who is serving in England as secretary to William III: ‘One has to admit that the English are difficult to govern, for one hears talk at every turn of such discontents and mutinies . . .’

Fascinating figure, he studied alchemy in his attempt to uncover the secret of Chinese porcelain, and died in the Bastille for his Huguenot faith at the age of 79

Was there ever a book about the race for total synthesis of taxol between the Nicolaou and Horton groups? Perhaps there should be - though it might just consist of the PIs shouting at the postdocs to Go Faster! I did write about the Woodward/Eschenmoser B12 total synthesis long ago.

Greens should respond by saying they'll build Colleges of Further Education in Reform council areas.

I gather Kit was on Start the Week today discussing his new book on alchemy, which seems a good reason to give it a shout out. It's hugely enjoyable as well as deeply researched. profilebooks.com/work/the-age...

Tried to book trains to Torino from London. No problem booking, but impossible to pay nearly £1000 for two people round trip. We are flying and we really don't want to. The subsidies should be paid to rail not air travel.

Which is more ominous: flood, or the ebb? Falstaff dies “just between twelve and one, ev’n at the turning o’ th’ tide.” But at the end of Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab tells Starbuck: “Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of the flood.” lithub.com/on-the-irres...

2026. A brutal war between an authoritarian regime of religious fanatics violating human rights and international law and threatening nuclear annihilation. And Iran.

Ha! Found this Periodic Tales playlist I made ages ago: open.spotify.com/playlist/2Lk...

Remarkable that the agricultural inheritance tax changes which will affect less than 200 estates a year gets a long news report but insane changes to self-employed tax reporting which will burden millions with massive extra bureaucracy is completely ignored.

But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?

new Brexit metaphor

I’m going to miss Radio 3’s series 20th Century Radicals. Ear-opening radio brilliantly curated by Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...

26 March 1665 is a busy day at the writing desk for Christiaan Huygens. He reports to his father that he has been in Amsterdam meeting seamen, including the cartographer Joan Blaeu, about his more accurate clocks, of which, he says proudly, ‘cannot deny the utility’. He adds, though . . .

& this is Thomas Browne: ‘The Field of knowledge hath been so traced, it is hard to spring any thing new. Of old things we write something new, If truth may receive addition, or envy will have any thing new; since the Ancients knew the late Anatomicall discoveries, and Hippocrates the Circulation.’

Great post (and not least for the illustration of the fanciest – and tidiest – alchemical laboratory ever!)

paging Steve Reich

Some great tips here on making Google work for you rather than serve up stuff tailored to existing biases and sponsored links: open.substack.com/pub/cardcata....

How did the man Bertrand Russell called ‘the noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers’ actually make his living? 🔍 www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/a-cu...

Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth None of them through the Strait of Hormuz billmckibben.substack.com/p/sunlight-t...

I know it’s not the main story here, but I do wonder exactly what level of literacy they aspire to at BBC News these days

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4

A line made by walling. Part of the medieval walls of Norwich, a greater circumference than London’s #AFineCity

My first book award shortlisting. @latimes.com. From 30 years ago! Pretty happy to havee lost out to Carl Sagan tbh!

“The Uncertain Heavens: Christiaan Huygens’ Ideas of Extraterrestrial Life”, @HoooAW's essay exploring the first scientifically informed speculation about extraterrestrial life: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-uncertain-heavens

Let’s not pretend that Andrew’s activities are separate from his royal status. The whole concept of royalty is based on undeserved privilege, lack of accountability, luxury and hedonism, and the idea that others are beneath you, and can be used.

I have to say, Otto, that Matt isn't stupid. He's pretty smart. The lesson in his case is more that of how ideology can make a smart person say dumb things, and it's one I constantly try to keep in mind.

you are now the proud owner of a nest of swans Hugh!

Sad to hear that Cees Nooteboom has gone. I had occasion to quote from him in Dutch Light:

I’m an Ambassador for this brilliant charity, Bookbanks, giving away books with food parcels at food banks. There are two part-time jobs going for Regional Leads in London and East Anglia. Link below. Please share far and wide :)

They are #curling in Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow!

Woordle 1691 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Astonishing and moving on the vital power of art. Tom Service interviewing Joyce DiDonato about the Emily Dickinson cycle she’s shortly to take across America: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (listen from 1:12:10) No Prisoner be— Where Liberty— Herself—Abide with Thee—

Tom Service, BBC Radio 3, Saturday Morning, Interview with American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Possibly the interview of the year. Tom doing what BBC news and current affairs woefully fail to do.

the Dutch are about to get a new government which is centrist, liberal, non-populist, respectful of minorities, fiscally sensible, anti climate change, pro-EU, anti Putin. In the current climate that is not a small thing. People should be glad and stop complaining! www.politico.eu/article/dutc...

Snowdrops are out and the skylarks are up: it can’t be too soon to repost this: publicdomainreview.org/essay/from-s...

Nice to see Periodic Tales still flying off the shelves. Is everyone reading up about rare earth elements?

This will get massively overshadowed today and as ever the devil is in the detail, but is should be one of the best things Labour has done. It has the potential to improve the lives and finances of millions of people. www.businessgreen.com/news/4524489...

"Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse" FFS The fact that the Labour front bench suppressed this expert analysis rather than being transparent and stepping up a gear in doing something about it doesn't just make them unserious. In my view it makes them criminally negligent.

Round here it’s a loke

Brilliant to see the BBC picking up Ranald Lawrence and Dean Hawkes' fabulously interesting and important #environmentalhumanities work on #HardwickHall. They measured solar gain to understand Elizabethan comfort tech. The original articles are hugely worth reading too. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...