Saturday, January 15, 2011

Lessons in odd places

Sometimes I discover things in the oddest places. I'm not talking about car keys in the refrigerator or a stray sock in the yard. No, I mean the fascinating facts about a place in a time that have vanished.

For instance: I'm proofreading a children's book about Turkey for Project Gutenberg. It was obviously published decades ago, maybe longer. Some of the information is still accurate. Much of it, however, has changed or vanished in time. Like the nugget about floating a disk of wood atop a barrel of water that is being transported to keep it from spilling. According to the book, it works like topping off a barrel of water with oil, a trick widely known and used by sailors.


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