2.05.2007

persian posties persist in passing out packages

It's quite cold: Pittsburgh has cancelled school, though a 'cold day' is not really as fun as a 'snow day,' methinks. We were wondering if we'd get mail today, so I was googling for 'rain, sleet, snow' trying to remember the verse about the postal service. Although there are tons of mail-related hits, according to the National Postal Museum, there's no "sleet" in there:

"The phrase which most people associate with the postal office is that which is engraved on the outside of the James A. Farley Post Office building at 8th Avenue & 33rd Street in New York, New York: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

This phrase was a translation by Prof. George H. Palmer, Harvard University, from an ancient Greek work of Herodotus describing the Persian system of mounted postal carriers c. 500 B.C. The inscription was added to the building by William Mitchell Kendall of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the building's architects."

Huh. "Gloom of night"? Who knew?

In 2006 some friends were doing a "50 Book Challenge," trying to read 50 books in the year. I got to wondering how many books I had read last year for fun, and I could count 30 or so. I thought this year I'd make a list, so you can find it on amazon: Books of 2007. I'm counting books I finished this year, so a few of them were started last year. I'm not trying to get to a specific number, just keep a record.

I thought I'd make a list of movies, too, here: Movies and TV of 2007. We've been watching a fair amount of TV on DVD, so we're in Arrested Development Season 3 (spoons hasn't seen it yet, though I have), Lost Season 2, and Battlestar Galactica Season 1 (which spoons has seen all of, but I'm trying to catch up).

I'll add these links to the sidebar soon -- I have a bunch of people and places and things to links to...

Comments:
Do comic books count?
 
Sure! :)
 
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