Like a second brain or a flashlight leading the way

[sovay]

I had a difficult night and was woken early in the morning by a phone call I didn't want, but I managed to fall back asleep with the assistance of spatch and Autolycus and slept late into the afternoon, at which point I got up and saw that the government of the UK is doing its best to exceed the government of the U.S. in its fuck-off disregard for governing norms and most of the population. I wish the protesters, the petitioners, and any politicians with countervailing power the best. It really did not occur to me for most of my life that so many people, in the language of my Cold War childhood, hate democracy. The calls are coming from inside the house, on an expensive land line.

I am deeply burnt out. "I don't want to work," I found myself saying to Rob during one of the more exhausted parts of last night, "I don't want to think about dinner, I don't want to think about dishes, I don't want to think about cleaning, I don't want to think about shopping, I don't want to think about bills, I don't want to think about rent, I don't want to think about writing, I don't want to think." The problem there is that historically thinking is one of the things that makes me enjoy my life. When I can't think, I feel even less like I should be alive. I probably mean plan or organize or make decisions. Whatever it is, though, I don't want to have to do it.

a_reasonable_man sent me a splendid collection of vintage cocktail books. I knew nothing about mixed drinks from 1896. Turns out some of them are mixed drinks in 2019. I'm charmed.

There are photographs now from inside the neat, drowned wreck of HMS Terror. "The only door they found closed was, tantalizingly enough, the one opening on the cabin of captain Francis Crozier."

Comments

[dewline]

What were they thinking when they named those ships?

[brigdh]

They were war ships before they got re-used for exploration purposes! Specifically, they were bomb ships – ships with extremely large cannons that could be used to lob mortars at land fortifications. (In fact, during the War of 1812, the Terror bombed Baltimore, the same battle that inspired the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner", so it could be some of its bombs that are sung about every time someone recites "the rocket's red glare".) In that context, it makes a lot of sense to give your ships very scary names, and it was tradition that all bomb ships were either named after volcanoes or other intimidating themes. Some others were Infernal, Fury, Meteor, Sulphur, and Thunder.

[dewline]

Well, that explains it. I don't like it, but it explains the choice.

[brigdh]

Ha, I do also feel like it's an appallingly accurate choice of name for its ultimate fate.

[sovay]

Some others were Infernal, Fury, Meteor, Sulphur, and Thunder.

I'd much rather be on a ship called Erebus than Sulphur. (HMS Meteor is quite good, though.)

[brigdh]

Good point. I bet there were jokes about the inevitable smell after a few months on board.