parquet.

Flooring of strips of wood often forming patterns.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

polychromy.

Ornamental surface design using several colors.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

quadratura.

Illusionistic painting in perspective on walls or ceilings.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

rose window.

The large round window, usually in the facade of a Gothic cathedral or church.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

stereotomy.

Art of stone cutting to form elements of complex vaulted structure.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

terrazzo.

Small chips of marble imbedded in cement and polished to form a smooth surface suitable for flooring.
—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

tromp-l’oeil.

Realisitic painting technique creating an illusion of reality (literally, “fools the eye”).

—A History of Interior Design, by John Pile, 2000.

White House shadows

“Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean

Thank God”

—Neil Young, the lyrics to Let’s Impeach the President from his upcoming album, Living With War. Found this via Fark at Foxnews.com. Foxnews. That would be ironic, would it not?

the sensations of red, blue, yellow, &c.

“Hylas. I tell you, Philonous, external light is nothing but a thin fluid substance, whose minute particles being agitated with a brisk motion, and in various manners reflected from the different surfaces of outward objects to the eyes, communicate different motions to the optic nerves; which, being propagated to the brain, cause therein various impressions: and these are attended with the sensations of red, blue, yellow, &c.

Philonous. It seems then, the light does no more than shake the optic nerves.

Hylas. Nothing else.

Philonous. And consequent to each particular motion of the nerves, the mind is affected with a sensation, which is some particular color.

Hylas. Right.

Philonous. And these sensations have no existence without the mind.

Hylas. They have not.”

—George Berkeley, from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, 1713.

Look!

“Look! Are not the fields covered with a delightful verdure? Is there not something in the woods and groves, in the rivers and clear springs, that soothes, that delights, that transports the soul? . . . Raise now your thoughts from this ball of earth, to all those glorious luminaries that adorn the high arch of heaven. . . . How vivid and radiant is the luster of the fixed stars! How magnificent and rich that negligent profusion, with which they appear to be scattered throughout the whole azure vault!.”

—George Berkeley, from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, 1713. Philonous speaking.