Deep Underground

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The lightest of rain after the driest of spells leads to the most argillaceous petrichor, which is the kind that humans smell as relief, the thought that things will start growing again.

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A 1964 article in Nature with the euphonious title, “Nature of argillaceous odour,” gave the world the not-as euphonious-sounding word, “petrichor.” In it, two researchers attempted to scientifically describe what it is we smell when we smell the world after a rain shower and to give it a name.

The two authors coined the word, “petrichor,” which I have been mispronouncing in my head since I first encountered it last year, when an article on the Huffington Post started making its social media rounds. It has a long “I,” so say it like this: “petra,” then “eye-core,” which is not how I hear it in my head, with a short “i.”
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Today in History: Oct. 19

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

British forces led by Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the allied American and French forces in Yorktown, Virginia, on this date 235 years ago. This ended the Revolutionary War, but not completely, as skirmishes continued through the next year. Lord Cornwallis’ forces surrendered to General George Washington and the American forces but Lord Cornwallis himself sent his sword to the French forces to declare that his surrender was to the French not the new American army.

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Sir Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, which every American high school graduate hears one portion of (the “Trio” section), was introduced on this date in 1901 by the Liverpool Orchestral Society. Elgar conducted it himself.

Below the jump, a 1931 film of Sir Edward conducting an orchestra at the opening of the Abbey Road Studios, London, on November 12 1931. You hear him greet the players: “Good morning gentlemen. Glad to see you all. Very light programme this morning. Please play this tune as though you’ve never heard it before.”
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Raif Badawi’s Punishment Continues

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Raif Badawi remains in prison. Raif Badawi still awaits 950 lashes with a whip. Raif Badawi remains in danger …

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The source who informed Raif Badawi’s family in January 2015 that the writer’s sentence of 1000 lashes with a cane for the crime of writing was about to be carried out by Saudi Arabian authorities was correct in that information that one time. Badawi was caned on January 9, 2015. The source has not yet been named in all this time and even the source’s gender has not been revealed.

More than once since that terrible day, this source has been credited with inside information that Badawi’s punishment is about to resume, and each time the punishment has not resumed. This does not mean that this source has become unreliable or that the source from now until forever lacks credibility. What it means, if anything, may not be learned.

Because we do not know the source or the origin of the source’s information, it is almost impossible to ascertain how close to Raif Badawi the source is, was, or will be. However, this source is being credited with a story that appeared late yesterday in the international media that Raif Badawi is about to be flogged again, inside the prison where he is being held, away from public eyes.

This would not be a reversal of fortune for Raif Badawi. The fact is that Raif Badawi is always in imminent danger of his punishment being resumed. Saudi Arabia has never publicly stated any intention to free him, reduce his ten-year sentence, or show him any leniency. He is always in imminent danger.
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