Book & site list

[Boreades]

It's called Dynamic Content.

They have written a simple but clever bit of code on their website that runs once every 24 hours and (perhap randomly, or perhaps not) selects a book title and a contents summary from their database of book titles. It then uses that to customise an HTML email template, which is then used to send an automated email to all the people who have registered for book of the day.

Seemples.

I do the same to send an ever-changing variety of begging letters by email to all the doctors in the UK every day.

[TisILeclerc]

Thanks for that. It has now joined the twenty thousand other books on my virtual shelf. That I will probably never read.

In return here's a Chinese film from the seventies called the Ghost of the Mirror. About a 'scholar' who is sent to translate some sutras for his mother in a quiet location. Unfortunately there's a dragon in the well and people keep jumping in and disappearing.

There are also two very enchanting ladies in there as well. One was chased by attackers and drowned and became a ghost of an old mirror. The other is the original spirit of the mirror which was created along with the copper mirror at the time of its manufacture. Their identities have merged.

The scholar falls for them both, against advice from everyone. He wants to marry the ghost but can't get approval for that either. Then the dragon comes looking for her, and him.

There are no subtitles and it's been dubbed into some sort of far eastern language. So you can learn a language at the same time. It's a water dragon of course. And seems to be connected to the tides as periodically the well runs dry and then fills up again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjRc5KCNw8

[Boreades]

It's very tempting to click on a link to "enchanting ladies". But from the school of hard knocks, I've learnt that that's called "click bait". I remember only too well what happened the last time I clicked on links like that. in all innocence of course! I still bear the scars from M'Lady Boreades' percussive feedback.

[TisILeclerc]

Well, I don't know what you get up to in your spare time Borry but this is a proper mainstream film in the kind of supernatural vein that the Chinese are quite fond of. Usually mixed up with martial arts although in this case it's a battle between good, Buddhist, and bad, Evil Dragon who wants to control everything. Including treasure.

Very modest as well. And very sad. Young lady sacrifices herself to the dragon to save the naive scholar. He was certainly no St George.

[Boreades]

In my spare time I'm reading a different kind of historical porn.

It's "The Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry; Or the Ancient British Church"

1) It's got loads about the Welsh
2) Lots of heresy
3) Lots on Pelagius

This should be confused with "The Ancient British Church"

The Ancient British Church was a British religious movement founded by Jules Ferrette (Mar Julius) and Richard Williams Morgan (Mar Pelagius).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_British_Church

Which then went on to be an ancestor of the Pentecostal churches in the USA.

[Mick Harper]

It is truly ironic that the first Ancient British Church never existed and the second was quite authentic.

[Mick Harper]

The Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry; Or the Ancient British Church

Published by the Nabu Press. I am fracking my brains to remember in what connection they last came up.

[Boreades]

Even more ironic that the second "authentic" account by Richard Williams Morgan was based on the accounts of his ancestor Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams), now widely abused as a notorious inventor of Welsh history.

[TisILeclerc]

Wiki's entry for Iolo Morganwg has his occupation as poet and literary forger, which he was.

In fact they were all at it. Even that famous Welsh outfit for women was invented at that time. It wasn't just Wales of course Scotland had the Ossian forgery which, apart from Dr Johnson was acclaimed all over Europe.

It's ironic in a way that Iolo's grandson Edward Williams was to become a Middlesbrough ironmaster. A return to more tangible roots perhaps?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iolo_Morganwg

For a less romantic look at Welsh history you could have a look at 'When Was Wales' by the late Gwyn Williams. Here's a sentence from a review on Amazon.

The Welsh as a people have lived by making and remaking themselves in generation after generation, usually against the odds, usually within a British context. Wales is an artefact which the Welsh produce. If they want to. It requires an act of choice

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/014 ... ul.Reviews

[Boreades]

The Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry; Or the Ancient British Church

Published by the Nabu Press. I am fracking my brains to remember in what connection they last came up.

Was it perchance the Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy?
Available online: https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalhi03orde
Or a reprint by the Nabu Press.