Writing this blog is a perfect excuse to look at stuff every day, calling it, you know, "blogging research" or "keeping up with things for the blog". It is nice, it amuses me, sometimes it's frustrating, and sometimes I stumble across something that really touches me.

That happened to me yesterday, after I finished watching the paper about the medieval bread experiments. I clicked on UCD's youtube channel, looking for more nice stuff like it, and this one came up.



It started up on its own, and I would not have watched it otherwise. But it started, and the beginning sounded interesting, and it only got better from there. So I stayed with it until the end. It's a lovely, lovely piece - if you have a few minutes, do watch it. And thank you, dear readers, for being my excuse for doing blogging research, resulting into finding things like this!

News from here: The cat is sleeping, hazel pollen are flying prolifically (much to the chagrin of my poor nose), the sun is shining, and I have planted tomato seeds on Sunday.

Probably more interesting to you is the fact that after the mad rush to the finish line for our book project, Gillian and I are now patiently waiting until the book has done its things at the publisher's and we'll get feedback and the edits.

Apart from this, the blogosphere has provided me with links to things that you might also find interesting. Such as this Digventure piece about pioneering women in archaeology, which also fits in very nicely with Women's History Month.

John Scalzi has an opinion on opinions, and is voicing it on his blog.

Finally, a paper about medieval bread:

While I was busily writing on the Beast, Springer has been active and the Special Issue of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences is finally live. It's an issue focusing on Experimental Archaeology, and it features an article I have written about the dearly beloved and never ending spinning experiment. If you'd like to read the Editorial (for free) or have a look at the articles (paywall), the special issue is here.

More reading? Jim C. Hines is doing a guest post series on his blog, about those not mainstream in SF/F - people of colour, people of non-binary gender, people otherwise not corresponding to the privileged multitude. It really is worth reading, so head over there and take a look. (Who knows, you might end up with some new authors to try.)

Even more reading? Gillian Polack is having guest posts too, in honour of Women's History Month. Also worth taking a look - these are very personal and very interesting stories.

I, however, have done enough reading for now, and will instead sit in the sun while working. (Sewing work has to be done, and what better colour to sew today than green, when spring is coming, and the sun is shining...)

It's Friday, hooray! After the frenzy of the last few weeks and still recovering from the nasty cold (which is almost gone now, thank goodness), somehow it feels like all I've done this week is dragging my feet. Which is not entirely true, though. There was definitely progress - even some progress in the garden, where last year's neglect is still very, very visible and leading to a need for quite a lot of weeding.

Today, though, has some more sewing work on the agenda. Which I shall venture to do now, fortified by a nice cup of motivational caffeinated hot drink. And probably chocolate, because everything is always better with chocolate.

I just found out that it's World Book Day today. Whee! It's nice to feel like I was able to catch up to a geek holiday in time (seeing that I already missed Pi Day this year), and it's also nice to think that all over the world (hopefully at least), people are celebrating books today.

Only it turns out that World Book Day is not World Book Day everywhere but only in the UK and Ireland. As worldbookday.com kindly tells me in its FAQ,  the rest of the world will celebrate that day some other time, oh, probably in April. The Unesco webpage tells me that the rest of the world is celebrating World Book and Copyright Day on April 23.

Really? Why can't there be one single date for world book day? I really like the idea - it's cool, and I'm all for making books the reason for some celebration. But can we please agree on the fact that a world something day should be on the same date for, say, the world? And not split into two? Even if the area in question has a history of being a special snowflake?

I honestly don't know what to think about this. It's really cool, and really weird that it's on two dates and that the split-off celebration seems to be larger and much more enthusiastic than the official one.
So, if you live in the UK or Ireland, I wish you a happy book day - it seems as if the organisation running the schemes and organising the day is doing a very nice job, and much fun is being had, and books are being promoted, and reading is, which is absolutely awesome. The rest of us will wait, though, until it is our turn in April - when stuff is probably going to be much more subdued.

One of the things that keep me absolutely fascinated with the Middle Ages and medieval stuff is the constant discovery of new things. Well, new to me. New aspects, new interpretations, new discoveries, new finds - our image of medieval life is continuously growing, evolving, changing.

Case in point: These two blog posts by Erik Kwakkel. The first one is about transportation covers for medieval books, ranging from binding as a girdle book to boxes and satchels. Girdle books are probably quite well-known, but I had not seen the diverse satchels before... which would also be nice to take closer looks at to see how their construction is, and how they were sewn.

The second one is about cracking codes - the code that typography is, and the codes of abbreviation.  Did you know that there was a medieval form of shorthand? Or that there is a script that is actually called "littera inintelligibilis" - indecipherable?

It's probably a good thing that our book had a deadline - it would be just too easy to go on adding more and more things. The Middle Ages, after all, are long and large and full of interesting things!

It's brilliant weather outside, the sun shining down and warming the air, crocuses are blooming, and my cold is finally letting up. I can taste things again, which is always wonderful (the one or two days where I don't have a sense of taste are the most miserable days during any cold for me), the cat is dozing, I have tea and a book to read and I'm still having the day off (still much-needed) and it's only half gone yet and that is wonderful.

For your delectation, while I am basking in the sun, here are a few links:

Canada's money can be Spockified.

Subterranean Press has a Humble Book Bundle that features Scalzi's Mallet of Loving Correction.

Speaking of Scalzi, he's helping the Internet with this list of Responses to Online Stupidity.

And the best lawywer's response ever.