Wednesday's Notes

Attribution: Despite attribution in authoritative sources, Abraham Lincoln's"of the People, by the People, and for the People" is apparently not from the prologue to John Wycliffe's 1384 English translation of the Bible; and, despite what Barry Goldwater said,"extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" is Harry Jaffa's line, not from Cicero's orations against Cataline.

Photography:

Errol Morris,"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall," Zoom, 25 January, reproduces and discusses photographs of GWB as President.

The massive, remarkably cool panopticon of the Obama inauguration. Made from 220 separate photos, its 1,474 megapixels capture amazing detail. Zoom in to see Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas napping during the inaugural address.

Symposia:

Crooked Timber is hosting a book event on the science fiction of Charles Stross.

Jacob T. Levy is hosting a symposium on Nancy Rosenblum's new book, On the Side of Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship.

Farewell: belatedly, to Germany's distinguished medievalist, Karl-Ferdinand Werner, to Ahmad Hassan Dani, Pakistan's distinguished archaeologist and historian, and to the American novelist and essayist, John Updike.