Twitterpated

• 13:57 @eehouls You mean you don't like the idea of a governor who used to be a lobbyist? #
• 13:58 I'm not into sports, but if you've won as many Series as the Yankees have, isn't the classy thing to do give up and let someone else win? #
• 13:59 It's amazing how cleaning can sometimes make your room look considerably worse, at least for a while. #
• 14:00 I'm thinking of putting my Oz books on one shelf and my other stuff on another, but I'm not sure about the space. I have a LOT of Oz stuff. #
• 14:01 @rainnwilson They're obviously rethinking the idea of ever
  ything being bigger in Texas. #
• 14:03 @DVDBoxSet Darwin wasn't a mother fucker! You must be thinking of Oedipus. #
• 14:04 The only thing I know about V is that it was Robert Englund was known for before Wes Craven thought up Freddy Krueger. #
• 14:05 @eehouls Come on, that HAS to have been man-made, right? #
• 14:06 @eehouls You don't keep enough emergency snacks around your apartment. #
• 15:25 @DVDBoxSet No, believe it or not, that's act
  ually never happened to me. I'm not sure if it ever happened to Christopher Lee. #
• 15:26 "How to Tame Your Dragon" has a great title, but Dreamworks doesn't exactly have the best track record with cartoons. #
• 15:42 "I just love murderers." -@NowIsStrange #

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Bears in the Air

Continuing with the bear theme, today's mythology post is about two constellations always visible in the Northern Hemisphere (meaning that they're visible year-round, that is, not in the daytime or anything), Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The association of these two groups of stars with bears was common in and around the Middle East, and apparently among some Native American tribes as well. I've read that most of the constellations we know were originally conceived by the Babylonians, so the idea might well have spread from there to Greece and Judea (the Great Bear is mentioned in the Book of Job), but that doesn't explain how the Iroquois had the same idea. In Western Europe, the most recognizable part of what is considered Ursa Major is more commonly seen as a plow or wagon, or sometimes a cleaver or saucepan. Some Africans (ones in the Northern Hemisphere, I suppose) identified the seven main stars as a drinking gourd, which is presumably where we get the modern American idea of the Big Dipper.



The Greek myth surrounding the two Ursa constellations involves a nymph named Callisto, daughter of Lycaon of Arcadia, and part of the retinue of Artemis. Our horny old pal Zeus was attracted to her, and some versions of the myth say that he took the form of his own daughter in order to rape the girl. Regardless of the details, Zeus and Callisto had a son named Arcas, and Hera took her revenge for her husband's infidelity by turning the nymph into a bear. When he'd grown older and become a hunter, Arcas almost killed his ursine mother, but Zeus saved both of them by turning the hunter into a bear as well. He then pulled them into the heavens to become constellations, stretching out their tails in the process. Some other takes on the myth say that Arcas was not transformed, but that he became the constellation Bootes. Anyway, the reason the two bear constellations never move below the horizon was that Hera made it so they could never have access to water.

Authorian Legend

countblastula had a meme up about which authors he'd read the most books by, and that seems like a pretty cool activity. I'm actually not sure who my top author would be, though. L. Frank Baum would definitely rank pretty highly, and I've read most of his fantasy, but surprisingly little of his other works (no Mary Louise or Boy Fortune Hunters, for instance). Terry Pratchett would also have to rank up there, as I've read every Discworld book plus Good Omens. There are times when I read more by series than author, although if I like one series, I'll sometimes branch out into an author's other work. Let me try for a Top Five:

1. Terry Pratchett - 38 - Thirty-seven Discworld books (including the young adult ones), plus Good Omens (co-written with Neil Gaiman, but I'm counting it anyway)

2. Piers Anthony - 32 - All of the Xanth books except the latest one, which I'm working on now.

3. L. Frank Baum - 28 - Fourteen main Oz books, Queer Visitors from Oz, Little Wizard Stories of Oz, Mother Goose in Prose, The Magical Monarch of Mo, Dot and Tot of Merryland, American Fairy Tales, The Master Key, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The Enchanted Island of Yew, Queen Zixi of Ix, John Dough and the Cherub, The Sea Fairies, Sky Island, Policeman Bluejay

4. Ruth Plumly Thompson - 24 - Twenty-one Oz books, The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa, The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders, Sissajig and Other Surprises

5. Douglas Adams - 8 - Five Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, two Dirk Gently books, and The Salmon of Doubt

Actually, I think there might be some authors of Oz apocrypha (Chris Dulabone, for instance) in between the fourth and fifth, but I don't feel like counting those up right now. And I could easily be forgetting something.