The Thief
Le Voleur is French for the Thief. In 1828, during the birth and rise of the newspaper, Emile de Girardin had a novel idea on how to use the newest writing technology, the printing press. He and a friend decided to start a periodical, but since they lacked capital, the weekly was entitled Le Voleur (The Thief) and it reprinted the best articles that had appeared elsewhere during the week, saving editorial costs. (from ''The History and Power of Writing'')
Saturday, May 07, 2005
What Rough Beasts?
New York Times Op-Ed: Maureen Dowd: "I love chimeras.I've seen just about every werewolf, Dracula and mermaid movie ever made, I have a Medusa magnet on my refrigerator, and the Sphinx of Greek mythology is a role model for her lethal brand of mystery.
So when chimeras reared up in science news, I grabbed my disintegrating copy of Edith Hamilton's 'Mythology' to refresh my memory on the Chimera, the she-monster with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail: 'A fearful creature, great and swift of foot and strong/Whose breath was flame unquenchable.' Bellerophon, 'a bold and beautiful young man' on flying Pegasus, shot arrows down at the flaming monster and killed her. Chimeras with 'generally sinister powers,' as Nicholas Wade wrote in The Times, seemed to be a lesson in 'the pre-Darwinian notion that species are fixed and penalties are severe' for crossing boundaries."
Written at 11:21 AM by Darcy.
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