informant38
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...But of these sophisms and elenchs of merchandise I skill not...
Milton, Areopagitica

Except he had found the
standing sea-rock that even this last
Temptation breaks on; quieter than death but lovelier; peace
that quiets the desire even of praising it.

Jeffers, Meditation On Saviors


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17.7.03

Much is made of religion in early America, but in fact, at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, only 7 percent of the people in the 13 colonies belonged to some church.
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Q. What happens to dead whales? Do they sink?
A. That they do. And if they sink below 3,000 feet, they stay sunk, and remain whole for up to 15 years. Out there in the deep, researchers say, there's a whale body on the bottom for every 120 square miles.
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Andronicus Livius, a Roman actor of the third century B.C., didn't have much of a speaking voice, evidently. He lost it entirely during a performance, improvised silently, and the audience liked him better that way. It was he who originated pantomime.
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Until recent years, the two most common kinds of sexual assault -- heinous crimes in how they shatter their victims -- almost never were reported: date rape and prison rape. In this one matter, it's said most of today's enormous older generation grew up in the dark ages.
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A Greek named Draco first codified the laws of ancient Athens. Tough cookie. Death was the prescribed punishment for just about every offense. When any orator spoke, his appreciative audience customarily showered him with their cloaks. Draco spoke. His audience so showered him. But kept at it. He died of suffocation under all that clothing.
L.M.Boyd

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