Some interesting links

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks, as I’ve been busy finalizing the manuscript for my new book (ready for sale tomorrow!) and attending an ATA Board meeting in Las Vegas. But here are some links to interesting sites for your coffee break pleasure!

• I love this one! Classics majors everywhere can feel vindicated, as the reporter who broke the story of Pope Benedict’s resignation reveals her secret investigative weapon: Latin! ANSA reporter and self-proclaimed “Vaticanista” Giovanna Chirri’s ears perked up when, at the conclusion of a routine Vatican ceremony, Pope Benedict started speaking about “the future of the church,” “advanced age,” and finally the climactic “I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter.” Chirri filed the momentous story while rival news agencies were still puzzling through the arcane text, and later showed her own sense of humor by tweeting that her job wasn’t that hard, because “Benedict’s Latin is very easy to understand.”  I was already fascinated by the Vatican’s having the world’s only Latin-interface ATM, and here’s an article from Mental Floss entitled “Latina Vivit,” which will help you prepare for the next breaking news event in Latin! Tips include reading the Latin edition of “Green Eggs and Ham” and listening to Black Sabbath in Latin (no, really!)
• My friend and colleague Eve Bodeux gave me this book for Christmas: Paris versus New York, “…a tally of two cities/un match amical entre deux villes.” If you love Paris and New York, you really need this book even if you don’t have much time to read, because it’s very graphics-heavy with maybe 10 words on each page. I had been envisioning it as a narrative duel between the two cities, but it’s more of a graphical snapshot comparison–and it’s often hilarious. You’ve got croque monsieur versus hot dog, macaron versus cupcake, bobo versus hipster, Quasimodo versus King Kong, and on and on. One of my favorite pages features Paris on the left, represented by a scowling grey face with the enormous caption “NON. j’aime rien je suis parisien,” and New York on the right, represented by a smiling orange/yellow face saying “YES. never take no for an answer.” From the author’s website above, you can also order art prints of the graphics from the book. A great gift idea for the francophile New Yorker (or New Yorkophile Parisian!) in your life.
• The “You have one of the top 1%/5% most-viewed profiles on LinkedIn” kerfuffle. Not to minimize anyone’s accomplishments (I received one of those e-mails too, so I’m minimizing my own accomplishment here!), but it’s really a sales pitch for LinkedIn’s Premium-level accounts. This article on HasOffers explains it. First, understand that 5% of LinkedIn’s user base is 10 million people. Second, and most importantly, understand that on LinkedIn (unlike, say Facebook), you can see the name of everyone who’s viewed your profile if you have a paying Premium membership. Presumably most of the top 10 million people on LinkedIn don’t have the paying membership now, but let’s hazard a guess that they might buy that membership if their curiosity was piqued.